DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 8 Joined: 28-Apr-2010 Last visit: 19-Sep-2010 Location: USA
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So a friend of mine told me his pet tortilla is doing a Lazy Man's extraction. He apparently already got two successful but small pulls, so for the third pull he decided to stir the mixture really vigorously for 30 minutes straight to make sure a large amount of goodies get into the naptha. However, my friend's tortilla now reports that the entire solution has become one black homogeneous liquidy mass, which no discernible naptha layer whatsoever. He did some reading and decided to try adding some water and a BUNCH of salt and let it sit overnight, but this morning it's apparently not much better at all.
Do you guys have any suggestions for my friend's poor, struggling tortilla? =) Should he just let it sit for a week and hope it separates out, or is there anything else he can do?
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2807 Joined: 19-May-2009 Last visit: 16-Mar-2024
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Add more lye. A hot water bath might help too. Your problem was the vigorous shaking. Check here for some info https://wiki.dmt-nexus.m...eparate.2C_what_to_do.3F
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 2854 Joined: 16-Mar-2010 Last visit: 01-Dec-2023 Location: montreal
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Keep adding lye as gammagore has suggested; the thicker the emulsion, the more lye you will need. Good luck! JBArk JBArk is a Mandelthought; a non-fiction character in a drama of his own design he calls "LIFE" who partakes in consciousness expanding activities and substances; he should in no way be confused with SWIM, who is an eminently data-mineable and prolific character who has somehow convinced himself the target he wears on his forehead is actually a shield.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 531 Joined: 22-May-2010 Last visit: 08-Sep-2019
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And if heat or increased pH don't help, adding a bit more naphtha with gentle rolling can help remind the emulsified solvent of the way things should be.
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 8 Joined: 28-Apr-2010 Last visit: 19-Sep-2010 Location: USA
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So he has now added a bunch of salt, water, and a BUNCH more lye, and left it to sit for a day or two with only very light stirring. Now there is a huge black layer on the bottom-middle, then the top layer is a thick brown layer....still no clear naptha layer =(. And there's no room to add anything else to it at the moment...should he transfer it into two containers and add naptha?
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analytical chemist
 
Posts: 7463 Joined: 21-May-2008 Last visit: 14-Jan-2025 Location: the lab
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gammagore wrote: A hot water bath might help too.
"Nothing is true, everything is permitted." ~ hassan i sabbah
"Experiments are the only means of attaining knowledge at our disposal. The rest is poetry, imagination." -Max Planck
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DMT-Nexus member
Posts: 8 Joined: 28-Apr-2010 Last visit: 19-Sep-2010 Location: USA
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Alright, so he told me he went ahead and added more naptha, stirred lightly and let it sit for another day. The following day, the naptha layer was pretty clear, but had a yellowish/brownish tint to it...do you think it's safe for him to go ahead and take this slightly yellowish/brownish naptha layer and do the evaporation, or could it be contaminated with lye or something?
Thanks for helping him
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