Dry-Hemping

I suppose you could go a few different routes . . . soaking it in a relatively small volume of vodka to sanatize it then possibly throwing it in the fermentor after the main fermentation was complete.

Beats the hell out me why you would want to . . . but then again my first go around with weed will be in about 25 years and then just to give the City "the bird".

Have you ever tried Hemp'n Ale? It came out when I was in college during a fad that unfortunately included another beer called Tequiza. It just wasn't very good. Why do you want to make weed beer anyway? Are you unhappy with the results of drinking plain ol' beer and then smoking the pot?

johnoswald said:

The low THC comes from the fact that weed grown in the northern latitudes doesn't yield high levels of THC from the reduced sunlight.

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This may be true in Europe, but it's not the case everywhere. Alaskan summers with 20 hour daylight will produce a very potent "crop" indeed. In the Anchorage/Mat-Su bouro they call it "Matanuska Thunder".

A local company decided to have fun with it and sold locally grown catnip under the same monicker. Wish I had a bag to show the folks down here in the lower-48.

Strangely enough, some of my friends were throwing around this idea. Now, from my research, the amount of pot should be somewhat in ratio with the amount of alcohol. So a barleywine can handle upwards of 1.5oz of herb while a weak ale could only handle a meer .25oz. So, theoretically this batch of Dead Guy that i am making currently - aiming for a solid 8% could handle .5oz next week. I mean, if i felt like being a law-breaking citizen...






(I'll post results in 3 weeks)

gonzoflick said:

THC is not water soluable. You must infuse it into High Gran spirits or use it in the distillation process of the spirits itself....COUGH... not that Id know or anything..COUGH

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Neither is Lupulin in hops. Apparently extended boiling isomerizes the hop oils, allowing them to dissolve in water. Perhaps the same process would work for THC? Also, I have heard that isomerized THC is far more potent.

[Originally Posted by johnoswald
The low THC comes from the fact that weed grown in the northern latitudes doesn't yield high levels of THC from the reduced sunlight.

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Hey Johnswald, hate to break you the bad news, but that isnt true at all. I live in Humboldt county in California, where it could be said we grow some of the best chronic herb in the counrty, maybe even the whole world. And its becuase of the high amounts of humidity in the air from coastal water vapor and extensive rainfall (hence called, "temperate rainforest" climate) and extended sunlight periods during grow season. The same goes for the rest of Northern California, Oregon, Parts of Washington, and like mentioned earlier, even as far as alaska, very dank chronic can be cultivated. The result is perfectly crystallized nuggets of very armoatic, flavor, and intoxicating pot, filled with THC tricomes that can be prefect for your beer, for not only an extra high given from the pot, but also a great aroma as well as pungent flavor almost similar to hops, as long a chlorophyll and other non-desirable are removed first by leeching overnight in water. I have had actually great-tasting, and definetly great-feel cannabis beer, homebrewed up here in North Cal. I definetly reccomend trying to make a batch, but use as much and as high quality herb as you can get!

I don't want to come off as a know it all, but I just read everyone's posts and figured that I'd mention a few things I had picked up in my experience.

THC is indeed soluble in water - 2.8 mg/L (23 °C), though you won't be able to extract it in the water because it is a non-polar fatty acid. In theory, you could extract it with water, but that would be stupid because you're already using alcohol in your brewing process and alcohol binds to fatty acids quite well. The only methods that I have seen here that would work are: A) Extracting the THC in grain alcohol and then adding it to the brew before bottling or B) Soaking the cannabis in melted butter which you then add to the brew.

To clear up some misconceptions:

THC can be bound to alcohols and oils. If it is binding to an alcohol it must be soaked with it for a long period of time (usually a day or two). Heat is not required for this. When binding to other lipids one must use heat to speed up the process. Too much heat will destroy the chemical. With too little heat the THC will not be released from the plant matter and it will not bind to the butter/oil.

And yes, you can just eat the plant matter but it would be somewhat of a waste. You would feel the effects much stronger if you cooked with the same amount.

Anyway, if you like the taste of the plant, you can flavor it two ways. I've found that boiling shake (the throw-away parts of the plant) in with the hops works the best. I've not tried it dry hopping, but I assume it would work just as well.

Derzok, wouldn't the butter give the beer a strong diacetyl taste?

Why specificly butter? Wouldn't any vegetable oil work just as well?

In theory.

LOL! Ya'll got WAY too much time on your hands!

omniscientomar said:

LOL! Ya'll got WAY too much time on your hands!

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Couldn't that be said of anyone who spends time on internet forums on a semi regular basis?

