The original solution consists of 1 lb of powdered MHRB, 4 1/2 liters of water, and around 450 grams of lye. SWIM mixed in 300ml of naptha which a stirred and left for 30 minutes and didnt separate. So SWIM added some salt, stirred, and left for another 45 minute but didnt separate. So then SWIM attempted to put another 400ml of naptha into the solution, stirred for 20, added more salt, and left for an hour. Still no separation at all. SWIM also tried adding 1 cup of warm water. SWIM tried everything they say to try to separate it, anybody know what the problem is/how SWIM can fix it? SWIMs letting it sit for a few days and seeing if it comes up, what do you guys think?

more lye will help emulsions usually...throw in another 50 grams or so.

Add more water for one thing. Lazymans is stingy on the water, which can lead to stubborn emulsions tht extra lye or salt won't help. That's probably all it'll take.

Also, how much salt are you talking about adding? For that volume of liquid, I'd add at least a full cup (a 250 ml measure) of rock salt.

Well SWIM knows lazymans tek calls for 2000-2500ml of water but SWIM used 4500ml since SWIM had powdered bark which requires more water. Would you still think SWIM need more water?

yeah man dont worry emulsions are really no problem just throw a bunch of lye and/or a bunch of salt, it WILL dissapear

and report back if you had success! Good luck!

Leaving the container on a vibrating surface, like a washing machine or dryer that vibrates as it runs, can also help break emulsions.

if you leave it open for long enough the naptha will evaporate out, most if not all of it... just a thought

SWIM left it out overnight and then stirred it twice the next day and added a cup of salt. The solution separated and going a ton of naptha iff but it was really dark red so he is going to repurify it netted atleast 2-3gs. He also did 3 more pulls netting a good .750mg for the first two .500mg for the third one. He has another one evaping now and all the pulls he has is sitting in 350ml of naptha which he stirred and crushed for a good half an hour, the naptha is getting really dark he said. He put seran wrap on everything and is going to evap soon!

Yeah, the naphtha can look as dark as coca cola when it gets really thoroughly mixed with the water layer to where you have to really force the emulsion to go away. Solvent washes with lots of sodium carbonate in the water (basically, saturate the water) can be useful. Adding salt to the water after the sodium carbonate has saturated it may be helpful, if the salt will dissolve. When doing lots of solvent washes, it's really important to keep that water layer pretty basic and saturated with ions to avoid loss of yield.

My imaginary friend, Dr. Mandible Skrunk, used Lazymans tek for his first extraction and had good results with a medium sized batch. His first three pulls were done very tediously, mixed very gently and the Naphtha was pulled with a glass eye dropper from the wide, stainless steel container he mixed the lye, bark, and water in. This was very difficult because of the large area in which the naphtha was allowed to disperse, so for his final pull, he transfered the mixture to several small jars, added the naphtha, and shook. He had read that emulsions shouldn't be a problem if he had a large amount of lye, and sure enough, he didn't have a frothy, bubbly mixture, like he had seen photos of when others were showing pictures of "emulsions."

However, his Naphtha pulls were very dark, and he didn't have very good results with either an evap or freeze precip. He chalked this up to his mixture being "spent" and didn't think much of it. He was looking forward to a larger batch.

For his second extraction, the good Doctor Skrunk did the first steps of Lazymans tek in the same S.S. container, but decided to transfer the mixture to several slender glass containers for easier removal of the Naphtha layer. Since he didn't have a problem with "emulsions" the first time, he shook the bottles again, not in the most vigorous fashion, but certainly more aggressively than his gently massage of the soup he used in his first extraction.

Big mistake. The Naphtha is once again a very dark, barely distinguishable layer from the mimosa soup. He had thought of "emulsions" simply as a bubbly, heady, froth, but didn't realize that it can also refer to a very dark and stubborn suspension of the mimosa soup in the solvent layer.

He is now uncertain of his next steps. Does he pull the Naptha from the soup, put it in a seperate container and wait for it to seperate. Does he leave it where it is and wait?

Some nexians have suggested water, or kosher salt. How does our bumbling doctor go about administering this therapy? Some have also suggested more lye. He thinks there was plenty of lye, but if he were to add more, could he do it in a separate container by just adding lye to the dark, suspended solvent?

The doctor could use a good second opinion. Third, fourth, and fifth wouldn't hurt either.

Check the FAQ, see if it helps regarding dark naphtha:



4.13 My Solvent is Brown/Dark, what to do ?

Sodium carbonate wash as per instructed by the FAQ worked amazingly. No more brown sticky goo in the freeze precip. Dr. Skrunk thinks this should be considered a "must" for STB extractions. Thanks for the help, endlessness.