I've read different recipes and philosophies on it. I've heard from some people one thing, and others the opposite. I've read almost every post in the 'ayahuasca' section. Now I'm days away from making my first batch. Here's the plan:

100 grams Peruvian Psychotria Viridis Chacruna (Shredded)
100 grams Cielo Banisteriopsis Caapi Vine (Shredded)

I intend to boil them together for about 3 hours, separate, and repeat 3 times (9 hours total). I will be present the entire time, and be in and out of meditation in my kitchen trying to emphasize my intent and positive energy.

I've heard from some posts that it's best to boil separately, then combine.
I've heard you should boil separate and ingest the caapi 10-30min BEFORE the aya.
I've heard it's best to sip slowly.
I've heard it's best to chug the entire dose so it all gets into your stomach quickly.
I've heard you should add vinegar, and I've heard you shouldn't.
I've heard countless arguments for one thing or another.

Based on the plan I have above, I ask all of you- any tips or suggestions? Anything you wish someone would've told you before your first brew?

Thanks in advance!

Make sure you filter your boils well as this step seems to be that which reduces ill feelings from aya the most. In terms of boiling separately, if you're going to boil separately, you won't be combining the caapi and chacruna, you'll drink them separately. If you boil them together, you'll obviously drink them together. I've never used chacruna (so I don't even know if 100g is a wise move), but in the case of mimosa (which I know you're not supposed to boil together), I prefer to drink the caapi first and 20-30 min later drink the mimosa. Make sure once you combine your 3 boils at the end, you reduce it down to a small drinkable amount. Vinegar is supposed to make it easier on the stomach, but it also makes the brew taste much worse. The choice is yours. As you've noticed, everyone seems to have different opinions on the matter. Ultimately you just have to try something and hope it works, and move from there.

Some things I wish someone would have told me for my first ayahuasca experience:
-Don't try moving around too much.
-Try to hold the brew down for at least an hour, and if you're feeling nauseous at the 1 hr mark, feel free to try and purge.
-If you plan on purging, don't take many anti-nauseants into account (like ginger and rice) - I did this on my first time and it "reduced" the nausea in such a way that I was completely unable to puke, yet nauseous throughout the entire experience (which for my first time was 8 hours long!)
-I don't know if you have DMT freebase (I'm guessing you don't), but if you do and things aren't quite as strong as you were hoping for, you can always smoke a small amount of DMT to completely kick things up several notches.

Thanks for the tips! They're genuinely appreciated.

I plan to filter using a cotton/poly t-shirt as I've been told this is the best method. I will filter as much as possible, but is there any risk of over-filtering and weakening the brew?

I plan to boil together, drink together. From what i've read with caapi/chacruna recipes it's a 1:1 ratio, so that's what I'm going with. Plus it's easy for a first time batch and I can easily adjust it from there.

I'll try without the vinegar. I prefer to make it as traditional a brew as possible.

I don't have freebase, though I do plan to try that on it's own later on.

Thank you for all your other tips! I'll be sure to post during the cooking and after the experience!

Thanks again! All very useful information! Anyone else?

When you say chug the brew im assuming your going to reduce the liquid down considerably.
Everything your doing sounds spot on. Depending on the chacruna 100g's 1 to 1 may be a pretty strong experience which is a great thing just be prepared for that.

Yes you can over filter but probably not with a cotton t-shirt. Do not use coffee filters and such and I've found that drinking the decanted tea without the sediment greatly reduces the potency. You may want to filter after reducing as you tend to catch more plant matter this way.

As far as adding vinegar not being traditional yes and no. No out here in Peru its not common to use vinegar but we do use the river water from the Amazon which is quite acidic naturaly, so in a way acidifying could be considered traditional I guess.

Good luck, enjoy and let the medicine work its magic in you.

Yes, when I say chug maybe I should say 'gulp' or 'down' instead. I plan to reduce it to a little more than a shot.

I just finished reading a great book in which it is advised that when brewing aya it's best to have too strong an experience than too weak one. You don't want to to experience the negative physical affects with none of the magnificent spiritual ones. And in any case, I'd like it to be reasonably strong anyhow.

Thanks for the tip on filtering! I will definitely use the t-shirt method and will only filter after reducing to save as much plant matter as possible.

And great point about the river water- I think I'll do without the vinegar anyway.

I'm waiting (anxiously) on my ingredients to arrive now. Until then it's frequent meditation and fine tuning my plan here on the boards

Thanks all!

I couldn't agree more since my time here has shown me one thing, that the most difficult experiences are usually the most healing. Its not for everyone and I would encourage people to persevere even if they have a very uncomfortable experience. Nothing can come to you that isn't part of you. Ayahausca will always give you what you need.

This of coarse is all within reason. im not advising anyone to take ridiculous amounts but a good strong ass kicking experience to me is a blessing. You just need to integrate the lessons and face your fears if that is what comes up. I admire your dedication to this call.

