Is it accurate the bark equals the lye in grams?
Almost. The color change indicates that it's basic, but it's not good enough to go on. Back in the day, I experimented with extracting with sodium carbonate, and even though the color changed, it wasn't basic enough for DMT. The only thing that ever came out of it were large carbonate crystals. Unfortunately, this was when I was brand new to extracting and ended up throwing it away (learned a little bit too late that I could have just added lye and proceeded as normal)The method I've used hovers around 40% lye to bark
40g NaOH for 100g bark seems plenty to me. I've found that when a sufficient quantity of NaOH is added the solution turns a specific shade of very dark purple (assuming mimosa), almost black. The colour change seems to act as a natural litmus test when the right ph is reached.
My last extraction super yellow and it's has a very strong smell of moth balls. Since I'm new and only use a preloaded cart I feel like the stuff I made isn't right. Probably bc I'm burning it trying to smoke it. Super harsh and makes me feel light headed. Vape pen is smoothAlmost. The color change indicates that it's basic, but it's not good enough to go on. Back in the day, I experimented with extracting with sodium carbonate, and even though the color changed, it wasn't basic enough for DMT. The only thing that ever came out of it were large carbonate crystals. Unfortunately, this was when I was brand new to extracting and ended up throwing it away (learned a little bit too late that I could have just added lye and proceeded as normal)
Always do at least one Re-X to get rid of any lye that may have come across. Yellowing is usually due to fats, so you can always do a de-fat step before basifying (use the same solvent as your pulls). Also, best way to get the cleanest evap/precip is to evap your total pull solvent down to about 40% (If it turns milky when you blow on it, it's sufficiently saturated, but sometimes it doesn't louche but still produces a lot more than would be expected, so just take that with a grain of salt. Milky for sure means saturation, but it doesn't mean there's nothing if it never goes milky). After reducing your solvent, freeze for 12-18 hours at -6°F (or colder). Transfer your solvent to another container without taking your dish out of the freezer (so as few crystals redissolve as possible), then set it upside down on a towel for a few minutes to get the rest of the solvent out of the dish. Put in front of a fan (preferably propped up so the crystals get direct airflow) and dry it until you can't smell solvent anymore. Mothball/floral smell is fine, you just don't want to smell the solvent itself. Dry for a little longer to be safe.My last extraction super yellow and it's has a very strong smell of moth balls. Since I'm new and only use a preloaded cart I feel like the stuff I made isn't right. Probably bc I'm burning it trying to smoke it. Super harsh and makes me feel light headed. Vape pen is smooth
What do you mean by reduceAlways do at least one Re-X to get rid of any lye that may have come across. Yellowing is usually due to fats, so you can always do a de-fat step before basifying (use the same solvent as your pulls). Also, best way to get the cleanest evap/precip is to evap your total pull solvent down to about 40% (If it turns milky when you blow on it, it's sufficiently saturated, but sometimes it doesn't louche but still produces a lot more than would be expected, so just take that with a grain of salt. Milky for sure means saturation, but it doesn't mean there's nothing if it never goes milky). After reducing your solvent, freeze for 12-18 hours at -6°F (or colder). Transfer your solvent to another container without taking your dish out of the freezer (so as few crystals redissolve as possible), then set it upside down on a towel for a few minutes to get the rest of the solvent out of the dish. Put in front of a fan (preferably propped up so the crystals get direct airflow) and dry it until you can't smell solvent anymore. Mothball/floral smell is fine, you just don't want to smell the solvent itself. Dry for a little longer to be safe.
As for re-xing: scrape your crystals into a small glass (shot glass works) and add enough naphtha to just dissolve the spice (or at least mostly dissolve, you can gently heat it in a water bath to increase solubility, using less solvent than room temp), then evap down to about 40%, freeze, pour off, and dry. Drying will take a bit longer because the solvent will be deeper into the crystals
What do you mean by evap down to 40 percent for the re xAlways do at least one Re-X to get rid of any lye that may have come across. Yellowing is usually due to fats, so you can always do a de-fat step before basifying (use the same solvent as your pulls). Also, best way to get the cleanest evap/precip is to evap your total pull solvent down to about 40% (If it turns milky when you blow on it, it's sufficiently saturated, but sometimes it doesn't louche but still produces a lot more than would be expected, so just take that with a grain of salt. Milky for sure means saturation, but it doesn't mean there's nothing if it never goes milky). After reducing your solvent, freeze for 12-18 hours at -6°F (or colder). Transfer your solvent to another container without taking your dish out of the freezer (so as few crystals redissolve as possible), then set it upside down on a towel for a few minutes to get the rest of the solvent out of the dish. Put in front of a fan (preferably propped up so the crystals get direct airflow) and dry it until you can't smell solvent anymore. Mothball/floral smell is fine, you just don't want to smell the solvent itself. Dry for a little longer to be safe.
As for re-xing: scrape your crystals into a small glass (shot glass works) and add enough naphtha to just dissolve the spice (or at least mostly dissolve, you can gently heat it in a water bath to increase solubility, using less solvent than room temp), then evap down to about 40%, freeze, pour off, and dry. Drying will take a bit longer because the solvent will be deeper into the crystals
Reduce and evap to 40% are the same in this case. Just put your naphtha in front of a fan before freezing it until the volume is about half (50mL naphtha put in front of a fan until it's 20mL, about..)What do you mean by reduce
What do you mean by evap down to 40 percent for the re x