Hi, SWIM just finished his first extract and tried DMT for the first time! very interesting stuff! though it was just a little, to test to see if the extract worked, it certainly did!
Anyways SWIM was reading somewhere that adding lye to the subsequent pulls could help to improve yields.
SWIM was doing STB, 100 grams MHRB to 100 grams lye in 600 ml of water, this resulted in about 1.6 grams total spice from 6 separate batches done like this, all on the first pull, which SWIM imagines is good but not really great. Do people ever add more lye or would this just be a waste of time with a solution that is base enough already? Surely the MHRB itself is a big factor but here in Canada I believe its generally easier to get from a Canadian company, which there are precious few.
Thanks very much

You can add more lye, it will make the layers separate faster and therefore allow more violent mixing which of course, will mix the naphtha with the water better. Also you seem to have awfully little water in there, isn't your solution very viscous? Thin solutions mix and separate with naphtha better than the more thick ones, but of course, remember to add more lye if you decide to add more water!

I wouldn't. There is no reason to add a "lye booster" whatsoever.

If emulsions are an issue add a cup of table salt. It makes the water more polar and helps things to seperate quicker. Heat will also help, as does tapping the sides of the container...vibrations can break up emulsions VERY quickly. A hitachi massager can break up the worst emulsions.

Too much lye seems to affect the spice in a negative way.... I dunno, just me maybe.

I agree with your tapping method. If a small emulsion occurs, I just smack the jar (not too hard) a few time on a hard surface and the emulsion goes immediately. I have only ever had tiny ones form, so when it comes to bigger emulsions, I am not too sure if this technique would apply.

It does, but it can take a while tapping at it. A vibration creaing device (aka vibrator) works wonderfully for doing this quickly. Again, salt works too.

If you don't want to raise the pH too much (SWIM is still a little skeptical that DMT is unaffected by pH 14 water), you can add loots of table salt.

When SWIM did STB, he used sodium carbonate and a healthy amount of salt and never had emulsion issues.

Thanks for the tips, but just to be clear SWIM is not having any problems with emulsions, or the layers separating, the method does work its just somewhat low yields and swim was wondering if adding more lye will work. Most people seem to think its unnecessary? Next batch swim will add more water and lye relative to the MHRB but i dont think there is much more room in the jars left. SWIM was very worried about causing emulsions so was pretty careful, he would soak the jars in a hot water bath for awhile and then roll on his lap for about 10 minutes, maybe flipping the jar upside down every once in awhile slowly, he would do this maybe one more time and let the jars soak for around 48 hours. Perhaps SWIM was being to gentle in mixing? I hear of some teks that say to soak for much longer times after the first pull, up to a week, though some only seem to soak for about 5-6 hours, what do people think is a good time after the first pull?

Using powdered bark, I only wait until the naphtha has fully separated from my base mix (about 10 or 15 mins). I do this about 5 or 6 times before pulling and it only takes about an hour to do. When i did my first extraction i left the naphtha in my jar for 24 hours after the rolling session thinking that the naphtha needed that long to fully separate.

I have now learned that it is not the case. I also made a hot water bath thinking that i would create an emulsion which would never separate, and i was really careful when rolling/turning the jar. I have learned that you can be a bit aggressive with it and a water bath is not necessary at all (unless you do create an emulsion and maybe during your final pull). Good luck!

higher pH prevents long lasting emullsion

If you really want to try it, just add the lye straight to the jar. Shake. I don't think it will increase your yields at all.

Maybe you should try an A/B extraction. You have a lot more control over the procedure (albeit a bit more time consuming).

Aw, what a great community, probably the friendliest forum i have ever been on, thanks for all the help everyone!

Well, I have to disagree about not getting greater yields. It won't actively yield better, but it will decrease emulsions and therefore enable a lot more violent mixing of the solvent and the lyesolution. With an excess of lye and some salt, one can literally shake the container like a madman for a minute, and then watch the layers separate over an hour or a couple. I have to admit I haven't compared it against mixing softly, but I'm pretty certain that shaking will allow for more DMT to migrate into your pull. Just my two cents.