Here's the actual recipe found on Catsmeow. As an avid consumer of "herbal hops substitute", I hate to think how much this recipe will cost. In 1975 it would have cost $160 for the "hops substitute". Anyone want to brew this, I'll gladly chip in for all other expenses.

Brain Death Barleywine

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Classification: barleywine, extract
Source: Chuck Cox (uunet!bose!synchro!chuck)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ingredients:
17-1/2 pounds, pale dry extract
3 pounds, crystal malt
1-1/2 pounds, flaked barley
1-1/2 pounds, wheat malt
1 teaspoon, gypsum
1 teaspoon, Irish moss
68 HBUs, Chinook hops (boil)
20 HBUs, Cascade hops (boil)
2-1/2 ounces, Goldings hops (finish)
10 grams, Chinook hops (dry hop)
20 grams, Kent Goldings hops (dry hop)
50 grams, Cascade hops (dry hop)
Sierra Nevada ale yeast
1/2 - 1 pound, Herbal hops substitute
Procedure:
This recipe makes 5 gallons of full-strength barleywine plus 4 gallons half strength. Follow normal procedures, but brew in a 7-gallon kettle and then divide the wort into separate fermenters. The special hops substitute is a mix of hops repeatedly soaked and sparged in lukewarm water for at least 4 hours to eliminate water-soluble off-flavors. Special hops are added to the secondary fermenter about 1 week before kegging. Quantity used depends on quality of herbs/hops.

BTW....THC is NOT a narcotic. The government just classifies it as such to up the penalties. Thank you, Big Brother, for saving me from myself!! How could I possible exist without your gentle, guiding hand.......up my ass!

How could I possible exist without your gentle, guiding hand.......up my ass!

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Damn dude, where do you live, I dont want to mess with those cops...

Seems like a waste of some good bud to me. Enjoy it using traditional means, THEN have a beer.

if i were to put some dope in i'd boil it with the wort so the thc can attach itself to the sugars. and i'd use some good dope too, nonde of that beany ****. but thats just me.

THC is soluble in alcohol and not in water/sugar water. The boil would actually destroy the THC molecules and you're left with nichts. That's why you have to dry hop it after primary fermentation so there is alcohol to bond to.

Take a look here:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Hanfbier-TURN-Hanf-Bier-Cannabis-Hemp-Beer-low-THC_W0QQitemZ280040587816QQihZ018QQcategoryZ70573QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

...scheisse Mann. Verueckt!

In theory you could get the thc into your beer during the boil. Isomorization of the oils, like hops.

Klainmeister said:

...scheisse Mann. Verueckt!

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Hier auch:

http://cgi.ebay.de/Hanfextrakt-Hanf-Hanfoel-Cannabis-Bier-Weine-Met_W0QQitemZ290043408935QQihZ019QQcategoryZ79618QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

Interesting. So this is just for the THC beer flavor ohne die THC effects? I could order this, I will be in Munich for all of Dezember.

derzok said:

Anyway, if you like the taste of the plant, you can flavor it two ways. I've found that boiling shake (the throw-away parts of the plant) in with the hops works the best. I've not tried it dry hopping, but I assume it would work just as well.

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this is what I would think woulkd be the best way to go since the notion would be why waste good bud?

Also alot of the leaves that are found close to the bud/flowering portion of the plant have some trace amounts of thc/ resin on them that fall from the buds themselves. Boiling 1 or 2 dry ounces of those leaves halfway through the your boil *should* inpart a distintive enough 'hemp' taste in your beer to be noticed.

/ never tried it, but if I were to expeirment with a 'hemp' beer I think I would try this approach first.

kirok1999 said:

BTW....THC is NOT a narcotic. The government just classifies it as such to up the penalties...

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Right on! :rockin:

A few ounces of skunk weed really adds to the aroma LOL

If I messed with the stuff, I could get as much as I wanted for free. Every year, this time of the year, during hunting season, I walk up on atleast 2 or 3 patches growing on some of our hunting land.

I bet that a pound or 2 of the stuff added to a batch would really pack a wallop!

And where, hypothetically, is your hunting ground, dougjones31? Inquiring mimes want to know.

I don't need anymore people disturbing my deer.

I live in central SC. Three years ago I discovered that they had planted almost a whole acre! I did not realize that deer will eat the stuff. They will! I was walking to one of my old(previous year ) stands and I cut through down by the creek and there was a big buck standing on the edge of about 1 acre of 6 ft tall pot plants. He was eating the on one of the plants and never even noticed me....until I put 300 grains of lead into his neck.

