namaste fellow nexians, a great xmas for all!

im going to describe the problem as best as possible, i hope there is a good soul here that can help me today. pardon my writing, but im still in the force.



this MHRB has a very powerfull color, and becomes very dark and opaque with just like 1 hour of cooking. i started cooking 500g.

at some point the problem showed up, no one could find the pH markers. so i decided to continue the process eye balling the acid and the base.

So i used 1 liter of vineager, divided for the 3 boils to make the acid cooking. after 3 boils of 3 hours, time to put the Lye. with no pH meter and in the force, i asked for guidance about how much lye i should put in the solutiion, and an answer came very clear: 120gr (way to much i suspect!) all that lye became a sludge, and i mixed the over satured sludge to the acid cook. and some middle point something white started to precipitate, but stopped as the ph went event higher.

doing the firs pull with benzine, i noticed that the benzine stayed clear, with no color, this was when the force was coming down, and i finally started to suspect that the extractiong probably went wrong.

So the things i can think of, and need some advice:

can it be that this MHRB is just for coloring, or that its juts the bark, and not the root bark?

did not use enough acid (1/3 liter acetic acid for each extraction) .[i am used to a stronger acid wich i cant obtain here where i live in the moment] ?

and use to much lye (120g for 500g MHRB in 3 boils reduced to almost 2 liters)?

so what can i do to make up this mess? i really would like to have this ready for a special event in saturday, so i really would like to put the solvent in the freeze today

please give me some guidance!

love you all!

To start – you should not really be performing extractions while you are not fully of this world, it is a recipe for disaster in so many ways.

What tek are you working with? To me 1L of vinegar is a massive amount for 500g. You can easily work in the acid stage with ~1tbsp per litre water used and get to an adequate pH.

Did you say you kept boiling after inserting the lye? Don't do that.

When you add acetic acid, cut it with 2-3x that amount of water too. 100ml vinegar, 200-300ml water.

Why do you think anything is even wrong? Just cuz there is no yellowing? If you're removing the plant matter prior to adding the base/naptha then no yellowing should occur.

Evaporate your solution and see what's in it. Color is not an indicator of spice presence.

well, it was a wonderfull experience, and the spirits knew that in the moment of dealing with chemicals they had to lower the force.. unfortunatly they dont have much chemistry background but in general it added alot about learning to ritualize the process of extraction, and connect with the entities envolved.

my starting tek is from the dmt handbook. but i use jugs and seringes to simplify the process...
so it was acid base. i messed with the acid because im used to phosphorica acid, and didnt knew the quantity of vineager necessary

my usual setting is 500g mhrb water with ph 4, 3x 3 hour etraction, reduce to 1,5 lts to fit in the 2 l jug, basify until ph 12 (normaly around 80g of lye), and then 3 pulls with 150-200ml benzine, and freeze preicp.

i assumed something went wrong because usually in ALL extractions i did, the benzine started to become milky after it touches other new cold recipient.

and the fact of not controling right the ph bothered me also, so i tought something went wrong because of that factor, i dont know the tolerance of ph values, how much i can go far from the used values without it afecting the final stuff.

Du57, i did not say that, i added the lye to some warm water and added it to the mix, that was allready hot, but no further boiling.
I only did not try to evap the solution because im scarce of solvent right now.

Yea you definitely used more vinegar than necessary, but that isn't a problem, just wasteful. If anything, I don't think you used enough lye. It is really essential that you wait to do an extraction until you have a way of measuring the pH, and it is absolutely imperative that you extract with a clear head and no inhibition of motor skills or judgement. Personally, I wouldn't even recommend working with hazardous chemicals (such as lye) after having one beer or a couple of hits off a joint. As has been said, lack of color in the nonpolar solvent is in no way indicative of a lack of DMT present. If anything, it is an indication that your final product is likely to come out with less impurities than if the solvent were yellow-tinted.

