OK, SWIM is pretty new to all this, but his technique is improving. He's using STB with MHRB, H2O, food-grade NaOH, and VM&P naphtha.

Couple questions:

1. When do you know that the sludge is depleted of DMT? Is that yellow goop just fats/tannins?

2. Putting jars of DMT-laden naphtha in the freezer to precipitate crystals -- Lid the jars or no?

3. Has anyone used the method of defatting MHRB powder with naphtha (no H2O) before adding filtered powder to the basified water (in Lazyman's Tek)? Results?

4. Can someone explain how to clean up the yellow sludge? Recrystallization or whatever?

Thanks.

1. let the sludge sit for at LEAST 2 weeks to get the majority..i have read reports that say if you let it sit for another year or so..you will get twice the yield..but that is a long time to hold onto the stuff..

2. put lids on...you dont want ice forming in there...also..when you take it out of the freezer to pour off that naphtha..do it very very quickly and then CLOSE the crystal jar..because when you take glass out of the freezer..water will start to condense on it..even the inside..so pour out your naphtha and then close the jar again..and let it sit upside down(this way any residual naphtha wont reabsorb the dmt) until it warms up to room temperature...this will enable your crystals to dry much much faster because there wont be any water on them

3. you dont need to defat mimosa..so just skip that step..

4. take your yellow sludge and put it in a shot glass full of naphtha...get it hot..not too hot..but hot..say 100 degrees or so...SWIM uses a mini hotplate or his PS3...then stir it around for say ten minutes or so...then pour off the naphtha from the yellow puddle at the bottom..and then throw your naphtha in the freezer...it should rextalize very fast...another thing you can do

is once you pour off the naphtha laden dmt...from the the yellow sludge...let your naphtha sit in a dark cupboard for a few days..it will slowly start to evaporate off..and you will be left with bigger crystals..but any oils picked up by the naphtha will also deposit..so its best to do a freeze recrystallization first

1) for STB, after naphtha pulls are not getting anything else out I will add some toulene and let it sit for a few weeks. Pull and evap, you'll be suprised at how much is left.

2) I always put a lid on my jars before sticking them in the freezer. I don't want my freezer smelling like naphtha and I don't want my spice to smell like a freezer! Plus it limits the amount of spills that can happen. Spilling naphtha in the freezer is a real mess.

3) not with a STB. One of the great things about an A/B extraction is the ability to defat during the acidic stage. Some people have tried soaking the bark with naphtha/xylene/toulene before adding lye and water in an attempt to defat, I have not, but they say they have some success with that method.

4) ok, sure, you need to check out threads on recrystalization. One of my issues with STB is the amount of yellow oils that come over. This does not happen as much with A/B extractions. A quick recrystalization:
Get your yellow spice, dry it.
Heat up naphtha (or bestine) until it is almost boiling

Pour 50mL or so into a mason jar that contains your spice. Notice that as the spice dissolves some yellow oily goop is left at the bottom of the jar and won't dissolve...good

Pour your naphtha containing the dissolved spice into another mason jar.

Keep the yellow goop at the bottom, you can pull more spice out of it, but more yellows will come out as well, but it is highly active.

I do not freeze precipitate my recrystalizations, I will put my mason jar in a dark place with the lid 1/2 on 1/2 off.

After 3-4 days your naphtha will be almost completely gone, and you will find that you have grown amazing clusters of glass shard spice.

Don't toss any naphtha that is still in the jar...either evap it all the way down to nothing, or pour off the remaining naphtha into yet another mason jar and stick in the freezer...the last bit of spice will fall out of the naphtha and can be easily collected.

This is my way of cleaning up the spice.

Also something you can do BEFORE you do your first freeze preciptation:

Take some sodium carbonate (baking soda stuck in the oven for a couple of hours on 350/400degrees) and mix as much as you possibly can in luke warm water. Pour off the water and leave any excess sodium carbonate in the container, you only want the water.

Now mix the water and the naphtha, shake, shake, shake. It will seperate easily. Remove the water and discard. It does not contain any spice, only waste products you don't want in your spice.

This is called washing your spice. It will remove any stray lye molecules that happened to come over with the DMT. It also will remove a SMALL portion of the yellow... Your end product will be just a little bit cleaner.

Using both of these methods I have detailed above you should be able to take the yellowest of spice and turn it into shimmering crystaline needles. Remember though, save that yellow goop. I will keep mine in a jar and add more and more everytime I recrystalize. When I have a good amount I will do another recrystalization on it and pull out a good amount of spice...and the leftovers provide a very different experience...but you can still breakthrough using the yellow goop.

good luck and PM me if you have any indepth questions.

Good advice so far. Thanks so much!