The strangest thing I've ever put in a recipe is...

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Potatoes. Not too terribly strange, but I made a spud beer a couple years back. Turned out awesome- crystal clear, nice and crisp, a great lawnmower beer. The only reason I haven't made it again is because it took 3 lbs of rice hulls to keep the sparge from sticking. Bigtime PITA.
 
I've got a potion steeping right now of juniper berries and lemon peels (in vodka). I'm going to add it at bottling to a basic pale ale.
Man that sounds like it has the potential to be an awesome beer! How far along into fermentation do u plan on adding it?
 
I wasn't the one to do it, but i tasted a guy's beer in my brew club that was a belgian tripel spiked with lemongrass, ginger anad kaffir lime leaves. I'm a bit of a purist myself, but I gotta give it to him, it worked perfectly. That was a damn good beer.
 
Bog Myrtle.... aka Sweet Gale.

I made a Yule Gruit a year ago. It contains Bog Myrtle, Mugwort and heather tips added at flameout. It came out surprisingly good. It has an herbal quality to it, but it is pretty good. It advanced through the first round of NHC this year, getting 3rd place in category 23. Randy Mosher was one of the judges for the final round and said it was a good example of an unusual style. It didn't place in the finals, but it got decent marks from all of the judges. One of these days I'll post that recipe on the forum for the curious.
 
Bog Myrtle.... aka Sweet Gale.

I made a Yule Gruit a year ago. It contains Bog Myrtle, Mugwort and heather tips added at flameout. It came out surprisingly good. It has an herbal quality to it, but it is pretty good. It advanced through the first round of NHC this year, getting 3rd place in category 23. Randy Mosher was one of the judges for the final round and said it was a good example of an unusual style. It didn't place in the finals, but it got decent marks from all of the judges. One of these days I'll post that recipe on the forum for the curious.

Sooner rather than later, I hope. With those testimonials it must be interesting.
 
I use lemongrass in my beers regularly. did a Thai Chili wit with ginger, cilantro, thai basil, ginger, and thai chilies of course. Great summer beer
 
Ok so i'm a noob here, and i bet you guys get a million questions about brewing with pot and catnip, but anyways here's my story.

I had plans today to brew a Blonde Ale, adding grains of paradise, coriander, fresh lemon zest. I was gonna call it 'Dumb Blonde' since I'm a noob to beermaking and this was my first recipe.

Then, this morning, we had to put my cat Toby to sleep. He hadn't been eating or going in the past couple of days, so we took him to the Vet Hospital and they confirmed Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Sad day for us.

So therein lies the question... Catnip, cannibus, and hops are in the same basic family, right? I read some derp about the mint family, but basically, right? Can I "dry hop" with catnip, just to tell the people that drink it that they drank catnip? Right after they finish it would be awesome. I'm calling it "Black Cat Blonde" in memory of him, with a nice picture of him on the label. We have a fresh bag that they never had. I think it would be a cool addition as a conversation piece if nothing else. Unless anyone here says its a bad idea. I was thinking in the secondary for aroma only would be cool, much like dry hopping it with cascades will do... It's a 7 gallon batch. 1.5oz Goldings in the boil, another 1 at :40, 1oz cascades at cooling, and another 1 in secondary. Fresh lemon zest, coriander, grains of paradise, ginger to spice (at :55), and agave nectar at flameout to boost the ABV. It will be intense already, I figure what damage can catnip do?

Thoughts? (i'm too lazy to search.)
 
Ok so i'm a noob here, and i bet you guys get a million questions about brewing with pot and catnip, but anyways here's my story.

I had plans today to brew a Blonde Ale, adding grains of paradise, coriander, fresh lemon zest. I was gonna call it 'Dumb Blonde' since I'm a noob to beermaking and this was my first recipe.

Then, this morning, we had to put my cat Toby to sleep. He hadn't been eating or going in the past couple of days, so we took him to the Vet Hospital and they confirmed Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Sad day for us.

So therein lies the question... Catnip, cannibus, and hops are in the same basic family, right? I read some derp about the mint family, but basically, right? Can I "dry hop" with catnip, just to tell the people that drink it that they drank catnip? Right after they finish it would be awesome. I'm calling it "Black Cat Blonde" in memory of him, with a nice picture of him on the label. We have a fresh bag that they never had. I think it would be a cool addition as a conversation piece if nothing else. Unless anyone here says its a bad idea. I was thinking in the secondary for aroma only would be cool, much like dry hopping it with cascades will do... It's a 7 gallon batch. 1.5oz Goldings in the boil, another 1 at :40, 1oz cascades at cooling, and another 1 in secondary. Fresh lemon zest, coriander, grains of paradise, ginger to spice (at :55), and agave nectar at flameout to boost the ABV. It will be intense already, I figure what damage can catnip do?

