This may be an idiotic question, but for years I have never understood the concept of wash and throw. So does one boil Syrian Rue seeds for instance, throw away the water, put more water, boil again, maybe once or twice more, then drink the last water on the third time for instance? Also why would one do this?

I think you might have the concept of a wash mixed up with the boiling process/bath.

When you are boiling your starting material (seeds, bark, etc...), it is usually recommended to do several boils and then reduce. You don't discard each boil; you set the water aside and in the end you combine it all (minus your starting material) and reduce it to a more manageable about of liquid via low heat.

A wash, as I understand it, is the process of removing excess salts, bases (NaOH or Na2CO3), or other impurities. This process is pretty simple and all you're doing is essentially just rinsing your extract until you feel confident that it's clean. You can discard the water used after each rinse, but I usually decant it all to another container because it still has some goodies in it that will fall out once the solution settles.

Easy harmalas wash

"When you are boiling your starting material (seeds, bark, etc...), it is usually recommended to do several boils and then reduce. You don't discard each boil; you set the water aside and in the end you combine it all (minus your starting material) and reduce it to a more manageable about of liquid via low heat. "

Why do this?, just wondering


So you boil, remove the water, set it aside, add new water, boil that, over and over, combine and drink?

Yeah pretty much. Just remember to reduce!

The reason is because a single boil is not going to pull out all of the desirables. Several boils are needed if you want to get everything out of your starting material, and fresh water is going to pull out much more than water that is already saturated with alkaloids and all sorts of other plant matter that got pulled. After 3 or more boils you will end up with a lot of liquid, and it's much easier to work with smaller volumes. Therefore you would take all of your liquid extract and put it all in one pot to sit over low heat. The heat will cause the liquid to evaporate (while your alks stay behind) and decrease the total volume of the extract. Again, it's a lot easier to work with 500mL of tea than it is trying to deal with a gallon or two of it.

There is all sorts of great info in the wiki and all over the forum explaining the process of extractions for lay-people. It's important to understand the underlying principles for an extraction as opposed to following a tek blindly as if it's a cake recipe. Helps to avoid problems further on down the road, and can prepare you for any issues that will inevitably arise. Curiosity is great, but there is extensive information on the forum that should answer the vast majority of questions like these. Here is a great article in the wiki that covers the fundamental principles behind the various extraction methods on the Nexus.

By no means am I an extraction wiz, but hopefully this was helpful and answered your questions

What do you mean by reduce?

A reduction in volume. Say you have 1000mL of tea, you want to reduce it to 500mL so its not as much material to deal with. When you heat the tea it will evaporate as steam. Over time your 1000mL will reduce to 500mL. You do not lose your alkaloids in the evaporation, they are just more "compressed" in the remaining solution left behind.

Think of it like a shot of espresso vs a cup of regular coffee.

Take a gander at this thread. You might find a lot of your questions answered and if not it's a good place to ask for some help.

Do you think that that method should be used for all types of "teas"? San Pedro and the like for example?

Yeah most definitely. As I'm sure you know, most psychedelic concoctions aren't very tasty and can be hard to stomach. I'd much rather be able to get it all down in a gulp or two than have to drink like a liter of it. I usually try to boil everything down so each dose is roughly comparable to a small cup of tea, or maybe even a shot.