Super-Easy No-Filter Harmalas Tek

Introduction

The core ideas in this tek are based on the posts by Ouro/Mydriasis, Brennendes Wasser & Gibran2. As with “my” DMT tek, I’m simply standing on the shoulders of giants and breaking down a method as comprehensively as I can for clarity.

The inspiration for writing this Tek is the no-filter strategy that replacing filtration with several washing and decanting steps.

With the exception of Gibran2’s tek on the wiki which explicitly advises against using Syrian Rue, the threads which mention this method have up 50-100x fewer views than the older rue teks on the wiki which from my personal experience can take 5-10 times longer than this one. Hopefully putting this on the wiki will help spread these ideas.

The purpose of this Tek is low-effort, easy steps and getting pure harmalas. A decent yield of 2-3% percent can come in as little as 12 hours, but 5+% is very possible too. Most importantly, after some simple boiling and straining, only waiting and then pouring water into a bucket are your tasks rather than slow messy high-effort filtration.

The core features of the easy tek are:

• Using whole Syrian Rue seeds rather than ground up ones.
• Freezing and thawing the seeds.
• Simmering, not boiling.
• Replacing filtering with water-washing and decanting.
• Only a single basing step to produce a pure product.

Note: There is a ~highly condensed cliff-notes version~ of the tek after the protein powder bucket picture. Also, for those wanting to do extractions of 200g to 1kg+, there are ~large-scale extraction cliff-notes~ as well. (Credit to TransistorBass for the idea)

Procedure

Caution: Harmalas can be absorbed through the skin. Please keep children and pregnant women away from your extraction.

Frozen Rue Seeds

- The night before the extraction starts, soak 100g of whole Syrian Rue seeds in at least 500ml of water and put it in the freezer until solid. My experiments suggest freezing increases the yield of the first boil by 2x or more.

Simmering Rue Seeds

- You can thaw the ice-seeds mix slowly, or melt it on the stove top. Once thawed, add ~30ml vinegar and enough water to increase the volume to 1000ml and lightly simmer for 30-40 minutes. Add more fresh water halfway through the simmering to get it back to 1000ml to account for the evaporation. Do not fully boil it, that will only slow down the washing steps later by extracting more unwanted things from the seeds.

More time and/or water is fine, but don’t use less! My tests indicate that on the first boil:

• 1. Using half as much water reduces the yield by around 50%
• 2. Halving the boiling time reduces the yield by up to 50%

-After simmering, Separate the liquid from the seeds into a heat-safe container like a pot or jar to cool. A small mesh strainer pushed down on the seeds and turkey baster sucking up the liquid works best to get much of the liquid trapped between the seeds, but pouring the liquid through a mesh strainer is a perfectly fine second-best option if you’re careful.

Straining Rue Seeds

- After separating the simmering liquid from the seeds, rinse them by adding enough tap water to make most of them float, then transfer that liquid into the same heat-safe container.

- Add 15ml more vinegar and enough water to the seeds to raise the level to 750ml and and simmer for 20 minutes. After simmering, separate the liquid from the seeds as before.

Note: A 3rd simmering step is perfectly fine to do, but will increase the volume of water making this no-reduce tek more cumbersome. Even the 2nd simmering step is optional. If you prefer to only work with a small amount of liquid and still get a 2-3% yield, just do the first 40 minutes simmer.

Color Change from adding sodium Carbonate

- Combine both of the simmering liquids and after they've cooled enough for safety, transfer them using a funnel to a tall narrow container that we’ll call your “washing vessel”. Although a glass vessel with slick sides is best, a 2L milk jug or water bottle will suffice and should be easy for anyone to buy. Wider washing vessels are not recommended as tall narrow ones allow decanting significantly more liquid before sediments begin to be poured off.

Note: If your washing vessel is too small to fit all the liquid, you can simply use 2 vessels for the first washing step then pour off enough clear liquid from the top of each vessel to reduce the liquid enough to fit in one for the entire rest of the tek.