Thoughts? (i'm too lazy to search.)

on the first page one of the guys says he brewed one with catnip, and that it complemented his fuggle hops nicely
 
We've been thinking about doing a pizza ale. The recipe we found was from BYO.com and calls for a chili pepper, fennel seeds, basil, thyme, oregano, and any other pizza spices you desire. My brother suggested throwing in a can of tomato paste as well. I'm not a tomato fan, but I think it has possibilities, as we are hoping to open a brewpub and pizzeria.
 
I have used wormwood in a pale...beware it is intense....use lightly.

Also, I make a Ginger Saison that has always been my personal favorite and most popular. This year I will be increasing the amount of ginger to the extent of the final beer being on the brink of spicy. I figure I have brewed it several times where it was just a hidden note, so I should push to the other extreme to see what I like. I highly suggest playing with this addition to any farmhouse ales or saisons.

Brew Strong, my friends!
 
Applesauce. I brewed up a pale beer, added some homemade applesauce to it. To make the applesauce, I used apples (duh), honey, real cane brown sugar, Vietnamese cinnamon, and cognac.

It was yuuuuuummy. A friend of mine said it was something he'd expect to find at a local brewery, not some homebrew.

I took it as a compliment, but why does homebrew always get a bad rep?
 
........So therein lies the question... Catnip, cannibus, and hops are in the same basic family, right? ....)

NO! Catnip is in the MINT family, very different plant group, and a very tasty one at that! Basil, thyme, lavender, lemon balm, oregano, sweet marjoram, rosemary, sage, savory, and more, are all members of the mint family. A key diagnostic identifier for this family is they have SQUARE stems. If you find a plant with a square stem, it is probably a mint.

As far as weird things in a beer, fried hops.
 
I've tried it two ways. I did one batch with battered and deep fried hops, and another with sauteed hops (pellets both times). They turned out OK, the sauteed was better. These were beers where I was trying to do a short boil. I figured that 5 min in hot oil would be the equivalent of a 60 min. boil. I think the 20 min. only boil (all grain) had a bigger impact on the flavor than the frying did.
 
thats pretty wierd. i would definately try a beer with fried hops (i'm from the south, everyting is better fried). how was the head retention with all that oil?

did you beer batter the ones you deep fried?:D
 
NO! Catnip is in the MINT family, very different plant group, and a very tasty one at that! Basil, thyme, lavender, lemon balm, oregano, sweet marjoram, rosemary, sage, savory, and more, are all members of the mint family. A key diagnostic identifier for this family is they have SQUARE stems. If you find a plant with a square stem, it is probably a mint.

As far as weird things in a beer, fried hops.

Update: The wort tasted incredible. 1.065 OG, looking at like 7.5%?

2-row, caramel. super light LME.
Goldings in boil and at :40
Lemon, coriander, paradise, ginger, catnip at :55
agave nectar at flameout to boost ABV
cascades in the primary
cascades and lemon in the secondary.
 
Used beets for red color few times with good results. Blended raw beers with water, strained juice and added to last 10min of boil.
Also did a fruit beer with acai/blueberry juice (from costco). Did end like a sparkiling wine, took several month to mellow. Used pretty much for cooking.
 
thats pretty wierd. i would definately try a beer with fried hops (i'm from the south, everyting is better fried). how was the head retention with all that oil?

did you beer batter the ones you deep fried?:D


Of course beer battered! I found though that a lot of the bitterness went into the oil when deep frying, hence my second version sauteeing them. There everything went in - hops and oil both. Head retention was fine. I added the fried hops to the mash and added lecithin, an emulsifying agent to help "dissolve" the oil.
 
How did this turn out? I absolutely love fresh sage. I'd be interested in doing this.

It turned out well. I followed the directions in Stephen Harrod Buhner's Sacred and Herbal healing Beers it was half DME and half brown sugar with 1oz of licorice and 4oz of sage (2 in the boil and 2 at flameout). I fermented with Fermentis' Dry wheat yeast since that's what I had on hand which gave it some sourish fruity flavors. It's not bitter at all.

It's weird but it's good (IMO). If you're expecting traditional beer flavors don't make this.
 

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