What is the wildest brew you have brewed - or what is a 'Strange Brew' to you?

Slatetank · 12-07-2008, 03:12 PM

I was asked this by someone who was sampling my homebrew. I couldn't really say except the fact that I have mixed different styles, brewed historical beers and used unusual ingredients but for me all beer is unique in its way. I am curious if others have tried to answer this question and what the answer is.

Arneba28 · 12-07-2008, 03:23 PM

The wildest brew is the one that comes from the brew session with no problems. Ponder that now!

Orangevango · 12-07-2008, 03:28 PM

Im gonna brew a lambic in the coming months, that should be tons of fun.

**Revvy** · 12-07-2008, 03:40 PM

You might find these threads amusing...Oh, there is also a difference between Brewing and TRYING to brew as well....The Gap experiment is a good discussion on trying to ferment and having it actually work

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f45/what-wildest-thing-you-tried-ferment-gf-yeast-infection-doesnt-count-58975/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/gap-grocery-produce-beer-experiment-69313/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/strangest-brews-15430/

CBBaron · 12-07-2008, 03:47 PM

I have in the fermenter a Flander's red.
I did a variation on the Dogfish Head Midas Touch clone.
And I did a Porter using Pale, Amber, and Brown malt (no roasted malts)

All of them are pretty unusual. I havn't tried the Flanders yet obviously. The Grape Braggot is pretty good and quite different. The Porter was never worth drinking. The high percentage of brown malt left a dry grainy taste to the beer that was not very pleasant.

Craig

Shonuff · 12-07-2008, 03:51 PM

I made Charlie Pap's Goat Scrotum Ale about 12 years. I don't even remember what it tasted like.

When I first started brewing my friend and I made a bunch of crap. We were under the impression that every batch should have something crazy in it. We woul brew stuff like a blueberry ginger beer.

I still have our recipe book that we kept 12 years ago. For some reason we had to come up with stupid names.

For example

-Creamy Discharge Ale
-Fornication Red
-Lama Sack (Our version of Goat Scrotum)
-V.D. Wheat
-Biznich Brown Ale
-Smokin' $%#@ (An Ale with smoked barley)
-Stinky %^&*@# Wheat
-Bitch Slap Beer (our attempt at making something similiar to Busch)
-Pop Your Cherry Pale Ale
-Nut Fuzz Ale (Peach flavored ale)
-P.M.S. Red
-Menage' A $%^# (Three different extracts, three different steeping grains, three different hops
-Slutty Scottish Ale
-Blue Balls Hef (Blueberry Hef)

Flipping through the book we went through some strange phases. Everything was dated and during a few month long binge everything we brewed had some sort of wine flavoring extract in it. Someone told us back then that you could boost the ABV by adding belgian candy sugar. I noticed at one point everything we brewed had belgian candy sugar in it.

I remember a lot of crap we made was balanced and high in alcohol. We were 19, we were idiots, what can I say?

If anyone wants recipes for these gems let me know

**Evets** · 12-07-2008, 04:14 PM

I kind of thought Mushroom brown ale was a bit unusual.

nealf · 12-07-2008, 05:50 PM

I made a starter with Goya Malta and after it was finished it I bottled and primed it. I don't know if its strange, but it sure should be disgusting...

BelgianWannabe · 12-08-2008, 01:20 PM

hah, that grocery and produce thread was kinda cool....i've actually done stuff like that. a few months ago, i made a pretty damn good brown ale from nothing but malta goya, malta polar, organic vanilla cola, organic root beer, brown sugar and bakers yeast.

as far as other strange beers......
for our one year anniversary, i made my girlfriend a batch of 14% a.b.v. winter warmer from 5 different types of DME, one pound of orange blossom honey, a box full of cherry flavored candy canes, cocoa powder, 15 different tea bags (assorted "Celestial Seasons" xmas teas), 2 oz of cascade hops, one vial each of White Labs "super high gravity" and "ten year anniversary belgian blend")

a few months back, me and my buddies made a belgian tripel....we used fresh hops (grown in my buddy Marcus' front yard), as well as a blend of 15 different fresh picked herbs that he collected from the woods near my house, 4 different types of honey, aloe vera extract, organic ginger ale, and fresh elderberries

**pjj2ba** · 12-08-2008, 02:10 PM

I don't think it is too wild, but last year I made a beer with half of the grain bill consisting of two loaves of homemade Swedish rye bread. I actually just baked up some more bread this past weekend for a repeat brewing this coming weekend - in other words, it was quite good.

I'm planning a crazy experiment soon. I may prepare one of the ingredients at our upcoming holiday fondue party. I'll post about it, good or bad, when the beer is ready.