cyb, in my last topic i talk about increasing ionic strength further through the use of multivalent cations like magnesium and calcium, and anions like phosphate and sulfate. In your tek you include an acid wash. I would recommend that you switch the acetic acid, which produces acetate ions in the final mixture, which carry a charge of -1. If you were to substitute that with phosphoric acid, the phosphoric acid would be converted to phosphate ions with a charge of -3. This would give them a cubed effect on the final ionic strength contribution of the acid used. I would even recommend finding some calcium biphosphate or sodium phosphate to add as a salt to the mix. The effect on ionic strength could be enormous. Just a thought. I'll try it if nobody else has by the time i am ready to start a new extraction.


edit: I think this may be the final push needed to get that magical 3% that used to be only a dream, now i believe it to be fully achievable.

I will be able to try this soon.

I would need a little help about how much phosphoric acid to use as it is stronger than acetic and where to get sodium phosphate. Is Trisodium Phosphate the same? Just go to the hardware store? Would I use the same amount as the Sodium chloride?

Great tek, is the acid step just in there in case you decide to go A/B and do filtering out of solid material and defat the solution ? I know you said it can be omitted but maybe mention this in the wiki page.

I imagine if I were a noob and then went on to learn about a full a/b tek after trying this one, I would be rather confused as to why I had added acid before. )

blueskiesbri
I assume your using 50g mhrb...are you sure it was mhrb?
The NPS layer can be dark yellow sometimes...if you have used too much heat or lye or left it in the jar for a long time...it can be this way.

Carmel colored goo doesn't sound right..
Does it smell active?
I would scrape it all up and re-crystalize it again using minimal warm solvent and re-freeze.

possible causes:
i.pulled some base layer with the solvent causing staining.
ii.the freezer wasn't cold enough to precipitate into xtals
iii. if you re-x'd...the sediment can be dark and waxy...this is the stuff you leave behind.

If you want to go over it further...start a new thread in the 'General Extractions Help' section and we can help you further.
That way this thread won't become cluttered.

"Hey gang, just wanted to chime in and say that cybs' tek has given me a 1.3g yield of fluffy fluffy white and I'm loving it. I used 50grams mhrb, basified overnight, naphtha pulls in the morn and then into the freezer for 18hours, I have found that if you want the xtals to grow long and pretty like mine you have to let it precipt for longer.. and that friends is all I got to say, cyb - you're the man!"

also if it helps I have found that my heat baths work best at 55 degrees cooling to 30 before I reheat, and for the last naphtha pull I shake the hell out of the base liquid and naphtha and put in in 60 degrees cooling to 30 for an hour or so and that separates it pretty solid, it also allows the naphtha to bring along some plant oils giving it a slight yellow appearance that will stick to the bottom of the pan but doesn't affect the scraping of crystals, I have found by doing it this way I don't end up with yellow xtals, I end up with bright white but a think layer of the oils below... so maybe that gives some insight...

This 200 + 140 = 340 ml water, why not saturating these with kitchen salt please?
Thank you.

why stop at 30 grams?
I have no idea if it would help anything to go with more salt but was just wondering where the limit is (to be effectively helping and not causing adverse effects in some way).

BTW, just started my very first extraction ever on 50 gr, with 0.5 ml phosphoric acid, fingers crossed
I will check on pH to see how many lye is needed to get to pH 12.
It is 12 we have to reach right? Or is it more?