Hi Guys,

I am asking this question because I would like to understand how much water I should be using and how long I should boil to pull most of the mescaline out of fresh cuts. I was absolutely mind-blown after reading drnocturne's insights in this thread and before reading it I thought I would just taste my cuttings to tell if I should keep boiling them.

Is it possible to get a quantitative number? My knowledge of chemistry is terrible and I am struggling to find anything online.

Also, on a side note, drnocturne said the following in the mentioned thread, "Free malic acid would probably make the pH of the cactus flesh too acidic so an alkaloid is needed to bind to and neutralize the malic acid until the cactus needs it". Could it be possible to somehow physically "add more" (apart from stressing in the dark and cold) malic acid so that the cactus can just produce more mescaline to counteract this? Again, no knowledge in chemistry but just a thought.

There are too many variables/factors to give a simple answer so the best answer is 'it depends'.

Just use enough water that the soup is not too thick and boils easily. Add a little acid, such as acetic, citric, fumaric etc. to make sure the soup is definitely acidic (pH <5). Don't use strong or oxidizing acids. Better use reducing acids such as ascorbic (vitamin C).

Repeat 3 or more boils with fresh acidified water to pull more alkaloids, but even if you pull only 50% in the first boil, it will be only 6.25% in the 4-th boil, so it makes no sense to do more repeats. Also many more compounds are pulled so the 2nd and 3rd boils have more 'space' to pull actives and are therefore more efficient. Technically speaking, there is a higher concentration gradient to equalize, hence more extraction power.

Do not over-analyze, even scientific papers use more or less 'rule of thumb' approaches and when it comes to raw plant material, there is no need to get too scientific about it, as the process of aqueous extraction has so many factors that an experienced extractor will do just as well (if not better) than extractor who exactly calculated and titrated his water amounts, times and temperatures.