If you want to make ayahuasca, it's best to use whole pieces
of Banisteriopsis caapi vine, (cielo/yellow or red is best,
white caapi is harder to work with, and IMHO less suited for
beginners).
As a kind of standard start-off usually 30 g caapi and 30g chacruna (P.v.)
are advised. If you have enough plant material, I would make a brew
with 50 g caapi and 50 g chacruna, even if the extraction turns out a bit
ineffective or the plants are not so strong, you should get a reasonable brew,
and you don't have to drink it all if it turns out to be strong, but save
some for a next time.
Do your brewing with respect and attention,
create a harmonious environment while you are working
with the plants, if you feel comfortable with it, you can
sing or whistle to the (spirits of) the plants you're working
with, in this way, you tune yourself to the medicine,
and tune the medicine to yourself and your purposes/intentions.
Tips for brewing with caapi: if you can always get whole
pieces of caapi vine, pre-shredded or powdered seems to
decrease in power faster, and when it's finely powdered
you'll get a lot of sediment in your brew that is difficult
to filter out, it makes filtering material clog, and
can cause more than necessary nausea. Let caapi pieces
soak in water for 24-48 hours, after that they are
easy to break up and tear to thin strips. You can use
the soaking water in the brew, if you'll check it with
black light, you'd see it has become highly fluorescent
just from soaking pieces of vine in it.
Caapi also hardly needs any acidifying of the water,
one or 2 ml of lemon or lime juice on 100 ml water
is plenty actually, you don't want a brew that, after
concentration tastes sour. A really good caapi brew
can actually taste quite sweet next to the bitterness,
but to brew ayahuasca in such a way that it tastes
sweet (honey quality ayahuasca) takes a couple of
years of ayahuasca apprenticeship and plenty brewing
experience, and it probably also has to do with the
icaros one sings and an element of prayer (Some will
discard the last two as magical thinking and/or
superstition).
Traditionally, the usual procedure is to boil everything together,
or start with a vessel with caapi and water, and add
the chacruna for the last hour or so, before the plant material is removed and
the brew is concentrated by evaporating off much of the water.
I find that the concentration and taste of the brew is good if 1 cc of
resulting brew contains the extract of 1 g of ayahuasca vine.
My working recipe is slightly different every time,
but basically 30-60 g Banisteriopsis caapi per person,
Diplopterys cabrerana (chagropanga/chaliponga) 15-18 g p/p,
or Psychoyria Viridis (chacruna) 25-40 g p/p, or a combination
of these two leaf admixtures.
Usually I also add some plants that are not specifically psycho-
active, like pao d'arco/lapacho, una de gato/cat's claw and
chuchuashi, sometimes one or two locally growing herbs like
for instance some fresh chamomille flowers.
Sometimes some huayuasa leaves and/or some mate de coca,
and usually a small strip of ceremonial mapacho tobacco
leaf, ca 1-2 square cm p/p (I estimate 50-100 mg of plant material
per person. Be very very carefull, nicotine is a deadly poison
and tobacco, when used at all, should be used with great respect
and care). Blowing smoke from a good cigar, or from a pipe with
ceremonial tobacco over the surface of the brew for protection
and to connect it with the spirit of the tobacco, which is
thought to 'awaken' and 'feed' the spirits of the other plants,
and to help in opening and closing of rituals, is very traditional,
and an idea to consider when you are going to work with these
traditional plants.
Besides the plants you need clean water (no chlorine etc., if tap
water is chlorinated get bottled spring water or distilled water),
and a lemon or lime (or some lemon or lime juice in a bottle),
some pans, a sieve, some cheesecloth or other fabric (T-shirt).
Best is not to use aluminum pans, stainless steel or enamelled pans
are recommended.
The brewing directions I describe are based on traditional slow
extraction methods. Put the caapi liana stem sections in a pan
and add enough water to soak them in. Leave this overnight.
The stems soak up water and become more like fresh stems again.
They get soft, so you can twist and tear the stems into thin strips.
Put these strips of vine in the pan with the water you soaked it
in, and add water untill it's level with the caapi strips.
Add a few drops of lemon or lime juice, a few ml is enough to
slightly acidify the water for improved extraction of the alkaloids.
Bring to a boil in closed pan, adjust temperature/fire so that you
can keep it slightly below the boiling point for 4-8 hours.
If needed add some water. Let it steep and cool overnight.
Strain the next morning and put the resulting liquid on low heat
to evaporate off water. Crumble the Psychotria viridis leaves
and put them in a pan with ca 500 ml water and a few milliliter
of lemon and/or lime juice and bring to boil. Lower heat and leave
steeping below boiling point for one hour. Strain and add
resulting tea to the evaporating caapi brew. Put the plant
materials (B. caapi and Psychotria v.) together in a pan with
circa 1 l water and a few ml of lemon/lime juice, bring to boil
and steep for another 1 or 2 hours, add after straining to
evaporating brew. Allow to evaporate back to 100-200 ml of
ayahuasca drink. Go through the whole process with attention and
a meditative, prayerful attitude, like you are cooking a meal for
a loved one.
Traditionally ayahuasca is almost always taken only at night,
after sunset. The amount one drinks is usually divided into
several (2,3 or 4) rounds, one drinks a cup/glass of ayahuasca
with 30-120 minutes in between. Each glass is slammed down
quickly, don't sip it or taste it too long in your mouth before
swallowing, the taste is very intense and to some people even
very awful. You'll taste the aftertaste strong enough, and it might
be a good idea to make something more neutral tasting as a chaser,
for instance tea with some ginger, mint and/or chamomille,
which will also help keeping nausea to a minimum.
Also take a look at <http://www.the-awakening.net/>
and <http://www.ayahuasca.com/>, especially the forums.
Trust the medicine, follow the medicine through you body
after you swallowed it, you may ask the medicine to give
you visions, but it is up to the medicine in combination with
your own neurochemistry at that time, what you will experience.
One thing that seems pretty constant is, that when the medicine
starts to work, that the feeling of hunger from the longer
or shorter fast before the ceremony vanishes, and that all
senses seem to become more acute and sensitive.
By singing and playing rhythms with simple instruments like
drum, rattle or mouth harp/mouth bow, you can learn to
direct your experience to some extent. According to the
traditional ayahuasceros one can 'channel' melodies, rhythms
and songs (icaros) that are in some way an expression of
the spirit/character of the medicine plants, and transmit
their healing, protective and vision-giving qualities
in an audible form, sung, whistled or 'blow-whistled',
mixed with the vital energy of the breath.
The psychedelic aspect of ayahuasca is merely one aspect
of the diamond of ayahuasca, which is truly a holistic medicine.