*Due to profound cook times, I like to prepare enough for several journeys at once.
*Energy is everything. Do not abandon the brew while cooking to do something else. Energy in = energy out.
*Some freeze materials overnight before cooking, and say this increases potency, for the sake of breaking down cell walls to release actives.
*Setting up: Smudge the kitchen, speak intentions, give thanks. Open a dialogue with the spirit of Ayahuasca, whatever is in the heart. Stay focused on why one has decided to spend 12+ hours at the stove. Pay attention to all the little details: swirls of steam, crackles and hisses from the pot, the smell of the vine. What is seen in the pot? (5 hours later) NOW what is seen in the pot?
*Always cook with stainless steel. Put materials in an appropriate pots. (I like to cook my admixtures separately; drinking them separately, vine first, light ~20 minutes later, seems most efficient.)
*Cover materials with acidified water: pH of 4 is rumored to be acceptable. I prefer 2.5~3.
*How to acidify: NEVER USE LEMON!! It tastes HORRENDOUS!! Some use phosphoric acid, or Vitamin C crystals (I have no recipe/method for these). I worked with vinegar for a long time; white distilled vinegar leaves the least amount of taste (ACV tastes far worse). One generous tablespoon of vinegar per liter of water is plenty acidic.
I have found using less vinegar than this results in weaker brews.
*Type of water: distilled or reverse osmosis works best. This water is already slightly acidic, and there are no minerals (or disgusting tap additives) that will concentrate when the brew is reduced.
*I have recently started using a water filter that uses electrolysis to clean the water and digitally adjust pH (KYK/KanGen/Jupiter/etc.). It works just as well as vinegar, but tastes sooo much better. :O
*It is impossible to say how much water is necessary for a brew. Bring the water to a boil, and then reduce heat to keep the water just above the threshold of boiling. Diameter of pots used will definitely effect rate of evaporation. As materials are exposed, add enough water just to keep them covered. Boil strategically; when nearing the end of each wash, obviously, let the water cook down a little further than usual.
*Washes: Do three boils of three hours. If work keeps a person from doing one long cook, this is a convenient way to "break up" the cooking.
*After the initial three hours of boiling, carefully pour off all the brewed water into a new pot. Cover the new pot with an old cotton TEA-shirt to serve as a filter (before pouring into it, of course
).
*Cover cooked materials with fresh acidified water, and cook again for three hours. Filter into a separate pot.
*Do this one more time, cooking for a total of nine hours. IMHE, cooking for less than nine negatively impacts brew potency. Cooking beyond 12 makes brew slightly more tannic, but does not increase potency noticably.
*Finally, combine all three filtered washes, and reduce.
*Reduction requires UTMOST and CONSTANT attention. It takes next to nothing for pots to boil over and all 9 hours to spill across the stove, and dry instantly, only in the pattern of thousands of eyeballs to mock the brewer's carelessness.
*Ideally, one will eventually combine pots, and switch to using smaller pots, gradually reducing the heat, until only a few ounces are left. The taste is the taste of death; the less material there is to drink, probably, the better.
*Also, the further one reduces, the less likely mold or fermentation is to occur.
*Store in sterilized glass jars. Reduced brew can be stored for several months in the fridge, and be frozen indefinitely.
*Pots and pans may look dirty as hell after the reductions phase; this is nothing a bit of organic dish soap and steel wool can't handle.