- Add a concentrated sodium-carbonate-in-water solution to the liquid in your washing vessel and stir. You will immediately see a color change from red-brown to sand-colored. Continue adding the sodium carbonate solution and stirring until adding it no longer results in a color change. Try not to add a large excess of sodium carbonate, but you don’t have to be too careful about it.

Note: Sodium carbonate can be bought as washing soda, or produced by baking baking soda in an oven for 1-2 hours @ 200°C OR cooking it in a dry pan for 20-30 minutes on medium-high heat until the gas bubbles stop

- You will likely see some dusty harmalas settling at the bottom of the washing vessel after a couple minutes. Place the vessel into the fridge for the harmalas to settle completely to the bottom.

~~At this point you technically could filter the liquid progressively through cotton balls then a coffee filter and then wash it several time to get a pure product. This is a valid option that will work; however, this is not the relatively unknown method that inspired me to write this tek, nor is it recommended.~~

The recommended purification & separation method requires some explanation behind the core concept and a crucial choice in terms of how speedy you want your first batch of dry harmalas to be retrieved.

First thing to know is: freebase harmalas are nearly insoluble in water, so washing them repeatedly results in very few losses and this washing serves to lower the amount of base and Syrian Rue tea's co-extractives to levels enough to be negligible in your end product. Analysis by Brennendes Wasser shows that washing 4 times can lead to a pure product, but realistically 5-7 washes is recommended.

Second thing to know is: the settling of freebase harmalas in a solution takes a while. Based on my observations in my 1.5L glass container: 30 minutes in the fridge – the bulk of harmalas have settled, but much of the particulates are still visibly floating 1 hour in the fridge – the top half of the liquid is mostly clear, but the bottom half has some floating particulates 2 hours in the fridge – the majority of the particulates have all settled, just a bit of them are still floating 2.5+ hours in the fridge – all particulates have fully settled

Note: settling outside the fridge slows the settling to some degree. Also, the first settling can be much slower than all subsequent ones.

The washing process requires 2 nearly identical retrieval procedures:

• 1. The bulk-product retrieval
• 2. The carryover loss retrieval.

When doing the bulk-product retrieval: If one wanted a very rushed 50-60% bulk product, then 4 or 5 washes with 30 minutes settling periods would definitely achieve that. A good mix between quick product and yield is 1 hour settling periods where around 70-75% might be retained after all the washes. Of course, as the mix settles longer, carryover “losses” from the decanting will be reduced but never zero.

I should make it clear that “losses” are in quotations, because they are not actually lost, but just retrieved later in the carryover loss retrieval. A relaxed and effective approach, which I typically do, is to perform 2–3 washes per day, allowing longer settling periods (overnight or throughout the day). This minimizes effort while still achieving a clean product.

Anyway, on to the specific steps of the recommended purification & separation method:

Process 1: Bulk Product Retrieval

Washing and Decanting Cycle

After your chosen amount of settling time:

• 1. Carefully pick up the washing vessel with the settled harmalas and very slowly pour around 90% of the liquid out of the vessel into a large container like a bucket . As long as it is done slowly then the majority of the harmalas should all be left sitting at the bottom. When the bottom sediment is about halfway up the side is typically a good time to stop pouring.
• 2. After decanting the water, you should be left with a very muddy-looking mix at the bottom.
• 3. Add fresh tap water, filling the liquid up close to the top.
• 4. Return the washing vessel to the fridge to settle

- The 4 steps above must be repeated at least 4 times, ideally 5 to 7. During the first wash the water poured off will be quite brown but it will get clearer and clearer each cycle. When the washing is complete the water above the harmalas will be perfectly clear but with a very slight florescent tint.

Drying Washed Harmalas

- After the last washing cycle, pour the harmalas/water onto a heat-safe plate or baking dish and evaporate in a very low oven or on the stovetop on minimum setting until the harmalas are dry.

Scraping Up Dry Harmalas

2.3g of Dried Harmalas

- After cooling use a razor blade to scrape up your harmalas into a small vial or plastic bag and store in a cool dry place.

