The Reaction

This reaction is exciting, and rapid. You must really focus your attention at this point it is of primary importance, that you have your wits about you. It is common to have a tired assistant sleep through most of the procedure, only to wake up to watch the reaction fire off.

Injuries occurring, during the reaction can be avoided
1) never place the flask on a hard or cold surface, rest the flask on a towel or something soft.
2) there is no reason at all to place the flask directly on the burner, hold it above or set it on the soft towel,
3) wear some heavy heat protective gloves
4) wear clothes to protect you from spills, especially wear shoes and eye protection.
Nothing like full body armor, just don't let your stuff be hanging out bare
keep the injector hole and flask sealed when a burner is on,
gas from the flask will explode in air with a flame or spark.

Flask

The flask used is often a flat bottom with a rubberized stopper, florence flask, erlenmeyer, or a vacuum flask.
100 ml 1-2v oz , 2000 ml 2-4 oz The flask can be almost any glass device such as a bottle,

Stopper and hose

The stopper has a hole in it, and is fitted with a 3 foot length of 1/2 inch, clear, braided food grade plastic hose type tubing
The type of tubing you use is variable, the main thing is it should be clean, fairly new, and in good shape
A dirty deteriorating hose will give a product that is dirty, and may contain particles of a deteriorated plastic hose

Push Pull unit

The tubing extends from the reaction flask to the push/pull unit which is a gas trap, and pressure stabilizer.
The gas outlet may lead outside, or into the sewer

Absolute minimum

I can easily picture the whole set up using three beer bottles and some plastic aquarium tubing, this would probably be used with red Phos from match strikers, sudafed tablets, and crystalize d iodine tincture
If that is the best you can come up with, at this point then do it, as long as you make the best product you can
In other words be proud of what you can accomplish, each time you will improve, after 2 -3 runs you will hooking up some nice looking pure white crystal meth.

Here are examples of the three basic push/pull designs.
Push Pull Setup 1
Push Pull Setup 2
Simple Gas Collector Setup
Page 2 Top of Page

The entire ephedrine cleaning procedure is here: Extraction of Ephedrine
The cleanup of the ephedrine has become very important.

A/B extraction and Solvent selection
In addition the Acid/Base extraction of ephedrine can be substituted for the above method, I have not included the A/B extraction, yet,. Use toluene or toluol
when using ephedrine with naphtha heat up the lye /water/E solution before adding the naphtha, and you will get a good yield of E . The heat allows the Charcoal lighter fluid to hold much more E.
To Top of Page

Starting the dream reaction - Starting the reaction

After sufficient amusement the RP is added (0.33 to 1.0 times the weight of E) a 1/2(RP) : 1(E) is a good choice
This is where it gets serious and you must be ready, once the RP is in, the reaction can fire any time.
You want to get the stopper on and sealed before mixing the RP in.
You should have your tape strips pre-made and ready, have the water injector ready, have the gas filters ready and hooked up. gloves ready Be prepared, the RP hitting the I2 will often start the reaction.
If it does begin to go off, - Do Not Panic - put the stopper on and tape it into place , watch the sides of the flask It may be full of vapors, If you can see only total blackness in the flask, shake it down hard , and keep shaking it hard until you can determine the level of the top of the reactants, if the mixture starts to rise up too high, shake it hard, to shake it down.

Suppose the last reaction failed!! the I2 is new crystal, The E extracted very well and looks great, The RP is used but should be OK. Top avoid another failure load the RP into the flask, first. Add as much or more used RP as E, then heat the flask and RP slightly, this will make it more reactive. Dump in the E on the side of the flask away from the RP, so the E will not dilute or wax out the RP , add the I2 on top of the RP , seal the flask heat just a little bit, and mix it up,
When the reaction begins to fume add a tiny amount of water as needed and stop shaking the solution, unless it really begins to over react.

This method can be used on weak I2 , by adding the I2 first, then warm it up.
It is so important to become familiar with the chemicals, especially when recycling.

Imagine If the RP is WEAK and The I2 is weak and the E is dirty, the only possible way the reaction will work is to clean the I2 before attempting the reaction, adding an excess of the weak chemical may work great 80% of the time, but it will screw you over 20% of the time, because the bad chem will arrest the action of the good chems. So when adding an excess of RP or I2 it is best to add an excess of both I2 and RP.

HAZARDS

The worst thing to do is to run away, leaving it out of control, probably will result in a fire , injuries, and your arrest.
if you can not get the stopper on , place your wet towel over it , Quench it with water
Then get you and the flask to an open area, away from all flammable, get it sealed or water it down , the smoke and shit will stop with excess water.
The smoke will die out no matter what , in a few minutes, You want to avoid the contents that may be tossed out of the top of flask that is the real danger, since you are not using heat the risk of fire is reduced but not gone,
If the Phosphorus begins burning and spewing you have the most dangerous situation the amount of smoke is unfathomable , get the hose immediately. The gasses are not healthy, but a little will not hurt you
The fumes are not a deadly toxin, but it is vaporous HI acid, and a little phosphine(not phosgene). Avoid breathing the fumes
Keep the wet towel handy, always, and use it, if you have trouble,
That towel will turn potential serious disaster, into a laughable "won't do that shit, again" story
. I used to cook wearing basically zero clothing, After considering what would happen if burning phosphorus were to land on skin and the effect of broken glass on bare feet, I now wear full body armor, with helmet
. Your chances of serious injury, depend upon you
. If your high, stoned, clumsy, thick headed, or a goof trooper you will get injured,
. You can watch someone move about the lab area and know after a minute if they are a hazard.
They go back and forth, can't find a thing, always blocking the way, slamming down flasks and bowls, leaving towels and glassware anywhere. If your on top of the situation you will probably have no injuries perhaps a minor cut or burn now and then.
. Enough of that,

