Anyone smoke hops?

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beesy

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Anyone ever smoked some hops? and if so, any affect. I found an oxidized plug in the back of fridge last night, obviously not brewing with it, and thought about smokin' a little to see if they have any affects similar to other plants in their family.
 
I'm thinking that there's a compound missing in your hops. Do your lungs a favor, and just say no.
:drunk:
 
First hit is ok, then it tastes like garbage. A fair number of people do use them for aroma therapy, however, which is similar to smoking.
 
No, but I snorted some Mt. Hood pellet dust the other day....

by accident...
 
Ahhh... I went the other way with this one and was thinking of something along the lines of rauchbier but with smoked hops... I was thinking you could dry your hops in a smoker and get that nice smoked smell.

I haven't done either version of smoking hops...
 
Ahhh... I went the other way with this one and was thinking of something along the lines of rauchbier but with smoked hops... I was thinking you could dry your hops in a smoker and get that nice smoked smell.

I haven't done either version of smoking hops...

Haha, yeah, this is what I thought too.
 
lol, I was wondering the opposite. like has anyone used the "hop cousin" in a beer?

I read about a Reefer Barleywine a little while back. Micheal Jackson (the brew dude, not the wierdo) said it was very good, and relaxing. I've entertained the idea of doing a "special dryhop;" maybe one day.

Regarding the hops thing: in the UK, and perhaps other parts of Europe, one can find herbal cigarettes that are a mix of hops and one other ingredient that's supposed to catalyze/increase the natural effect of hops. I've heard they're somewhat relaxing, but not and more or less so when compared to a standard tabaccy cig.

Burn it down man, only way to find out. I'd think that the smoke would be terribly acrid/bitter, but who knows.
 
I think that a dry hop would leave the majority of the special ingredient behind. I would at do it as an aroma if not boil addition.

The special ingredient does survive high temperatures. Obviously.
 
Are there any info/recipes on doing that 'special dryhop' anywhere?

It's just the type of thing you'd have to "wing" (believe me, I've looked all over the place for info). I'd say proceed in a fashion similar to a standard dryhop. Use the best you can find, no dirt. For a five gallon batch, you want to use at least 1 ounce (again, provided it's best of the best). Whatever you do, don't add it to the boil. The reasons for this are manifold, but perhaps most importantly because the active goodies do not dissolve in water, period, regardless of temp (alcohol/solvent and fat soluble only).

Make sure the beer itself is of barleywine strength (10%+), or else you won't dissolve the good stuff as effectively. Pre-grinding will probably help the cause. Perhaps best that the brew isn't overloaded with hops (ie: on the low to medium end for the style), so that the goodness has no problems getting into solution. That said, wouldn't hurt to add some herbal hops in the dryhop, such as Nugget, to complement the flavor/aroma.

Another option is to make a tincture with your special hops and everclear (look around the net for instructions), then add this to your secondary along with any standard hops. This seems like cheating to me, though.

Probably want to choose a "special hop" that's more herbal/fruity/floral when compared to skunky, for obvious reasons. I might work up a recipe one of these days.
 
how about soaking it in vodka and adding that? If it is alcohol soluable this might work?

That's what I meant when I said tincture w/ everclear. Recipes for tincture are all over the net. It's probably the best method for a "sure thing." The efficacy of a ~10% ABV brew in dissolving special stuff has certainly not been established/proven, but tinctures are made (quite effectively) all the time.

If one were to pursue the tincture route, then the brew itself should probably be of a more modest starting ABV, as the everclear will bump it up. Difficult to say whether adding the tincture would be best at secondary or bottling, but I'm tempted to say bottling, especially if you're in the habit of stirring the brew after every few bottles.
 
Good info Pelikan... thanks, the gears are turning in my head on this one. A variation on an ESB might be a good candidate. It'd be 'Extra Special' alright!
 
Ha! Deal. I'd love to try some of your brews... :)

Working on the tincture idea, not crazy about introducing vodka into a brew however...
 
Ha! Deal. I'd love to try some of your brews... :)

Working on the tincture idea, not crazy about introducing vodka into a brew however...

Def don't use vodka. Must be everclear (or as close to 190 proof as you can get). Check out this link. Just substitute "special hops" for the evil substance they're referring to.

I'm not particularly fond of introducing that much straight booze to a beer either, truth be told. A small .5 or 1 gallon secondary may be in order, to see if a 10ish percent brew can get that stuff into solution. From a few anecdotal accounts, it is indeed very possible, but the jury is still out on that one.
 
I hit paydirt on a way to make a tincture... Everclear is the way to go, yes. Liquor stores carry that?
 
