Making an Illegal Beer?

Hey guys, I've been thinking. I'm pretty new to the forum and don't really know how you guys are, but I have a question.

So, drinking quality beer isn't my only hobby. I also enjoy smoking quality herb, and I've been thinking.

I boil herb in butter to extract the THC to cook with to make brownies and other various desserts. I figure, if i were to mix in a good sized helping of herb into my wort while boiling, say the last 20 minutes, then the THC would be extracted and I could remove it just like i would the hops.

I think it would leave a very nice aroma and add a few side effects to the beer that IMHO would make for a tasty beer.

My question is though, does anyone on the board know if the fermentation process would break down the THC or if it would survive until the finished product so i could enjoy a nice Weed Beer at the end of the day?

Hope I don't offend anyone. I figure everyone here is okay with a mind altering effect since everyone here is a drinker, but still. I'm interested if this is possible.

only problem i see is that THC is only breaks down in oil or alcohol. now if i were to do some thing like this(which i wouldn't want to put that kind of taste in my beer) i'd dry hop with it in the secondary. but i think you would be ruining good beer and your quality herb as you call it

i read a recipe about this a while ago on the internet. dont remember where, but i think they called the beer "brain dead" try googling it. or just try googling thc beer.

You might find some info here on Hemp Beer and here.

Good luck,
Wild

If I was going to try this (which I wouldn't of course because it's illegal and would require me to use up all my stash) I think I'd use one of the hemp beer recipes (there's zillions on the net) then boil the good stuff in some alchohol to extract the THC and add that into the secondary.

This procedure is not recommended if you live in a dorm, or are boarding in the basement of the police cheifs house.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Water does not extract what you want. Even boiling water does not. THC is simply not very water soluable.

You need to soak it in a solvent (like ethanol.) This will NOT break down the chemical, but allows it to dissolve. Shove your special hops in a jar with the highest proof grain alcohol you can get, let is sit for a few days. Then toss that liquid into your beer at botting time and stir it up.

Don't put it in any earlier than bottling time. You'd probably hate to see such an expensive batch spoilm right? Wait until you know it's fit for bottling before adding it.


-walker

Good advice...you wouldn't happen to know how much to add per bottle would you?

depends on how crazy you are.

Figure up how much of your particular hops would suit a single person in dry form and multiply by 40 (so that each pint of beer contains a 'serving' of hops) and go with that.

You will REALLY only want to drink one (maybe two) of these at a time. Any more than that and you'll be wishing you had listened to me.

-walker

Just remember... there is a time and a place for everything.

That time and place is known as 'college'.

-walker

Walker said:

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Water does not extract what you want. Even boiling water does not. THC is simply not very water soluable.

You need to soak it in a solvent (like ethanol.) This will NOT break down the chemical, but allows it to dissolve. Shove your special hops in a jar with the highest proof grain alcohol you can get, let is sit for a few days. Then toss that liquid into your beer at botting time and stir it up.

Don't put it in any earlier than bottling time. You'd probably hate to see such an expensive batch spoilm right? Wait until you know it's fit for bottling before adding it.


-walker

Click to expand...

He'd need to be careful with the amount of PGA that he put into the bottling bucket, wouldn't he? If he had too much, the alcohol would kill the yeasties. If he can keg, it probably be better. Of course, I guess it wouldn't raise the alcohol that much, but I'd just want to be sure I didn't have flat weed beer.

If you are adding only a few of ounces of pure ethanol, this only bumps up the ABV of the entire batch by a few points.

Let's say you end up using 4 oz of ethanol as a solvent... you're talking about 1/10th of an ounce added per pint. That's just a dribble, and the yeast will be fine.

-walker

Thanks guys, and I am in college so this is the time and place. Hehe. Anyway, I make canni-butter all the time. Cooking the herb in butter seems to extract all the goodies i need. I don't see why boiling in water wouldn't do the same. I've made hash using ethyl alcohol and it seemed to work well.

I'm new to brewing so I just kind of wondered. I figured it had been done before. Anyone have any good recipes? Lets just say I have an unlimited amount of stash to throw in so that's not a problem. I just can't decide what kind of beer to brew for this.

I was thinking something that tastes like Heineken. A real skunking beer would be appropriate for my skunky herb.

How would I go about making that skunk beer like Heineken?

Lubbock Brew said:

Thanks guys, and I am in college so this is the time and place. Hehe. Anyway, I make canni-butter all the time. Cooking the herb in butter seems to extract all the goodies i need. I don't see why boiling in water wouldn't do the same. I've made hash using ethyl alcohol and it seemed to work well.

Click to expand...

THC isn't water soluble...that's why boiling in water won't work. As someone said above...you need to use oil or alchohol to extract the good stuff. You could use ether, but that wouldn't make the brew very tasty, IMHO. Besides ether is a little dangerous to work with in your kitchen...been there, done that, burnt my t-shirt.

Now, having said all that...hop oils are extracted by boiling vigorously in water, so I suppose it's possible that THC is also. Give it a try, let us know how it works out. Personally I'd try it with a quart of tea first, just so you don't go ruining a bunch of brew and herb, but then again I'm old, and cautious, and no longer in college.

I've done this three times in my life. The first time we threw it in the wort and boiled it. The second time, we made a tea and threw it into the secondary. The last time we used the grain alcohol steeping thingy and added it at bottling time.

By FAR, the alcohol tincture worked best.

NOTE: Using water *did* work, but it wasn't very efficient and the full potential was not realized.

anyway, I'm done with this thread.... don't want to get my aging self in trouble.

-walker

Walker said:

anyway, I'm done with this thread.... don't want to get my aging self in trouble.

Click to expand...

This is America...you can't get in trouble just for talking about it can you?

With all that has gone down in this country in the last ... oh... 6 years? I'm not taking any chances.

-walker

As far as recipies go, I think a nice IPA would do the trick. Nice and hoppy and nice and hoppy.'/