Chia seed?

So apparently chia seed is one of those "super foods" thats supposed to be extremely healthy for you. Does anyone know if there would be any nutritional benefits to adding chia to homebrew? would it go in the mash or in the boil or in the secondary? Its more or less tasteless as far as I can tell so I dont see how it would have much affect on the flavour of the beer, but maybe it has starches that would come out in the mash? If I can add a little extra nutrition to my beer without any side affects, why not?

Just found this online:
Stone Collaborations
(8th listing on the page) Its brewed with chia.
I wonder if its available in my region (BC Canada).

I was wondering the same thing; I just finished reading "Born to Run" and wanted to pick some chia up to try in general use. I'm ready to try to brew something a little more 'my own' so I think I'm going to look into doing this with the friend who loaned me the book...if I'm going to drink a beer worth of calories, why not get some actual nutrition with it?

I've thought about this too, after reading Born to Run. [Fantastic book.] Maybe something with corn... why not? Be curious to hear if anyone has tried something like this and what happened with it.

I actually have about 5.5 lbs of chia seed sitting around. Dry Dock Brewing here in Denver has a poppy stout on tap right now, so I was thinking of using my chia in a beer. Trying to aim for something darker in style and use 3-4 lbs cracked chia in addition to my steeping grains (I've been short on time lately, so no all-grain, just extract).

As a warning, chia seeds get incredibly gelatinous when soaked in liquid. If trying to go all-grain, I'm not sure it'd give a stuck mash, but it'll probably at least significantly slow things down.

Probably be brewing up sometime this week.

Funny... I started eating chia seeds after reading born to run. I second 00radio's warning that they form this jelly-like substance when exposed to water. I'm not sure how this would effect a brew but it wouldn't hurt to try a making a small test batch. I'd be interested in hearing the results.

they are pretty flavorless, not sure what you would get out of them nutritionally from just mashing

you could try adding some to some bottles perhaps, no clue how that would work with the carbonation and the gelatinous texture they have when soaked.

since they usually need to soak for a bit I don't think they would work well from just pouring some beer over them

Oh god. That was a mess.

So today was brew day and I decided to experiment with the chia seeds. Suffice to say, not all that pretty. Started with making a tea on my stove top to see how they react. Got out my largest kitchen pot, put it on the stove, dumped a handful of chia seeds in and turned up the heat.

Note 1: Chia seeds vastly lower the boiling point of a liquid.

The thing gelled up pretty fast as was expected. And then it started boiling. Before it got to 150, mind you. Big, thick bubbles of chia seed getting thrown all over the kitchen. Killed the heat and pulled it off. Let it sit for a while out of curiosity. Then tried to drain it.

Note 2: When we said it thickens stuff, we really meant it.

Poured it into my big colander with the big holes in it. It just sat there. Absolutely nothing. Tried pouring water on top and it just ran over the sides. The big thing was about the consistency of yogurt. Poured it into a grain bag and tried squeezing it. Still absolutely nothing. This is where I probably went wrong. I thought more heat and liquid would hopefully soften it up and have it work better, so I put it in at the same time as my specialty grains to steep at 150 in my actual brew. Worked just fine until the bag developed a hole and leaked chia seeds into it.

Note 3: Chia seeds floating in your brewing kettle increase the likely-hood of a boil over.

I was standing by with FermCap-S ready to take care of any problems. Sucker started going, I placed a squirt into the kettle, and it just kept coming. Another squirt, and by then the thing had already made a mess. Cut the gas, let it cool, and then brought it back up. I'm VERY glad that today I decided to try doing this outdoors instead of on the stovetop like I used to.

I'm thinking it might be worth it to try and malt them myself and then steep them and see what happens. However, it'll probably be a while before I try anything with chia seeds again. You know how as a kid you'd find that stupid easter grass for months and months hidden in little places around your house? Yeah. I'll be cleaning up from today for a while.

Oh man sorry to hear it didn't go well. At least you learned some things though. I guess somethings just aren't meant to be brewed with. :cross:

OK, I've been giving this a lot of thought as well. And yes, I'm also a huge Born to Run fan. It's the kind of beer project that makes homebrewing so much fun. Two of my great loves are running and beer. A recovery ale would be a beer I'd proudly bring to friends for a post-race celebration.

Based on 00radio's experiment, I think it's clear this is a tough proposition for mashing, but what about later in the process? While chia seeds do get gelatinous, I've seen it work well in commercial drinks like kombucha. So my thinking is, brew your beer as usual, then add a teaspoon or so of chia seeds at bottling. Hopefully, they'd turn gelatinous but not ferment fully. My only concern is the added sugar at bottling could lead to over-carbonation. Another potential solve for the over-carbonation could be adding to secondary. Any thoughts?

i wouldn't expect any sugar contribution from just adding straight chia seeds at bottling

I realize this is an old post. Maybe there's something more up to date on the topic. Anyway, I had been reading that if you had been planning on doing a brew with lacto and brett and PDO etc., that may render your brew a bit on the thinner side, the use of chia seed in the mash could improve mouth feel.

I just brewed a sour saison 3wks ago and since I had planned on using some buggy alchemy, I thought I might try this for the improved mouth feel/body.

I used about half a cup in the mash (12lbs grain & 3-3/4 gallons strike water). I started my mash as normal, as soon as I had doughed in and was sure there were no dough balls, I added the slightly crushed (white) chia seed and mixed it in. I had no stuck mash and everything went swimmingly. How effective it was I'm not even sure, as this brew won't be ready for another 6months yet.