As noted earlier, while further purification steps can surely be done, analysis by Brennendes Wasser show that they are likely unnecessary. The harmalas theoretically should be ready to use for changa or pharmahuasca.

Process 2: Carryover Loss Retrieval

Decanted Water with Carryover Loss Harmalas at the Bottom

Note: the "bucket" I used is much smaller than what is recommended, I needed to frequently pour of 50% of the liquid to stop it from overflowing.

Your bucket/large container will contain a bunch of water and your carryover loss harmalas at the bottom. Because you already retrieved the bulk of your harmalas AND the fact that the harmalas will naturally be the finer more whispy ones, the return on invested time is going to be significantly lower than the bulk-method from before (typically around 10-15% of the bulk). The fine whispy harmalas will take longer to settle so make sure to allow 3+ hours for all washes.

- After settling, simply pour/scoop off the liquid on the top until you have reduced the volume to enough to transfer it into your tall-narrow washing vessel. Then do 3-4 decanting-washing cycles, pour and dry your harmalas and retrieve the “losses” from before.

I DO NOT recommend doing a second carryover retrieval procedure as it would likely only recovery 1-1.5% of the bulk product. Simply discard the liquid decanted during the carryover retrieval washing cycles.

Regular Procedure Cliff-Notes

1. Freeze-Thaw Prep: Soak 100g whole Syrian Rue seeds in water. Freeze solid. Thaw the frozen seed-water. The freezing step significantly increases initial yield of the Tek.
2. Initial Simmer: Place the seed mix in a pot, add ~30ml vinegar, and sufficient water to reach 1000ml total volume. Lightly simmer (DON'T boil) for 40 minutes, maintaining the volume by adding water as needed.
3. Strain & Re-Simmer: Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer into a heat-safe collection container. Return seeds to the pot, add a splash of vinegar and enough water to raise volume to ~750ml. Simmer for 20 minutes, strain, and combine all liquid. Cool. (An optional 3rd simmer can be done)
4. Basify: Add a saturated sodium carbonate (or dilute lye/NaOH) solution a little bit at a time to the cooled tea until precipitation stops increasing—indicated by a color change to sand-colored and the formation a cloudy precipitate.
5. Settle: Allow the mixture to settle for 1 hour, then gently agitate to encourage floaters to sink. Refrigerate for 2+ hours until precipitate is fully settled.
6. Wash Cycles (5-7x): After the tall-narrow washing vessel has settled in the fridge, carefully decant ~90% of the liquid into a bucket. Refill the vessel with fresh water and return to the fridge to fully settle. Repeat 5-7 times to dilute and remove residual base.
7. Dry: After the last decanting, pour the final brown sludge into a heatproof dish. Evaporate at low heat (e.g., low oven with door ajar, or electric stove top on min) until completely dry. Scrape the powder for storage and optional weighing.
8. Recover "Losses": Allow the bucket of decanted wash water to settle for several hours. Pour off enough water to fit it in your tall-narrow washing vessel then process the settled sediment with 3-4 more wash cycles (discarding decanted liquid) and dry as above to recover remaining harmalas.

Large-Scale Procedure Cliff-Notes

Large Scale Base Step and 35g Harmalas

Note: the underlined and bolded text are the necessary changes from the regular procedure when doing a large-scale extraction. The non-bolded text are the things that remain the same regardless of scale.

