Craziest thing you have put in a mash or boil

[Elimination]

I am a lazy brewing that doesnt bother much with throwing things in primary/secondary, so whatever I can get to carry over in a mash or a boil I love. With that, Im getting bored with average recipes, want something crazy to make, what its the weirdest thing you have put in a boil or mash?

 

[sudsmcgee]

This is going to turn out badly.

 

[Zuljin]

Half melted black licorice candy. It was terrible. All the bitterness with none of the sweetness. And it was stagnant water green.

 

[Elimination]

This is going to turn out badly.

Hahaha, I know right? Me and a brew buddy had a talk about what we could do next and wanted to see what other people have done

 

[RobMT]

There was a guy on here talking about throwing an entire pumpkin pie into the boil.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Bog myrtle, dried elderberries, fresh ground multi colored peppercorns, and blood orange zest. Not really weird but also not commonly used ingredients.

 

[strambo]

Cilantro for a cilantro-lime Pale Ale. It was actually pretty good! I had to dry-cilantro it also to get more flavor and aroma.:rockin:

 

[wuilliez]

Pumpkin purée. While not too crazy, it was still bizarre to me seeing thick pumpkin goop in my mash.

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

Not something I have brewed, but a friend told me about this beer he got to try a year or two back.

"Right Brain Brewery: Mangalitsa Pig Porter
Vegetarians, beware: This porter does, indeed, count swine as an ingredient. The Michigan brewery includes four cold-smoked Mangalitsa pig heads—brains removed, mind you—and bags of bones in each batch of porter. The result is slightly smoky and curiously, compulsively drinkable."

 

[45_70sharps]

Pumpkin purée. While not too crazy, it was still bizarre to me seeing thick pumpkin goop in my mash.

I just did this and thought the same thing.
I had no idea what sort of mess it would be or what would happen in the bucket.

I don't know what the primary bucket is going to look like when the beer comes out.

 

[amandabab]

what its the weirdest thing you have put in a boil or mash?

2 lbs of grated ginger root in the boil.

 

[45_70sharps]

2 lbs of grated ginger root in the boil.

2 pounds of fresh ginger!
What was the beer and how did it taste?
That's 0.8 oz per pint!

 

[amandabab]

it was a pretty standard pale ale recipe with the ginger added.

it had a bite to it, but not as over powering as you'd expect, but definatly a ginger beer.

 

[Tinga]

I've made a pumpkin beer and have a jalapeno beer going right now. I added some jalepnos to the boil and I think the flavor came out nicely but no heat so I'm going to "dry jalapeno" it soon.

 

[snaps10]

I put 5lbs of pumpkin pie filling into the boil of my barleywine. 10 min boil left some serious burn on the bottom of my kettle. I was stirring, but just whirlpooled everything into the middle. (Lazy) took me 3 days of soaking and scrubbing to clean it. Barleywine turned out fantastic though.

My buddy put a pork liver into the boil of one of his themed beers. (He's an artist). The beer turned out pretty good actually.

 

[SimonHucko]

I personally haven't done anything really crazy (pumpkin, but that's old hat around here). However, I have drank several beers with strange mash/boil additions, including:

Pies, both in the mash and as a "pie hop."
Doughnuts (mash)
Peanuts (mash) - apparently this is the best way to get the peanut flavor in the beer, and it was a damn good PB&J beer.
Shellfish (boil, I'm assuming) - kind of like an oyster stout, but using a variety of shellfish. Had this at EBF last year - forget the name of the brewery. Kinda weird...

And of course the HBT folks here have mashed/boiled all sorts of things. Anything with convertible starches or sugars can be fermented, and most of it has been...

 

[Colorowdy]

Lavender I used too much. People either loved it or hated it.

 

[brewingbarrister]

I'm surprised no one has tried a bacon and molasses combo. Maybe that should be my next experiment.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

This year I wasn't prepared and didn't have the carboy space but next year I'm planning on making a true thanksgiving beer. I plan on adding pumpkin, squash, yams, carrots, and corn to the mash. Then adding boiled turkey breast to the secondary. Needless to say its going to be interesting.

 

[blacksailj]

Pretzels (unsalted) in the mash for PretzAle Brown Ale. It came out amazing

 

[edmanster]

Canned creamed corn

 

[45_70sharps]

I'm surprised no one has tried a bacon and molasses combo. Maybe that should be my next experiment.

Don't think I haven't thought about bacon!!
I was thinking that bacon beer would be good just the other night while I was cooking some up.
The problem that I see is all the oil. You would have a grease ring in the keg and the oils would probably prevent any head on the beer.

 

[TheKeg81]

Don't think I haven't thought about bacon!!
I was thinking that bacon beer would be good just the other night while I was cooking some up.
The problem that I see is all the oil. You would have a grease ring in the keg and the oils would probably prevent any head on the beer.

I think he was referring to this beer here.... Voodoo Doughnut

 

[45_70sharps]

I think he was referring to this beer here.... Voodoo Doughnut

That does it. I was going to go to Portland this weekend and eat at hooters, but now I'm going to have to look for that beer while I'm there!
I see they sell it for $13 for a 750ML bottle through the website but maybe I'll see if they have it on tap at the brewery / Pub.

Clog your arteries and pickle your liver at the same time??

I would bet they use enough bacon to say it has bacon in it and get the flavor mostly elsewhere, but how knows.

 

[bovineblitz]

Bacon

a doughnut

30% of the 'grain bill' being peanuts

 

[Elimination]

on those peanut beers did you leave them whole or crushed?

 

[bovineblitz]

on those peanut beers did you leave them whole or crushed?

roughly crushed with a mortar and pestle

 

[Elimination]

You have inspired one of my next brews!

 

[malc]

Lucky charms cereal

 

[tre9er]

Bog myrtle, dried elderberries, fresh ground multi colored peppercorns, and blood orange zest. Not really weird but also not commonly used ingredients.

I think the rule should be you have to comment on how each item turned out as a result.