Mimosahuasca brewing journal (guide in progress)

[Sicho Naut]

Hi all!

Welcome to my mimosahuasca brewing journal. It is a work in progress in which I track my experiments with brewing mimosahuasca, which eventually will be turned into a hopefully comprehensive and lucid guide that contains all the nitty gritty details-- No more endless googling needed.

Here is an overview of the questions I hope to solve (copied from my post below this one, for the sake of clarity):

1. What exactly is the point of filtering 3 times during the standard 3x3 recipe? I understand that the water evaporates, but why not just add water to the pot every 3 hours and filter at the end? Is it just a safety device in case the boil gets messed up somehow (i.e. then you at least have your previous 1 or 2 boils, or is it somehow crucial to the brew itself?)

2. Moreover, why brew without the lid on the pot? In this thread, ms_manic_minxx seems to have gotten good - perhaps even better and more economical, it seems - results with the lid on. I wonder if she still did the 3x3 process during this experiment. Just filtering at the end + keeping the lid on for 9 hours would make the brewing process a bit easier-- so why not?

3. Does a cold water brew work or not? With or without a MAOI? It would be great if this worked, because the preparation process would require a lot less time. I intend to do the experiment at some point in the following way:

A) Mix powdered MHRB in water and some vinegar and leave in fridge for multiple days, shaking it once every day.

B) Strain the liquid through cheesecloth or something to separate the plant material from liquid.

C) Apply egg white tek on the stove and reduce.

Further questions to ask (if it works) are: What is the effect on the potency of the brew, i.e. do you need less, more or as much MHRB? Does it create more, less or as much nausea, even when applying the egg white tek?

4. Why can the egg white tek only be done on unreduced brew? I understand that during the tek some liquid further evaporates, but if you calculate that in, then it seems the most logical to do the egg white tek way at the end, as with the least amount of liquid there is greater certitude that the egg whites will soak up the tannins? Or is my reasoning wrong here?

5. Is boiling destructive to potency? What kind of 'simmer' is too much of a simmer, if any? Can a 'low' simmer be too low to be effective, even if hot enough to evaporate water?

6. I hear people say that powdered MHRB requires less time on the stove to fully extract. But how long is enough?

Underneath (---) is the original post of this thread, which was not initially a journal but more to get some questions answered. Feel free to ignore it.

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I am brewing aya as we speak for the second time. I am using 30g of mimosa hostilis (for multiple sessions), with about 1 liter of water. However, all the instructions say to brew for 3 hours 3 times, but considering the speed with which the water is evaporating, I will have to change the water much sooner.

I am brewing at a (very) low simmer and the pot seems an appropriate size (20cm diameter). I also read that too low heat is ineffective and that some people even boil, so turning down the heat is also not an option (yet I've also read that too much heat is destructive to the alkaloids- anyone know what's up?).

Are my ratios off? How much water would you recommend for 30g of MHRB?

Also, how much water can I allow to evaporate before having to change the water? I intend to consume brew that equates to 3g of MHRB (at least for the first few upcoming trips), so the end brew would need to be about 0,5l I guess (50ml per trip)?

Thanks ahead! (Extra thanks for quick responses as I would ideally finish the brewing today !)

EDIT FOR UPDATES:

-First boil:I changed the water after approximately 2 hours and 25 minutes. However, the amount of liquid left (after filtering) is only about 290ml. Just started the second brew with about 1.6 liters of water.

-Second boil: Brewed for 3 hours and 5 minutes, 310ml left (after filtering), even though I partially kept the lid on the pot for about 20 minutes near the end of the boil. Kept the brew on a very low simmer mostly.

-Third boil: Brew voor 3,5 hours in 2.1l, about 800ml left. The lid was kept on for about half an hour. For a while, the brew reached the cooking point (accidentally). Hopefully this did not damage the potency.

Steps left: Egg white tek and reduce, but this will be for in the near future.
)

 

[Sicho Naut]

I am trying out the brew somewhere in January most likely. I intend to try out one dose of the brew in the extreme and mixing the tiny amount of liquid that remains with honey, to ease the process of consumption. I will post an update soon after I have tried it out.)

What I ended up doing is evaporate my dose on a plate, scraped up the residue and put it in a gel cap. Took approx. 200mg harmala HCL in a gel cap and 40 minutes later my MHRB gel cap (equating to about 3-3,5g of bark).

Once again, I tripped but the intensity was disappointing. From what I have read it should have been a deeper trip. This is getting a little frustrating.
I purged during the comedown.

Hypotheses:

1. My new source of MHRB is (also?) not potent. I doubt this, though, because the vendor is reputable.
2. Too little liquid during the brewing phase. I should probably just stick to the traditional method and do 3x3 extracts too ease the absorption of DMT into water.
3. The coffee pot is too low heat after all? Although I have read about successes using coffee pots.

I am a fan of the gel cap method, though-- What a relief it was to not have to drink the stuff!
Probably I will try another CWE next, or maybe an alcohol extraction.

