I'm trying to brew a potion of absorption, per the book's advice.

1. Using a Mandrake Root and a Honey Bottle results in a failed brew.
2. Using a Honey Bottle by itself turns the water pink but does nothing else. I can't retrieve the brew afterward.
3. Tossing in redstone or glowstone after that does nothing. In fact, no matter what I throw in after that, nothing changes (except for wood ash, which clears the cauldron).

Regular brews work just fine, though adding Mundane brew ingredients obviously causes problems. Is there a hidden step somewhere in here?

I tried with one altar and still can't brew with a honey bottle. Modlist:

https://pastebin.com/bw8wi1hH

Did you have enough altar power? You need 150ME per ingredient

You can't combine altars

Yeah, I tried both with an altar that had 150 power and with two altars with around 110 each.

All right, but with the altar that had 150 power I got no results. Does having a second altar nearby screw it up, even if one of the two altars has enough power? Also, it took a netherite candelabra and diamond sword to get it above 150 power, how am I supposed to get any more complex brews done?

It's best not to have any other altars around, for altar power you need a large variety of plants around the altar.

Yes, having more than one screws it up. Blocks that use ME will grab from the closest altar regardless of which has the higher amount. I was unable to replicate this issue though, so I will close it