SWIM (just about to finish the wash process) just realised she made a stupid mistake on step 1.
She bought what she thought was 100% hydrochloric acid without doing research only to find that the concentration was around 28%. which means her concentration of the acid used was only 0.6% instead of 2%.
Can I ask two things, at the end of the process, where is the calcium hydroxide added at the start?
Also, the remaining HCL not bound to the alcoloids, as the solution concentrates before the washes, where does it go? (granted, a LOT of it goes into the air - inspecting the solution as it reduces is hazardous without goggles and holding breath/mask!) Effectively, the q is when the solution is reduced down to nothing, does nothing remain of the spare HCL or should SWIM water the solution down and reevaporate?
SWIM's state of play - she didn't have scales when the dry cactus was produced so yield calculations are not possible.
powder from two cactus, one a local san pedro (suspect mis labelled, and low yield) she accidentally roasted in the oven at 70 deg c (smelled like coffee, dry was tan) and the other a small bridgesii. total powder was about one mug's worth; dunno how much that is.
currently reducing prior to washes. From probably around 1 litre down to 1/3 of a small tea cup. colour is dark brown (think coffee) and precipitating brown/black flecks (think tea-leaves).
Took around 18-24 hours in a dehydrator. SWIM thinks she should go easy on the HCL volumes this time and follow the instructions. SWIM noticed some strange "bubbles" of HCL in the boundary layer of the d-limonene.
SWIM was getting impatient today, and made a tea with the filters used on the HCL solution, with nil result. SWIM said the tea tasted very citrus'y and is wondering if this will translate to the end result. SWIM suspects this is due to d-limonene sediment ontop of the HCL (which was one of the reasons for performing the filtration on the HCL)
Given rons post on this page recently regarding bridgesii, SWIM may not perform the washes, but would like to know about the HCL, because does not want to down HCL crystals.
SWIM saved everything from the process, so she will try again tomorrow (perhaps under the influence of batch 1).
UPDATE: Given that SWIMs cactus was a bridgesii, SWIM is not performing the washes, but SWIM added more water to the solution, and reevaporated, which made the vapors a lot less acidic, safe for consumption. given that evaporation isn't fully complete, solids from the evaporation weigh between 350mg and 600mg. Conclusion is don't roast your cactus lol.