Brewing with hay??

[indiegrlx]

My husband and I want to brew a beer with hay but I'm not sure how you would go about that. Would you clean it and then it would need to be sterilized or would boiling it after cleaning be all you needed?

 

[unionrdr]

Now that's a good one...Maybe clover hay or the like. Adding that to a light pale ale may do the trick. Maybe just make sure it's free of bugs & dirt & boil it separately. Then add that to the BK.

 

[indiegrlx]

Most of the hay you can buy is pretty dirt and bug free. We feed it to our rabbit who always smells awesome and it got us to thinking it would be a good add to beer

 

[unionrdr]

Well,you could try steeping a couple of pounds in maybe 1 gallon of water at 155F for 30 minutes or so. Strain that into the brew kettle with some extra light plain DME & perhaps Willamette & Kent Golding hops.

 

[mikeysab]

Oh boy, I smell another "Geez, I was just kidding, you idiots took me seriously", after 3 pages.

What would one expect to get out of the hay? Better eyesight, like a rabbit? Better sex drive perhaps? You want to smell better? What advantage is there to adding hay to beer?

 

[unionrdr]

Hay is usually made from clover or alfalfa (the plant,not the kid). If they were blooming at the time,the dried flowers would add another dimension. Not to be confused with straw,hay is still greenish,but dried whole plant material. Straw is the stalks of wheat after the grains have been removed.
So you may get something like cilantro with a bit of sweetness.

 

[indiegrlx]

Just to add sweetness. I like to experiment.

 

[user 19629]

Of all the off the wall stuff people want to add to beer that I've read on here. This is really close to tops.

 

[indiegrlx]

Well I will let you know how it goes we are doing a maple stout this time.

 

[Brewratt]

I might try something like this, an alfalfa pale sounds like it would be tasty.

Fermenting: Razor Wit
Bottling: Matanuska Wildberry
Drinking: As American As... Ale

 

[indiegrlx]

Btw rabbits don't actually see very well

 

[mikeysab]

Well I will let you know how it goes we are doing a maple stout this time.

If you don't like it, you could always set it out for the farm animals.

 

[Bradinator]

Of all the off the wall stuff people want to add to beer that I've read on here. This is really close to tops.

Have you read the meat beer thread yet?

 

[indiegrlx]

That one I have not seen. Meat??? I also saw one for brewing with soda, interesting.

 

[davefleck]

Sounds like an easy way to add tannins

 

[mikeysab]

Probably make a hayzy beer

 

[Airborneguy]

Of all the off the wall stuff people want to add to beer that I've read on here. This is really close to tops.

I'm guessing you missed the blood thread and the placenta beer.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

My husband and I want to brew a beer with hay but I'm not sure how you would go about that. Would you clean it and then it would need to be sterilized or would boiling it after cleaning be all you needed?

Ever made a "hay tea"? It's a pretty grassy taste, I think it'll add that "grassiness" to your brew. Some hops can be pretty grassy, I had a beer once that was so grassy, it tasted exactly like lawn clippings smell; BLECH!!!

Some people actually like that grassy taste I guess, more for them. I think you should be OK by just tossing it into the boil, even if there are a few bugs in it, the boil will kill them & any bacteria that might be along for the ride. If you're using dry hay, you'll lose a bit of wort volume due to the hay soaking it up. You could also just make a hay tea & add that to your wort.
Regards, GF.

 

[mobly99]

When they said that the beer should be straw colored, they didn't really mean....

 

[cheezydemon3]

our rabbit always smells awesome

maybe dry hop with the rabbit.

 

[indiegrlx]

Lol blood??? Hmmm the only reason I would think of hay is Bc it smells sweet implying there might be some fermentable sugar in there. The tea suggestion is interesting i will have to check that out

 

[Brewratt]

maybe dry hop with the rabbit.

*giggle* dry "hop" *giggle*

As for odd ingredients in beer Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing 3 page 96: "Cock Ale"... a parboiled rooster that's been crushed, a half gallon of white wine, 3 lbs of raisins, and mace; that's quite a recipe.

 

[user 19629]

I'm guessing you missed the blood thread and the placenta beer.

Thankfully, yes I did miss them.
Personally I am not much of an experimenter. I just want to brew a tasty beer to drink.
But what ever makes you happy.

 

[mikeysab]

How bout the one with the girls "house yeast"?

 

[unionrdr]

The girls house yeast usually comes from us,all things being equal. Sometimes they're not. Just goes to prove that head cheese doesn't go with everything.

 

[gnarlyhopper]

Ah!!!

I am attracted to the noise of ridicule and laughter!
Hay is from the grass family, right? So is corn; and in America there were those who used green corn stalks to brew beer; a web search will turn up at least a recipe or two. There's fermentable sugars in them grass family. That's why we use barley, wheat, oats, corn...I imagine that corn stalks do not give the most pleasant homebrew experience, but it used to be done quite regularly in this country.
I would think that since the corn stalk recipes were preserved, they weren't a complete failure, or the recipe s would have been tossed.
Fresh corn stalks smell of sweetness when crushed, not unlike fresh hay or straw. Our forefathers probably noticed this characteristic as well, and, like us, decided to experiment.
Do a search for corn stalk beer and derive a recipe from that. You can make a brew and use the straw to add flavor.
I am curious as to the result of your efforts. Please keep us posted!

 

[cheezydemon3]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd......

You killed it Gnarlyhopper. I am not a poster, but an official of the "Thread Killa" board.


Count it!

 

[mikeysab]

You just resurrected it though

 

[edb23]

hey there, old thread but an idea. When Chicha is brewed the beer is filtered through hay or straw. Why not bring the water to a boil. turn the heat off, and the fermentables, and then strain the whole thing through some hay into the boil kettle.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Nope it is dead....WTF?????

edb23 has an actually relevant thought.....