PF TEK SHROOM EXTRACTION
December 28 2002
Solvent: 190 proof ethyl alcohol (common name everclear)
This technique describes how to extract psilocybin from magic mushrooms with pure 190 proof ethyl alcohol and make a magic mushroom liqueur of concentrated psilocybin to effect a powerful psychedelic dose as potent as desired. The entire process involves only the shrooms and alcohol. The alcohol is food grade and acquired from a liquor store.
Acquire at least several grams of dried shroom material to make the process worthwhile and effective. The shrooms need to be thoroughly dry (cracker dry) to allow pulverization. powder them in a small canister type coffee bean grinder.
In a heat resistant soaking vessel (pyrex glass), combine the shroom powder with several times its volume with 190 proof Everclear (ethanol). This is the “slurry”. Place the soaking vessel in a pan of boiling water. Raising the soaking vessel off the bottom of the hot water pan is a good idea for preventing serious sticking of the good extracts. The slurry will
start to boil. Turn the water boiling pan heat down and let the slurry sit for a few hours at a warm-hot temp. Alcohol boils at a lower temp than water. Watch the temperatures closely. Things can get totally out of hand and ruined very quickly without close attention paid.
While the slurry is still hot, filter it through filter paper. This is probably the most important part. A good filtration will be efficient and will keep most of the shroom material out, making for a clean extraction (clean of shrooms that is – but heavy on psilocybin). A small lab type vacuum pump powered bottle top filtering funnel with filter disk holder makes it all really
easy and fast, with little waste. That is why this extraction idea is really only for the fanatics.
Collect and save the filtrate liquids. Heat the slurry (the mush in the filter paper) one or two more times with the 190 proof as before, filter, and accumulate
the liquids of the extractions.
Inexpensive dust-pollen masks make excellent filters for the slurry. These are available at hardware, drug and paint stores. They are usually white or tan colored, fit over the nose and mouth and are held on to the face by a rubber band attached to the filter. Fashion the filter over the mouth of a drinking glass. Squeeze the filter and slurry to extract the alcohol. There are many details to deal with, but doing it once reveals them all. Experience is the best teacher. Store the extracted alcohol in a fresh bottle.
One can also use heat to evaporate and concentrate the elixir. Use a double boiler type of set up to heat and evaporate off the alcohol to concentrate the elixir.
The concentrated shroom liqueur will have a pungent mushroomy aroma (like fungi perfume). Also, a white crystalline kind of precipitate will form in the alcohol elixir (see
above photo). Store it in small screw cap bottles or vials in the freezer. Alcohol doesn’t freeze solid and will remain liquid.
SUPPLY LIST
- shrooms
- 190 proof ethyl alcohol (GOLDEN GRAIN – EVERCLEAR ect)
- Pyrex glass wide mouth slurry soaking vessel
- funnel and filtering set up – or
- dust-pollen masks
- small desk fan
Pro Tips
- Use warm-hot temps when soaking the initial slurry (shroom-alki). Use the hot water bath idea from the Gottlieb tek below. Avoid hot bottomed slurry soak vessels. The good stuff can bake on and stick very easily.
- A good filter is a must. Lab quality filter paper helps for a cleaner extract (less shroom stuff). The fanatic should get a little bottle top vacuum filtering funnel with a hand squeeze vacuum pump and fine slow flow filtering papers. (science supply – not cheap – but affordable for the fanatics – look for the 47 millimeter filter sized set ups – small but perfect for this).
- When filtering the slurry, do it while it is hot.
- The crystals when heated in the initial slurry are free base molecules. In the final liqueur on cool down, the free base molecules will coalesce and form crystals. It takes a day or two for the process to be complete. The smaller the final amount of liqueur, the easier it is for the molecules to meet each other and combine. When you get your final magic liqueur, the free base psilocybin will coalesce and form whitish crystals. At first they might look like whitish glue, but they transform in solution to hard crystals.
- The final elixir will have a layer of crystals on the bottom of the storage vessel. The freebase Psilocybin molecules come together fast in the cool alcohol. When it is time for dosage, reheat the crystal liqueur in its storage vessel in a pot of hot water. Boil the liqueur and stir and scrape deposits from the glass as the liqueur boils lightly. Alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. Keep the storage vessel off the bottom of the boiling water pot. Direct heat is very bad for the elixir, making it stick. As the liqueur boils, the crystals will remelt with time. The large particles of the crystals can be crushed with a long needle probe to hurry up the process. When the crystals are gone, administer the magic liqueur while it is HOT. Using a syringe enables uniformity and accuracy of the dosages. The hot liqueur quickly becomes cloudy on slight cooling. So a hot temp of the liqueur with re-melted crystals is important for accurate dosage administration. Or the crystals can be dried and used as they are!
