Hello there Abrahamx.
I have never used normans tek before, so the information I am going to provide you is very general. I hope someone with more experience with normans tek can elaborate further.
I personally have not experienced water ruining yields, although, too much water can skew your extractions ph. Not meeting the right ph at the right times may cause desired alkaloids to remain when they should be transferred to your solvent. This would dramatically affect yields.
A larger water content in powdered source material allows your solvent to easily flow through all material and not just the first few layers. A thick sludge will require rigorous shaking for effective solvent dispersion which comes with the large risk of some nasty emulsions.
Leaving your pulls for a few days at a time seems unnecessary, but this shouldn't change your yield dramatically. I know my pulls have never been left for days on end and I have had some great yields. As long as you allow the solvent to completely separate from your source material after each mix/shake, your yields should be fine.
The teks our little nexus contains are guidelines! With the right knowledge, like many nexus dwellers, you will tweak these teks and start to create your own.
SAFELY experiment with the teks provided and don't get too hung up when your bark stew doesn't look identical to those pictured. Through many trials and... many more errors, your tek will become second nature.
I hope I could help!
