Well, I've found a new vendor I would like to try. Prices seem good, product looks great, but the cappi vines are whole. Does anybody have an easy or effective way to shred them? I'm planning to do another extraction on the bark, would it even matter if it's shredded or not? I would assume it would since there would be a larger surface area exposed during the boils. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

i always have used whole vine. the less surface area for oxygen to contact with the less oxidation occurs. this probably only matters if your sitting on your caapi for months and months from buying in bulk.

i also like the time spent with the vine. it adds a couple hours to the brew tek but i find it way worth it. i connect strongly while shredding.

lastly how. i take a tough dish towel, hammer and use a cinder block as an anvil and break the vine up. you will find a technique that works best for you. i try to flatten out each broken strand as flat as possible then tear into shreds with my hands. i can get 350g whole vine finely shredded in under 2 hours.

down side is you do loose some weight in the process so make sure you weigh out your vine post hammer time.

Thanks olympus.

I should state, I'm not planning an aya journey, I am going to extract the harmala's. Should I brew for a few hours as you stated, then go through the shredding process, then onto doing an A/B on the vine for the harmala's? Also, should I save the initial brew to add to my solutions used for extraction later? I always get shredded and go straight to my extraction, but whole vine is so much cheaper, and I would like to start doing the shredding myself for the reason you mentioned, connecting with the vine.

i wish i could help you with that question my friend but harmala extracting is something i haven't done yet. i need to learn though because ive been doing an experiment to see how much harmalas are lost when cleaning up caapi brews. ive been saving all my sludge from decants and freez precips to reconstitute and then do an extract. this will give hard data as opposed to trial and error.

there has to be a better way than the hammer way.Hammering your bark isnt a very nice treatment for your hands,on the long run i mean.

seriously? how fragile are your hands ? its not hard on your body and is a pretty common method. carpenters hammer all day long for years with no problem i dont see hammering some vines for an hour to be harmful.

buy a wood chipper then, or a commercial shredder. other than that i dont see any other real option. i lasted about 5 min with a knife once trying to carve shreds. way harder on the hands and it was just a matter of time until i cut myslef.

Well, I ordered the whole pieces of vine. If it takes me 10 hours to shred it all, so be it, it will be good for me. Depending on the size, I plan to get a small axe and cut it up to smaller pieces, then hammer down. We'll see how it goes...

hammer..I do it all the time..you can do it too..ever seen the amazonians sitting there bashing up sectons of vine..this is how its done. You will NOT need an axe either.

Thanks fractal, save me some bucks on the axe...

yeah, the vine really is quite easy to smash with a hammer..it might seem like alot of work when you think about it, but the vine always seemed to split up real easily for me..never hammered for an hour..maybe 15-20 minutes, maybe..jsut wrap it up in an old t-shirt and hammer it on a cement floor or some concrete or a rock, tree stump etc..

15-20 min? how fine of shreds are you talking about? or do you just smash them up some and split them apart?
im wondering if all the extra effort is worth it with how fine ive been getting my vine shreds.