SWIM is curious about the container used for shaking during the basifying step of an extraction tek (Cybs' trek) and whether or not the contact that the caustic solution makes with the cap should be of any concern. Has anyone ever experienced a reaction with the cap because of the material it is made of (plastic or worse-aluminum)? I understand that contact is brief, but still want to know if it should be a concern.

Yes it should definitely be a concern. In my first extraction I used a bottle for my mini ab that had a rubber o-ring and a plastic cap and halfway through it had already significantly degraded/cracked... what I did was to cut a piece of a chemical resistant glove and make my own seal.

Hope this helps, good luck with your endeavors

Good call. Thanks, Firemetal. I think I'll take your advice and cut up a latex glove to make a gasket. Don't want to risk any leaks.

People on here are incredibly cautious but I don't see the harm as any leakage would be so small that it wouldn't cause much harm to your endocrine system. If it was sitting there for months along with naphtha maybe I wouldn't touch it.

I use a hdpe/pp lined ring and I don't have any health defects.

I also convert to fumarate and wash with acetone to remove plastics residue.

I am not sure if my cap is aluminium or stainless, not sure how toxic alu-oxide is though... small quanities and only in reacton for 15 minutes though? As soon as a start seeing my spice turn silver I will take ppls advice on here

p.s. my jars leak like crazy sometimes so I put them all in a big hdpe bucket and pour the spillage back in after the shakes. On the final pulls I pour boiling water in the bucket and it heats them all up as warm naphtha pulls more spice.

May help:

http://www.coleparmer.com/Chemical-Resistance



http://csmedia2.corning....6_CapsPlasticLabware.pdf
http://catalog2.corning.com/LifeSciences/en-US/Shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=1395-32TS(Lifesciences)&categoryname=


http://www.ebay.com/itm/111167572992
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111573682656
http://www.ebay.com/itm/331660966964
http://www.ebay.com/itm/231658633378

NOT LATEX, you'll be dealing with the same type of problem... go to the hardware store and buy a set of chemical resistant gloves. They are thicker than latex and resistant to solvents and lye. I got three pairs... one for wearing during my extractions (safety first!), one to cut up, and one for backup.

Personally I would rather have something that I KNOW doesn't have contamination rather than have to go through processes to clean it

.

Burn the skin? I wasn't suggesting not wearing protection? You seem to not think it is a good idea but you haven't stated why you think my methods are harmful. Shaking jars in a big hdpe tub is very safe, it is also a great idea forr safety incase your jar accidentally smashes or cracks which is a great idea for safety. Why not try and look at the positives of my suggestions than finding the negatives?

As for the chemical resistance safety, if you want to make claims of whether that is unsafe you have a responsibility to give evidence otherwise your statement would be worthless. So far all I can see is that prolonged exposure of naphtha and plastics promotes degradation of plastics and would have slight negative impacts on the endocrine system if consumed but doesn't state how much plasticizers would leach in and how harmful that would be. I haven't seen any evidence on here to suggest that such a minute quantity coming in to contact for such a short time will produce enough byproducts to be of harm... especially with re-x washes. I would think that there is more harm in microwaving a tv dinner and slightly melting the plastic container than naphtha reactions but I think it is more just that people want to promote safety in the case of ignorance which is a good idea but some of us don't have access to ideal equipment like glass & stainless jars that don't spill slightly etc. Please feel free to look in to this more if you have the time and curiosity as I would like to be proven wrong about what I assume for safetys sake.

Plus, warm baths are a great idea! something that you can't get otherwise with a small pot and one jar at a time!

Glass bottle + glass stopper costs like $10 excl. shipping if you check out on the bargains.
PTFE Stopper 29/32 Joint Size (Group of 10 pieces) $6 excl. shipping

In case of aluminium i say it's a big concern
I used the same bottle for two extractions, cap is aluminium with plastic protection and on the second time the plastic protection fell while pulling and the aluminium started melting fast. I changed the cap and continued the extraction the solution was bubbling for some time and white solid pieces formed between the two layers i knew that aluminium oxide(not sure what form of aluminium was that) is soluble in nps but i thought this wouldn't be a big problem since the evaporation temperature is high. I made changa with it and tried it and i really regret it, i realised that aluminium particles can travel along the smoke even if they don't evaporate...
i'm still suffering till now. aluminium is toxic and it feels like my throat is perforated (i'd be dead by now if that is true) or burned. It doesn't hurt at all but it just doesn't feel right, it's been three weeks and i still get that ugly feeling in my throat for around an hour during the day and i feel completely healthy and normal when it goes away. i don't understand what is going on, i will see a doctor soon.
I'm afraid of smoking anything anymore so please be careful

Jesus, sorry to hear that... I just googled it and it seems it produces hydrogen gas also which can cause jars to explode if properly sealed! Hope the wiki states no aluminium. If you want to recorrect your batch you can wash with acetone if in fumarate salt form.



Thanks bro but I will just ghetto rig it, lol. My jars are a lot less cheaper than that and are over 2L in size.