Hey everyone, I tried my first extraction yesterday using Gordo Tek but ran into a problem. Everything seemed to be going alright until I added the pickling lime (calcium hydroxide). I don't know if I put too much of it in bit the bark mixture turned from a sloppy mud-like material to clumpy, wet dirt-like material. It was too thick. When I added the Naphtha, the bark mixture just absorbed it all. Is this ruined? If it's not ruined, does anyone know how I would start over? Thanks for your help in advance

Not too familiar with Gordo tek but I know that Calcium Hydroxide is a flocculant (can make colloids come out of suspension). That would explain the mud like texture...

Pickling lime may contain additives that could ruin your extraction. Check the label and make sure Calcium Hydroxide is the sole ingredient.

If it's a small sample best to start from scratch. Trying to salvage this may not be worth the effort.

Short extraction desc - add bark to water and leave on medium heat for several hours, pH ~3 during the cooking phase can be obtained using citric, hydrochloric acid etc. DMT is a salt @ pH 3 (soluble in water). Let it cool and filter the water. Basify the water extract using for example sodium hydroxide to pH ~12. DMT is freebase @ pH 12 (soluble in organics). Add an organic solvent (Toluene, Hexane etc). Shake and decant the organic layer. Repeat adding, shaking and decanting the organic solvent several times. After that you can either freeze precipitate to get nice, clean crystals (if too much solvent simply evap a part of it) or slowly epav all of the solver to get crude extract. I prefer the crude extract, much more potent for me (possibly some alkaloids potentiating/synergizing).

Look up the FAQ section. It's a treasure trove.

Ps. Especially at the beginning always start small scale to get a hang of it... :-)