Yes, the reaction takes place, but it is irrelevant, wanna know why? Well, first, harmala red only forms if you use a fan to evaporate the harmala-rich alcohol, if you let it evaporate at its own pace or boil it down, guess what?!?! No harmala red forms at all. Secondly, even if harmala red raises its filmy head, so what? Continue the extraction as you normally would, it doesnt change anything. Actually, I have gotten better yields of harmalas from the same batch of rue when using my handy computer fan to evaporate the alcohol and create the dreaded harmala red than boiling it down. Everyone seems to be worried about a phenomenon that, ime, has no effect on the overall extraction...mumbles said:Whiterasta mentions a red film/oil on the filter, so the reaction forming the red did indeed take place.Crystalito said:Well ,the whole harmala red issue seems -it might not be, but it seems- easy to crack:
If one wants to see if its an oxidation product ,harmine/harmaline mixture or even better seperately can be added to hydrogen peroxide, let the reaction take place and see if it becomes red.
Same with addition of alcohol:If there is red to be seen it will be seen.I think i spoke with a member that did the alcohol experiment and found it became red.On the other hand,was it whiterasta that extracted with alcohol and had no such problems? Look here,seems it worked like a charm!
peace
SB