Cannabis infusion

[Icetoad]

Thinking of trying to infuse a batch during second fermentation. Anyone done this? I know there are 2 infused kombucha brands available in Cali.

 

[Mainer]

What are you hoping to get from it, flavor or THC?

 

[Icetoad]

THC and/or CBD

 

[madscientist451]

Add some bong water at kegging?

 

[Yooper]

Remember that we are talking about ingredients here, and not tinctures or other uses of cannibis. Thanks!

 

[Icetoad]

I'm a legal medical mj patient if that needs to be stated.

 

[Homercidal]

I'm a legal medical mj patient if that needs to be stated.

It's irrelevant. In the past HBT forbid discussing the subject entirely. At some point the owner decided that it could be allowed to be discussed as long as it was ONLY discussed in terms for inclusion in a recipe.

For example it's fine to say, "Add 25ml of Tincture to secondary."

It's NOT ok to discuss the actual making of the tincture or any other MJ processing particulars. In other words, focus on the beermaking side of things and not the MJ side of things.

FWIW from what I've heard on here THC is not alcohol soluble, so I don't think it's going to work to simply add some plant bits to the secondary.

I don't know what other forms are available that would be water or alcohol soluble to make the kombucha effective in that way.

 

[Ashevillain]

Using cannabis as an ingredient would likely not give you the results you are looking for. I have heard chlorophyll from the plant matter is unpleasant and overbearing. IMO it would be most interesting to add extracted cannabis terpenes to a beer for their hop-like flavor qualities. I am unsure that trying to infuse THC into beer would really provide any medical qualities, and there are likely much more pleasant and effective uses of the ingredient.

 

[Icetoad]

I think if I add an already infused juice (Cannapunch if you want to Google it) for second fermentation then this should work.

Terpenes could be fun too.

 

[Icetoad]

Thc is alcohol soluable.

 

[madscientist451]

Turn out that commercial breweries have been using cannabis for some time and last fall, (2016) got approval from the Feds so the brews can be distributed across state lines:

https://massroots.com/blog/feds-approve-marijuana-infused-beer

Here's an article that talks about using weed in beer before the Federal approval of the commercial product, there's a recipe that shows Marijuana being added in the whirlpool (or after the boil) and along with the dry hops. Im not sure which HBT rules are being enforced, so I'm not putting the recipe in, but the article has a link that will take those interested to an actual recipe:

https://www.thrillist.com/drink/nation/how-to-make-pot-infused-beer-thrillist-nation

More searches on Google show that THC is soluble in alcohol, but not in water, which leads me to believe the commercial breweries that are using pot as an ingredient are NOT using it as a dry hop, but either in the boil or in a hopstand/whilrpool.

 

[Ashevillain]

I think adding an already active mixture to the beer would prove a lot more pleasant and yield much higher active percentages than using ground cannabis, which extracts chlorophyll and would have less than decent efficiency due to heat+solvent being required initially for proper conversion. But I would be interested to see some more articles on using whole bud cannabis in the dry hop... basically anything that can get the good flavors/aromas without vegetal harshness, in my opinion the potential aromas/flavors are more valuable than the active component of cannabis.

I liked the massroots article, using CBD as an ingredient sounds great. It lends itself well towards the idea of a practical cannabis beer. Its still questionable if they are using cannabis to get pleasant flavors/aroma

 

[Icetoad]

As I said, I am a medical patient, so I have access to more forms of ingredient than just dried flower. I actually wasn't even really thinking of using dried flower, but probably should have stated that.

 

[Atalanta]

there's a local booch brewer that includes CBD in his finished product. Since CBD is now legal, that can be easily obtained. If you can purchase legally, go for more of the tinctures (that you can take internally) from your dispensary (we're medical in PA) and add them when bottling. There are charts online to tell what rough percentage to add for what final percentage.

 

[porter1974]

I don’t know about CBD. It seems pretty useless and the marketing is so aggressive. If you want to take it why ruin your kombucha.

 

[thebuchaman]

I've experimented with this before. What I did was run the cannabis through a juicer and filter to extract as much of the plant material as possible. I then incorporated the cannabis juice as an addition to one of my recipes and performed my flavoring ferment as normal.
because of my occupation, my consumption was limited to small taste tests just in case.
However, of the people that I've had try a bottle, they did report that it made them feel "something".
This was the only time I had conducted this experiment, so as far as consistency, that's unknown. As far as I know, this batch could of ended up with a higher ABV, which is the cause of the "something".
I'm inclined brew two batches side by side under strict observation and control, using the same recipe, only one with and one without.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

I've tried making this a couple times. I soaked the cannabis in EverClear, and added it, including the cannabis, a few days before bottling. I don't know if there was any THC or CBD in the beer, but it had the aroma and flavor.

 

[TwistedGray]

I've tried making this a couple times. I soaked the cannabis in EverClear, and added it, including the cannabis, a few days before bottling. I don't know if there was any THC or CBD in the beer, but it had the aroma and flavor.

A few issues here, but the main one being that you cannot extract enough THC or CBD from undecarboxylated cannabis to skip that step of the process. You're going to run into the issues that @Ashevillain noted above if you are working with the raw plant material in any usable quantity. You need to decarb first (Google the processes that exist and then make a tincture). If you want to run a trial, do it your existing way and do another batch with decarb'd cannabis, take a dosage of yours on one day then the other on another and compare notes. It'll be night and day.

That sounds interesting. Thank you for sharing. I am sure if it contains cannabis, then it should have some THC, but probably a tiny amount. I used to smoke weed but recently decided to switch to CBD oil instead due to a low THC level. I ordered a few vape juices on http://knockoutcbd.com to replace weed. Also, I love beer. But to be honest, I have never tried to combine both. I am even thinking about what if I try to add CBD oil to beer. Have anyone tried or at least heard about those experiments? Shall I take the risk?

Without decarb'ing your cannabis, you are only pulling over very low in any quantity of THC. What you are going to pull over are all the unpleasant plant aromas, flavors, and mouthfeels without any of the umph.

Add oil to water and see how well they mix ; )

Alternatively try to either find a CBD-based tincture (plenty available), a CBD-based honey, or a CBD-based water soluble distillate (or similar). Easy enough, just explain to the 'tenders what you're trying to do and they oughta have something that fits the bill.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Ok, next time I try it, I’ll decarb it. Thanks.
Should I soak it alcohol before adding it? I’ve heard both ways on the subject of THC and CBD being soluble in alcohol.
And, I disagree with you about the flavors and aromas being unpleasant. To each their own.

 

[Mtrhdltd]

What are you trying to achieve? Flavor extraction or the "high"? These will each have their own methods.

 

[homebeerbrewer]

Well, I already have the flavor extraction down...

 

[Mtrhdltd]

As twistedgray as said decarboxaltion is crucial to get thc instead of thca. Also a lot more "ingredient" is needed than most would think, I would reccomend using some sort of concentrate and a lot of it, 2 grams per gallon might yield 100mg per bottle.

 

[TwistedGray]

And, I disagree with you about the flavors and aromas being unpleasant. To each their own.

Using raw plant material or a variance of that will not end well, but using a tincture or some directive of process material can/should work.

Should have cleared up confusion on my post; my apologies.