The alchemy lab is the tenth building in the game, initially costing 75 billion cookies. Each alchemy lab initially produces 1.6 million CpS by turning gold into cookies. When fully upgraded, they each produce 409.6 million CpS.
Don't get used to yourself, you're gonna have to change
Have 450 alchemy labs.
361
We could all use a little change
Have 500 alchemy labs.
407
Just a phase
Have 550 alchemy labs.
483
Bad chemistry
Have 600 alchemy labs.
501
Magnum Opus
Make 1 sextillion cookies just from alchemy labs.
140
The Aureate
Make 10 octillion cookies just from alchemy labs.
198
I've got the Midas touch
Make 100 decillion cookies just from alchemy labs.
302
Phlogisticated substances
Reach level 10 alchemy labs.
316
Upgrades
Icon
Name
Unlock condition
Base price
Description
ID
Antimony
Own 1 alchemy lab
750 billion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Actually worth a lot of mony."
22
Essence of dough
Own 5 alchemy labs
3.75 trillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Extracted through the 5 ancient steps of alchemical baking."
23
True chocolate
Own 25 alchemy labs
37.5 trillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "The purest form of cacao."
24
Ambrosia
Own 50 alchemy labs
3.75 quadrillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Adding this to the cookie mix is sure to make them even more addictive! Perhaps dangerously so. Let's hope you can keep selling these legally."
49
Aqua crustulae
Own 100 alchemy labs
375 quadrillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Careful with the dosing - one drop too much and you get muffins. And nobody likes muffins."
115
Origin crucible
Own 150 alchemy labs
37.5 quintillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Built from the rarest of earths and located at the very deepest of the largest mountain, this legendary crucible is said to retain properties from the big-bang itself."
197
Theory of atomic fluidity
Own 200 alchemy labs
37.5 sextillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Pushing alchemy to its most extreme limits, you find that everything is transmutable into anything else - lead to gold, mercury to water; more importantly, you realize that anything can -and should- be converted to cookies."
302
Beige goo
Own 250 alchemy labs
37.5 septillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Well now you've done it. Good job. Very nice. That's 3 galaxies you've just converted into cookies. Good thing you can hop from universe to universe."
315
The advent of chemistry
Own 300 alchemy labs
37.5 octillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "You know what? That whole alchemy nonsense was a load of baseless rubbish. Dear god, what were you thinking?"
436
On second thought
Own 350 alchemy labs
37.5 nonillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Disregard that last upgrade, alchemy is where it's at! Your eggheads just found a way to transmute children's nightmares into rare metals!"
488
Public betterment
Own 400 alchemy labs
375 decillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "Why do we keep trying to change useless matter into cookies, or cookies into even better cookies? Clearly, the way of the future is to change the people who eat the cookies into people with a greater understanding, appreciation and respect for the cookies they're eating. Into the vat you go!"
514
Hermetic reconciliation
Own 450 alchemy labs
3.75 duodecillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "It's time for modern science and the mystical domains of the occult to work together at last. What do gravitons transmute into? What if alkahest is pH-neutral? Should a homunculus have the right to vote? And other exciting questions coming to you soon, whether you like it or not."
670
Chromatic cycling
Own 500 alchemy labs
37.5 tredecillion
Alchemy labs are twice as efficient. "All states of matter exist in a continuous loop. Having learned how to cycle through them, all you have to do is to freeze matter right on the state you need. For reference, the cookie state of matter is situated at precisely 163.719°, right between lamellar gas and metaplasma."
708
Other Upgrades
Icon
Name
Unlock condition
Base price
Description
ID
Transmuted grandmas
15 alchemy labs and 1 grandma owned
3.75 trillion
Grandmas are twice as efficient. Alchemy labs gain +1% CpS per 8 grandmas. "A nice golden grandma to convert into more cookies."
Wizard towers gain +5% CpS per alchemy lab. Alchemy labs gain +0.1% CpS per wizard tower. "Some things were never meant to be known - only mildly speculated."
379
Primordial ores
15 Mines, 15 Alchemy labs and "Synergies Vol. I" purchased
15 quadrillion
Mines gain +5% CpS per alchemy lab. Alchemy labs gain +0.1% CpS per mine. "Only when refining the purest metals will you extract the sweetest sap of the earth."
383
Gold fund
75 Banks, 75 Alchemy labs and "Synergies Vol. II" purchased
15.003 sextillion
Banks gain +5% CpS per alchemy lab. Alchemy labs gain +0.1% CpS per bank. "If gold is the backbone of the economy, cookies, surely, are its hip joints."
Alchemy labs gain +5% CpS per antimatter condenser. Antimatter condensers gain +0.1% CpS per alchemy lab. "Discover exciting new elements, such as Fleshmeltium, Inert Shampoo Byproduct #17 and Carbon++!"
390
Fortune #010
Random fortune from news ticker
5.833 duodecillion
Alchemy labs are 7% more efficient and 7% cheaper. "Don't get used to yourself. You're gonna have to change."
630
Transmuted Grandma
Transmuted Grandma
In Cookie Clicker Classic
Two images from the Classic version, left: icon shown in the store, right: appearance in the middle field
The Alchemy lab is the fifth most expensive item you can purchase. It will give you 500 cookies every 5 seconds by transforming gold.
It initially costs 50,000 cookies, increasing in price by 10% with each consecutive purchase. Some grandmas will change to that of a golden grandma.
Buying your first Alchemy Lab will increase Grandma output by +4 cookies per 5 seconds.
Trivia
The Alchemy Lab of Cookie Clicker parodies one of the most well-known goals of Alchemy, to devise a way to transform lesser metals, such as lead, into higher metals, usually gold.
The economic consequences of transforming the rare element of gold into cookie material have not been fully explored by the game, but it would likely cause inflation in many of the world's currencies. However, given that the player is likely to create cookies at a fast enough rate to end world hunger entirely, a post-scarcity economy may have emerged in its place, potentially limiting the need of currency, to begin with.
A news tick suggests that gold is not the only precious metal that can be used in Alchemy Labs. Silver can also be transmuted into white chocolate, according to the titles, but there are no other upgrades or achievements that support this. Additionally, the process of converting gold into cookies appears to be reversible.
The "Aqua crustulae" upgrade name means "Water of cookie" in Latin. It's probably is a reference to Latin expression "Aqua vitae" that means "Water of life".
The "All that glitters is gold" achievement is a reference to the chorus of "All-Star" by Smash Mouth.
The "We could all use a little change" achievement is a reference to "All-Star" by Smash Mouth.