I know this has to have been asked before. A few searches on google are consistently cluttered.

1. Cooking the bark. I want to make a tea for Traditional use and on top of that use the same material to extract. Are there any problems with cooking for 3x3 hours in MHRB. Extreme amounts of fatty acids or other alkaloids in the extraction vessel come to mind as possible complications.

Secondly,

2. Low yields.

Is it bad bark to get 0.1-0.2% yields from MHRB and ACRB (i used two different sources) both had extremely low yield

Or rather, what are possible reasons. I am unable to get a very high Ph of 13.5 using a ton of NaOH. My color indicators are not getting above 12. Is this the reason for my yields? ive used both tap water and distilled. Also used solvents "wasbenzine" (worked in the past) and Heptane. Evapping didn't help.

I am trying again while cooking the bark and see it it makes a difference. Although, I fear the worst.

Thats weird. I've always had 2% yeilds with good mhrb. Acacia i've been consistently around 1% & up to 2 when i find high quality bark.
I've always used cybs tek.

Lye always gets ph very high for me. Goes thick sludgey black with 1:1 lye/mhrb. Havn't tested ph but it works well enough to get 1g per 50g bark.

I always do the acid bath for 8+ hrs at 120°f, then base in a cool water bath slowly with 10ml basic solution every minute or two & the glass stays relatively cool.
Basic soak for 12+hrs once its all been added & pull with naphtha in a heat bath.
I always wait for the naphtha to reach equilibrium with the basic solution (both at 120°. My spice comes out yellow even after a mini a/b, sodium carbonate wash, & then a final distilled water wash but upon smoking it doesn't seem to be particularly impure or dirty.

Brewing first & then extracting is the basic idea behind an a/b but i'd be weary of loosing spice to the heat during cooking if your not very careful with temp. Heat bath seems safer.

I assume by color indicators you mean ph strips, those work but are not very accurate. Try using a nice digital ph meter & see if the ph is really not getting high enough.

Freeze thaw & very finely powdering may also help alongside the long heated acid & basic soaks if the plant matter breaking down is the problem.

Keep in mind low quality rootbark is around fairly often & the time of year the bark you have was harvested may play a role in alkaloid content.

thank you very much! 2% yield is like a wet dream come true.



so this means it is safe to cook. Great!
Does decanting off of plant sediment affect yield in any significant numbers. Or is it safe to discard materials at this point?



Yes. I am determined to ruling this out.



Yup. This is wat I think. Harvest time could probably be the issue.
Or bad storage.