Well this is embarrassing, I think I've screwed up my math somehow. First three pulls yielded nothing so far Here's my initial recipe:

80g Mimosa
80g ~ 100g lye
1200ml water

Here's my math. I measure out 2.5ml worth of lye and then I weight it. I determine how many gram(s) are in 1ml and then multiply by how much I need. The result is that I can use a 15ml measured spoon (aprox tablespoon) to scoop it out after calculating...I think. I'll refer to the 15ml spoon as a tablespoon for simplicity.

MHRB
2.5ml = 1g
80g x 2.5ml = 200ml required
200ml / 15ml = 13.333 table spoons required
So 13, and a 1/3 tablespoon basically should be 80g of MHRB

LYE
2.5ml = 3.4g
1ml = 1.36g
Here's where I think I went wrong
80g / 1.36g = 58.8ml
58.8ml / 15ml = 3.92 tablespoons required
So basically (haha get it?) 4 tablespoons required.

I can't figure out if I should be multiplying 80 by 1.36 or dividing by 1.36. Once answer tells me to use 4 tablespoons whereas the other tells me to use 7 and a half tablespoons of lye. This method has worked in the past but maybe I just got lucky. I didn't really record my notes those times either so I might have done it differently.

Worst case scenario I've added a shit-ton too much MHRB without enough lye/water.

⠀

Hey. I think that first of all, you are worrying way too much, as Charlie Papazian says; "Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew!".

I'm guessing that you are using the STB Tek. When using this tek, you are aiming for a pH of 13.5 or higher. It does not matter how much lye you add to the solution to get this pH. I suggest that you buy yourself some litmous paper, that is if you do not already have some. Here is a link: pH Papers. In this/future extractions, the only thing, other than the pH that can detrimentally effect the yields when basifying the MHRB is the amount of water you add. The amount you are adding: 1200ml water/80g MHRB, seems plenty to me.

Hope this helped you out.

too much lye wont hurt.. too little would.. add plenty, till colour turns completely back, then add some more

pH papers are useless in STBs, you cant really read them as the colour of the brew stains the papers (you could measure a solution before adding MHRB but the pH will change once there is something else added.. dont know how much it changes though)... But yeah in any case the important is to know that too much lye wont hurt, might only help (like preventing/breaking emulsions, guaranteeing dmt is in freebase form, and breaking down mimosa further for helping releasing dmt)

Thanks guys, I realize using volume rather than mass isn't exactly the best way to do it but it's the best I can do. I don't want to order another scale when really I can just use this method once the math is right. I prefer to measure it out and then use the same recipe every time...Looks good on paper, but sometimes you need more of this, or more of that...etc.

I'll look into buying some ph papers and measure the PH before adding MHRB from now on. I didn't realize you could judge just by ph, I thought it had to be exactly 1:1:15
Obviously that method might fail if I don't add the right amount of water though, I'll be careful.

I went ahead and added 2 more tablespoons of lye and agitated thoroughly. So far it's looking better, aprox 500mg from it thus far. I'm doing more pulls until nothing comes out.


Yea I noticed there's like a sweet spot in terms of consistency of lye stew. There were less bubbles this time through, and it was more free flowing. Perhaps it needed more time to break down as well. Dunno.

I keep adding lye until I can shake the hell out of the vessel without bubbles settling on the top. I used to be a careful roller, but now I'm a crazy shaker. It's much easier to avoid an emulsion than eliminate one.

Ooops, sorry for this bad advice, I normally do not use such basic solutions when extracting.

Thanks for correcting me endlessness.

I think ph papers will work as long as I measure before adding the bark, when the water is clear. Maybe use a bit extra lye just in case.

EDIT:: All said and done, turned up the best results yet. Aprox 760mg from 80g bark. If my math is right that's about 0.95% huzzah!