Fresh Chacruna Potency - Is there something we are missing?

[Animistic]

I've just harvested about 1kg of fresh chacruna leaves from a Psychotria 'Nexus' hybrid. I'm reading that fresh and dried aren't much different for the weight you need, for example here: Aya homebrew Caapi/Viridis

This raises a question for me. Fresh chacruna weighs roughly 4x more than dried, surely the DMT doesn't break down in the drying process and so what accounts for such a drastic change? Is the some kind of other chemical in the chacruna which potentiates the medicine?

It makes me think about what I've heard about not boiling chacruna too strongly because it loses potency. DMT is certainly not broken down at a boiling temperatures or it would be a problem across all sources. So could the component which makes the difference between fresh and dried in terms of potency be quite volatile? Whereas vine on the other hand you can boil it as hard as you want, shy of burning it of course.

I'm curious anyone's thoughts on this..

Thanks!

 

[acacian]

One thing I think is worth noting when considering DMT's boiling point, is that the plant in question will have it's own unique chemical makeup. Variations in chemical makeup can mean different reactions to heat/acidity/alkalinity. Plant A or plant B will probably have different reactions take place to due their own unique combination of compounds. I think this is why despite DMT's known boiling point, it has been known be at higher risk of degradation with heat in some plants. Certain acacia this is anecdotally found to be the case, while others can deal with extended duration of high heat. There are all sorts of complexes going on in plants.. so extraction isn't always a homogenous procedure IMO.

This is my very basic take on the issue..

 

[Animistic]

I have heard this is the case with a certain coastal microendemic acacia. A friend of mine who has a lot of experience brewing says they don't hard boil the chacruna/acacia. Hard to separate what is inaccurate from what is accurate.

A friend came over the other day and as soon as he walked in he's like "what are you doing in here? It smells like DMT" I had the chacruna on the stove, it was simmering though but it did made me wonder if it was maybe too hot. I wouldn't want to reduce the heat too much more though or idk how effective the water would be at taking up all the alkaloids.

 

[acacian]

I doubt simmering would degrade it significantly or at all depending on how long you do so. I think it is the extended heavy boiling - that in the case of some plants - can start to cause undesirable reactions.. this could be something as minor as a slight change in profile of the alkaloids. Or it could be nothing at all. Its hard to say. At some point, some side by side tests would be a good idea to pin point this.. but it might be better applied to a plant where it is already suspected that degradation/change is happening.

In the amazon chacruna and vine are boiled vigorously for hours.. its possible that maybe a bit of liquid on the side of the pot burnt a little.. this can happen easily if you aren't constantly stirring it.. you'll inevitably burn/vaporise very small amounts.

I haven't worked with chacruna though so this is all speculation on my part. Just thought I'd mention that extraction isn't as static as people might think as the plant source is a key variable (for reasons I outlined above). Gentle simmering should be pretty safe with any plant.

Enjoy