It is quite funny how many students come into my grocery store.

Trying to make beer using bread yeast and the Herbal Hops we sale.

The conversation usually goes like this...

"What are you using the hops for?"

"ummm coooking" <--- BS because it is HERBAL Hops for medicine

"Ok well if you are trying to brew beer then those hops will leave it all ****ed up"

Then I tell them to go to the brewers shop in town to pick up the right stuff..

Us college students aren't generally the smartest bunch.

I'm not familiar with herbal hops, the difference between them and what we use to brew, and how they are used.

Could you elaborate on them?

Back when I was in college in the 90s during my pre-21 days one of my friends and I went to Lowes to get a funnel and some tubing to make a beer bong. The cashier was all like, "... and what exactly is this for?" and his response was something like "What do you think it's for? Last I checked there's nothing illegal about buying a funnel and tubing". She shrugged and rung it up.

When I worked at a hardware store I made dozens of beer bongs.

Also sent more than one person out the doors with everything they would need to grow indoors.

BuffaloSabresBrewer said:

Also sent more than one person out the doors with everything they would need to grow indoors.

Click to expand...

I didn't know you could grow Hops in doors...

While well over 21, I got the "What are you buying all this stuff for?" at the hardware store when I was making a CFC.

The clerk was like, "Oh... I thought you were making some sort of beer bong..."

It's funny when you're under 21.. you think everybody is out to call the cops and bust you. The real truth is, nobody cares... they just think it's funny.

I had a cable repair man ask me for meth once after seeing my bubbling boys!

I had a friend in college who did something similar to this one. His grandparents have a bunch of land so he went out there and picked a bunch of fruit over several weekends and smashed it to juice it and everything. He was on his way to making some wine...

Then he added table sugar and fermented it with bread yeast and that's all I could taste when it was done.

BuffaloSabresBrewer said:

Also sent more than one person out the doors with everything they would need to grow indoors.

Click to expand...

Human nature has a way of straightening things out. Growing indoors and brewing takes a lot of effort and skill. If you do it well, you're probably mature enough to deal with the product. If you don't, the phase will quickly pass.

when the students come back to CMU the home depot in town places funnels and hoses right next to each other just inside the door.

I'm not familiar with herbal hops, the difference between them and what we use to brew, and how they are used.

Could you elaborate on them?

Click to expand...

Herbal hops have been breed for very low AA levels. They may have moderate beta acid levels, but those don't add much in a short steep.

when i was back in college (just a year ago), i never had a problem telling cashiers what i was planning on doing...oh well. probably has to do with the grizzly adams beard i've been able to grow since 17 and buying beer at 19.

also, i had some friends that tried to make wine back in the fraternity. they took a can of juice concentrate, threw it in a water bottle, and put a tissue and the lid of the water bottle on top of it to ferment. now, having brewed a batch or two with my father growing up (beer), i mentioned something about yeast. they were positive they were doing it right. so, a few weeks later, they threw in vodka to "increase the ABV", and had someone's father taste it at the next parents weekend at the fraternity. he ended up spitting it out on the wall, and needless to say, my friends stopped making wine.

Tiako said:

Trying to make beer using bread yeast and the Herbal Hops we sale.

The conversation usually goes like this...

"What are you using the hops for?"

"ummm coooking" <--- BS because it is HERBAL Hops for medicine

"Ok well if you are trying to brew beer then those hops will leave it all ****ed up"

Then I tell them to go to the brewers shop in town to pick up the right stuff..

Click to expand...

Where do you work at in town?

At the end of the brew class yesterday we had this guy come in asking what yeast will produce the most C02. I explained that there will only be some residual C02 after fermentation and that the majority of it escapes through the airlock. He said he wasn't making beer or anything and just needed a yeast that produced a lot of C02. We gave him some wine yeast.

Could these HERBAL hops be used for brewing lambics? Are they basically just aged hops with no bittering?