 

[Sicho Naut]

As I report here, my biggest succes 'brewing' mimosahuasca has been with an alcohol extraction (see link for recipe), which has the additional benefit of being low-effort, foolproof and reliable. I will continue doing it this way for at least the foreseeable future and will be experimenting with various variables to optimize the method. When I have some knowledge to report, I will be sure to post it!

 

[Transform]

What I ended up doing is evaporate my dose on a plate, scraped up the residue and put it in a gel cap. Took approx. 200mg harmala HCL in a gel cap and 40 minutes later my MHRB gel cap (equating to about 3-3,5g of bark).

Once again, I tripped but the intensity was disappointing. From what I have read it should have been a deeper trip. This is getting a little frustrating.
I purged during the comedown.

Hypotheses:

1. My new source of MHRB is (also?) not potent. I doubt this, though, because the vendor is reputable.
2. Too little liquid during the brewing phase. I should probably just stick to the traditional method and do 3x3 extracts too ease the absorption of DMT into water.
3. The coffee pot is too low heat after all? Although I have read about successes using coffee pots.

I am a fan of the gel cap method, though-- What a relief it was to not have to drink the stuff!
Probably I will try another CWE next, or maybe an alcohol extraction.

Sorry to have missed this update somehow!

If you were to try capsules again, I would suggest adding a half-dose of harmalas in with the mimosa extract (as well as taking the pre-dose) in order to ensure that the MAO inhibition is sufficient.
Glad to see that the alcohol extraction has been working out, though!

 

[Sicho Naut]

If you were to try capsules again, I would suggest adding a half-dose of harmalas in with the mimosa extract (as well as taking the pre-dose) in order to ensure that the MAO inhibition is sufficient.
Glad to see that the alcohol extraction has been working out, though!

Do you mean divide a standard harmala dose (e.g. sth like 125mg to pre-dose and 75mg with mimosa) or pre-dose the usual 200mg and add another 100mg or so with the MHRB?

Thank you!

 

[Transform]

Do you mean divide a standard harmala dose (e.g. sth like 125mg to pre-dose and 75mg with mimosa) or pre-dose the usual 200mg and add another 100mg or so with the MHRB?

Thank you!

Somewhere between the two - finding that out would be part of the fine-tuning process!

 

[Sicho Naut]

Although it already works, here are some questions/issues that I want to figure out and experiment with to optimize the alcohol extraction (AE) method:

-Dorge points out that for him it only started working after eating some foods 2 hours into the experience. This was also my experience, it started 40 minutes into it shortly after eating some grapes. Next time I will consume a teaspoon of honey after consuming the MHRB gelcaps. It seems that honey would stimulate the digestion quickly without the AE getting too mixed into food (i.e. a tablespoon of honey is close enough to an empty stomach).

-In Dorge's thread they speculate that adding acidity would be beneficial for the AE. I will test if half a tbsp of white vinegar (mine's 8%) will make a difference. Although the evaporation stage will take a bit longer then.

-Because of the low amount of liquid with an AE, decanting beyond filtering through a coffee filter the one time is rendered more difficult in comparison to a water brew. Some ideas for decanting an AE and hence purifying the tincture:

• Find a very thin and high glass bottle, i.e. a very vertical container-- like one of those 60ml shot glasses but trice the length or something. Not sure if that exists, lol. Put the tincture in there, freeze, unfreeze, decant, repeat if needed.
• Use vodka for the AE but more volume, this would be an AE and CWE at once (would this be beneficial to potency? = another question). Decant by freezing and unfreezing. OR just use more pure alcohol, but this could get costly.
• Perhaps: Using whole bark for the AE and let it soak longer? Possible advantage of this would be that less unneeded residue ends up in the tincture? Not sure about this one.

-This may sound silly, but I vaguely remember reading that black pepper increases absorption of nutrients. For instance, they add black pepper to many ashwagandha and curcumin supplements. Perhaps adding black pepper could be beneficial, lol?

-Storage: I expect that putting the gel caps in labeled ziplock bags and those inside an airtight jar, in the dark and at room temp would maintain the potency of the AE...

-I assume this would work with Acacia Confusa. I want to try that at some point just to see what the experiential differences are between MHRB and ACRB.

-Multiple alcohol washes for possibly increased potency? But will only try this if I can get pure alcohol at a reasonable price.

-In Dorge's thread, Trickster suggests that a magnetic spinner can speed up the process. I doubt I'll try this one though because I like to keep things minimal. Instead I will do multiple soaks at once so that I always have some AE handy.

 

[Transform]

I would be wary of adding too many culinary spices to this kind of brew.

For palatability, I'd use lemon/lime juice, or ascorbic acid, rather than vinegar.

Honey seems like a good idea, it may also be the case that more complex carbohydrates stimulate the digestion more.

 

[Sicho Naut]

I would be wary of adding too many culinary spices to this kind of brew.

For palatability, I'd use lemon/lime juice, or ascorbic acid, rather than vinegar.

Honey seems like a good idea, it may also be the case that more complex carbohydrates stimulate the digestion more.

I gelcap the residue so taste is no issue, although I like the idea of lemon juice more now that you mention it.

I'll report back once I try the honey thing.