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quick re-x question

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toxic8

Rising Star
Merits
42
Hi Nexus,


So I did my first sort of sloppy STB extract, but got crystals nonetheless!


I used way too much naptha and am now in the process of re-xing. I have a ? or two.

I let it cool, then fridge for a few hours, now its been in the freezer for over 12 hours. I see that the bottom of the has a layer of crystals, as well as the sides of the jar.

Does it matter what the size of my container is for re-x? i.e. im using a very small jar, will this impede the re-crystallization process?

Someone mentioned that I should take some crystals out now and let it continue crystallizing, others have said to leave the whole thing in longer... any thoughts?
 
if you are not in a hurry i'd say wait a little longer. The less naphtha used for re-x the better, it should be just enough to hold all your spice when it's hot. After the freezer the naphtha should be totally clear before you pour it off. And the longer you wait the better grip to the glass for the crystals when you pour. You don't want to pour away any loose crystals. And save your naphtha. Good luck.
 
that's my concern, it appears as if the crystals are only forming where the naptha touches the glass, which is a small surface area due to to the size of the jar. there are what appears to be many crystals floating in the bottom of the jar, loosely.

I think I will try to pour the contents of the jar into a larger container and see how that goes.

Also, I was under the impression that you want to pour the whole contents of the jar out through a coffee filter and save the crystals.

You say save the naptha but for what? Do I throw it back in the freezer again, in hopes of more precip?

thank you btw.
 
After your intitial freeze precip, youll want to filter out crystals and set the naptha out to evaporate further. When the volume of naptha has gone down to alittle less than half of original volume during your 1st freeze precip, you will want to freeze precip it again. This will likely give more spice, lower quality, but crystals nonetheless. You can do this until there is very little naptha left.

A good freeze precip time is 2-4hrs or longer if you arent rushed.

After that you can discard the naptha, as it is mostly impurities, or you can evaporate it off to give some nasties if you are a penny spice pincher :P.

As far as recrystalling thats simple, add all of your spice to a small glass or container. Add small amounts of naptha to this while mixing until you can see spice dissolving. Then mildly heat this for a minute with mixing and all of it should dissolve. Filter out any impurities and then freeze precip this following procedure above.
 
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