goldenpath
Esteemed member
Hi all,
Apologies in advance for the wall of text, hopefully not too boring if you decide to read it! This is my first extraction so decided to document it for my own future reference as well as to share here. I came across a really helpful and easy to follow video on Youtube, and continued more research on there, across the internet and on Nexus.
It sounds very similar to some of the extraction teks that i'd read on the Nexus extraction page, specifically Norman's, but found the video format easier to follow. From this i made a shopping list and went through the instructions to transcribe into my own words and thought process.
Materials bought:
100g MHRB
1kg Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) - £9.94
5L Distilled Water - £9.49
2L Bartoline Low Odour White Spirit - £9.50
(1L Heptane - £21.80)
Equipment bought:
Half-face Respirator with Goggles - £18.97
Nitrile Gloves - £4.49
1000ml Borosilicate Erlenmeyer Flask w/ screw lid - £16.11
250ml Borosilicate Bottle w/ screw lid - £6.39
200ml Borosilicate Measuring Beaker - £5.99
Stainless Steel Funnel - £7.89
30cm long Stainless Steel Spoon - £3.49
x2 5ml Glass Pipettes - £5.98
pH Test Strips - £3.69
Pyrex Dishes w/ lids - £24.99
All prices include p&p, with plenty of leftover NaOH, water and Bartoline for future extractions. I could probably have got things cheaper if i'd shopped around more.
Method:
(Make sure to wear gloves, mask and eye protection. NaOH is nasty stuff and MHRB in powder form gets into the air very easily. Also make sure there is plenty of water or a water source to clean/dilute any spills)
1) Pour 750ml distilled water into the Erlenmeyer flask
2) In four 25g stages, add a total of 100g NaOH to the flask. This is an exothermic reaction and will cause the water to heat up, which is why its broken down into smaller steps. At each stage, swirl the flask alternating clockwise and anticlockwise to dissolve the NaOH (see video above for technique used). It will start cloudy but go clear as the NaOH dissolves.
3) The solution will now be quite warm. Leave until it returns to room temperature, approximately 4-6 hours. pH should be no less than 12
4) Add 100g of MHRB via the funnel into the flask. Do this a bit at a time as the light powder will probably clog the funnel. I used the long spoon handle to loosen when needed
5) Swirl as before to mix the MHRB into the solution. Let it sit for 15 mins and break up any large clumps with the spoon if needed
6) Perform step 5 8 times, and should look like a consistent black soup by the end
7) Add 150ml of solvent (Bartoline) to the flask
8) Swirl as before for 3 minutes then let the flask sit for 3 hours to separate into two distinct layers (MHRB soup at the bottom and solvent at the top)
9) Perform step 8 4 times
10) Carefully pipette the top layer of solvent into the Pyrex dish, making sure not to pull up any of the MHRB soup
11) Seal the Pyrex dish and place in the freezer for 12-24 hours. If seal is not good, wrap the dish in cling film first
12) Remove from the freezer and use the funnel to pour the excess solvent into a bottle to be kept and used for subsequent pulls
13) Lean the Pyrex dish at around 45 degree angle on top of kitchen paper and leave for 12 hours for the remaining solvent to drain/evaporate (other solvents may evaporate quicker but the Bartoline Low Odour seems to be verrrry slow). A fan can also add an air current over the tray to aid drying time, just make sure it doesn't blow dust etc onto the crystals, or be strong enough to dislodge the drying crystals from the glass
14) Once all the solvent has evaporated, scrape the DMT crystals from the Pyrex dish with a razor blade or similar instrument
15) Repeat from step 7 for subsequent pulls
Results:
All in all i ran through three pulls with the above:
Pull 1 = 0.66mg
Pull 2 = 0.50mg
Pull 3 = no crystals at all
After all this i managed to make 1.16g crystals with the first pull being very white and second one having only a hint of yellow. There was a distinct smell of the Bartoline solvent to the product though which kept nagging at me. I made a brief and unsuccessful first attempt at smoking 15mg in a glass bulb pipe. It was harsh and hit the back of my throat quite a bit, plus made my lips and tongue a little numb. Advice on the forums suggested that i was burning the DMT and that was undoubtedly true but i couldn't shake the presence of the Bartoline. Poor technique aside, i investigated how to clean up the crystals so that i'd feel more confident in their quality, which i hoped in turn would improve the experience as a whole when i did finally get the technique down.
To begin with i first i thought that crushing/cutting the crystals might help to release any solvent trapped there. I dumped the 0.5mg from my second pull onto a mirror and went to town on it with a razor blade (as if i was chopping up coke!), then carefully sandwiched it between sheets of coffee filters with a heavy book on top, hoping that any solvent would be released and absorbed. Unsurprisingly it didn't make a lot of difference... maybe a little but i could still smell the white spirit. Some more research and i saw the following:
wiki.dmt-nexus.me
Next I bought some Heptane online and made Sodium Carbonate by cooking 3g Bicarbonate of Soda for 1 hour, then followed the wash technique from the link above. Another freeze precipitation for 24 hours and the Heptane evaporated amazingly fast at the drying stage. Even the smell of it was pleasant compared to the Bartonline, the difference was night and day!
