For those of you pondering and now thinking about using a little "stash" in your wash, there are a few things that should be understood before you do. First, if Marijuana was to be used unprocessed (i.e. strait from your stash without any alteration other than separation, like you would do if you were going to use it to smoke), the water solubles in the unprocessed plant would dissolves in the brew, leading to a POWERFUL off-taste.
What should be done is to soak the herb by placing it in a nylon mesh bag. Fill a large container (I was going to use the word "pot," but then I figured I might confuse a few people with the terms) with TEPID water. (the reason for TEPID water is because the dissolution rate of THC -- the active substance in marijuana that gets a person "high" -- occurs in hot water; therefore the oil from the THC glands become thinner and may be released from heavier gland, by which causes a loss of the WANTED oil. This is the reason that TEPID water is used). Soak the herb in the TEPID water for one hour. Then squeeze the water from the vegetation, allowing the water to run back into the container, and allow the vegetation matter to soak for another hour. Repeat this process several times. Most of the pigments and tannin are released in several one-hour soakings.
It should be known that when soaking the herb in water, even TEPID water, some THC glands may fall off during the soaking and squeezing process. These THC glands can be collected from the bottom of the large container, after the herb has been removed, by draining the water through a coffee filter. You can discard the water after you are satisfied that you have collected all of the glands that you can. The collected glands on the filter can be dried and smoked -- these glands are very purse and potent, so beware. If you don't want to smoke them, you could (should) add then to your brew.
After the final soaking/rinse, the herb is ready to go into the brew. Well, almost. You must dry the wet vegetation. To dry the herb, take kitchen wire racks -- the kind used for cooling cookies and such -- and place one paper towel over the rack. Then gently spread the herb loosely over the paper towel covered wire rack. The paper towel draws some of the moister away from the plant material, while the wire rack allows for air circulation underneath the herb, hence quicker drying. You should store the herb that is being dried in a warm dark location until dried. Time for drying depends on the environment, so check the herb often and turn the vegetation over as needed to allow for even drying.
There are other ways to dry the herb as well. You may use a food dehydrator if one is available to you. Check the instructions for proper use of drying herb-like items. You may even, but I am not quick to recommend, use your microwave to aid in the drying process. To use the microwave, loosely place the herb on a paper towel lined microwave safe plate and place in the microwave. Heat the herb on HIGH for 30 SECONDS. Check the herb, if it is still wet, turn the herb and put it in for another 30 SECONDS. Continue the 30 SECOND cycle until the herb is dry and almost crumbly. You do not want to turn the plant black, brown, or have it so dry that it becomes powder after you touch it. Using the microwave to dry herb is a skill, so you may want to try your hand at drying different herbs before you try your hand on this no-so-cheap herb. Now that it is dry, you are ready to go.
There are many ways that you can incorporate your, now processed, herb into different types of drinks. For a "double buzz" beer, just brew up your favorite batch of beer as you normally would. Then add your processed marijuana, in a nylon mesh bag, to your fermenting beer 3-4 days BEFORE you bottle. This gives the alcohol in the fermenting beer enough time to dissolve the THC. The marijuana will lend a small amount of flavor to the beer, due to the residual water solubles the have remained in the processed herb.
The same can be done for whiskey. Add the marijuana to your whiskey mash 1 week before to put your mash into the still. The THC oils will be carried over with your flavorful alcohol. I don't recommend this process with a fractioning/reflux still, as that type of still may keep back some of the desired THC that you have worked so hard to get. MY recommendation is to use a pot still only.
You can also add the processed herb you liquors and other "botanical" brews. An interesting experiment would be to try an Absinthe recipe with and/or without the Wormwood. Now there is an extremely illegal drink waiting to happen.
Some people have taken their processed herb and added it to strait spirit. But they didn't do this to drink it. They did it so that they can later extract THC oil. The process goes like this: take your processed herb and put it into a jar. Take HIGH proof spirit and pour it over the herb until it just covers the herb. Let this sit covered for a week, remembering to shake the jar 2-3 times a day. After the week is up, pour this solution into a double boiler (preferably on an electric stove/hot plate). Then gently bring the solution up to a gentile simmer. What happens next is the alcohol is slowly being evaporated, while leaving behind the THC oil. Mind you, THC is heat sensitive, so you will lose some of the oil due to the heating process. When you are done, you are left with a THC oil concentration. Most people then use this oil to dip their cigarettes into to enjoy an interesting smoke. Other people take a small amount of the oil and re-dissolve it into a shot worth of vodka and take the solution sublingually to achieve the THC affects without smoking. Other people add it to their cooking. The list could go on.
Now, this e-mail is not my endorsement for using marijuana, or any other illegal plant or drug, in any form or fashion. This is knowledge being passed on for educational use only. It is not to be put into use in any form or fashion.