Hey everyone
I'm new to this site and this will be my first post. First off i want to say this site is amazing. There's so much good info here, and lots of good people. Thanks for both.
This week end I'll be drinking my first serious brew. I've tried to brew it twice before, with no results. I had no nausea, and I was now where near off base. I used 50 grams of cappi and mimosa both times. After getting no effect, and a lot of disappointment I went to a aya retreat in Costa Rica. I had a beautiful healing experience, but it was very subtle. I had almost no visions. Now I'm trying to go a lot deeper. After going through info here, I think I've found the error in my first 2 attempts. I think it was the maoi that was deficient. So now I'm on a quest to find out what kind of level of maoi i need. Now that I have a benchmark from Costa Rica I'm going to sip my cappi until I feel it. Then hit the spice from there. Am I on the right track? I know 250-300 is a pretty big dose, but I'm quite the hard head. I'll be drinking it slowly over some time. Just want to know If I'm going too far. Well I'll be writing up my experience. I hope it all works out.

Some questions:
50g of caapi and mimosa? Meaning 50g of each, or if not in what ratio?

What's your brewing method? What color of vine are you using? Is it whole, shredded, powdered? What did the result look like?

The fact that you're feeling no nausea in addition to no effects points more towards an ineffective brewing method than simply you being a hardhead, unless you also happen to have a stomach that could process a tree.

Are you averse to Peganum Harmala seeds? I think they're a bit easier to prepare, and seem to provide visionary experiences with the minimum of preparation. A triple hot water extract will even suffice (ground seeds though).

And how are you preparing the mimosa? Are you grinding it finely to increase it's surface area? Have you performed a triple extract of it to collect a majority of the goods - and with cold distilled water, as heat will bring the tannins (nausea and spewing) along for the ride.
Or if you would like to get the most out of the MHRB, I'd recommend an extraction, and this way you can weigh out your spice precisely, and then you will know whether to increase the dosage of your chosen MAOI if you have not received any visions. I find that the MAOI plants are more favourable to brewing than MHRB, so I'd recommend a STB on your bark and a brew (citric acid added to acidify, and finely pulverized material) if you want to drink something.

if you mean grams by gm then you have brewing issue. no one can drink that many grams of properly brewed caapi.

if you have drank 50 grams mimosa and are still sane you most def have not achieved MAOI.

read up. your all out of balance. we can help but you need to do some research first. do not proceed with this level of understanding. im not sure what they are teaching you out in Costa Rica but these numbers are not good. give us some more details if your serious about ayahuasca.

Alkaloid content of caapi varies considerably. My latest contains over 3.4% alkaloids. Ingesting 300g of this caapi would mean I’d be ingesting over 10g of alkaloids – a massive overdose!!

I’ve never heard of a caapi “hardhead”. Either your brewing methods aren’t good, or you’ve got weak caapi. Take it slow.

Bananaforeskin: I can't really remember I just followed directions it was a long time ago. It might have been less. Now that i think of it the mimosa must of been less in ratio to the cappi. It's in the past now though. Now I'm on to the present with the brew I just made. The vine is shredded and the guy said he thinks it's yellow vine, but he wasn't sure. I brewed it in water with vinegar. I don't remember how much vinegar I used the first time, but this time I used a bit over 1 table spoon per liter. It's turned out a cloudy yellowy brown once it settled in my fridge. I don't see what I could of done wrong either time. I was very careful to not let it boil too much. I know that I need way more aya then most. In Costa Rica I drank way more then every one else, and I had very light effects compared to others. At another ceremony I went to locally I had a very light experience and only light nausea. Again every one else was flying high. I'm quite sure I'm a hard head. Every enthogen I've ever taken needs a lot to be effective. This is no bragging matter it really sucks.

Bluntmuffin: I'm not adverse to anything that works. I'll keep that in mind.Thanks for the tip. I am using an acid brew for the maoi. I'm no chemist so some one makes it for me. That'll be another project down the road though. oh yeah and I used a grinder for the mimosa.

Olympus Mon: I thought I did do my research. The all about aya thread said a dose should be around 50-150 grams. I don't plan on drinking it all down at once. That's why I said I'll be drinking it slowly. I plan to take a sip, wait then take another if nothing happens. Sorry I should be more clear. I brewed around 300 grams because I just want a lot on hand. I'd rather have it and not need it; then need it and not have it. My numbers are all off from the first 2 attempts because it's a guess. Sorry it was around 2 years ago. I should be more clear sorry. I did follow directions. They should of been what ever a base dose should be. They didn't didn't teach us anything about brewing in Costa Rica. They just fed us the aya. I'm not playing around. consciousness exploration is a focal point of my life.

