good morning everybody, if it is indeed morning where you are!

have just attempted my second A/B extraction, sadly i appear to have fallen into the trap of being over confident having had excellent results from the first go last september. it would seem i haven't paid enough attention to detail and i've ended up with a jerry can half full of basified bark soup which wont seperate with the naphtha i've added.
i used 1kg of bark, boiled it 3 times and then reduced in theory down to 1 litre although in actual fact i think i may well have messed up a bit and only reduced it to a litre and a half before adding the 100gs of sodium hydroxide/water solution.
could it be that i needed to add more lye as i didn't reduce enough in the first place?
another possible error is that i may have added the lye to the not so reduced bark tea while it was still too hot??

anyway....

what i've ended up with is about 2 litres of liquid ( a combination of bark tea/the water used to disolve the lye/and 150ml of naphtha) which isn't seperating properly.
there is a distinct layer at the top but it isn't anywhere near the clear solution i achieved during my last successful extraction. it isn't that much lighter in actual fact than the basified bark tea beneath it, despite it having stood all njght.

i haven't attempted to siphon this off yet and would greatly appreciate any advice as to how to proceed.

take it easy and thanks in anticipation.

Check the FAQ

basically more lye, and/or add salt are the two main solutions. Good luck

cheers endlessness.

i think i'll try dissolving another 50gs of lye in a little water and add to the jerry can. i'll let you know the outcome!

How hot?

Always make a cold solution of NaOH using cold water. An exothermic reaction will cause this to heat up. When it has cooled, add it to your already cool MHRB reduction.

Never work with hot MHRB reduction and never add lye straight into the mix.

that's my biggest concern ghostman. i'm certain i made this mistake.

is it saveable?

i've just dissolved 50g of lye in a little cold water, added it to the jerry can and shook gently or 5 minutes or so. 10 minutes have passed and there is signs of a seperation but nowhere near the clear result ( the layer of naphtha as it stands is still not much lighter than what is below it ) i was hoping for. will this improve in time or should i be looking for a new way forward?

cheers for taking the time to reply.