Hi,

Someone extracted a short while ago. And while normally he did the same procedure of a normal dry/lime tek, this time some things were different and new equipment came to use. Mainly this:
http://multimedia.1-2-3....612308_00001_386x280.jpg

Trying to remember as close to memory as possible it went something like this:

500g MHRB was mixed with some water and vinegar in a reasonably big pot using an electric handmixer, at this point all was by eye, the only thing important was that it was soupy enough to be heated without burning but not to wet, since that was crucial for later on.

The reasonably big pot was placed in an even bigger pot (fitted perfectly half size) with boiling water, as in indirect, max 100° C warm heating and continued to mix with e-handmixer for about 30 minutes. At this point the vinegar smell was quite harsh and the color already changed from dark-earth-red to little darker-brown-red.

At this point still submerged in a boiling water bath, for every 4 parts of MHRB 3 parts of CaOH was added (500*0.75 = 375).
Now,
important,
more water was needed to be able to continue using even an e-handmixer,
so water was added,
slowly,
just enough to make the consistency mixable and at the given (still hot) temperature homogenous. Handmixer was applied for 30 minutes longer, as was the hot water bath, yielding strong ammonia like stink.

Pot was set aside for 12 hours.

Next day, the homogenous consistency fell apart quite drastically and there was no mousse consistency left. Instead it was a semi-dry consistency, somehow similar to half dried steam espresso machine residue. Normally at this point more water would have been added to get back to mousse consistency. Dont do that !

3 Pulls were done, the usual way. 1st 15 minutes with mixing, 2nd 30 minutes with mixing, 3rd 1 hour with mixing, always simple pouring out of the pot (not spilling) and not caring for absorbed naphtha.
Consistency did not change, individual MHRB particles were still visible, like ground coffee would be visible in the trash of a coffee shop.
One advantage was that the consistency allowed for a much higher surface area, but because previously hot base mousse (and mixed well) the whole thing was definitely on high enough Ph.
A 4th pull was then made with excess naphtha and mixed for another 1 hour or so, then as usual poured off. Now a french coffee press was used to get the remaining solvent, consistency was right (and is crucial), but unfortunately, hitting hard to get out the residue of the first press, the glass of the coffee press broke.

So an alternative was searched and found, which was the mentioned mashed potato & pasta press (huge household).

With this thing, stuffed with a round 10cm diameter t-shirt filter, the hell was pressed out of the MHRB.
First press, literally, the otherwise orange oil of MHRB, could be seen pouring out and collecting at the bottom of my collecting jar. Maybe it was more the water I added the other day, or I dont know, but it was easy to separate. And the amount of naphtha that was still present in the mix was substantial, to say the least. The Bark was DRY, when finished. Gave me a warm feeling.

The amount of naphtha of all 4 pulls was quite high. Usually a gratin/baking dish was put directly on a hotplate, taking it off short before it seemed to ignite and then putting it back on. WARNING DANGEROUS.
So this time a small metal bowl was used that again fitted perfectly into a larger pot that served as a water bath. Only relatively late it was realized that heating naphtha helps to speed up evaporation, but using a steady airstream same time, speeds up even more (much). The more waves you make on the surface the more crystals you'll have on the "borderline", so take a gentle fan (manual fan or hairdryer with adequate distance). Reduce to amount so that it becomes cloudy when air-temp and do freeze percip. or reduce even more and be patient to see beautiful needle, prism or whatever crystal growth on you window bench.

Now altogether, a huge improvement was made in yield, from previously 1.2% max, sometimes as little as 0.6% (bad day), to 7.92g of slightly yellow from 500g of MHRB, which makes 1.58% yield. That is the max ever extracted (at least here, as I heard), and it seemed really easy, tools being present.

Can only recommend this tool and this consistency.

All the best,
Good luck whatever you do, everyone.


I meant the max SWIM ever extracted
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Thanks for the report, my last experience also encourages using a press, and it's good to read that layer separation after pressing is not complicated. Great yield.

Wow thanks for the input that is definitely a noticeable amount but I thought it has been reported to be around 2% max.

// sorry to revive a thread that's been dead for nearly 7 months but quetz just linked me his thread in my recent thread on q21's tek

Ok, so the main differences or additions to q21's tek that I found you did were:
-you didn't add boiling water during acidification; instead, you heated the mix after adding vinegar & water by indirectly heating it with 100 F boiling water for 30 min.
-you didn't do a hot bath when you pulled the solvent, like the tek says
-lastly, you used a press to gather the remaining solvent

any other additions that I missed or recommendations for increasing the yield of this tek?

Hi,

well, normally yes I start with near boiling water and room temp vinegar but keep it hot by the mentioned water bath for some time, maybe longer than 30 minutes. And yes, I guess I didn't mention it, but I also pull in that same water bath, which keeps the naphtha and mix hot. I didn't know the tek states that, as imo it is not required. Pulling with room temperature naphtha actually yields less yellow spice. For that reason by now I only pull with hot naphtha for the last pull and keep it separate from the other pulls.

Good luck !