Hi, I was wondering if in the first step of the BLAB, letting the Mimosa soak for three days in vinegar, you could make a solution of Fumaric acid and use that instead. Thanks for the help!

i doubt it. water doesn't really hold allot of fumaric acid, so I think it would be weak solution. I suppose its worth a try. Vinegar is so cheap and easy to get hold of though.

And you will want to have it (vinegar) around anyway to counteract any high ph spills.

Good call madcap, the vinegar does serve more than one purpose! I might mess around with trying fumaric acid just out of sheer curiosity at a later date, but for my first try at BLAB, I should probably follow it to a T.

Truth is, so far AFAIK nobody made a side-by-side test to show whether the initial acid soak presents any benefit in terms of yield, as opposed to for example just going STB.

I have the feeling that for powdered bark there will be very little or no difference at all. In that case, maybe it would make no difference to add fumaric acid or vinegar. With bark in pieces it might make a difference though (but anyways its recommended to blend/powder the bark before extracting).

More testing would be necessary. If you wanna do a side-by-side extraction yourself, do let us know the results

Thats good advice endlessness. I am actually considering breaking up the pound of rootbark I have in half and doing one with the recommended vinegar soak and one following a standard STB procedure. I will definitely report back with my findings.