Gibran2: don't worry this isn't meant to be a single dose. I just want to know that it's there if it needs to be. I should of made that more clear sorry.

everyone: You people are amazing. I think I've found a electronic community. I wasn't really expecting much response, much less this fast. Thanks

You say that you brewed it, but how many boils and for how long? The acid doesn't matter too much (you could use a lot less, or none at all if you liked). A cloudy yellow-brown is good- when it's boiled down, though, it should be a thickish black-brown liquid that tastes like death. There's something about the traditional cooking method which goes wrong for so many... this problem arises quite frequently. You may want to try using The Herbal Percolator (use google, or see wiki) for half of it, and see if that technique works for you.

Do take note now that mentioning you buy spice on this forum will earn you a lot of negative attention, if not actually get you in trouble with the mods. We do not discuss buying or selling DMT. In your own interest, let me say that whoever you buy it from is certainly ripping you off, most likely astronomically, as it costs about $5 a gram to extract yourself and you do NOT need to be a chemist. Teks like Noman's STB or Q21Q21's A/B are as easy as baking cookies. It takes two jars, a couple of common chemicals, and an afternoon. In all honesty, spice extraction is a lot easier to get right than aya!

"Olympus Mon: I thought I did do my research. The all about aya thread said a dose should be around 50-150 grams"

Nowhere in that thread does minxx say 50 grams of MIMOSA..I would suggest you go back and read that thread again..becasue 50g mimosa is a huge overdose that is definatily NOT suggested in that thread anywhere.

fractal enchantment:I wasn't talking about mimosa I was talking about cappi, I later explained my confusion. Isn't that what it says?

ok well..id start with 2-3 grams then either way of mimosa..50-100 grams of caapi should really be plenty but it depends on the vine I guess..what is your diet like and how much do you eat before hand etc?..also go into more detail about your brewing methods..

150 grams of dried caapi (assuming it is strong) is all anyone should need.

Bannanaforeskin: 3 boils for 3 hours. I don't know about black-brown, but it's thick n dark. I think most of the black death settled to the bottom. Thanks for pointing out my screw up. I'm so happy there's a way to edit. I love this site. I'd hate to screw anything up. It kinda Synchronistic you mention the stb method. I just found some teks on it just before I read your reply. It looks a lot easier then a lot of other methods I've found. I've been kinda freaked out looking at all the chemicals involved, and my total lack of chemistry knowledge. Thanks for pointing out the percolator I'll look into it if my brew fails again.

fractal enchantment: 3x3 method and I've been very careful with my diet. I've cut out all red meat,fermented foods,salt, and I plan on fasting 4 hours before I drink.

well everyone this thread has been a huge learning experience in ways I never expected. Apart from all I've learned about aya and spice. I've learned I've got to be a lot more clear in my wording. Sorry for all the confusion. I read a lot. I never write. I'll make sure I fully explain my self better in the future. Thanks for all your help.

i've read about people needing more than the usual amount of caapi because of a)personal sensitivity issues b)quality of caapi c) brewing techhnique or a combination of all three. Since your brewing technique is sound, you've had success while visiting the retreat, it might be the vine you are using.

So: Have you tried vine from different suppliers?

And: Sensitivity can increase over time. At least minxx noted this.

obliguhl: first off I wouldn't say the retreat was a total success. It was very positive, but I wasn't far from base. I got only slight visuals. I was drinking at least 2-3 times what others were drinking, and everyone else had very strong experiences. You do make a very good point about the supplier. It's seems so obvious, once pointed out. They charge too much anyways. Thanks

your not in vancouver are you??..and getting vine in person from urban shaman??...cus that is way too $$$$...they do have really good vine though in my experience..

fractal enchantment:lol yup I am, and yes I did. well at least I know I've got good vine. where do you get yours? I was gonna get my next batch from enthogarden botanicals. It's nice to hear from a fellow vancouverite

Well I did end up drinking almost all of my brew at least around 3/4 of it. I drank it slowly over about 3-4 hours. I took 2 small hits of spice through my gvg. I only purged once immediately after the second hit towards the end. I would probably do more in the future; although I'm going to use the herbal percolator technique. I'm going to write up the full experience in the experience section.

congratulations my friend, i hope to hear about your experience in more detail.

did you brew your intended 300g? how much caapi do you estimate you drank? if you drank 3/4 of 300g id say its likely that your vine is not very good. that is of coarse assuming you broke up the vine adequately and did a good brew which it sounds like you did.

i think its good you took small hits of dmt. i found that smoking dmt with full maoi was quite a ride! for me a bit too much at that time. granted i had also drank 1.5g mimosa but even still the vaper kicked like a mule! and i think it was only 10mg!

good times.