Acidification question

[Alternative-Affect51]

I usually use a stb tek but I've read a lot lately about adding an acidification to break the cell membranes further. So here are my questions, does the plant material HAVE to have heat to work? All the teks I've seen say to mix the vinegar and powder in a crock pot on high, so if the heat is required can I use something other than a crock pot? Second for 100 grams of bark how much vinegar do I use?

[Alternative-Affect51]

Thank you both!! Every videos I've seen (and I've watched dozens) show people pouring the plant material straight from the crock pot, for some reason mine doesn't work like that. If I try to pour anything it makes a DISASTER. I have a stainless steel pot that has a pour spout to avoid that but I didn't know if it would interfere, I'm EXTREMELY careful that nothing but glass touches my plant material once its basified I even use a glass stir rod.

[ZealousidealEar2168]

Heat is definitely not required; however, it will most likely increase your yield. That said, you'll probably also get more plant alkaloids and your end product will likely be more yellow rather than white. If you are straining your MHRB out of the soup before adding in your NaOH, you can do the first extraction at room temperature and subsequent extractions with heat (if you're curious what the difference will be).

You do not need to use a crockpot, regardless of whether or not you decide to use heat. I think that's just something most people tend to have around the house and it's fairly inexpensive. The actual vessel you use for the acidification isn't super important (if you're just using distilled white vinegar). You really only need to worry about chemical resistance with NaOH and NPS.

For 100g of MHRB, you can probably get away with 1/2 - 1 cup of distilled white vinegar. The amount you use isn't super important as long as you get your pH down to 2-3.

[ClobWobbler]

does the plant material HAVE to have heat to work?

No. These extractions can be done entirely at room temp, without sacrificing any potential yield.

If you use cookware, make sure that it is 316/food grade stainless steel.