Hello, this is my first post on this forum and actually on any forum! (I know) I wanted to join in on the discussions held here after researching spice extraction the last month or so. I have been experimenting with psychedelics for a long time but in the last while (after a hiatus due to birth of son and subsequent lack of time/sleep) have come to a point where if I cant grow it, pick it or extract it then i'm not as interested as i was before.

Ive been growing san pedro for a while and learned to make the brew but am leaning towards extraction for longer term experimentation. I live not too far from abundant P Subaeruginosa/a muscaria seasonally and also close by more than abundant Acacia Acuminata. Quite a good position to find myself!

Now, i went out into the acacia country few weeks back and not wanting to unnecessarily harm trees, I picked bark off the ground and some green phyllodes and twigs for good measure. I used the Gordo Tek method as it seemed simple and used only basic household stuff. I came out with nothing and have since understood that old bark on the ground no longer contains sufficient alkaloids for extraction. Damn. So, i tried another technique a bit more freestyle and decocted some phyllodes in rainwater and vinegar 3x then a defat with shellite (i know it sucks) was a lot of emulsion but with some time on top of the wood stove it separated and i basified with c. hydroxide to ph 12 then some shellite pulls. Was just a couple hours ago and already looked cloudy after like 20 min in freezer.

Hopefully it works. I will use d-limonene once i find a separatory device...

I have a couple of questions for the crew.

1)Does anyone know where/how to get a separatory funnel in australia? And is it monitored by the fun-stoppers?
2)I have just today found a freshly storm-felled, mature a acuminata and taken some bark. (i harboured doubts that my phyllode tek will work) I feel that i could just boil the fresh strips of bark with some vinegar and in time, the alkaloids will all come into solution along with a redish colour. Am i right? drying and pulverising sounds a bit too much fuss.
3)Using xylene/d-limonene, are emulsions as much of an issue as with shellite? (naptha)

Thats it for now, i will post some photos of my jars in a couple of days.

Oh, one thing more. I had done quick totally freestyled gordo tekish extraction on powdered acuminata phyllodes (dead and brown when i found them so wasnt confident of alkaloid content but leaves when burnt stunk my house out like spice) and did a shellite pull (all unmeasured) and put it in the freezer. after 2 days, there were no crystals in the bottom amongst the solvent and i out it back in the freezer. Today i came home from my trip to the bush and wanted to re-use that solvent for a second extraction on my phyllode paste. I warming the icy jar of shellite under the tap and as the ice melted from the sides i saw a couple of spider-webbed crystal structues (v beautiful) running up the sides of the jar, about 4-6 cm above where the level of shellite had been. Pretty exciting but needless to say, they melted in front of my eyes as the jar warmed. Could this have been spice crystals? Can't think what else it could have been... definately was on the INside of the jar. now jar is back in freezer. will report soon.

sorry if that was too much info/too many questions.

over and out