What did I make and what should I do with it? Oxidisation vs Contamination

[5A8R3]

So I will go into the full process if necessary but in short, I pulled much less than I expected from the first attempt so I did further pulls and received a more expected amount of extract. Basically these are the results of 1 soup and 2 precipitations.
However they are all different as you can see in the attached images.

1. First precipitation, scraped with a spatula direct onto filter paper to dry fast, very happy with this fluffy white beauty
2. First precipitation, left on glass dish to dry then scraped with razor, was still wet and too kages to dry, looks dirty greyish yellow :S
3. Second precipitation, scraped with spatula as before, naptha was yellowish before precip
4. Second precipitation, with razor as before, hello earwax!

So, wat is going on? Is this oxidisation or plant oils entering the naptha?
Some points:
-I am very careful not to introduce any of the lye solution into the naptha
-I try to dry asap but with NO airflow

After spending about 3 hours reading stickies, I hear that this waxxy stuff in p4 is not necessarily bad apparently to the contrary so I will save some to see firsthand.
However, I am looking to purify.
I have done a re-X with hot Heptane once before but resulted into yellow crystal again, not sure if I dried it fast enough.
Is it necessary to do a Zinc wash at this point to achieve the white crystal purity?

 

[Nereus]

Apart from the fact that it looks like a lot :shock: there is nothing concerning in particular, but an analysis under the naked eye would do it much more justice. The pics show nothing wrong as stated.

It's well known that latter pulls will yield a more off white end product and more yellow, even red (for the last pull) depending on various things involved in the extraction process, as temperature, solvent type, mixing and separation times.

I recommend looking over this thread.

Color oxidation occurs in time i.e even pure white extracts turn white-grey over time given some storage conditions. Mind you this is not actual alkaloid oxidation that occurs from constant oxygen exposure.

My advice is to save the white batch for (very) special occasions with loved ones
Collect the rest and perform a couple of re-x until you're satisfied. Don't expect white after one or two re-x's with evaporation. To render it white you've got to take the patience route, re-x it at least a couple of times and add slow cooling and freeze precip.

In the future however, if you want a pure white extract, do not use heat/extract at room temp and mix nps into aqueous layer for shorter times i.e solvent should only become light yellow tinged and not a deeper yellow.

There is also the option of back-salting as a cleanup procedure which, when performed accordingly, will always yield a white end product.

One question though: what's so wrong with full spectrum?

 

[TGO]

One question though: what's so wrong with full spectrum?

This is my question as well. Red, yellow, and white have all been analyzed by members here at the Nexus through GC-MS and LC-MS. Assuming your starting material was Mimosa, the research shows that the extracts tend to contain 90% or more DMT. This simply means that color is not necessarily a good indicator of purity. If you would like to read about those particular results, consult the following thread:

red yellow white spice whats the difference?

I don't want to repeat anything Nereus said, it is all good advice (especially that thread by Endlessness), and it all looks good to me too!

Well done!

 

[5A8R3]

I guess the practical answer to that is simply to produce a smoother vapor that is easier for non-smokers to inhale.
Apart from that, I am just an obsessive perfectionist and strive for a consistent outcome in most of my work.

It is nice though for psychological reasons to know that these variances aren't indicative of purity and infact these nuggets of ear wax are calling me... they look tasty, I think I will regard them as special as the white stuff and give them their own home

Thanks for answering a question you have probably answered a thousand times.
You have clarified my direction.