This is my first post here, hello to everyone. Yesterday I tried to do a caapi vine extract but I got nothing but black solution that smells like mimosa sludge. to extract harmalas from caapi vine but I've run I to a problem. So far I did the 3 separate 30 min acid boils and I reduced from around 800ml to about 350ml, here's where I think I messed up, I didn't wait for it to cool before adding the basic solution. I mixed and mixed but no alkaloids have appeared whatsoever. The soution is also not brown like in the pics but dark purple just like mimosa sludge. What do I do now? I even added more lye too but nothing happened.

I'd probably try diluting the solution with moar water and see if that makes a difference. If not I'd suggest evapping it all up, dissolving the resultant gunk in a good amount of acidic water, filtering, and re-basing.

I will try that, thank you. By filtering do you mean running through a strainer?

So I tried another extraction with whatever vine I had leftover, also reused some, but I followed the tek exactly. I'm at the exact same spot but something doesn't quite look right again. There's definitely something settling but it isn't as light as in gibs pic, not even close. I took a pic but I'm not sure if it shows the color of the stuff on the bottom...is this mainly plant matter or are there alkaloids in there?

Looks the same as mine when I tried to extract alicia anisopetala vine.... did the vine have a grey look to it or was it brown to begin with?

It was brown, almost red as I ordered red caapi. Man I was sure there had to be some alks in there what a bummer. When I look at the first attempted extraction, em which I put in a jar, I can see the thinnest layer of what appears to be a tan colored layer similar to that in gibs tek, but it's really thin. I'm not sure if it's what I hope it is though.

Personally I would probably just follow through with the extraction and see what the finished product looks like but In my limited experience (6 caapi extractions), that color doesn't look correct for harmalas from caapi. Your last picture looks sort of brownish tho, how long has it been left to settle? I have had solutions take up to a week undisturbed to settle completely.

The last picture is from the first attempt and the only part that gives me up is actually under the brown gunk, it looks like tan and it's a very very thin layer. That first attempt has been sitting for almost two full days. I added more base then diluted it with water and left it alone. The second attempt which is in the Pyrex measuring glass has been sitting for about 12 or so hours. I'm officially out of caapi. I spent forever trying to find a legit source and I guess I made the wrong choice so I'm gonna go back on the hunt for that. The vine looked exactly like caapi looks so it doesn't make much sense.