Three seems to be the magik number for extractions and three was the magic number for me because it wasn't until my third try that I was able to get some decent crystals from MHRB.
Before I started I read quite a few teks and decided on
Vovin's, because I thought it would be good to try a tek with the least shortcuts. The idea being that I'd have more chance of success and I'd learn more.
The first couple of tries I didn't see anything when I performed the defat so i cut it out on the third try. I also have misgivings about the freeze precip - if slow evap gives bigger crystals, why not try that and maybe get even bigger crystals with recrystallization? I wasn't in any hurry so I let my first extract evaporate at room temperature or even a little lower (window cracked, fan blowing over extract in pyrex baking dish covered with paper towels, low temps outside) for a couple of days. Hey, crystals!
For my second pull I added a bit more lye water and doubled the naphtha. I guess i was a little careless because I got a little lye in the extract but this time I'm mostly worried about crystals. I plan to keep doing extracts until I stop getting magic, then combine the crystals, clean and recrystallize. Round two had a lot more DMT
(yeah, I know, I got a little MHRB/lye in there, my bad)
which turned into this:
The third pull is evaporating now. Tomorrow is day 2 for it and I should be able to tell then how much more magic is left in my MHRB.
I read an interesting idea on a post somewhere, about adding supersaturated solution to a DMT crystal one drop at a time to get a super-sized crystal. From what I read about crystals here (
Introduction to Growing Crystals) and in the experiments at that web site, this just might be possible. I'll keep you posted!
peace
Phaedris