Where's the goods?

[lilbumper]

I know it still says that I'm a (stranger), but i've been buzzing around here for about 2 years now.  I just try really hard to figure things out before i post, because i have read so many flaming responses.  I've searched for the answers, believe me, I can't find them....if they're out there, please point me in that direction. 
A little history.  Swim's got the rp/i and a few birches under her belt.  Since rp/i aren't readily available in her part of the country, and annie is, she would like to keep trying her luck with the birch. BUT....
Her yeilds are so low that she's spending more money to make it than she would to buy it off the street (ugh!)
Details on her last birch:
-------------20g E
-------------250 annie (homemade)
-------------2 aa lithium strips
--Poured annie into reaction vessel.
--1/4 strips lithium added to annie until royal blue stayed
--E sprinkled into vessel while stirring.
--Waited 15-20 minutes until reaction slowed (blue left, whiteish junk remained.
--Added colemans fuel
--Stirred, let settle, stirred, let settle...so on.
--Filtered off colemans, left white junk behind.
--Water washed colemans, separated.
--Gassed with H2SO4 and salt.
--Swim's wonderful yeild was 3.8g of so-so go-go.  That's about an amazing 19% return, right. (Swim is soo ready to scream right now!!)
-----------As luck would have it, she had 12.7g of E stuck back for just this kind of emergency and a little left over annie she had put back on dry ice.  Whew!-------------
This time, it went like this....
--------------12.7g E
--------------150ml annie
--------------1.4 aa li strips
--Poured annie into reaction vessel.
--Sprinkled in the E.
--Added li 1/4 strip at a time til blue was seen.
--Stirred and stirred and stirred and set by the lamp to evap, stirring occasional.
--about 30-40 mins later mixture looked whitish/grey and kinda like chunky dough.
--Added colemans. Stirred and let settle, stirred and let settle, and so on for about 15 minutes.
--Filtered out colemans, leaving junk behind.
--Gassed same as above.
--Yeild was a tiny bit better, but still very low, coming in at 4.1g of a better burning and tasting go-go than above.
(that's about a 32% return, i think)

So...question is, which way is the right way?  What is swim doing wrong?  Is she leaving something out?  Is she letting it react long enough or too long?  Oh yeah, when gassing NP always gets cloudy, even though she dries it first. Any ideas on that?  By the way, she saved EVERYTHING from both of the above reactions...is there anything she can do to get the rest of her go-go?  What about the already-gassed colemans? Could some still be in there?
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions or ideas, hopefully someone will correct swims way and the next time, she'll get a better return.

[ChemoSabe]

Tell us how you are cleaning your pills and most likely all the answers to your question will lie in what you tell us about that.

Dwarfer can also probably give you some valid feedback specific to the birch.

If he's around.

[TURNTABLIST]

Add one AA Li strip for every 7G E. Some times a little more sometimes a little less. Try and make it hold dark blue for a few mins while stirring and keep it wet with Annie. Will help your yeilds some but clean Pfed is the most important thing to start with.

[Jade]

What kind of climate are you in?  Things such as humidity can really fuck up your yields.  Have you tried titration to see if you could get more out?

[lilbumper]

Swim made a few rounds and decided to try this again.

This time:
17.4g E {alcohol pulls followed by a couple of acetone washings....i know, and next time I WILL do a better cleaning!)
2 aa strips
about 200ml annie

--poured annie into reaction vessel.
--sprinkled in E
--added Li 1/4 strip at a time till blue came and stayed.
--stirred and stirred, set by lamp and stirred occasionally until annie evaped (almost 1 hour 15 minutes--by the way, swim didn't think she should wait this long, but her partner said to....)
--added colemans, stirred and let settle. (swim thinks it was stirred too hard because there was this incredible emulsion layer that she hasn't seen in previous reactions..but wait...)
--filtered out np leaving emulsion/crap behind,(which she added more np to, for later)
--water washed
--gassed

She only THOUGHT she made the goods before!  This stuff snowed down in the jar like a freakin blizzard.  It was a BEAUTIFUL sight!! She tried not to get too excited, but then she just had to see how this snow burned.  It was soo pretty, ran beautifully, cracked back really fast, and left swim feeling GREAT after just a couple of minutes.  And after gassing the rest, she ended up with 8g! (I know that is still a low return, about 46%, but its WAY better than 20%!!!) And she still has to go back and gas the np that she added back to reaction mess.  Maybe there is a little more in there.
So, heres a few thoughts/questions.
1-Swim does live where there's lots of humidity. She thinks this has a lot to do with it....but what can she do? She doesnt have a place with an air condition to do this in...has to be outside.
2-Did letting the reaction mix get almost completely dry (for over an hour) have anything to do with her outcome?
3-During her clean-up of her previous reaction, she discovered that there was a LOT of white frosty looking stuff in her annie jar (not the reaction vessel, but the jar she used to catch her annie).  I UTFSE and found something that makes me believe it is ammonium carbamate.
If so, is this bad?  Would it cause low yeilds and only half reacted goods?  If so, HOW does she get rid of it?  Does filtering annie help at all, because before her last reaction, swim filtered it 4 times before adding to reaction vessel.
--Swim has thought for a while that she was ending up with only half reacted goods.  The go-go was just so-so, I mean, it was better than not having any, but she knew she could do better. And the stuff from the last reaction is THE good stuff.  She didn't do that much different, so now she's thinking...how can she make sure the same thing happens the next time...whenever that may be.
Thanks for all who responded....it is very much appreciated!

Lilbumper   <<<<<

[ChemoSabe]

These days that's a good return.