For us the things that took the longer time was to prepare everything for safety purpose and handling facilities.
There a few glass items not so unexpensive that can change the way you extract and help your more.
We started with glass bottle that did the job but there were not easy things to do for closing the top, the caps we had got plastic lid that lye a solvent destroy.
Few beaker, glass vessels is cheap on ebay and is designed to. Carefull to wich glas you choose, pyrex is more expansive, boro is ok with low temp.
Think to wear gloves and glass always, a mask and ventilated area (or air hoover) is needed too.
You should take the time needed to do the things rightly. If you pass to quickly on a step you could have not satifying results, taking the time, as for everything, should be considered before doing an extraction. Having safety concerns too (what you do if you break a vessel whit lye in, the solution splashed on all your kitchen ?) Thinking to this, i think will lead to your friend to a more relaxed state that seems confortable.