This is my first time doing this. I'm ready to pull the naptha out and put it in the freezer but I have three layers in my jar and some crystals. Can anyone tell me what this is?

How hard were you shaking that bottle while you were mixing the solvent? Looks like a bit if an emulsion. Gotta mix gently to avoid that.

You could put the bottle in a warm water bath for a while to break it. I've also heard that adding a bit more base can help.

Or waiting longer. It will usually settle over time. Sometimes it takes a lot of time though.

Your crystals do look sexy though

Nice crystals indeed!

I agree the middle layer looks like an emulsion. How long has it been since you shook it last?

Hope it works out for you!

Doog

Lately I've been lightly stirring my mixture as opposed to shaking it to avoid emulsions. I too, am curious about how long since you last shook the mixture, I've never seen crystals form inside the vessel before like that. Then again I've only got a handful of extractions under my belt so I don't have the best experience.

What I've found to work best for me is 5 shake and settles, followed by 5 roll/swirl and settles. And I've never seen crystals in the solvent layer either. Do you know what the ambient temp where you stored it was? Or do you have a guess at how saturated the naphtha might be? That could cause the crystals to crash out.

Also, out of curiosity, how large of an extraction did you do and how many ml of naphtha did you use?