Question

How do I decant solvent from a mass of crystals?

Answer 1

Have you never seen a sommelier, a wine waiter? Anyway, the simple answer is we do it carefully.

Explanation:

You carefully pour the liquid contents of one beaker/flask to another container, and with luck the crystalline components will be retained by the source flask. When we do this we TEND to stick our tongues out slightly. Why we should do this, I don't know (but perhaps it's only me who does this).

The bigger the crystals, the easier this process is to do....and the less solvent the crystals entrain.