tastethealex
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2008
- Messages
- 172
I've had no problems using water, in fact, I don't see any reason to use alcohol other than it would reduce a lot faster. My method for San Pedro seems to work quite well and potency never seems to be an issue.
I actually take fresh san pedro, slice it vertically and remove the solid "core" (this area is known to cause nausea and contain relatively little alkaloids) I will then chop the remaining cactus into about 2inch cubes, I will then place these in 1gallon plastic ziplock bags. poke holes in the bag and place it in a plastic tub and set it aside somewhere dark and warm for about a month. Over this month the cactus will ferment and a juice will emerge looking almost rust in color.
I will then drain this liquid and set it aside, with what remains of the cactus I will then place it in a blender, fill the blender with water, just enough to cover the cactus and blend until the consistency of a smoothie. this slushy mix will then be combined with the juices set aside previously. bring this to a boil.
Once boiling reduce the heat to a simmer. stir occasionally so that the matter doesn't settle and burn to the bottom. allow this to simmer for about 8 hours, adding 1/4 cup of water every hour or so as necessary to keep a fluid consistency.
now take a rag cloth (an old shirt will do just fine. Make sure it is clean, though) and strain all the remaining material out of the liquid. At this point I am left with roughly 1cup fluid per 12inches of cactus.
place the remaining liquid back into the pot and bring it to a simmer to reduce the liquid down. I continue to simmer until the liquid has turned a dark green liquid (consistency and unfortunately taste of shampoo) that is now roughly 1oz of liquid per 12inches of cactus.
let cool and enjoy.
the process usually takes me roughly 12 hours to actually brew. a bit time consuming, but this has been the most potent way I have extracted without going to an HCl/sulfate extraction. All my brews have come from the same crop of cactus all relatively the same age, so I doubt there is much if any difference in potency of the cactus used from various other tries.
I actually take fresh san pedro, slice it vertically and remove the solid "core" (this area is known to cause nausea and contain relatively little alkaloids) I will then chop the remaining cactus into about 2inch cubes, I will then place these in 1gallon plastic ziplock bags. poke holes in the bag and place it in a plastic tub and set it aside somewhere dark and warm for about a month. Over this month the cactus will ferment and a juice will emerge looking almost rust in color.
I will then drain this liquid and set it aside, with what remains of the cactus I will then place it in a blender, fill the blender with water, just enough to cover the cactus and blend until the consistency of a smoothie. this slushy mix will then be combined with the juices set aside previously. bring this to a boil.
Once boiling reduce the heat to a simmer. stir occasionally so that the matter doesn't settle and burn to the bottom. allow this to simmer for about 8 hours, adding 1/4 cup of water every hour or so as necessary to keep a fluid consistency.
now take a rag cloth (an old shirt will do just fine. Make sure it is clean, though) and strain all the remaining material out of the liquid. At this point I am left with roughly 1cup fluid per 12inches of cactus.
place the remaining liquid back into the pot and bring it to a simmer to reduce the liquid down. I continue to simmer until the liquid has turned a dark green liquid (consistency and unfortunately taste of shampoo) that is now roughly 1oz of liquid per 12inches of cactus.
let cool and enjoy.
the process usually takes me roughly 12 hours to actually brew. a bit time consuming, but this has been the most potent way I have extracted without going to an HCl/sulfate extraction. All my brews have come from the same crop of cactus all relatively the same age, so I doubt there is much if any difference in potency of the cactus used from various other tries.