ok so im doing an a/b.

i soaked 330g mimosa in 2.5 pH vinegar solution for a day. 3 times.

while i was doing the acid soak, the metal spoon i was using turned black (later it just looked rusty)

i moved the 3 soaks into a gallon 'carlo rossi' jug.

i added lye until pH 13.5,,, a little high but i think my pH meter is off. or i added too much. Id rather have 12.5 pH.

as im adding the lye it first turns grey, green grey. this doesnt alarm me because it happened on the last a/b.(the last a/b was successful)

enough lye was added to finally turn the solution black. then measured the pH at 13.5

so i immediately began pulling with naptha.

as i wait for the first pull to separate to the top, i see a green grey goo mixed in with the naptha.

the naptha is terribly emulsioned in this goo. but when i stir the goo, the naptha separates instantly. and i pull the naptha off.

i did 2 pulls so far and left them outside to freeze precip, just to check how much dmt i got. nothing. nothing precipitated.

my 'carlo rossi' jug has 3 layers. at the bottom is the brown basic soup, then grey goo, and then naptha. < top

SO WTF is this grey sludge?! it floats above the water and below the naptha, and causes emulsions when the naptha goes through it.

there is no spice / there is no spoon

Sometimes when there is not enough DMT dissolved in the naptha it won't precipitate. Depends how much naptha you used.
Try evaporate it down with a fan or electric fan heater (careful please) until theres a minimum of naptha remaining, and
then freeze precipitate that. its possible that the elfspice is in there, but theres not enough to precipitate out.

You shouldn't have three layers. Also, there shouldn't be any brown remaining; if you have basified propperly your mimosa
residue should be black. Although im not 100% sure on that one because SWIM is talking about STB. My guess is that you
haven't basified enough. If you had, you wouldn't be getting emulsions - especially after an acid extract. (less gunk than STB)

First off its a really bad idea to put any kind of metal into this reaction unless you want metal contaminates (hint: you don't =p). Use plastic or glass only. Nothing will precipitate out in the freezer unless the solution is super saturated, to do this you need to evaporate the naptha down until it becomes milky and you can't see through it. Your 3rd layer could either be a result of you introducing metal contaminates or it could be tiny bark dust that you havent filtered or let settle out in the fridge. It could also be underbased, in swims experiance if its flat (no foam) and black you've definitely got enough base, you dont need much more than ph11 more is just an assurance.

1) soaking mimosa in a jug for 3 days is not enough to get it all out. You NEED to change out the water, at least 1x, 2 is better. If no heat is added I would wait 3 days PER WATER CHANGE, so this might take more than 3-4 days to do (without heat).


2) if you use too much naphtha (as others have said) freezing won't get the spice to crash out. Evap some, and next time remember this situation and add less naphtha per pull, it will make things go so much quicker. The old teks just use too much naphtha.

3) I'm not sure how cold it gets where you live, but a freezer is a better place to freeze your spice. You can cover it with a screw on lid if you are using mason jars.

4) metals + acids just don't mix well for human consumption, ever....Use plastic stuff next time.

Best of luck with your extraction.

ok so to update you all.

i did 3 acid soaks over 30 hrs. in high heat. is that enough?

there is spice in the naptha. it was -10 or 10 deg F where i live so it was cold enough. the naptha is cloudy when in room temp...so it's there.

i'm more worried about the layer of green grey sludgey goo.

the naptha gets trapped in it. all bubbley and shit. i'd upload a pic but it's not working...

i'm wondering if anyone else has had 3 layers in their mix.

the basified layer is black/brown. the next is the sludge. and then clean naptha.

after i mix the mix... the naptha must float up thru the sludge and forms bubbles in it. the sludge floats above the base.

I stir the naptha and pop the sludge/naptha bubbles, then suck up clean naptha only, and going to do a defat on it. so still get some clean stuff. sry no pic.

sounds underbased...did you filter out your mimosa before basing?