I had to call the sherriff and have them come remove the plants for me. They never did find out who planted them. Funny thing that the sheriff owns some of the adjacent land. I think he had something to do with the patch.....Only him and 2 other guys worked on clearing the plants. It took them a week to cut them all down and haul them off. I would have figured that the whole Sheriffs dept would have been there.....maybe he did not want them to know!

Marijuana is now the biggest cash crop in the US. At over $35 Billion a year it outdoes wheat and corn combined. Time tey legalized, regulated and tax that resource.

Genghis77 said:

Marijuana is now the biggest cash crop in the US. At over $35 Billion a year it outdoes wheat and corn combined. Time tey legalized, regulated and tax that resource.

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Amen brotha!

I personally don't smoke it or use it to make brownies or beer or what ever else it is people do to try and injest it with out smoking it the old fashioned way.

BUT.....................I have friends in places with high paying jobs and families and who conduct themselves in a normal manor throughout their daily lives who will smoke pot at night or weekends or what ever.

They should legalize it. It is no more a gateway drug than booze. AND wasnt it originally made illegal to keep out the mexicans? to villinize them? and now look, seems we are loseing the war on that as well, and still not profitting from all the weed being smoked here in the USA.

Sorry, guess i hi-jacked this a bit.

*steps off soap box*

I hear ya father! I have been smoking for nearly 20 years now and have not touched anything else at all and have never been tempted. I also take a break for a couple of months a year and I do not get cravings or withdrawls.

The only reason that they do not want to legalise it is that they cannot tax it as you can just grow it yourself. Would be like trying to tax homebrew and we all know how the prohabition went!

You can grow tobacco too... but not a lot of people go through the trouble when it's so easy to purchase it legally. Ditto with beer. Sure, you can skirt the taxes issue by brewing it yourself, but most people are perfectly content to give a couple bucks to the gubmint to get their fix. Same thing would happen with marijuana.

Anyway, not to be a buzzkill, but there was a case awhile back where the court decided that for the purpose of determining the weight of a controlled substance in the possession of an offender, it was correct and proper to include the carrying device. For example, in the case I am thinking of, they added the weight of the paper to the LSD in determining how much the defendant had for purposes of sentencing. In other words, you put the whole thing on a scale, not just the controlled substance itself.

It would not surprise me one bit to see this extended to homebrew with such ingredients. Hop a bomber of beer with an ounce of pot and you now have 22 ounces of controlled substance.

Go ahead and be creative, but be careful too.

I think if the government would effectively tax marijuana, its value would come down. Most marijuana users would simply grow their own. Whether booze, tobacco or drugs, the thing that keeps it going is the profits being made. I would suppose that were marijuana be taxed and regulated, companies like tobacco and alcohol firms would set up and monopolize things within a few years because they could produce more, better and cheaper than an individual might. Self growing might become like home brewing, you simply couldn't produce in quantity or cost, but might produce enough for your own needs as a hobby.

But with $35 Billion a year, the current prohibition is not only not working but a mockery of the law and waste of resources.

I disagree that most users would grow their own. Think about during prohibition. Most people actually did brew their own beer or distill their own spirits. They had the practical know-how and ability. They actually did it.

But once it was legalized, did people keep brewing? Nope. They went over to the local tavern and picked up a pail of beer.

I think you over-estimate peoples' desire to get their hands dirty and do things that other people can do for them at a reasonable cost. Especially when it comes to folks who live in a city, for instance.

I don't know where you live, but I sincerely doubt there are many people around me who would care to dedicate that amount of space, brain power, and time to a horticultural pursuit if the product were available down at the local drug store.

A curiousity where I live. They publish court sentences in the paper. In case after case people getting heavier sentences and fines for getting caught with marijuana than for manufacturing and sales of methaphetamines. But, you'll get a bigger fine for not wearing your seat belt than for the drug violations. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Years ago I know that a friend put 2 oz in a ale. I never tried it though.

From what I understand, fully one third of all United States citizens favor complete legalization of marijuana, and I figure that number will only grow with the passing of time. I think within the next decade or two, weed might just be legal. It would eliminate so many problems!

I don't use marijuana, but advocate its legalization. My feeling is that laws too frequently broken are a waste of law enforcement and court time unless it is a matter of public safety. Marijuana is less a threat to public safety than alcohol.

I cant believe i forgot to post about this. My friends donated and used my equipment to make a batch. somewhere around 1.5 oz and using a belgian tripple recipe with pacman yeast. It finished a little while ago and we had a celebration called the T.H.C. Party (The Heaven Creator Party).

It's not worth the cost. You get drunk like normal with a little bit of something else you cant quite put your finger on or explain. It was a good experiment, but after a cost-benefit analysis it doesn't make sense.