5% is recommended, though I'm sure one could go much lower. I'm also pretty confident that the other grades you listed would do just fine without even requiring dilution, but why stray from what works so well? Just dilute your 10% with an equal volume distilled water.
A quick addition I'd like to make to this thread:
I started a fresh extraction yesterday, deciding to run a little experiment. I figured since my cactus/lime/water mixture always seems to retain 100ml of limonene, that I would add an extra 100ml of water, pushing the ratio from 3ml/g cactus, to 4ml/g cactus.
At first I was worried since the cactus mixture became MUCH softer than I'm used to, though this ended up being convenient for the mixing. I let the limo sit for 24hrs and poured it off. To my surprise I had STILL lost exactly 100ml like I always do! However, this time the vinegar washes took on that slightly yellowed color SWIYers have reported. I ended up with my best, cleanest yield from a first pull yet!
Though .9% at first seemed like an iota less than I usually pull, I had let this plate heat-dry to a very dry powder and I figure my initial measurements must have been skewed by some percentage water weight. The dry acetate xtals formed this huge beautiful clean pile that nigh made my eyes pop and mouth water.
My conclusion: experiment with the water ratio! Though over-saturated cactus seems to absorb just as much, if not more limonene, as long as one doesn't add way too much, the extra water seems to help the lime break the cactus down, and having softer cactus from the get-go makes the mixing more efficient. From now on I will definitely be using 3.5-4ml/g of cactus.
Once I'm done with the second pull (that's all I do anymore), I will post the final yield, along with a weight comparison between the mescaline acetate and purified mescaline HCl.
A quick addition I'd like to make to this thread:
I started a fresh extraction yesterday, deciding to run a little experiment. I figured since my cactus/lime/water mixture always seems to retain 100ml of limonene, that I would add an extra 100ml of water, pushing the ratio from 3ml/g cactus, to 4ml/g cactus.
At first I was worried since the cactus mixture became MUCH softer than I'm used to, though this ended up being convenient for the mixing. I let the limo sit for 24hrs and poured it off. To my surprise I had STILL lost exactly 100ml like I always do! However, this time the vinegar washes took on that slightly yellowed color SWIYers have reported. I ended up with my best, cleanest yield from a first pull yet!
Though .9% at first seemed like an iota less than I usually pull, I had let this plate heat-dry to a very dry powder and I figure my initial measurements must have been skewed by some percentage water weight. The dry acetate xtals formed this huge beautiful clean pile that nigh made my eyes pop and mouth water.
My conclusion: experiment with the water ratio! Though over-saturated cactus seems to absorb just as much, if not more limonene, as long as one doesn't add way too much, the extra water seems to help the lime break the cactus down, and having softer cactus from the get-go makes the mixing more efficient. From now on I will definitely be using 3.5-4ml/g of cactus.
Once I'm done with the second pull (that's all I do anymore), I will post the final yield, along with a weight comparison between the mescaline acetate and purified mescaline HCl.