Once upon a time I read somewhere on the inter-webs that you can increase yield of MHRB by thoroughly wetting it and freezing it before performing an extraction tek. The theory what that this breaks down the cell walls to allow more release of the sought substance.

Is there any validity to this, or is it complete BS?

Peace,
-idt

i don't think it's necessary , 'cause when you add lye you get the same effect.

I don't add lye to any extraction during the phase when the MHRB is immersed, I only do A/B extractions.

I don't see how it is actually going to increase the alkaloid count.

I use whole bark, and it's frozen. I break it up and shred it into small chunks by hand (200g per exctraction). After the first Acid cook (HCL), I take small pieces out and blend them with an electric stick blender. I then do another 2 acid cooks and by the third one there is nothing but sinew and the pulp rinses out clean.

I have yields of 1 - 1.2%

Maybe the freezing helps break it down. I would imagine that when dealing with wole bark, how far you break it down to extract all the alkaloids will help maximise yield more than freezing.

I do of course stand to be corrected.

For me it's just that the freezer is a convenient place to store 1kg whole bark in 200g bundles.

Lye will take an extremely long time to break down plant cells. Freezing bark has the advantage of keeping alkaloids from degrading to n-oxides as the bark dries, which are insoluble in shellite/naptha and will decrease the yield.

Would this be an advantage even if the bark was already finely powdered?

It is valid, at least theoretically and doing that shouldn't really damage the yield, to begin with. But SWIM has never really done it so he can only comment from theory.

During an acid cook some of the plant cells walls break and release the goodies. But for most of the time an acid cook helps the (soluble) alkaloids diffuse from more-or-less intact cell walls into the water. This takes some time indeed hence the long boils in MHRB. Freezing will help destroying cell wals thus possibly reducing the need for long boils in A/B.

During an STB the too much pH breaks down cell walls releasing goodies. This also takes some time and people usually leave their bark in the STB sludge to "brew" for a while before doing the pulls. In an STB, a phenomenally exhausted solution can yield a bit more if left for, say, a week. So, wetting the bark and freezing it will help break down the cell walls and release the goodies better and faster.

Either way, freezing does not seem to do any bad and it may actually aid, so it is worth trying of anyone wishes.

Very cool. SWIM will duplicate his last extraction, except add this freezing step before hand, and then compare yields. He will report his findings! Thank you!

Peace,
-idt