You the man Pelikan! Seems like the best way to proceed is to make a tincture and experiment with putting dropper fulls in different brews to see which combination tastes most promising, then alter the beer recipe from there. On second thought, I think a heartier beer would be most promising... perhaps something that has oak or some type of wood / caramel flavor. I've got a Maple-Oak Amber Ale I concocted I think might be a killer candidate for this... but that won't be ready for months and months... still, will be fun to experiment to see what else can work.
 
i was just thinking about this this afternoon. i bought some rhizomes, and i realized they might to the untrained eye look like its cousin plant while growing. then i thought i would give some to my toker friends to see what they thought. i know a couple guys that would smoke anything.

if it burnt, they would try it
 
Def don't use vodka. Must be everclear (or as close to 190 proof as you can get). Check out this link. Just substitute "special hops" for the evil substance they're referring to.

I'm not particularly fond of introducing that much straight booze to a beer either, truth be told. A small .5 or 1 gallon secondary may be in order, to see if a 10ish percent brew can get that stuff into solution. From a few anecdotal accounts, it is indeed very possible, but the jury is still out on that one.

Any idea what the extraction efficiency might be like? Please keep this thread updated if you all ever try your technique.
 
This thread makes me laugh, as I was browsing chain of thought style the other day and a hop grow blog about a guy growing hops in a high rise led me to this book: Amazon.com: Marijuana Beer: How to Make Your Own Hi-Brew Beer: Ed Rosenthal: Books

I did not want to pay the $40 bucks for the book, but I did enjoy googling the author and the concept... found this thread humorous: How To Make Youre Own Marijuana Beer. - PlanetGanja.com

I would love to hear how the hi beer turns out.

Oh, I recommend chamomile with your hops to smoke... you might be surprised.
 
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lol, I was wondering the opposite. like has anyone used the "hop cousin" in a beer?

Well I can't say I've heard of it but there is/was a technique/style called gruit whereby "other" plants were used for providing the bittering before hops became widespread in use.
Awwl well Gruit .

I have, however, heard of people using Salvia as a bittering agent and I'm guessing you could finish with hops for aroma.
 
how long does the alcohol-thc stay potent for? some thc soaked in bourbon then added to a smoked porter sounds good
 
ah, as always, you are the most entertaining group i know. yea, yea i could have Googled it, but i wanted some first hand experience. i did light a little chunk of the plug up and took a little hit on it. kinda harsh. no effect. smelled interesting though. sorry to disappoint the "smoking hops with smoke" people. :ban:
 
lol, I was wondering the opposite. like has anyone used the "hop cousin" in a beer?

FYI: A couple of years ago I tried "Hemp Beer" when I was in Denmark. So it can and has been brewed. The lager had only a very mild "hemp" flavor. It was not bad, it was better as a novelty.
 
That's an good idea with the alc to help desolve the ing. I would suggest a small test batch, Because as stated u would want to use good and that could get pricey.
Maybe after a little more exp one would would try such a thing.
 
I know this is off topic kinda but what about adding a certain fungi to homebrew?

If you want to make your beer taste like **** go ahead, otherwise I would really not suggest it. Also I don't want to be Debbie Downer but this is the kind of stuff that gets civilized message boards like this in trouble. :fro:
 
If you want to make your beer taste like **** go ahead, otherwise I would really not suggest it. Also I don't want to be Debbie Downer but this is the kind of stuff that gets civilized message boards like this in trouble. :fro:

As far as I'm aware, no one here has mentioned anything overtly in the wrong, Ms. Downer.

Regarding the fungi + brew, probably a bad idea. Alcohol and fungi is not a good mix to begin with, let alone brewing them together.
 
If you want to make your beer taste like **** go ahead, otherwise I would really not suggest it. Also I don't want to be Debbie Downer but this is the kind of stuff that gets civilized message boards like this in trouble. :fro:

I have been on other websites highly dedicated to cultivating illegal plants and other things and have never seen any issues! I can guarantee the DEA is not worried about a home brew forum where a couple people are conversing about the herb or other medicinal fungal brewing techniques! You really need to chill out and quit being uptight and paranoid. Its just good old fun conversation and brainstorming! CHILL OUT!:mug: Why would it taste like ****? Have you tried it or is that just your opinion on something you have never done? To each their own!
 
Mission #1 for me is to find some Everclear... hope to do so by this weekend.

Keep us updated! I want to try this, but I don't want to be the one to waste that special ingredient. ;) You're the man if you take one for the team.:rockin:

Its just good old fun conversation and brainstorming! CHILL OUT!

+1
 
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