1. Freeze-Thaw Prep: Soak whole Syrian Rue seeds in water. Freeze solid. Depending on the size of your freezer, you may have to freeze the seeds in 2+ batches of water. Thaw the frozen seed-water. The freezing step significantly increases initial yield of the Tek. (An optional 2nd freeze-thaw cycle can be done).
2. Initial Simmer: Place the thawed seed mix in a pot, add a splash of vinegar, and sufficient water to double the volume of water. Lightly simmer (DON'T boil) for 40 minutes, maintaining the volume by adding water as needed. In my case, my freezing vessel was my largest pot. After thawing I removed roughly 50% of the seeds to another container then simmered. For most households with standard size pots, several simmers will need to be done for the seeds to be in enough water, Using less water decreases yield and is not recommended!
3. Strain & Re-Simmer: Strain the liquid through a mesh strainer into a heat-safe collection container. Return seeds to the pot, add vinegar and enough water to cover the seeds and a bit more. Simmer for 20 minutes, strain, and cool all the liquid before transferring it into a bucket. (An optional 3rd simmer can be done).
4. Basify: To the liquid in the bucket, add a saturated sodium carbonate (or dilute lye/caustic soda) solution a little bit at a time to the cooled tea until precipitation stops increasing—indicated by a color change to sand-colored and the formation a cloudy precipitate.
5. Settle: Allow the mixture to sit for 3+ hours until precipitate is fully settled.
6. FIRST Wash Cycle: After settling, carefully decant or siphon off about 60% of the liquid and discard it. After letting fully settle again, carefully decant or siphon off about 50% of the remaining liquid into a bucket. Strongly stir/agitate the muddy liquid to make all the harmalas float and transfer the liquid to one or more tall-narrow washing vessels. Refill the vessel(s) with fresh water and put it in the fridge to fully settle. If your bucket/bottle is too small, you can always settle and discard 50% of liquid then add more of the harmala tea (after cooling) as many times as you'd like during the process to make it fit.
7. All other Wash Cycles (6-8x): After the tall-narrow washing vessel has settled in the fridge, carefully decant ~90% of the liquid into a bucket. Refill the vessel(s) with fresh water and return to the fridge to fully settle. Repeat to 6-8 times to dilute and remove residual base.
8. Dry: After the last decanting, pour the final light-brown sludge into a heatproof dish. Evaporate at low heat (e.g., low oven with door ajar, or on a warm surface like a wood stove) until completely dry. Scrape the powder for storage and optional weighing.
9. Recover "Losses": Allow the bucket of decanted wash water to settle for several hours. Pour off enough water to fit it in your tall-narrow washing vessel then process the settled sediment with 3-4 more wash cycles and dry as above to recover finer particulates.

Volume needs for your containers for each step:

Freezing requirements:

• For 200g of rue seeds - freezer-safe vessel(s) holding ~1600ml water
• For 500g of rue seeds - freezer-safe vessel(s) holding ~4000ml water
• For 1kg of rue seeds - freezer-safe vessel(s) holding ~8000ml water

Simmering requirements:

• For 200g of rue seeds - stove-safe vessel(s) holding 3200ml water
• For 500g of rue seeds - stove-safe vessel(s) holding 8000ml water
• For 1kg of rue seeds - stove-safe vessel(s) holding 16000ml water

FIRST-WASH bucket requirements:

200g

• 1600ml-2000ml - ONE simmer
• 2800ml - 3500ml - TWO simmers
• 4000ml - 5000ml - THREE simmers

500g

• 4000ml-5000ml - ONE simmer
• 7000ml-9250ml - TWO simmers
• 10000ml-13500ml - THREE simmers

1kg

• 8000ml-10000ml - ONE simmer
• 14000ml-17500ml - TWO simmers
• 20000ml-25000ml - THREE simmers

Note: While an equal volume bucket as the first batch is useful to catch the carryover losses, with adequate settling time 50-60% of the liquid should be able to be poured off or siphoned and discarded with minimal losses, so roughly half of the first-wash volume container is actually needed.

Washes 2 through 7 vessel requirements: This one is a little complex, but using a too-small vessel will not reduce yield, rather just make you need to do over 7 washes to create a pure product.

