In our series on spagyric alchemy, we mentioned the benefits of letting an alchemical preparation extract or mature at a consistent temperature. In herbal spagyrics, and doubly so for more advanced types of alchemy, there is a distinct benefit to being able to hold the work at some prescribed temperature for a long period of time. Some alchemists have gone so far as to summarize the entirety of laboratory alchemy as a sophisticated exercise in temperature management.
Historical alchemical texts take different approaches to maintaining temperature. Some, like Ripley’s Liber Secretissimus, instruct us to keep the work over a low fire – usually in a bath of water, sand, or ashes to help buffer the temperature. Bacstrom’s Rosicrucian Aphorisms and Process, describes a complicated method of rotating the work through drums of fermenting horse manure. Luckily, this is one area where modern technology can significantly aid us in our efforts.
The core requirement is to have an oven or incubator, capable of maintaining a consistent temperature in a range of 95°–120° F (35°–49° C) over a long period of time. A small electric heater, an insulated container, and a thermostatic controller can perfectly satisfy these requirements.
I opted to start with a 30-quart cooler as my container. It’s small enough to keep out of the way, large enough to hold several preparations at once, and well-insulated enough to minimize the power needed to keep it warm.
Temperature management relies on a digital temperature controller, with a built-in outlet and temperature probe. The control unit looks a lot like a power strip, with one outlet labeled Heating and the other Cooling. A small metallic probe measures the temperature, and both this and the power strip are connected to a digital control unit. This control unit allows a desired temperature to be set (along with a number of other control parameters), and then regulates the flow of power to the outlets based on the currently detected temperature. I drilled a couple of holes in the cooler, to allow me to feed both the power outlets and temperature probe to the inside.
The actual source of heat was something of a challenge. My first idea was to use a small heating mat, marketed for use with reptile enclosures. It fit very neatly into the bottom of the cooler, but (for safety reasons) had some built-in temperature maximums. It took a very long time to warm up, and even running at 100% it couldn’t keep the temperature of the alchemical incubator much above 85° F.
My next attempt was to use an electric heating pad designed for sore muscles. It was nearly twice as powerful as the heating mat, with a higher maximum temperature, but still wasn’t enough to consistently keep the temperature where I wanted it to be.
Finally, I settled on a 500W micro space heater. It has a small footprint (roughly 3×4 inches), and some built in safety features to shut off automatically if it tips over. This is wildly overpowered for the tiny space I’m trying to heat, but that actually comes with some upsides. The alchemical incubator now comes up to temperature very quickly, and only has to run a tiny percentage of the time in order to keep the temperature steady. It also gives me the option to keep the incubator in an unheated space – or even outside, if in the future I want to work with more noxious alchemical preparations. It further gives me the option to upsize, in the event that I find the current incubator space insufficient; I’m confident this temperature solution could be transferred to a larger cooler (or even a refrigerator) and would have no issues maintaining the temperature of a larger space.
Since spagyric tinctures don’t require a distillation train, this incubator gives me everything I need in order to begin experimenting with alchemical plant medicines. I’m sure I’ll post the results of my experimentation in the future.
Leave a Reply