blue.magic wrote:antichode wrote:I think once you master the titration you'll be much happier. And stop messing about with boiling filtering, freezing and defatting etc. Avoiding emulsions is simple..
You mean by controlling pH not getting too low or too high will avoid emulsions? If this is the main/sole reason for having emulsions, than that's great!
I think I may have got things back to front. The titration will certainly help avoid an emulsion at the salting stage, but to avoid an emulsion when slaking your material the below points are the key
antichode wrote:
Heaps of base (I use 20% the wet weight of cactus)
Enough solvent ( I use 20% of the final volume)
Heat and time (80 deg C will separate anything quite fast)
blue.magic wrote:I am a bit worried about adding so much base (e.g. for 1 kg wet weight, that is 200 g NaOH - which is a LOT). That much base will run the pH very high, which may in turn break some good alkaloids (hordenine, mescaline) and saponify the fats.
Don't worry, you won't destroy Mescaline this way, I can't speak for the other alkaloids but they are insignificant anyway as we are isolating Mescaline
blue.magic wrote:Anyway, I am thinking about using a 2 L beaker with hotplate stirrer (it is the upper limit my hotplate can handle), then adjusting heating to settle on 80 deg C and letting the basic soup mix for few hours. Then continue by pulling.
I tried this once but it didn't work for me, my stir plate was not strong enough for the 4L reaction I had going, the solvent mostly floated about and the vortex wasn't very good. I think this is the point of failure for most extractions. You really need to mix that solvent into the aqueous layer EXTREMELY well hence why I now use a paint mixer on a drill. This ties into Endlessness post on Mescaline freebase being water soluble. It is but it would much rather be in the solvent. I think if you add enough solvent and you provide the right conditions for it to transfer it will move over just fine, It think most people don't mix vigorously enough because they are afraid of an emulsion (but we dealt with that using excess base and heat). I find I hit 1% alkaloids (depending on the strain of course) after two pulls and from there its diminishing returns 1.1 1.2 etc so these days I do three and call it quits.
blue.magic wrote:I would still do at least the acid soak since the natural salts may hold the mescaline, don't you think? I've read somewhere that some salts (e.g. tannates) bond so strongly even strong bases like KOH may not liberate the alkaloid. So converting to different salt like citrate or acetate first may be helpful. This may however be more related to MHRB/DMT rather than cacti.
As above, theres no need to do this. Im not sure what the natural salt is of mescaline, perhaps citrate? But the excess base is more than enough to freebase it and the molecule is so tough you'll not damage it! The whole reaction will turn to a free flowing liquid that you can pull form within an hour! If thats not reason enough to give it a try then I don't know what is
endlessness wrote:
Alternatively there is a simple method that doesn't need careful measurements which is doing FASA/FASI and getting mescaline fumarate. I've found it works very well and is a beautiful process to behold Smile
This definitely works, I just prefer the sulfate crystals that grow in water.
So to summarise again, I think the real keys to success with a STB are:
Lots of base %20
Lots of solvent %20
HARDCORE mixing
Lots of heat
Salt once to PH 7
Give it a go, its the oldest method on the internet and its definitely the fastest. Just imagine how much free time you'll have now that you don't have to skin another cactus ever again! Your nails will thank you
