A friend is asking me to post this since he has no online service at this time. He has done the Q21Q21's Tek with GOOD success but waited too long (few months) between the 1st and 2nd pull. When trying the pull (2nd) a few months later he got nothing. Is there something that could be added back to this to retrieve the goodies? You would think they would still be in there! Thanks

What solvent did you use on the first pull? What is the consistency of your basic bark mash? Have you checked the ph? Did you leave your basic mash in an open container? Whats your extraction vessel? Ive done this exact thing but havent really had your problem. Perhaps your second pull wasnt thorough enough? Ime the goodies were still there.

DMT sat in a highly alkaline soup should simply stay as DMT. As Talkswithtrees has pointed out, more information needed for an exact diagnosis.

I'd just be tempted to take the pH a fair bit higher with lye solution, warm to around 45 degrees centigrade in a water bath (without flame present) and then try pulling with a reliable non polar solvent.

If that doesn't work then you've lost it

This^
If your first pull was with naphtha it could've reduced the ph. Being that it is a dry tek I dont know if lye would be appropiate and I also would be very careful about adding water as well. In the past if my mixture got too wet it would retain my solvent but take that with a huge grain of salt because that may be a non issue if lye is involved (I was using lime which unlike lye does NOT fully disassociate in water).

I dont see why lye wouldnt work (it seems like it would but I havent tried it) but I believe q21 mentioning lye not working in his tek. NotTwo if youd care to chime in on the lye vs lime issue Id be very interested in hearing it.

Sorry if I came off as interrogating you but there is definitely reasons for those specific questions. Happy extracting I hope it goes well.

Well it's anyone's guess what's actually happened to the remaining spice. One might suspect that somehow the pH has dropped (due to bacterial action on the plant material??) and a sort of cover all would be to put the whole lot into strongly alkaline solution to ensure any salts got converted back to freebase. I don't think there's an issue with having lime (which might not be lime anymore if the acidity went up) and lye together - they're just alternative alkalis to use. This suggestion is turning it into a completely different method to Q21's so what he says about lye doesn't really apply anymore. Of course if the dmt got broken down by some reaction in this space of time then it's not going to be retrievable in any case but worth exploring the option that it turned into a salt first.

Good luck