• A one-simmer batch will typically result in 2-3.5% yield - E.g. 1kg could result in 20-35g harmalas (estimate based on my tests)
• A two-simmer batch might yield 3.5-4.5% - E.g. 1kg could result in 35-45g harmalas (estimate based on my test)
• A three-simmer batch might yield 4-5.5+% - E.g. 1kg could result in 40-55+g harmalas (estimate based on TransistorBass's test)

You can do the math and find your expected yield and corresponding volume below:

• For ~5g of harmalas, 500ml minimum tall-narrow washing vessel(s) recommended
• For ~10g of harmalas, 1000ml minimum tall-narrow washing vessel(s) recommended
• For ~20g of harmalas, 2000ml minimum tall-narrow washing vessel(s) recommended
• For ~40g of harmalas, 4000ml minimum tall-narrow washing vessel(s) recommended

Carryover loss bucket requirements:

• For ~5g of harmalas, 2000ml minimum bucket(s) recommended
• For ~10g of harmalas, 1 gallon minimum bucket(s) recommended
• For ~20g of harmalas, 2 gallon minimum bucket(s) recommended
• For ~40g of harmalas, 5 gallon minimum bucket(s) recommended

Optional Harmalas Separation

Separated Harmaline (left) & Harmine (right)

This separation procedure is based on the collaborative research of the DMT-Nexus community, primarily the work of An1cca, Jees, and VDS (Van Der Sypt), with significant contributions from ijahdan, Elrik, endlessness, GordoTEK, and many others in the 'Harmine, harmaline and THH from Syrian Rue. Verification and finetuning of the VDS-protocols' thread

Why Separate?

The 2 main harmalas contained in Syrian Rue have very different effects.

Harmaline:

• Dreamy experience
• Nausea
• Often sedating
• Notable body load

Harmine:

• Clearer experience
• Low nausea
• No sedation
• Low body load

The extracted harmalas from Syrian Rue have both harmine and harmaline mixed together (around 50/50, but it varies), so experiencing one or the other on it's own is impossible without separation. While this is beyond the scope of this guide, it should be noted that Harmaline can be converted in the Tetrahydroharmine (THH) through a relatively simple process. THH has some desirable attributes listed below.

Tetrahydroharmine (THH)

• Mildly psychedelic
• No nausea
• No body load
• No sedation (some say energy and euphoria)

In order for this harmaline => THH conversion to be done, relatively pure harmaline needs to be acquired though.

While many many people have loved using unseperated rue tea and rue harmalas for Changa and Pharmahuasca, for those interested in different or more Caapi-like experiences, separation is required. While separation is a more complex process than the extraction Tek, it is not "difficult" in an objective sense. A comparison would be that the extraction Tek is as difficult as making a store-bought cake mix with ready-made icing while the separation procedure is more like making the same cake from scratch.

Separation Procedure Background:

Whether the harmalas have been further purified through Manske/Base reprecipitation will change a few things at the start of the separation procedure, but the rest of the proceedure will be the same.

Black Undissolved Harmalas

Difference 1 - Full or Partial Dissolution of Harmalas If the harmalas are only water-washed, up to 20% of them will never dissolve, this is to be expected. If the harmalas were purified with Manske(s), the insoluble harmalas have already been lost anyway, and all of the harmalas should dissolve in the vinegar-water.

Difference 2 - Different amount of liquid used For only-water-washed harmalas (which I prefer to use) - 160ml liquid total. Either 17ml of 7% vinegar or 24ml of 5% vinegar per 3g of harmalas and the rest will be distilled water. For Manske/Base purified harmalas - 200ml liquid total. Either 21ml of 7% vinegar or 30ml of 5% vinegar per 3g of harmalas and the rest will be distilled water. While concentration is quite important in this process, it doesn't have to be extremely precise. Generally erring on the side of more concentrated is better than less. Note that doubling the volume of liquid will make the pH depression not happen which is essential for a proper separation of harmine and harmaline.

