hey guys,

i'm sorry to ask such a basic question but with my current ingredients it appears i have to mix different teks to get this to work and it's getting much too confusing for me.

Currently there is 100gr MHRB (inner bark finely powdered) with 200ml white vinegar and 600ml distilled water being heated on the stove (just under boiling temp) for one hour.

Next, as opposed to adding LIME for basifying, i'll be using NaOH, and unsure how much to use. I read that with A/B less is needed than with STB which i used before. The question is how much, and i should probably mention there is no way for me to measure ph.

Am i using the right amount of liquid here? Can i add cold water to cool the acid mix down, before adding the lye?

Also, since this will be the first time i'll be combining pulls, evapping to supersaturate, then freeze precip, how long do you suggest i wait before pull 1, 2 and 3?

thanks so much and my apologies if i have missed something in the teks/faqs.

Do you have a ph meter? if not just add enough Naoh untill the solution is black and then about 20% more...

You mix teks, you don't give full information, what kind of help you expect I really wonder.

You say you're shimming the vinegar/water/mhrb for 1 hour, do you plan to strain and do more boils (as in standars A/Bs), or leave as is and add lime (as in dryteks), which you also intend to substitute with lye?

Do a favour to yourself, stick with one tek and don't do substitutions. As I see you don't have enough chemical knowledge to fool with things around.

Infundibulum, I'm sorry for not having provided enough information. The 'mixing of teks' is simply a necessity as I currently don't have lime nor limonene. I have boiled and strained the powder twice, left to cool, added about 60 grams of naoh. The liquid is now almost black and i will add 100ml of warm naphtha later.

You're right, I don't have enough chemical knowledge but I am learning, and careful with my experiments. It's not so much mixing of teks as it is substituting the base ingredient, and while naoh requires more care than lime, I don't see how things could go terribly wrong if I'm carefully handling everything like I have with my STB extraction before.

I think what he meant is, dont 'mix' teks, just change your tek to another. Lime can only be used with dry teks, NaOH with wet teks. If you dont add enough water in wet teks, the naphtha will refuse to separate in two layers.

Btw, I would say 100ml is too much naphtha, better make smaller pulls. If you can make, say, 50-70ml naphtha pulls instead, and make more of them, its more efficient and you dont have to evaporate so much (or pre-evap before freeze precipitation).

Oh and, better add more NaOH till its completely black.

thanks endlessness, i'll follow your advice and report back.

edit: one pull remains, this is the current yield, probably not as efficient as it could have been but i'm not complaining. Thanks for the help everyone, this is so much fun