CIELO

Crystals In Ethyl-acetate Lazily Over-the-counter

Mescaline from cactus, precipitated as crystals in ethyl acetate. Simple, avoids harsh chemicals, less than an hour of active work.

Set your powder amount and acid type in the bar above — all quantities adjust automatically. Progress is saved in your browser.

Safety

  • Ethyl acetate — flash point -27°C / 38°F. No open flames. Ventilate. Goggles.
  • Food grade acid — some ends up in product.
  • Dust — mask for sensitive lungs.
  • No aluminum — acid corrodes it.

Grow your own

San Pedro cacti in Peru are being over-harvested. Never buy dry powder online. Obtain live seeds, cuttings, or rooted plants.

Consumables

  • 100 g dry fine cactus powder
  • 130 ml water + 70 ml reserve (max 200 ml)
  • 25 g Ca(OH)₂ (lime)
  • ~950 ml ethyl acetate (“MEK substitute”)
  • 3.0 g fumaric acid
  • Optional: pH strips
  • For solvent reclaim: washing soda (Na₂CO₃)

Equipment

  • Knife, paper bag, dehydrator, food processor, coffee grinder, flour sifter
  • Gram scale · Large bowl + spoon or gloves
  • French press (stainless steel, 34 oz+) · Coffee filters + funnel
  • Quart mason jars with lids · Milligram scale

Upgrades: grain mill, stand mixer with flat beater, magnetic stirrer

1 Powder 2 Crumbs 3 Extract 4 Crystallize 5 Collect 6 Reuse

Grow, harvest, dry, and grind cactus to a fine powder. Don’t harvest under 90 cm / 3 ft. Cut top half for processing, leave bottom to regrow.

Stressing — recommended

Store live cuttings in the dark for 3+ months (paper bag). Can increase mescaline content.

  1. Chop into ~1/4″ slices
  2. Dehydrate at low temp (~50°C / 120°F) — prevents chlorophyll breakdown
  3. Coarse grind (food processor)
  4. Fine grind (coffee grinder / grain mill)
  5. Sift through flour sifter, regrind coarse bits

Result: uniformly fine, flour-like. Clouds of dust when handled. Store sealed.

All parts usable. Outer skin yields more per mass but mescaline is in both. Spines/wax optional to remove.

Target: “wet crumbs” — sticks when squeezed, crumbles when broken apart.

Dry spots? Add small amounts from your 70 ml reserve. Stand mixer at low speed is a great upgrade.

Too wet? Dough/paste still works but needs a sodium carbonate partial dry before crystallization.

Pull wet crumbs with EA in the french press. Complete all pulls within 45 min — plant matter congeals after that.

Pull 1 — 250 ml

Pulls 2–5 — each 175 ml

Watch final trickle — don’t squeeze water into solvent. Target ≥110 ml back from Pull 1. Compost spent crumbs when dry.

Particles? Crumbs had dry spots. Filter everything before salting. More water + mixing next time.

Fumaric acid reacts with mescaline freebase → insoluble monomescaline fumarate.

Method

Slow — no stirrer

Diffuse without stirring. Sealed, room temp, 3+ days. Large crystals possible.

Fast — magnetic stirrer

Fumarate: ~30 min. Small/powdery crystals.

Crystals can look like undissolved acid. All acid reliably dissolves. Mescaline salt floats and snow-globes; acid doesn’t.

Collect, rinse, dry. Don’t store salted solvent in metal.

Typical yield 0.3%–3%, common range 0.6%–1.5%. Bridgesii > pachanoi generally.

Reuse filter upside-down next time — residual crystals act as seeds for faster crystallization.

Regenerate for reuse. Green color is stable, doesn’t interfere. Unlimited reuses. Check for new crystals first.

Option A — Magnetic Stirrer (recommended)

Option B — No Stirrer

No salted solvent in metal. Neutralized solvent can go back in the original can. Mason jar with EA-resistant lid also works.