I too got the impression that you continued "cooking" the solution after adding the lye. Don't do that. I'm a little confused what you mean by "all that lye became a sludge". Did adding the lye make the whole solution thick and sludgy? That would likely indicate a need to use more water.

Hi there MT!

Sorry to hear your extraction did not turn out quite as planned. I am guessing the lye/water mix you made turned to sludge due to the amount of water used. How much water did you use for the 120g of lye? You may have not used enough water, causing a "sludgy" result.

Using a ph meter is not essential IMO, but it definitely helps. I usually use about 200ml-500ml of vinegar mixed with 1,500ml of water and I all ways add more lye than necessary after reducing my combined boils. Is your brand of lye 100% caustic soda? Also, have you used the bark previously with good results?

I think you should add more lye and see if it helps at all. Have you used the same NPS in other extractions with good results? Saturation may also play a part... try evaporating your already saturated solvent and throw it back in the freezer. Speaking of freezers - is yours cold enough?

Hope you work out the kinks in your extraction. Good luck!

well, then i didnt express myself right, i defenitly would not do such thing.
i meant the lye became sludgy because i oversaturated 200 ml of water with 120gr of lye, just that.

as i told it was a wonderfull experience, my guides lowered the force and gave me a lot of lucidity in the moment of dealing with the chemicals. and they really insisted with doing the process with more friendly chems. for the first time in my life i was discusted with dealing with benzine and lye, and i allready did a lot of extraction, allways with those materials.

im aware of safety issues, but when you know you are under divine guidance, things allways go right, one way or another. having mother jurema with me during the whole process was a real blessing, and redifined my way of thinking about everything in the process, in matter of the materials to use, rituals to do, the energy to give.

yes is exactly that, and a little bit of sedimentation. im going to take the benzine from the solution, filter the solution again, add just a bit more of lye, and pull again.

yes its pure caustic soda, with some big xtals, really raw...

its the first time i try this batch, i got it from a local vendor, because i liked the energy he worked with it, so its the first time i didnt got it online. but what i found odd is that usually all the cooks i did, the acid cook looks like coffee, translucid brown. this one looks opaque, like when you add lye to the acid cook and it turns opaque and darker. this one only turns a little bit darker because it allready looks like that.

yes, i think my freezer is good.. whats the ideal temperature?

thank you

Regardless of whether or not you believe you are "under divine guidance", I still don't think it is safe to work with hazardous chemicals while experiencing the effects of any mind-altering substance, particularly one as powerful as dimethyltryptamine.

Personally, although it is not explicitly listed in the Attitude Page, I feel like this could be interpreted as something that falls into the category of "Taking Entheogens in an Unsafe or Irresponsible Settings", but that is not my decision to make.

I also don't know how the mods will feel about the fourth line in your last post. It's up to them to decide whether it is too specific to be allowed or not, but I think you'd probably be better off just not mentioning such things at all.

I agree with entheogenerator, it's seems a little dangerous to be dealing with those chemicals in such a state of mind. I lock my box everytime i trip for this reason. I had a very bad experience with 2c-e after having left a little out after starting a trip and the next thing i knew my cat was tripping with me. I was devestated and i was sure my cat was going to die (she didnt, but i must say our relationship is much closer now. After that experience i have since made sure that everything is put up and out of sight before i begin any kind of journey

well, maybe what i havent made explicit, is that the part of the extraction to be on the force of the medicine is while you do the acid cook, what means i have 12 hours to be in comunion with the "mind altering substance", come down, focus, feel lucid but still in contac with the other side, and then deal with the chems, with a lot more parcimony and care for myself rather when i do it in a normal state.

from the experience i had, i probably wont do any other cook without being in the force.

i took the advice of deleting that line, it really was to specific, but writing in the influence of the medicine the tip of my fingers were flowing with my toughs thanks

and for last and more important, the problem really was due to the excess of acid, as soon i added more lye and pulled again, the solvent did the expected reaction, become milky white as it touches the new cold bowl.

thank you all