Fellow Nexians,

Looking for some help / guidance. This weekend I attempted to brew up my first batch of caapi vine, and I failed miserably. I wound up with waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more liquid than I believe I should have. I'm hoping someone can help me better understand the brewing process.

I started out with 120 grams of shredded white vine with the goal being 2 60 gram shots.

Should I have only added enough water to cover the vine? Because I had about 3" of water above the vine. Then as far as the boiling / simmering goes. I brought it to a boil and then brought it down to a very mild low boil. Is that correct, or should I have gotten it to a boil and then reduced the heat to a simmer?

Also, do the various batches need to be kept in separate pots, or can I combine them into 1 pot as the brews finish?

I feel like I wasted 9 hours... ugh...

help please...

ps

Excess water is no problem, it's actually more efficient to use more water. You want to do at least 3 pulls. So boil, pour water off, add fresh water, boil, pour water off, add fresh water, boil, pour water off, etc... You want to combine all the water you pour off then you carefully boil it down till its just a couple shots worth of liquid. It doesn't really make much difference if you full boil, low boil or simmer other than the speed at which it reduces obviously you want to lower the temp as it boils down so it doesn't burn.

see, i've read different. i've read that if you boil it then it caramelizes the tannens and causes it to either a) lose effectiveness or b) taste like death

can i begin to reduce pull 1 as soon as it's done and then add pull 2 to it as i'm doing pull 3? or do i *have* to wait until all 3 pulls are done and combined to begin reducing?

You can go ahead and start reducing the first pull right away and add the others as you go, just be sure to keep an eye on it and don't let it end up burning. You don't really have to worry about caramelization until it gets down to a small amount and starts getting thick that is when it has the potential to burn, as long as it's nice and watery you can boil away. Make sure to keep a good eye on it and when it gets down more than half way slowly start lowering the heat and keep stirring to prevent it from burning/caramelizing.

If I had known this then the 9 hours I spent on saturday wouldn't have gone down the drain...

sigh...

many thanks dreamer... hopefully attempt #2 will go better...

btw - if I have to pause in the middle of the process what's the best way of doing it? say for example I finish pull 1 but can't start pull 2 for a couple of hours. Should I just cover the vine with fresh water and put it in the fridge until I'm ready to begin the pull?

yep, I usually just add fresh water and throw the whole pot in the freezer, help burst a few more cell walls that way

And don't get it twisted.. The vine isn't the greatest thing in the world to drink even if there is no carmelization. Good luck! The vine is so magical.