Harmalas Extraction and Separation Guide

[endlessness]

So I wrote this guide trying to sum up the whole process of harmala extraction in a way that basically anybody can make at home with simple food-safe materials, also with the optional separation of harmine and harmaline..

I added some pictures to make it more interesting and easier to understand the whole thing. I also made a quick sum up of the steps in the beginning for quick consulting, and further down a more detailed explanation, also a bit about the chemistry involved and so on. On the detailed write up part I added bold to the specific important parts one has to do so that it wouldnt be confusing in between so many written explanations.

This is not my tek, I dont own it or didnt invent it alone, I just put it together with personal experiences and information as well as information that many in the forum helped with, and tried to make in a well organized way. Hope this helps someone

(and if anybody notices some mistake please do tell)

EDIT: Now you can find the updated tek in the WIKI

 

[OriginalFace]

Thank you endlessness. It's an awesome writeup and now part of my library.

OF

 

[turtleman29]

Thank you endlessness I really needed this lately, awesome synopsis of alot of different threads I have had to jump back and forth from.

Nice work and my thanks.

 

[Astralking]

Could anything be used instead of sodium carbonate here? I've been buying so much stuff and wanna know if i can use any chemicals i've got around already

 

[CosmicLion]

Calcium hydroxide might work as the base.

It is sold as Lime, Hydrated Lime, Slack Lime and Pickling Lime

It is used for various thins including gardening and shampoo as a lye replacement.

It's cheap and might be worth a shot if you have it sitting around.

 

[endlessness]

ammonia can also be used instead.. but it stinks like hell

well even lye could be used, but you would have to be VERY careful with the measurements, because the amount of lye needed to reach the desired pH is very very small

or just get some sodium carbonate or make sodium carbonate from sodium bicarbonate, as it says in the guide, that would be the best

 

[endlessness]

bump

(I thought it could be interesting for newcommers that might be curious about harmala extraction but didnt get far to page 2 of the forum, sorry for shameless revival here )

 

[mumbles]

Awesome thanks for compiling all this info. It takes some time to comb through all the threads and picking out the gems of advice so thanks for doing the legwork.

 

[smokeydaze]

Nice work endlessness, thanks.

Question though: at the last stage, instead of filtering again would there be any disadvantages to simply evaporating?

 

[endlessness]

glad it serves for others

Nice work endlessness, thanks.

Question though: at the last stage, instead of filtering again would there be any disadvantages to simply evaporating?

what do you mean? When you precipitate your harmalas as a freebase, how are you gonna evaporate everything? the water is gonna be full of sodium carbonate and other impurities, if you just evaporate (and I wonder how, because its a lot of water and you cant use too much heat or you will vaporize the harmalas away), then you will have all the contamination in your harmalas

you could, of course, precipitate, wait a day or two for harmalas to precipitate fully, decant most, and then filter only the last bit (or even evap the last part but, but you will have some contamination there... better filter)

 

[silcon_avatar]

Hey Man,

Thanx for your Tek, I just bought some P.Harmala and was wondering how to do this extraction, I've done some reading but the pics really make it easier to understand.

I tried a similar Tek with Passionflower, but it didnt work out The amount of Harmalas is also minute in Passionflower so maybe that was the problem.

What would be the average yield anyway with P.Harmala, I've got 100 grams to work with.

 

[endlessness]

depends on the quality of seeds and all but... the stated yields in scientific papers say up to 7%, but in practice, after clean up I would say its reasonable to assume 2%.. depends how obsessive you get with cleaning .. if you just do one salt precipitation and one base precip, yield will probably be closer to the upper limits

good luck and tell us how it went. Dont throw anything away if it goes wrong, come back and we will solve it

 

[smokeydaze]

you could, of course, precipitate, wait a day or two for harmalas to precipitate fully, decant most, and then filter only the last bit (or even evap the last part but, but you will have some contamination there... better filter)

Yea thats what I meant. I think I just need a finer filter as last time 1/4 of it went through the filter and I ended up evaporating that bit.

 

[endlessness]

gotta wait a couple of hours for precipitation to happen and crystals to grow a bit, and use a coffee filter, otherwise it will indeed pass through

 

[smokeydaze]

Yea I waited Just didnt use a coffee filter.. Thanks

 

[yayscience]

What's the deal with the "pure" salt? How pure does it need to be? For instance, will regular Morton's suffice?

 

[endlessness]

well what does it say in the ingredients? Does it have only salt, or other chemicals added in it (like drying agents and so on) ? If its just iodine shouldnt be a problem, but since I can get non-iodized pure sea salt, I use that instead...

 

[shoe]

That's a lovely guide buddy. 2 things I can contribute though: You could substitute 'resumed' method for ... breif method? condensed method? skeleton method?
the other is this: the guide should work directly for shredded b.caapi as-is, netting the additional THH.

 

[plumsmooth]

So Baking Soda is not strong enough of a base to precipitate Harmaline? I read through the guide, however I would really appreciate a short elaboration on the two bases compared, Sodium Carbonate and Sodium Bicarbonate. This info may be available somewhere so I may have to just look harder. It is just always so comforting when you chemists share your wisdom with us less knowledgeable folk! BTW, you state in the guide:

or add sodium bicarbonate
freely, till it stops changing colour and a bit more, to precipitate
harmine.

Wouldn't this approach lead to excess baking soda mixed with the harmine. I realize you may be just offering a general suggestion; but since it is a "guide" I thought you might have a refined quantity of baking soda-- for example-- that it takes to saturate a given volume of solution. Thanks very much for the sharing time, this site is proving to be a great learning experience, and helping me to evolve my own neo-shamanic database.

 

[mumbles]

The quantity of base depends on how much acid (citric or acetic) was used, and thats just up to the individual. As long as the additions are done slowly with small amounts and stirring the contamination will be very minor. Swim usually uses less than two teaspoons, 1/2 teaspoon at a time or less of sodium carbonate. You will know when you've added enough because the solution will become opaque with freebase precipitation and the newly added base will just float on top and slowly dissolve with no visible reaction.