spagyrics/calcination

[Guest guest]

I'm preparing a spagyric tincture and I'm having some trouble calcining the

marc. First I dried it. Then I cooked it over a camping stove outside in a

ceramic vessel until it was all charcoal. After it stopped smoking, I moved

it inside to the oven. Junius says 400-450 degrees is sufficient, so that's

what I've been heating it at - for about 12 hours now - but it's still dark

grey, not white, and there are lots of little chunks that aren't breaking

down.

First, how white does it have to get? Can someone give me a time frame for

total calcination (so I know how patient to be and what kind of an electric

bill to expect)?

If I incorporate this as it is (maybe somewhere between charcoal and ash)

into my tincture to extract the soluble salts (and then decant the tincture

off from the caput mortuum), will I ruin my tincture with the charcoal (or

at least degrade the taste)?

Would it be preferable to extract the soluble salts from this charcoal/ash

separately, using distilled water & evaporation or soxhlet extraction, so I

don't risk tainting my tincture? (My current kitchen is not set up ideally

for soxhlet extraction since the sink is across the room from the stove &

I'll need cold water for the condenser, so I'd rather not have to do it this

way.)

Thanks,

Peter

 

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Peter L. Borten, L.Ac.

4004 SW Kelly Avenue, Ste 201

Portland, Oregon 97201

503.522.2613

http://www.whiteflowerhealing.com/

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