I did a separate wash on each of the two pulls, and when all was said and done the final amounts were:
Pull 1 wash = 0.348mg
Pull 2 wash = 0.259mg
I understand this is a pretty low yield from 100g of MHRB and i'm positive some DMT will have been lost during the wash steps, but the result was incredibly fluffy and white as snow, especially from pull 1. I've told myself i'd rather have something of as best quality as i can make but a lower amount, rather than a higher amount with unwanted stuff inside it. But some things for me to consider/learn for next time:
1) Selection of the initial solvent seems very hit and miss. Quality varies from brand to brand, as well as bottles within a brand itself. The Bartoline was the first to come back with a clear evaporation test.
2) I'll try using Heptane straight off the bat rather than the Bartoline (i'll keep that for cleaning my paint brushes!) Hopefully this will mean the crystals will not have the awful smell and not require the subsequent wash step where more of the yield can be lost. Plus it'll speed up the evaporation stage immensely.
3) Agitate the MHRB/Heptane mix a little more. I was perhaps a little over-cautious trying not to create an emulsion. A better mix will hopefully pull more DMT into the Heptane to precipitate out later.
4) I might also experiment with a lower amount of NaOH (50g), higher amount of distilled water (850-900ml) and lower amount of Heptane (100ml). The larger volume of water will raise the liquid in the flask to the top which will should remove much more air when sealed, and hopefully lower the risk of an emulsion forming when agitated. Possibly make about 950ml first, carefully separate off around 150ml before adding the Heptane. Then fill up the flask to the top with NaOH solution using a pipette.
5) Slow down the cooling process by placing the Pyrex dish into the fridge for a few hours first before going into the freezer. Also start the freezer on its highest temperature and slowly dial the setting down over time to its lowest. Also make sure not to slam the fridge door when going in and out for regular use, to hopefully not disturb the formation of crystals in the freezer compartment!
I don't really care about the size of the crystals in and off itself, only that i hear with smaller crystals the chance of getting other substances in the final result increases.
6) Gently warm the flask in a water bath prior to pulling the NSP
Pic of the final (meagre) result attached. Thoughts, advice, comments welcome
Apologies in advance for the wall of text, hopefully not too boring if you decide to read it! This is my first extraction so decided to document it for my own future reference as well as to share here. I came across a really helpful and easy to follow video on Youtube, and continued more research on there, across the internet and on Nexus.
It sounds very similar to some of the extraction teks that i'd read on the Nexus extraction page, specifically Norman's, but found the video format easier to follow. From this i made a shopping list and went through the instructions to transcribe into my own words and thought process.
Materials bought:
100g MHRB
1kg Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) - £9.94
5L Distilled Water - £9.49
2L Bartoline Low Odour White Spirit - £9.50
(1L Heptane - £21.80)
Equipment bought:
Half-face Respirator with Goggles - £18.97
Nitrile Gloves - £4.49
1000ml Borosilicate Erlenmeyer Flask w/ screw lid - £16.11
250ml Borosilicate Bottle w/ screw lid - £6.39
200ml Borosilicate Measuring Beaker - £5.99
Stainless Steel Funnel - £7.89
30cm long Stainless Steel Spoon - £3.49
x2 5ml Glass Pipettes - £5.98
pH Test Strips - £3.69
Pyrex Dishes w/ lids - £24.99
All prices include p&p, with plenty of leftover NaOH, water and Bartoline for future extractions. I could probably have got things cheaper if i'd shopped around more.
Method:
(Make sure to wear gloves, mask and eye protection. NaOH is nasty stuff and MHRB in powder form gets into the air very easily. Also make sure there is plenty of water or a water source to clean/dilute any spills)
1) Pour 750ml distilled water into the Erlenmeyer flask
2) In four 25g stages, add a total of 100g NaOH to the flask. This is an exothermic reaction and will cause the water to heat up, which is why its broken down into smaller steps. At each stage, swirl the flask alternating clockwise and anticlockwise to dissolve the NaOH (see video above for technique used). It will start cloudy but go clear as the NaOH dissolves.
