Chemistry in Probably Stolen means turning raw ingredients into pills and powders you can sell, with a chain of machines and the in-game Chemistry 101 Guide to show you how. The guide gives two complete recipes, Dream Dust and Caffeine Pills, and a purity table: the purer your product, the more it sells for.
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There are two kinds. Chemical Supplies (Common) "can be unpacked into items that are useful for basic chemical crafting", and Chemical Supplies (Restricted) into items "useful for advanced chemical crafting". The Chemistry 101 Guide lists them first among the tools: "Can be unpack to obtain various essential chemicals".
In the free demo, you could not unpack them. A developer explained on the Steam forum on September 14, 2026: "I removed it to avoid confusion for new players in the demo. They will be back on 1.0 release." In the full game you can unpack them again, as the developer had said; unless you have the Retired Chemist, the game first warns that the unpacked chemicals can't be traded.
The Chemistry 101 Guide, which you read from the Chemistry Manual item, names one tool and four machines:
"Unlike other machines, most of the machine related to chemistry can only be upgraded with the special Chemical Equipment Module."
Dream Dust comes from Dream Cap, a mushroom the game describes as causing "a slight euphoria and stomach pain when consumed" and "a key ingredient in Dream Dust". The guide's four steps:
The same four steps, starting from Coffee Beans:
"Some customers will carry Chem Scanner to verify the labeled purity of your products," the guide warns, so the purity on the label should be the purity in the vial. Its purity rating table, with each grade paired to the price change listed in the same order:
| Grade | Purity | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Grade | 99%+ | +135% of base value |
| Pharma Grade | 90–99% | +85% of base value |
| Near Pharma | 80–90% | +40% of base value |
| Street Standard | 60–80% | No price modifier |
| Cut Product | 45–60% | −45% of base value |
| Junk Grade | 30–45% | −75% of base value |
| Starch Grade | under 30% | −95% of base value |
The Chemist is one of the game's starting scenarios: "You are an expert in the illegal, addictive and lucrative trade of controlled substances," with the Chemistry Manual and Chemistry Lab Equipment as starting gear. It is locked in the demo, and the developers listed it among the starting scenarios of the 1.0 release on October 21, 2026. Its row in our starting scenarios table shows the rest. In the full game its starting gear is unchanged: the Chemistry Manual and Chemistry Lab Equipment.
If you start as something else, Joe Wild's network has two chemistry favors: Retired Chemist, which gives you a Chemist Starter Kit and a weekly visitor selling chemical supplies and equipment, and Lower Levels Chemist, a supplier of cheap but illegal drugs. Both are locked in the demo; our guide to what the demo locks lists the rest.
Phanta is the third drug in the guide, and the guide does not give its recipe: "The precise recipe for Phanta remains a closely guarded secret." It names only the base, N-Methylol Base, found in Restricted Chemical Supplies. This page leaves it there.
Water has its own testing and cleaning chain, separate from these recipes; our water purification guide covers it.
The guide's sections and recipes on this page were checked against the full game's files on October 28, 2026. In the full game the guide gives the three purest grades +135%, +85% and +40% of base value, down from +200%, +125% and +75% in the demo. A patch that changes the recipes, the machines or the purity table triggers a recheck.
They unpack into the chemicals you need for crafting: Common for basic recipes, Restricted for advanced ones. In the full game you can unpack them again, as the developer had said; unless you have the Retired Chemist, the game first warns that the unpacked chemicals can't be traded.
The developers removed it from the demo to avoid confusing new players and said it would be back in 1.0.
Blend Dream Cap into a mush, heat it with alcohol at 40–60°C, evaporate it overnight, then package it as Dream Dust in the Chem Finisher.
The same way, from Coffee Beans, heated to at least 80°C.
Yes. The guide's table runs from −95% of base value for Starch Grade to +135% for Pure Grade.
A starting scenario with the Chemistry Manual and Chemistry Lab Equipment. It is locked in the demo and listed for the 1.0 release.
Sources and version history for this guide: Probably Stolen sources and versions.
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