Separation Procedure:

All required materials

Materials:

• Digital pH meter (accurate to 0.1 is okay, 0.05/0.01 is best, cheap is fine)
• 2.5g or more dry harmalas extracted from Syrian Rue
• White Vinegar
• Funnel
• Coffee filters
• Pipette
• Distilled Water
• Household Ammonia (make sure it has NO additives!)
• 1 glass jars/bottle
• 1 glass jar/beaker wide enough to fit a chopstick/spoon & your pH meter
• A bowl
• A turkey baster

Make sure you are in a well-ventilated area for the whole separation procedure

15g of Mixed Harmalas in a Bowl

-Place your measured harmalas into a bowl

-Place a funnel with a coffee filter in it over your wide-glass jar/beaker

Vinegar-Water Being Heated in a Hot Water Bath

- Measure and combine the vinegar and distilled water in your glass jar/bottle, and put the jar/bottle in a pot. To heat the liquid, add about 1cm room-temperature water to the bottom of the pot then add 1cm of boiling water and wait 2 minutes (adding the water too fast is likely to shatter the glass). Continue to add 0.5-1cm of boiling water to the pot every minute or so until the vinegar-water is nice and warm at the top.

- Add about 50% of the warm vinegar-water to the harmalas in the bowl and mix it around for at least 30 seconds then let it settle.

- After settling for a minute or two, use a turkey baster to transfer the clear dark red liquid through the coffee filter in the funnel above your wide-mouth jar/beaker, leaving any undissolved harmalas in the bowl.

- Add 50% of the remaining (25% of the total) warm vinegar/water to the bowl and repeat the same stirring, settling and filtering process

- Add all of the remaining warm vinegar/water to the bowl and repeat the same stirring, settling and filtering process

- The vinegar/water is plenty to dissolve all the harmalas that will dissolve, no need to add more. Simply add a small splash of distilled water to rinse the bowl and any undissolved sediment then filter the liquid through the coffee filter.

Deep-Red Clear Liquid

- You should now have a clear but deep red-brown colored liquid. Put your pH meter into the solution.

Liquid with Spoon and pH Meter

pH Meter Use for Non-Chemists

The proper use of a pH meter is not only quite important but includes many non-intuitive steps. Failing to follow simple rules can easily break the meter or make it seem faulty. I won't talk about calibration because it isn't actually important to have a very accurately calibrated meter for this separation procedure, just make sure to calibrate according to your manual.

What is essential:

• NEVER use it to stir
• NEVER bump the bulb at the end
• NEVER let the tip dry
• NEVER submerge it too deep

When you are not using the meter, either have it stored in 3M KCl or less ideally a buffer solution. If it dries, it dies.

• Use a pipette or glass dropper to start adding 10 or 12% ammonia at around 1 drop per second while stirring constantly (don't have to be exact about the timing). You can use a stainless steel or wood chopstick/spoon to stir. A magnetic stirrer works better, but an unnecessary investment if you don't already have one. The drops will immediately create a milky cloud that will dissipate through stirring. The milkiness will take longer to dissipate as more is added.

The Crucial Point - The pH Depression

Keep your eye on the PH looking for a "pH depression". While adding the ammonia will raise the pH anywhere from 0,01-0.04 per drop or two and stay completely stable if you stop adding the ammonia. As soon as the pH depression is reached then the pH will start to lower slowly, sometimes over 0.5 if you wait long enough. This first depression is the point in which the harmine is precipitating.

Take careful note of the pH that the depression starts at. This is the start point and your target it to get to that point +0.5. If your start point is 6.8 then your target is 7.3. While Mankse-purified and well-rinsed harmalas typically have start points between 6 and 7, if there is a little salt or sodium carbonate contamination then the start point can be up to 8.25 (all mine were 7.75+). In the case of a high start point, separation will likely be less clean and filtering off a mixed-fraction is highly recommended.

The actual pH number is much less important than the observed pH depression. If your pH meter is not well calibrated, it technically could still work, just look for the depression even if it is at a different pH than those mentioned.

• As you're adding ammonia, the milky color change will take longer and longer to disappear as you get close to the pH depression point. Once you've observed a pH depression of at least 0.1, keep adding ammonia and the pH will either stabilize or very slowly rise. Continue adding drops until you reach the start point +0.5.

