I just can't come to reason with this:

My impression is that the harmala alkaloids are glued to the vine, and that need a physical force to be extracted - squeezing. What solvent can be used to do the job?

this is what happened for me few times:

1. I filtered my Caapi vinegar steep then added NaOH, NOTHING happened. I went crazy. Last week I did the same thing and it worked fine....

2. I relaxed, as much a I could, and then I soaked it again and SQUEEZED it with hands to almost dry. EUREKA, the harmalas precipitated and I got from 50g Yellow Caapi - 1,3g of harmalas.

But it did leave me with a doubt, what happened?????? Is the physical squeezing that did it? This has happened few times actually.

I would like to understand the chemical logic behind it.


thanx Jox