The RP and I2 concentrations determine the reaction rate, and completeness of the reaction
The RP determines how quick the I2 will react, (assuming there is enough I2)
More RP and the reaction will have a stronger initial surge
More I2 the reaction will go to completion but discolors the stash
Less RP the reaction is slow or may not fire at all
Less I2 the reaction will be slower , incomplete turnover of the E , and possibly will fail to react at all.

Add the RP
=-----------
Immediately after adding RP stopper the flask ,tape the stopper onto the flask with 6-8 pieces of tape several over the top of the stopper and two around the neck to seal the stopper on very well.
Mix by swirling rapidly a few times, be quick.
If needed slowly inject a few mls of water, or peroxide(if using recycled RP) to initiate the reaction.

Normal reaction
--------------
A fuming red purple-green cloud will fill the reaction chamber
leaving you unable to see inside, don't panic!! just watch the inner side of the reaction flask, if the reaction begins to get too strong you will see the burgundy colored mud, begin to rise on the inner sides of the flask, This should not be allowed to rise above the 1/2 way point of the flask. If it does simply shake the flask hard and it will "shake down" the reaction, soon the fumes vanish and you will see the bubbling and seething surface of the reactants, allow it to rise as before, only to the 1/2 way point.
No heat has been added Don't shake or mix the flask except to shake down the reaction if it gets to strong.
When the rise, and bubbling decrease a little, slowly inject a few mls of water to maintain the bubbling
Eventually added water no longer affects the reaction, do NOT ADD any more water. Swirl any remaining reactants off the sides of the flask
You can heat the flask until a slight bubbling is seen, but it may harm your yield.

You will need every observation skill you possess. he reason is you must make some decisions during this process concerning the state of the reaction and what to do next. Generally it fires off, you see most of the signs and are satisfied that it is complete. The problem arises when something is not right. This is difficult to determine if you do not know what is normal.
Listed are numerous signs to look for, All of them must be present.
During the reaction you should note these positive signs of a reaction.
1) A fuming red purple-green cloud will fill the reaction chamber(HI production)
2) bubbling of the mixture with a rise in the level of the solution (H2 production)
3) golden metallic coloration on the surface of the bubbles(I2 present)
4) When swirling the flask the thick mud no longer sticks to the sides
the burgundy mud on the sides of the flask begins to wash down, can see thru it(less I2) 5 The golden hue becomes clear or silver( indicating no more I2) Observation of these signs means you have have successfully reacted a the I2 and have a product, the final detail if the mixture is silver or clear would be to open the top and toss in some I2 .
If the reaction signs were noted except the solution did not clear out and is still yellow,
add some RP and heat
If you just like to be completely sure the E is used up add some of the fluid from the P/P and heat the solution for 10 minutes this will react the remaining E
Top of Page

Normal but extra dry
-----------------------
If after adding the RP and swirling to mix the RP, E, and I2 you have no fuming , no bubbling, and no rising. Be glad!! you have made very dry chemicals .
Inject 2-3 ml of water onto the reactants, this should produce a fuming cloud reddish-green , bubbling, follow the normal reaction listed above.

-----------------------------------
if nothing still, then gently heat the flask. .
If nothing after adding the heat
then heat the mixture to a very slight bubbling, swirl and inject a capful of H2O2 while it is still swirling.
If no fuming remove from heat, prepare I2 and RP 1/3 the original amount.
carefully un-stopper flask
Add I2
Add RP
Re stopper
Look for that initial cloud of reddish green fumes, once you see it your home free
The rest of the reaction can be coaxed by
heating it gently
sparse addition of water, or H2O2
stop when the burgundy mud clears from the sides


Major failure - problems
-----------------------
Still nothing Shut it down.
Look for wax on the RP - clean pills better
Check RP and iodine by placing a gram of each in a flask add H2O2, if get a fuming cloud the I2 and RP are OK So problem was too much water or E is screwed up.
Solution Add more I2 and RP , add concentrated H2O2 40% beauty supply store
or clean up the E better and start over.
usually due to low concentrations of I2 and RP.
Top of Page ,

Filtering and Purifying the Product- Time to get Serious

Dirty glassware, poor reagents, sloppy technique was all swept under the rug until now. From this point on any screw ups affects your product in a big way. So clean everything double good Filter the mix with the standard cotton balls and 4 coffee filters, re-filter through the same RP and filters again, continue re-filtering until it has no added clearing effect. This filtering should remove most of the iodine and red-brownness. It may require re-filtering 3 or 4 times You end up with a clear yellow or colorless solution that can have many different odors. Since this is the final product waft some of the odor toward your nose. If you smell the acrid HI you will have a low yield of good stuff, ephedrine odor is a bummer, but the smell of meth is distinctive and makes you shudder at thought of being so buzzed.

Add a non polar solvent (Coleman, Charcoal lighter fluid, toluene, naphtha, ether, hexane ..etc) This protects your meth from degradation due to high pH levels

***** IMPORTANT*****