3) The solution will now be quite warm. Leave until it returns to room temperature, approximately 4-6 hours. pH should be no less than 12
4) Add 100g of MHRB via the funnel into the flask. Do this a bit at a time as the light powder will probably clog the funnel. I used the long spoon handle to loosen when needed
5) Swirl as before to mix the MHRB into the solution. Let it sit for 15 mins and break up any large clumps with the spoon if needed
6) Perform step 5 8 times, and should look like a consistent black soup by the end
7) Add 150ml of solvent (Bartoline) to the flask
8) Swirl as before for 3 minutes then let the flask sit for 3 hours to separate into two distinct layers (MHRB soup at the bottom and solvent at the top)
9) Perform step 8 4 times
10) Carefully pipette the top layer of solvent into the Pyrex dish, making sure not to pull up any of the MHRB soup
11) Seal the Pyrex dish and place in the freezer for 12-24 hours. If seal is not good, wrap the dish in cling film first
12) Remove from the freezer and use the funnel to pour the excess solvent into a bottle to be kept and used for subsequent pulls
13) Lean the Pyrex dish at around 45 degree angle on top of kitchen paper and leave for 12 hours for the remaining solvent to drain/evaporate (other solvents may evaporate quicker but the Bartoline Low Odour seems to be verrrry slow). A fan can also add an air current over the tray to aid drying time, just make sure it doesn't blow dust etc onto the crystals, or be strong enough to dislodge the drying crystals from the glass
14) Once all the solvent has evaporated, scrape the DMT crystals from the Pyrex dish with a razor blade or similar instrument
15) Repeat from step 7 for subsequent pulls
Results:
All in all i ran through three pulls with the above:
Pull 1 = 0.66mg
Pull 2 = 0.50mg
Pull 3 = no crystals at all
After all this i managed to make 1.16g crystals with the first pull being very white and second one having only a hint of yellow. There was a distinct smell of the Bartoline solvent to the product though which kept nagging at me. I made a brief and unsuccessful first attempt at smoking 15mg in a glass bulb pipe. It was harsh and hit the back of my throat quite a bit, plus made my lips and tongue a little numb. Advice on the forums suggested that i was burning the DMT and that was undoubtedly true but i couldn't shake the presence of the Bartoline. Poor technique aside, i investigated how to clean up the crystals so that i'd feel more confident in their quality, which i hoped in turn would improve the experience as a whole when i did finally get the technique down.
To begin with i first i thought that crushing/cutting the crystals might help to release any solvent trapped there. I dumped the 0.5mg from my second pull onto a mirror and went to town on it with a razor blade (as if i was chopping up coke!), then carefully sandwiched it between sheets of coffee filters with a heavy book on top, hoping that any solvent would be released and absorbed. Unsurprisingly it didn't make a lot of difference... maybe a little but i could still smell the white spirit. Some more research and i saw the following:
Vovin's tek - DMT-Nexus Wiki
Next I bought some Heptane online and made Sodium Carbonate by cooking 3g Bicarbonate of Soda for 1 hour, then followed the wash technique from the link above. Another freeze precipitation for 24 hours and the Heptane evaporated amazingly fast at the drying stage. Even the smell of it was pleasant compared to the Bartonline, the difference was night and day!
I did a separate wash on each of the two pulls, and when all was said and done the final amounts were:
Pull 1 wash = 0.348mg
Pull 2 wash = 0.259mg
I understand this is a pretty low yield from 100g of MHRB and i'm positive some DMT will have been lost during the wash steps, but the result was incredibly fluffy and white as snow, especially from pull 1. I've told myself i'd rather have something of as best quality as i can make but a lower amount, rather than a higher amount with unwanted stuff inside it. But some things for me to consider/learn for next time:
1) Selection of the initial solvent seems very hit and miss. Quality varies from brand to brand, as well as bottles within a brand itself. The Bartoline was the first to come back with a clear evaporation test.
2) I'll try using Heptane straight off the bat rather than the Bartoline (i'll keep that for cleaning my paint brushes!) Hopefully this will mean the crystals will not have the awful smell and not require the subsequent wash step where more of the yield can be lost. Plus it'll speed up the evaporation stage immensely.
3) Agitate the MHRB/Heptane mix a little more. I was perhaps a little over-cautious trying not to create an emulsion. A better mix will hopefully pull more DMT into the Heptane to precipitate out later.
4) I might also experiment with a lower amount of NaOH (50g), higher amount of distilled water (850-900ml) and lower amount of Heptane (100ml). The larger volume of water will raise the liquid in the flask to the top which will should remove much more air when sealed, and hopefully lower the risk of an emulsion forming when agitated. Possibly make about 950ml first, carefully separate off around 150ml before adding the Heptane. Then fill up the flask to the top with NaOH solution using a pipette.
5) Slow down the cooling process by placing the Pyrex dish into the fridge for a few hours first before going into the freezer. Also start the freezer on its highest temperature and slowly dial the setting down over time to its lowest. Also make sure not to slam the fridge door when going in and out for regular use, to hopefully not disturb the formation of crystals in the freezer compartment!
I don't really care about the size of the crystals in and off itself, only that i hear with smaller crystals the chance of getting other substances in the final result increases.6) Gently warm the flask in a water bath prior to pulling the NSP
Pic of the final (meagre) result attached. Thoughts, advice, comments welcome
