So, I've recently taken a liking to the Alkahest, and have been trying in creative to find ways to automate it to infinity. A perhaps the most important thing I've learned is that all automated crafting methods I am aware of in the Ultimate, and probably every FTB modpack is incapable of understanding crafting table recipes with stacked items. (Even my beloved AE failed me...)
Therefore, it is only possible to automate items which yield with only a single item crafted next to the Alkahest. For these recipes, it's actually very simple to automate their use to great effect with a simple Fabricator, and any kind of filtering mechanism to take out redstone and/or lapis, depending on what it is being Alkahested. Items which can be automated are;
Gunpowder - yields 2 redstone each (Seems to be the most useful, assuming you don't have access to mob grinding)
Iron - 2 lapis each (Great for making diamonds or gold if you have automated infinite iron, otherwise not particularly useful, due to lapis being unalkahestable)
Gold - 4 lapis and 2 redstone each (The most powerful option, if you happen to have a zombie pigmen farm, this is your best bet)
Diamond - 2 Lapis blocks each (If you can find a way to use this, please tell me. I'd love to know.)
And that's it.
Obviously the best way to use this would be some form of mob grinder for either creepers or zombie pigmen, though there are a few infinite loops which can be done using Alkahestry as-is, such as;
1 redstone dust can yield 16 excess netherrack, which with Gregtech can be sent through an Industrial Grinder, (optional first step, but yields an extra gold nugget) then an Industrial Centrifuge to yield a total of 2 gold nuggets, 1 coal dust, 4 sulfer, and 1 redstone dust. Feed the redstone back into a Tome of Alkahest, and bam, infinite gold, coal, and sulfer. And you don't even need a full-blown Alkahest!
(Note that, barring input from other systems, this is only truly infinite if you omit the optional grinder step. You can then either process the coal straight into coal fuel for a net gain of around 1-2k EU per coal, or process the coal into methane and gain 26k EU per coal, but at significant infrastructure cost.)
In addition to the above netherrack recipe, redstone can also be crafted into soulsand, albeit at a gain of 4 instead of 16. 16 soulsand can be centrifuged for 1 oil cell, 4 saltpeter, 1 coal, and 10 sand. Combine this with the above netherrack recipe, and you have the potential to spend 5 redstone to create 1 oil, 4 saltpeter, 2 coal, 4 sulfer, 2 gold nuggets, 1 redstone, and 10 sand. You can then autocraft the saltpeter, coal, and 2 sulfer into 6 gunpowder, which can give you 12 redstone through the Alkahest.
Glowstone can be made with a tome of alkahest at the cost of 1 redstone each. 16 glowstone can then be centrifuged into 8 redstone, 8 gold, and 1 helium. This can be used as-is to basically turn 0.5 redstone into 0.5 gold, or you can Alkahest the gold to yield a net gain in redstone, as well as some lapis. Note that in order for this to be truly self-sustaining, some of the redstone will have to be converted into some kind energy-generating substance. I reccomend Soulsand or Netherrack.
Therefore, it is only possible to automate items which yield with only a single item crafted next to the Alkahest. For these recipes, it's actually very simple to automate their use to great effect with a simple Fabricator, and any kind of filtering mechanism to take out redstone and/or lapis, depending on what it is being Alkahested. Items which can be automated are;
Gunpowder - yields 2 redstone each (Seems to be the most useful, assuming you don't have access to mob grinding)
Iron - 2 lapis each (Great for making diamonds or gold if you have automated infinite iron, otherwise not particularly useful, due to lapis being unalkahestable)
Gold - 4 lapis and 2 redstone each (The most powerful option, if you happen to have a zombie pigmen farm, this is your best bet)
Diamond - 2 Lapis blocks each (If you can find a way to use this, please tell me. I'd love to know.)
And that's it.
Obviously the best way to use this would be some form of mob grinder for either creepers or zombie pigmen, though there are a few infinite loops which can be done using Alkahestry as-is, such as;
1 redstone dust can yield 16 excess netherrack, which with Gregtech can be sent through an Industrial Grinder, (optional first step, but yields an extra gold nugget) then an Industrial Centrifuge to yield a total of 2 gold nuggets, 1 coal dust, 4 sulfer, and 1 redstone dust. Feed the redstone back into a Tome of Alkahest, and bam, infinite gold, coal, and sulfer. And you don't even need a full-blown Alkahest!
(Note that, barring input from other systems, this is only truly infinite if you omit the optional grinder step. You can then either process the coal straight into coal fuel for a net gain of around 1-2k EU per coal, or process the coal into methane and gain 26k EU per coal, but at significant infrastructure cost.)
In addition to the above netherrack recipe, redstone can also be crafted into soulsand, albeit at a gain of 4 instead of 16. 16 soulsand can be centrifuged for 1 oil cell, 4 saltpeter, 1 coal, and 10 sand. Combine this with the above netherrack recipe, and you have the potential to spend 5 redstone to create 1 oil, 4 saltpeter, 2 coal, 4 sulfer, 2 gold nuggets, 1 redstone, and 10 sand. You can then autocraft the saltpeter, coal, and 2 sulfer into 6 gunpowder, which can give you 12 redstone through the Alkahest.
Glowstone can be made with a tome of alkahest at the cost of 1 redstone each. 16 glowstone can then be centrifuged into 8 redstone, 8 gold, and 1 helium. This can be used as-is to basically turn 0.5 redstone into 0.5 gold, or you can Alkahest the gold to yield a net gain in redstone, as well as some lapis. Note that in order for this to be truly self-sustaining, some of the redstone will have to be converted into some kind energy-generating substance. I reccomend Soulsand or Netherrack.
