No yields? Not able to reach PH14???

[just999]

I hope you guys can help me.

Im working on a A/B extraction. I did 4x 1h cooks with MHRB (PH 3.5)

After filtering the bark particles I put 100g lye into the soup. This raised up the PH up to 11,8. After cooling down I added some more lye and I got PH 12.5. So I used more and more lye but the PH became lower ??? Now I'm at PH 12.3 and the mix is totally black!

While the mix was still hot I added 500ml warm naptha.
After evaporating it yielded quite nothing ?

In the past I already got the same problem with a STB tek. The PH never reaches 14 ?

The bark was fresh bark imported from Brazil but it was not very fine powdered. Maybe this could be a reason for the low yield

Anyone have an idea?

Thanks!

 

[downwardsfromzero]

How much did you agitate the base soup/naphtha mix? Maximise contact between the two phases (i.e. give it a number of good shakes) to get optimum extraction.

If there still aren't any alkaloids to be found they might still be in the bark, bound to tannins. Leaving the bark in the mix for the basification generally leads to improved yields, particularly if the bark is coarse.

...100g lye into the soup... added 500ml warm naptha...

How much bark did you use? Presumably 100g? Insufficient bark would of course reduce the yield.

But to be completely honest it sounds like you've had bunk bark.

 

[just999]

No idea why my PH goes down after adding more lye?? :-/


After I added the 100g and the PH was 11.8 I went to bed and the mix was able to work for about 12 hours. After this 12h I added more lye to heat the mix up again. 500ml were added and left in the mix for about 10-20 minutes + a lot of shaking and stirring. I need to say that I got the bark very cheap and I cooked about 1kg. 4x 4 Litres were reduced to 4 Litres. Maybe this was also a big mistake but I thought this wont be a problem because DMT acetate is much more heat resistant than freebase DMT

 

[downwardsfromzero]

How are you measuring pH?
It's likely your meter isn't up to measuring that high of a pH, if you have a cheap meter. Also, the probe will get damaged by strong lye solution.

If the bark isn't present in the mixture, it's not necessary to leave the alkaline soup 'to work' for any length of time as deprotonation of dissolved DMT cations is practically instantaneous given a high enough pH.

As a last resort, you might want to try pressure-cooking the bark, if you still have it. 1kg is rather a lot to basify in one go so I can sort of understand your approach.

Incidentally, what colour was the tea after the acid cook but before adding the lye?

 

[just999]

Im using a digital PH metre but you are right. It could be damaged. I will get some PH papers next time.

Sure, I have the bark. I put it in the refrigerator. I dont have a pressure cooker. I think I will do a STB tek with it.

The colour of the tea was a dark red/ brown