- Or, the crystalline extract can be completely dried by placing the elixir container in front of a small fan to get most of the liquid out. To complete the drying, desiccant is recommended. Place the small vessel of liquid extract into a larger jar with quality desiccant. It takes several days to complete drying, but the final crystalline substance is very dry, loose, and can be weighed and worked with very easily.
DOSAGE and STORAGE
Getting crystals is really moot. I think the following scheme for dosing and storage is the only way to go. With this way, one doesn’t have to deal with the problems of crystallization
and other things related. Plus, the dry crystals would be much more prone to potency loss if left dry. If they are in an alcohol solution, that would be better for preservation.
As an example, one can start with 20 grams of dried shrooms. After the filtration of the hot slurry, the resultant liqueur should be put into an evaporation vessel and with a fan blowing
air across the mouth of the vessel, the liqueur should be evaporated down to about 50 milliliters. Then, in a double boiler, heat the small amount of liqueur to put the crystals and extract back into a cloudy solution. Then while it is hot, dispense 10 cc of the liqueur into waiting small storage jars with watertight caps. Each small jar is allowed to cool, the cap is put on and the jar is placed into the freezer for storage. Then when it is time to trip, the desired jars are removed from the freezer, allowed to warm to room temps, the lids taken off, a small fan set up blowing air across the jars mouths and the liquor evaporated off to a manageable “hit”. The small jars then become administration “spoons” – where the entire contents (alcohol – water – and extract) can be polished off with the tongue.
THE PSILOCYBIN PRODUCERS GUIDE
by Adam Gottlieb 1976
Solvent: Methanol
EXTRACTION
Crumble and pulverize the dried mycelial material and combine each 100 mg of this material with 10 ml of methanol. Place the flask in a hot water bath for four hours. Filter the liquids with suction through a filter paper in a buchner funnel with Celite to prevent clogging. Collect and save the filtrate liquids. Heat the slurry (the mush in the filter paper) two more times in methanol as before, filter, and accumulate the liquids of the three extractions. To be certain that all of the alkaloids have been extracted do a small extraction with a portion of the used slurry and test with Keller’s reagent (glacial acetic acid, ferrous chloride, and concentrated sulfuric acid). If there is a violet indication, alkaloids are still present and further extraction is in order.
In an open beaker evaporate the liquids to total dryness with a hot water bath or by applying a hair dryer. Be certain that all traces of methanol have been removed. The remaining residue should contain 25-50 percent psilocybin/psilocin mixture. Greater purification can be achieved, but would require other solvents and chromatography equipment and is hardly necessary.
Each 100 grams of dried mycelium should yield about 2 grams of extracted material. This should contain at least 500 mg of psilocybin/psilocin mixed or about fifty 10 mg doses. Theoretically psilocin should have the same effect upon the user as psilocybin. The only difference between the two is that the later has a phosphate bond which disappears immediately after assimilation in the body. In other words, in the body psilocybin turns into psilocin. Psilocybin is a fairly stable compound, but psilocin is very
susceptible to oxidization. It is best to keep the extracted material in a dry air tight container under refrigeration. A sack of silica-gel can be placed in the container to capture any moisture that may enter.
DOSAGE
The standard dose of psilocybin or psilocin for a 150 lb person is a 6-20 mg dose. We will figure the average dose as 10 mg. The crude alkaloid extraction process given here yields a brownish crystalline powder that is at least 25 percent pure. Each mason jar should contain at least 50 grams of wet mycelium. After drying this would be about 5 grams of material. The
crude material extracted from this should contain 25-30 mg of psilocybin/ psilocin or roughly 2-3 hits. This yield may very to some extent depending upon several factors. Many of these species contain less of these alkaloids than dose Psilocybe cubensis and the alkaloidal content of this species may very in different strains. Cultivation conditions have alot to do with yield too. Higher temperatures (75 degrees F.) cause more rapid growth but lesser psilocybin content than do lower temperatures (70 degrees F.) One must test each new batch of extracted material to determine the proper distribution of dosages. Depending on the potency of the mycelia and how well the extraction was conducted the dose may range between 25 and 100 mg. Also bear in mind that the dose varies for different individuals.
PAUL STAMETS
Solvent: Ethanol
Paul Stamets – 1996 – book – “PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS of the WORLD”. Quote – page 50-51:
“Another method I have seen is to soak crushed mushrooms in 75+% ethanol. After two to three days, the roughage can be filtered, leaving a dark-blue elixir that can be decanted accordingly. For every fresh 5 grams of mushrooms, 25-30 milliliters of alcohol is recommended. Psilocybin and psilocin dissolve into this solvent, and the alcohol also acts as a preservative. I really don’t have much experience with this technique, but have talked to people who say it is their preferred method. Some call this “blue juice.”
