So I have this crazy idea. I can't find any sources on it which either means it hasn't been done or reported on, or it doesn't work for obvious reasons that are not obvious to me. i do a lot of cooking and one of my favourite methods is using a sous vide machine. If you are unfamiliar, the gist is that the machine, which looks like a hand blender, sits in a tub or pot of water and circulates it while heating it to a very precise temperature for as long as you like. The other part of the sous vide method involves vac sealing the product in an air tight bag. no moisture escapes at all.

It occurred to me that this could be a fantastic way to brew Caapi. (one could have a separate bag with admixture, or brew them both together) I'm thinking that since there is no escaping condensation at all, that one could put the vine in water (just enough to cover the vine) add some lemon juice or whatever preferred acid, seal it in the bag and just cook it for days and days. No triple brewing and straining and combining and reducing. Just prepare the bag, seal it, turn it on and let it marinate. Since it is sealed, there will be no smell from the brew until it is opened. (I personally love the smell, but my neighbours may not and it is quite a powerful scent. Especially when brewing it for 9 to 12 hours) One could simply poke a hole in the bag and let the liquid out after the desired cooking time is reached.You could wait until it cools to further reduce odour. Once opened, it can be put in a pot and reduced to the desired amount, which would be the only time any scent would be detectable... and that's a very small window in comparison to a traditional brew.

Here is the catch. The sous vide machine can only go up to about 85c/ 185f . So is it absolutely necessary to get the brew to a boil? Or would 85 degrees over 3 to 5 days do it...


Thanks for any input.

http://anovaculinary.com.../anova-precision-cooker/ << -- this is a sous vide machine. I feel like a 9-12 hour brew might yield the same results. And the taste would be as natural and whole as it could possibly be. Cooked without acid, it would be sensational. and no caramelizing or burning of plant material.

so.....have you acquired one of these wifi firangi (precision) thingies?

...we'd say a somewhat rolling boil is desireable, if not essential (except for the reducing stage) but prolly we are thinking along different lines here (not 5 days)

You suggest two things:
* cooking in a closed bag;
* heating with a high tech heater.
One can, but is not obliged to do both simultaneously, its possible to choose for 1.

The bag: most aya recipes make use of a lot of water isn't it? Followed by a lot of evaporation. The bag is certainly not like that. I wont say it would not work, I just wonder, maybe time to check out how it compares.

The high tech heater: very cool when you kick on that, but any heat source will do equally I suppose. I know of people using a slow cooker with a lid on, no smell too.

Has anyboday tried haomaspresso? Filling an old-school aluminum espresso cooker with vinegar/lemon/vitaminC water and the filter area with ground rue and (later on) ground root bark. We think we want to try this...multiple steams are possible too
Would that work? Hot steam alk extraction? It works with coffee....(hhmmhh...but coffee is roasted )

I have one, but not this funky wifi one.. I will be getting one this summer though. I would try it with my current unit, but I'm not currently stocked with Caapi at the moment. It is something i would like to try in the near future though.
The Sous Vide is different than the Coffee immersion unit. It circulates the water so that the entire body of water is exactly the same temp and remains there with exact precision. I don't think i can get it up to 215degrees. i might be able to get it up to 205 though. I'll play with it today and see.. The highest I've used it so far is 185 degrees.

What temp does a slow cooker go up to? I've tried using a slow cooker for Aya before, but was uncertain if the temp was high enough, so I also did a full boil on it. i think my slow cooker hits about the same temp as the sous vide machine, so if just a slow cooker would work, then I think the Sous vide may also.

If I am going to use the sous vide method, I would need to bag the product. Otherwise it would be floating loose in the water and get chopped and potentially damage the machine itself, which spins and circulates the water. So this is one the parts I am uncertain of as far as the science goes. A lot of water is usually used in the brew on account of evaporation. Using this method, The sealed bag would not allow for any evaporation. The water in the pot or tub would still evaporate and need to be filled, but the water in the bag would simply become as saturated as it possibly could. At least I imagine that it would go that way. lol.

My slow cooker boils stuff. You sure you had it on the highest setting? Three 4-6 hour boils with just enough water to cover the material works well for me.

I'm curious about what the advantage would be of having your ayahuasca in a bag.

IME when sous vide'ing liquids or for me now most things

I prefer a mason jar , better to be safe than sorry with the plastics under heated & acidic conditions

But I like this/ set and forget

Yes, apparently Rick Strassman recommended this method, there are some positve reports in the Espressohuasca-thread.

Thanks for the link OwlMan

See my post in this thread:
https://www.dmt-nexus.me...m=742967&#post742967

Gist of it: tried it and it didn't work at all.

See my post in this thread:
https://www.dmt-nexus.me...m=742967&#post742967

Gist of it: tried it and it didn't work at all, with A. confusa.