Hi Guys
I have been reading a lot about the extraction technique and have got all I need,i think!.I will be ordering 50g of mimosa this week.
So,i have got some costic soda crystals and lighter fluid along with gloves face mask and safety glasses,large pickle jar and 4 small jam pots ,turkey baster and small syringe.
How important is the water ph?..and what can I use to balance it?
This is the first of my questions and I thank anyone who can be of help.

Hi there and welcome

Sounds like you're all pretty much set. My main advice would be to favour your syringe over your turkey baster. Turkey basters always seemed to drop stuff between point A and point B which is just... well it's messy and wasteful. Syringes are better at holding their load.... so to speak.

As for the pH in my experience it can't really be too high. But too low and you can get nasty emulsions which ruin the day. I usually use caustic soda as per tek with maybe 5-10g's extra for good measure.

May the force be wit'yall

Thanks!
I did read that sea salt can be added to the mix ,say 50g for better extraction
Also is it beneficial to heat the mix a little during extraction

Check This...
All you need to know

Salt can be helpful in breaking emulsions, but I don't add it unnecessarily although it won't do any harm. Personal choice I guess.

Now my advice...

NEVER HEAT A SOLUTION CONTAINING CAUSTIC SODA!!!!

Seriously the bubbles... did it once and what a mess. Even when removed from heat it continues to bubble.

The addition of caustic soda to water creates heat anyways for one. My advice would be to leave the mixture for longer rather than applying heat. Caustic soda suds are not something you want getting all about the place.

I usually leave my spent extractions for a month and do a further solvent pull, but yeah. No heat would be my advice.

Hi alank950,

best advice is
a)pick a tek you like the look of and one you have all the ingredients for.
b)Read the tek.
c)Then read it again.
d)Follow the tek.
e)Don't change the tek or try to improve it.
f)Follow the tek
g)dont mix steps from different teks
h)follow the tek
i)Don't post something along the lines of "i have been doing a variation of this tek and it has gone wrong" until you have done at least one extraction following points a-h

I can honestly say i wish i had followed my own advice when i first started!

Kerberos

PS did i mention that you have to read and follow the tek?

Yes I was looking at so many teks that I knew it would be best to just pick one.
I think what I read was to warm the lighter fluid in a jar in warm water before adding.

This is the one ouestion I was confused about as I read a lot of variations on the answer......''once I add the mimosa to the water and soda how long do I leave this before I add the fluid? .Also how do I know when its time for the extraction after adding the fluid?..I know the mix should not be shaken just turned to mix it up''..
I have read so many different answers that I had information over load.

The reaction is pretty much instant when you add the caustic soda. You can add solvent immediately afterwards if you like (this will pull more alks as the basic soup will still be hot from the reaction and will heat the solvent as well). The alternative that some people do is wait 30-60 minutes after adding the soda to allow the high pH to break down the bark a bit. If you are starting with powdered bark there is really no reason to wait. Just personal preference.

If I'm heating solvent it's usually on the 3rd or 4th pull when room temperature solvent stops pulling. I avoid this for my initial pulls as it will pull a more impure product as the warm solvent will pull more plant oils.

In an STB I leave mine for 24 hours before my first pull. I don't think you can leave it too long, but I advise against rushing as impatience = smaller yields. You really want to avoid having a pull that contains too little DMT. It will just leave you more work in the long run. If the bark is left longer it will break down making DMT more available and easier for your solvent to find it.

Agitate and separate 3-4 times per pull. Or as many times as you can be bother'd doing. Like I say, patience = good results.

Ok after reading the tek ..distilled water! is this necessary ,would filtered tap water be ok.
Deionised salt?..would ordinary table salt be ok or sea salt.thanks

It states in the teck to add vinegar with the distilled water..how much vinegar?

Tap water is perfectly OK.
Any salt will do...salt is salt...additive free if possible.

If I am using 50g mimosa I will add 50g salt as it does not state in the tek how much to use although I don't think its important
How much vinegar should I add to the water and I assume it wont make any difference if I use white or brown vinegar

What I do is get the powdered bark and pour some vinegar on to it and microwave for 30 seconds or until it is hot. The bark will soak up the vinegar and become paste like. I just leave it like this for 24 hours (or more) then add some water and proceed with the base. You only need enough vinegar to get the bark moist and have the acid contact to help break everything down.

The more vinegar you use the more base you need to neutralise the acid.

If you are adding salt do it before the base.

When you add the base do it slowly, stir and look for the colour change. When you can see no more colour change just add a few more grams for luck and you are ready to start pulling.

If you are in the U.K. you can get pre wipe degreaser from auto factors it is about £15 for 5l and IMHO cleaner than lighter fluid.

I'd also get 100g bark (it is usually a lot less than double the cost of 50g) but still do a 50g extraction then if it all goes Pete tong you can try again

What do you mean by the base ,new to this all.

You should probably do some more reading before you start your extraction. Pretty much every question you have asked has been addressed in the thread cyb linked too. The caustic soda is your base, and it is what converts the DMT acetate (produced by adding vinegar to the bark) into it's smokable freebase form.

That's the thing,i have been reading up on the subject of extraction for a few months and I have learned more tonight just buy asking a few questions.It sorta helped me finalize a few loose ends.Nothing beats hands on experience though with trying the extraction for myself.

In lay terms you could see bases as the opposite of acids in chemistry. Bases antagonise the acidity of acids and acids antagonise the basidity of bases. Bases in chemistry have nothing to do, at least semantically, with the word base as encountered in common everyday English and dictionaries.

It's good to know that we can all be of help.

Instead of just reading about extractions just have a little google about PH and it's effects especially on solubility. Teks are a good guide, however understanding the basics of what you are doing chemically can really help. With a bit of understanding you will learn that all the teks on here are in essence the same thing. It can be confusing reading about lye, lime and sodium bicarbonate but if you understand what they are being used for it can make the whole process seem a lot less complicated.