Hello everyone. I need some help regarding Noman's Tek (MHRB Extraction) which seems to be a little misleading in some parts.

First off, here is the problem I have:
I'm on step 2 (http://www.erowid.org/plants/mimosa/mimosa_chemistry1.shtml) where you add the granulated lye crystals to the distilled water. I'm using Draino Kitchen Crystals (says contains sodium hydroxide and no phosphates) but I noticed there were little green granules mixed with some silver ribbon chunks in the can and this is different than the typical sodium hydroxide crystals I've seen in college chemistry labs. After the addition of 3000mL distilled water, the green granules appear to have fully dissolved in solution but the silver ribbons do not appear to have dissolved fully with the lye but have turned black and broken up somewhat. Does anyone know what they are, if they are safe to be, and what effect they have on the outcome of the final product as in, will they go awake when the final product is smoked or is this potentially toxic?

I do not want to proceed to step 3 (adding the mimosa hostillis root bark powder) before confirming what these objects are and if it is safe to use Draino Kitchen Crystals.

Here is what I am using:
100g mimosa hostillis root bark powder
3000mL distilled water
100g Draino Kitchen Crystals (sodium hydroxide)
200mL VM&P naphtha (updated Tek calls for double amount of water to be used so should I likewise change the amount of naphtha in the original which calls for 1mL naphtha per 15mL water to 2mL naphtha to 30mL of water? If my calculations are correct, this means 200mL naphtha for 3000mL water... right?

Also, in the addendum in the Tek found here: http://www.erowid.org/pl.../mimosa_chemistry1.shtml for step 2, it calls for 1.5 to 2x water being used per gram of prepowdered bark meaning I prepared the bark powder from girding up the bark myself. Is this correct or am I diluting the mixture too much?

Also, should I drop this, use new water and buy the white sodium hydroxide crystals? Does anyone have a good place to get these that has worked for them in the past? I believe Red Devil Lye Crystals are no longer sold and I was told that I need to get "food grade" sodium hydroxide crystals. Please let me know guys!

Here are pictures of the solution and crystals in question:

Hi there, my advise is to bin the Draino and get some pure lye crystals. All those colors in that stuff dont look to good to use.

Have you checked the MSDS for the Draino?

if you care about your health, dont use this stuff! get some pure sodium hydroxide, or if its hard to find, start researching other bases, like KOH, or look into 'dry' teks like amor fati's non-toxic approach or q21q21's tek which use calcium hydroxide as a base.

Yeah I had a feeling that the Draino was bad news!! I'll scrap that right away then.

Anyone have any good recommendations as far as brands for the sodium hydroxide? Is it safe to buy off ebay, and should it be food grade? or should I be looking for a specific brand in which people have had notable success with?

Food grade caustic soda mmm thats a new one

What you want is white powdered pure sodium hydroxide, it is sold as a drain cleaner among other things. If you are in america i would assume that most hardware stores would sell it probably as caustic soda. its sold in the uk in the big diy chains.

good luck

Its a bitch to find in the US.

Heres what I mean... food grade:
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-lb...&hash=item19bb9c2d8a

technical grade:
http://cgi.ebay.com/4-lb...&hash=item1c0d474268

the seller claims:
"Q. What is difference between Food and Tech Grade?

# Food grade has a lower parts per million of heavy metal impurities. 80% of our soap makers prefer our food grade product."

so I'm not sure which to get or if that extra metal impurity would do something to the chemistry and structure of the final product. My guess would be 'go for food grade cause of the smoking'?

Just a tip for all looking for this stuff, if you search "Biodiesel Chemical Supplies" you will find everything you need, food grade.

Lye

more

LucidJ, thanks for the tip. Apparently thats the same site that sells the above mentioned sodium hydroxide pellets on ebay and it was a little more expensive but their website offers discounts that ebay did not offer and it ends up being cheaper (in the long run) buying from their home site! Now, they offer 25% on UPS shipping on all products and on top of that, they will take up to $3.00 off when you put "EDEPOT Reviewer" in the company name on the order form for doing a review for em. The sodium hydroxide will be coming tomorrow I presume!

Now, could someone cross check the water usage? I'm going with 2x the amount of water the original Noman's Tek instructions called for (after use of addendum 2) because of having to mash, grind, and powder the root bark. Is this correct or is this addendum only for those who have purchased the root bark already in powdered form? Here is a picture of the root bark powder which will be used and want to make sure the right amount of water is used:

Roebic crystal drain opener at LOWES in the plumbing section. its like 10 to 15 bucks depening on where you are.