I shake mine as hard as I can for about 10-15 seconds. Is this enough time for everything to come across in to naphtha?

The solution settles over the next 20-30 seconds forming about half a centimetre of emulsion and leaves the rest of the naphtha to be extracted. That tiny emulsion won't prevent the spice from migrating will it?

I use a lot of lye and salt as I won't roll, I don't want to sit there for many many minutes swirling the jars unless it was actually enjoyable which it isn't. I just want to get in and get out asap.

There's a simple fact: Shaking will cause emulsion. Sometimes you can get away with it, sometimes not. I've had the same mentality as you; get in get out. Shake the crap out of them and try to get a clear separation (usually by applying heat). I get a lot of oils I don't want because I always do heated pulls, because I always shake the crap out of the extraction vessel

After dealing with emulsions over and over I've decided to be a little more patient. No heated pulls and I'm going to swirl gently or stir with something glass/metal. Shaking it as hard as you can is probably not the best idea; even I don't do that. But I'm a fairly big man and I can shake pretty hard Shaking for only 10 - 15 seconds probably wouldn't be enough to let the DMT migrate anyway, unless you're shaking and separating numerous times, as you should.

Patience is a virtue. Gently swirling/stirring for 60 seconds vs. shaking violently for 10 seconds.....the DMT might migrate in both cases but you'll definitely get less emulsion if you're more gentle and patient And yes, you could be trapping some spice in the emulsion. I've always had lower yields when I had to deal with emulsions.

I don't shake; unless I want to apply heat, use rock salt, and add extra basic solution.

I use a glass container with a lid. Put the lid on tight; turn end over end, shake gently in an up n' down motion and side to side motion, spin it around on the floor, roll it along the floor, shake it diagonal; but never shaken fast or violently.

I usually will do this for 10 to 15 minutes a pull.

See, Tatt's got the idea! Why can't I be more patient and creative like you?


All of which I'm more than familiar with lol

I never shake. I like to be patient and use a wooden spoon or paint stick to stir up from the bottom in a circular motion for about 4 minutes until I can see that the basic layer has gobbled up all of my solvent. If you stir you can clearly see if your solvent has been absorbed or not. I use ball jars so I cannot shake since the lids have a rubber seal that will melt off in the presence of a solvent and/or a caustic solution. What kind of vessel are you using to extract? If you have some sort of seal on the lid of your container chances are it is made of something weak that your solvent or caustic solution will degrade and it will end up in your product, tsk tsk.