I am planning on performing an a/b on acacia. My acid of choice is going to be pure food grade citric acid, but when I added it to the water, it seemed like an oddly small amount (around a teaspoon or less) was necessary to bring four liters of tap water to ph 4. Since my ph meter is a cheap chinese one, I want to get some other information before I went ahead with the extraction. I am planning to do a defat so this is somewhat important.
Does anyone who has experience with using citric acid know if this is normal? How much do you typically use per liter? Thanks!

ps: I spent around 45 minutes using the search function and google and found nothing but people confirming that citric acid is a good choice in general

If you're set on using citric acid, please don't let this post deter you. Citrus acid should work just fine. I don't know the level of citric acid that is best, sorry.

That said, I've done several acid/base extractions and I've always used white vinegar as my acid. It's cheap, easy to obtain, and it works great.

For every 250 grams of Acacia Confusa Root Bark or Mimosa Hostilis Root Bark, I use a mixture of 1.5 cups white vinegar and 10 cups of water.

I've never measured the ph level, but it has always worked extremely well.

Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Thanks for your speedy response! But my roommates are barely alright with the idea of extraction to begin with, so anything as stanky as vinegar is out of the question and since I already purchased it and waited for it to arrive, the idea of switching acids seems unappealing.

maybe "barely alright" was a poor choice of words. they want dmt, but wish i could just magically make it appear also, why did you reply if you had no intention of helping me?

accidental double post, feel free to delete

Colour was telling you the rules of the DMT-Nexus so that way you can be a more responsible user on this forum. Please don't take it personally.

And if you and your roommates want DMT, then the best way is to extract it yourself. And the only way to properly do an extraction is for you and the people around you to be comfortable with the fact that you are doing an extraction. If you don't meet that criteria then you should either find a better place to do the extraction or put it off entirely until you can.

I fail to understand how "stanky vinegar" is a major issue. Like I said earlier, citric acid will work just fine, and there's no reason you can't use it, but I personally feel that white vinegar is easier to manage (others might disagree). Your extraction area won't "smell", unless you literally put your face in the cooking vessel. You could also use air fresheners or candles to mask the aroma if it bothers you that much. And after the defatting process (which should really only take ~2 hours) the smell will go away.

Personally, the vinegar smell is the least of my worries. If anything, I'm more worried about handling substances like lye and naphtha. Vinegar is a very common cooking ingredient. The smell isn't bad, and it goes away quickly.

Again, sorry nobody has given you a real answer on the citric acid question you originally asked. Be patient, or perhaps use the chat to get a faster response.

A pH calculator may help, citric acid is efficient as is tartaric, a table spoon of either should definitely bring a litre of water down to roughly pH 3 or lower.
For root bark powder taking the pH down to 2 if you put too much in wont be a problem it just needs more lye to basify the solution later.

Thanks dreamtripper! Thats very reassuring to hear

and poads, I understand coulor probably meant to help but I am aware of the forum rules and by definition, "barely alright" still means alright and thus what he(or she) linked me to was irrelevant. I would never invade in someones living space like that without their consent. They simply prefer not to be around and smell chemicals That being said, I understand how my wording made the situation sound different than it actually is