Note: A pH meter with only 0.1 resolution may result in you not necessarily seeing a drop in pH, but suddenly reaching a point where, for example, 7 drops would previously raise the pH by 0.1 but now it takes 20+ drops and the solution clouds rapidly. While 0.05 or 0,01 resolution is better, that observation would likely indicate a pH depression with a 0.1 resolution.

• At the start point +0.5, you will see very obvious precipitation of a cocoa-powder colored sediment which falls to the bottom quite quickly, usually all of it within 10 minutes. This is your separated harmine and if done correctly will be 95% pure with only 5% harmaline. Filter the liquid into the glass jar/bottle through a clean coffee filter in a funnel to collect your harmine.

I like to decant around 95% of the liquid at the top and then use a new filter to pour the harmine through because harmaline tends to float more and take a long time to settle and I figure this helps a bit with the purity of the harmine.

-Rinse the brown powder with water or very dilute ammonia and dry it to claim your separated harmine.

• Return the liquid to the wide-mouth jar/beaker (rinse the jar/bottle with a bit of distilled water) and then it is time to get the harmaline.

What is a mixed fraction?

If you want to increase the purity, you can remove a mixed-fraction by raising the pH by 0.4 or 0.5 and then filtering off what is likely to be a mix of both harmine and harmaline. This mixed-fraction can be added to any later separation procedure you do, or used for Changa.

Whether a mixed fraction is done or not, the next steps are the same.

Harmaline Precipitate

• Start adding ammonia while looking for the second pH depression point. It is typically somewhere between 8.3 and 8.7 for Manske-cleaned harmalas (my water-washed ones were 8.8-9.1).

Once the depression start point is reached, the procedure is the same as before: Add lots of ammonia until the pH is 0.5 over the start point. You will notice that there is almost no milky color change when you are getting close to that pH.

The precipitated harmaline will be a lighter color, more like beach sand than cocoa and will both float longer and look a little like sparkly glitter. Without a mixed fraction it could be around 92-94% pure, by removing the mixed fraction you could get 96% or purer harmaline.

- Rinse the light-brown powder with water or very dilute ammonia and dry it to claim your separated harmaline.

Alkaloid Separation Cliff Notes

Prepare your liquid in a glass bottle:

• Water-washed only hamalas: 160ml total liquid (17ml 7% vinegar OR 24ml 5% vinegar per 3g, rest distilled water)
• Manske-purified harmalas: 200ml total liquid (21ml 7% vinegar OR 30ml 5% vinegar per 3g, rest distilled water)

Dissolve:

1. Put your measured harmalas in a bowl
2. Warm the bottle of vinegar-water in a pot
3. Add boiling water slowly to pot over several minutes to heat vinegar-water
4. Add 50% of the liquid to harmalas in bowl, stir 30+ sec, settle 1-2 min
5. Use baster to transfer clear liquid of top through coffee filter into wide-mouth glass beaker—leave undissolved harmalas
6. Repeat 4 & 5 with 50% of remaining liquid, then all remaining liquid
7. Rinse bowl with a splash distilled water, filter

Separate Harmine:

1. Insert pH meter
2. Add ammonia dropwise (~1/sec) while stirring constantly
3. Watch for FIRST pH depression—pH will drop slowly when you stop adding ammonia (Manske-purified harmalas are typically between 6-7, but water-washed ones can be up to 8.25)
4. Note start of pH depression, continue adding ammonia until start pH +0.5
5. Cocoa-colored harmine precipitates and settles quickly.
6. Filter, rinse, dry to obtain harmine

(Optional) Mixed Fraction:

• Raise pH another 0.4-0.5, filter off mix of harmine and harmaline

Separate Harmaline:

1. Continue adding ammonia to remaining liquid
2. Watch for SECOND pH depression (typically 8.3-8.7 with Manske-purified harmalas, water-washed ones can be up to 9.1)
3. Add ammonia until depression start +0.5
4. Lighter-brown harmaline precipitates.
5. Filter, rinse, dry to obtain harmaline