Here's something I find truly amazing. I wonder if any of you have had similar experiences.

About a month ago I had made the conscious decision to try ayahuasca. I hadn't yet decided to brew it, and it was kind of remaining an abstract desire. Suddenly a half dream/half meditative state struck me that I didn't understand. Some medicine men in the amazon were showing me a unique wine that they brewed that would heal me. They encouraged me to take the knowledge and brew it myself and learn what it has to teach me.

It may sound obvious, but it wasn't at all clear to me what the dream meant at first. It was only in discussing the dream with my wife (who only had heard me mention a desire to try ayahuasca) that she pointed out to me that the plant is calling me.


Well anyway, since I put thought to action and started posting here and actually began the process of acquiring the materials, ayahuasca has dominated all my meditations! Even when I don't intend to meditate! For example, last night I fell asleep meditating (trying to focus on healing and good fortune for a family member). I slept through the night, but awoke in a meditative state with ayahuasca at the forefront of my thoughts! When I came fully awake I nearly laughed out the word 'ayahuasca' in a feeling of joy! (Generally meditations are very happy experiences, and I often come out of them laughing) What's really key here is that I wasn't trying to meditate on anything specific, I simply woke up meditating about ayahuasca! The plant is genuinely calling me!

Just thought I'd share my latest musings.

Thank you all for your kind words and guidance

Yes I have heard of the vine calling out to people that have never even heard of ayahuasca. In fact there is a fellow here where i am staying that came from India after drinking ayahausca there and had a vision of a Shipibo shaman sitting on his stomach telling him to come to Peru and that they were waiting for him. This man has been here for 3 months and has decided to stay for one full year.

I think the medicine calls out to people for sure. It seem's it is calling out to you. Be cautious not to put expectations on your first or any experience. This is a process not an event. Let it unfold itself to you as the medicine knows best.

Thank you. Again, i cannot emphasize my appreciation enough. Your words are wise and comforting.

If my situation were different, I'd definitely be heading to Peru or elsewhere to chase down my dreams. But as thing are, I've decided to brew myself, and based on my musings I think the plant is comfortable with that. I will do a in depth meditation with the plant in hand once it arrives. I intend to ask her permission and show my appreciation.

This all really sounds like something out of a cheesy movie. If any of you knew me in real life, you'd think there's no way I'd be into this sort of thing. But I really feel that it chose me! I'm not sure what I will find or learn in my journey, but I do know it's something I need and will welcome.

Thank you again!

so the vendor is telling me that chacruna may take a little while to get. they instead offered me chaliponga. has anyone had experience with this? should i alter my initial plans to try the chaliponga?

just wanted to see what everyone thought.

I've typically worked with mimosa and never chacruna, but I have used chaliponga once. It was quite interesting to say the least. It was very much like my mimosa ayahuasca experiences, but slightly different. The geometries seemed a bit bigger and just slightly different from normal. The visuals seemed a bit more textured, and I was able to synesthetically feel all the textures. Chaliponga from what I understand can be a bit of an oddball (though if you told me I was drinking the same ol' mimosa, I probably would have been none the wiser).

maybe you should take this as a sign and try an Aya only brew, thats got to be the best way to start your relationship.

I am currently sat at my desk eyeing up a lovely bag of shredded black vine which has just been delivered by the Queens men.
This weekend i plan to have my first interaction with Mama Aya and i will be doing so in the form of a vine only brew, i wanna see what she has to offer on her own before i add anything else to the mix, from what i can gather she may be perfect on her own, no need for implants .

however i do have plenty of infused leaf and a GVG to spice things up if necessary

It's been explained to me that the MAOs in the stomach break up the dmt in the vine before it can be absorbed and reach the brain. This is why additives are used (containing MAOIs) to allow the dmt to be absorbed into the blood and cross the blood-brain barrier.

I believe aya is an incredibly powerful spirit in it's own right, but I think to get the full effects of it's active components, a additive is necessary. Of course, smoked dmt doesn't pass through the stomach and these things are not necessary, but that's not ayahuasca either, that's just an active ingredient that has been isolated.

Thank you though, and if anyone has personal information they can add, i'd love to hear it. Also, please post about your aya-only journey as I'd love to hear how it turns out!

It's the other way Ayahuasca vine contains reverse inhibitors of monoamine oxidase (RIMAs, a subset of MAOIs), admixture plants contain DMT. Larger amounts of vine-only tea will induce dreamlike visions without any DMT. Ayahuasca vine is 'the power', dmt-admixture is 'the light'.

Thank you for clarifying! I know i've read it dozens of times, but I keep getting the two confused. I'm sure once I have a good experience with each and with both, there will be no confusion

Good luck on your journey this weekend, and do share the results!