Friend wants to brew a weed beer

[jcook2]

If this topic isn't within the rules here, I totally get it.
But a friend approached me about helping make a weed beer for his own consumption. He's licensed and it's legal here anyway, just to get that out of the way.
He wants a stout, so the plant taste doesn't come through much, if at all.
He's going to use stems and discarded parts of the plant. How much do you use for a 5-gallon batch?
I've got three rigs: a 7-gallon Digiboil, 5-gallon gravity-fed all-grain system and a 10+ gallon keggle for brewing outside.
Will the weed leave residue on my system? Is it tougher to clean than a regular brew?
I'll admit, I have little idea how to help him out with this.
When should it get added? During the boil? If so, how far along?
Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks!

 

[jcook2]

Also, should I bottle or keg it?
I have plenty of Grolsch type bottles and a good amount of kegs. Just not sure if it'll leave a residue on keg lines or the keg itself.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

The discarded parts likely won't have much THC, seems like a waste of effort to incorporate the weed discards into beer.

Just smoke the good stuff, while you drink a beer together.

 

[bracconiere]

The discarded parts likely won't have much THC, seems like a waste of effort to incorporate the weed discards into beer.

toast the stems, and use them like you would toasted oak chips?

 

[Homebrew Harry]

The discarded parts likely won't have much THC, seems like a waste of effort to incorporate the weed discards into beer.

Just smoke the good stuff, while you drink a beer together.

Yeah the doctor is correct. It wouldn't be worth the trouble. MJ tea just tastes bad and if there is any resin at all in there it will probably be a pain to clean as you suggested. If it's leaves, tell him to make butter and from there cupcakes. Beer and cake go well together, I don't care what anybody says. If yous need help with the cakes call me.

 

[bracconiere]

Yeah the doctor is correct. It wouldn't be worth the trouble. MJ tea just tastes bad and if there is any resin at all in there it will probably be a pain to clean as you suggested. If it's leaves, tell him to make butter and from there cupcakes. Beer and cake go well together, I don't care what anybody says. If yous need help with the cakes call me.

there is always bhang...and he wants stout, maybe a milk stout?

 

[Martys1]

If you wanted to , you could name it "Bongwater Brew”

 

[passedpawn]

If this topic isn't within the rules here, I totally get it.
But a friend approached me about helping make a weed beer for his own consumption. He's licensed and it's legal here anyway, just to get that out of the way.
He wants a stout, so the plant taste doesn't come through much, if at all.
He's going to use stems and discarded parts of the plant. How much do you use for a 5-gallon batch?
I've got three rigs: a 7-gallon Digiboil, 5-gallon gravity-fed all-grain system and a 10+ gallon keggle for brewing outside.
Will the weed leave residue on my system? Is it tougher to clean than a regular brew?
I'll admit, I have little idea how to help him out with this.
When should it get added? During the boil? If so, how far along?
Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks!

It's within the rules.

Like the good doc and harry said above, never the twain shall meet.

 

[jcook2]

Would it be better to make a tincture with it and add that after fermentation?

 

[Sam_92]

That would be an excellent way to experiment without creating an undrinkable batch. Brew the beer and carbonate it and then make your tincture and experiment with a single glass of beer. The crew over at Basic Brewing Radio have been doing that a lot lately to experiment with flavors in different beers.

You could also make a tincture and add it to commercial beers, maybe a stout isn't so good but a dank west coast IPA it fits rights in

 

[jcook2]

That would be an excellent way to experiment without creating an undrinkable batch. Brew the beer and carbonate it and then make your tincture and experiment with a single glass of beer. The crew over at Basic Brewing Radio have been doing that a lot lately to experiment with flavors in different beers.

You could also make a tincture and add it to commercial beers, maybe a stout isn't so good but a dank west coast IPA it fits rights in

I was thinking a vodka tincture and then putting that in secondary.
Is THC a fermentable?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I was thinking a vodka tincture and then putting that in secondary.
Is THC a fermentable?

No sugars in it, so no.

 

[bracconiere]

I was thinking a vodka tincture and then putting that in secondary.
Is THC a fermentable?

i'd say use glycerine.....? but i'm just speculating.....

 

[bracconiere]

my thoughts on glycerine instead of alcohol, is the hope glycerine would keep it in solution better, and adding a alcohol solution to a bunch of water would just force it to percipitate out..?

 

[bracconiere]

oh, and remember you're going to have to decarboxylate this to get it active...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinolic_acid
i think normaly heat does it.....

so another case for glycerine with a boiling point of like 500f, make your tincture in the oven at like 375f, or something like that....

 

[bradreisner72]

The discarded parts likely won't have much THC, seems like a waste of effort to incorporate the weed discards into beer.

Just smoke the good stuff, while you drink a beer together.

That was extremely helpful! The trim buds I have are plenty strong.

oh, and remember you're going to have to decarboxylate this to get it active...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrahydrocannabinolic_acid
i think normaly heat does it.....

so another case for glycerine with a boiling point of like 500f, make your tincture in the oven at like 375f, or something like that....

I think it will reach high enough temps during the boil…. I could decarb in the oven beforehand. Using about a pound of trim buds that feasted at 25%

 

[bracconiere]

I think it will reach high enough temps during the boil

i think to decarboxylate it, you'd need to get it into solution? why bhang is done with milk with lipids involved? i've heard of decarboxylations with acetone as a ketone catylist, in high boiling solvents....and i do have a bag of rasberry ketones? not sure if boiling water is hot enough though? but if boiling milk does it, maybe it just needs to be in solution....i'm no chemist or pharmacologist..... just a hobbyist

 

[bradreisner72]

i think to decarboxylate it, you'd need to get it into solution? why bhang is done with milk with lipids involved? i've heard of decarboxylations with acetone as a ketone catylist, in high boiling solvents....and i do have a bag of rasberry ketones? not sure if boiling water is hot enough though? but if boiling milk does it, maybe it just needs to be in solution....i'm no chemist or pharmacologist..... just a hobbyist

No I’ll use an oven safe bag and decarb at around 200°-215°. The beer boil itself will act the same as if I was baking brownies or the likes;-)

 

[bracconiere]

The beer boil itself will act the same as if I was baking brownies or the likes;-)

in my learning how to make malt, i've learned i have to dry the barley to 'lock up' the enzymes....with the brownies i think you're loosing them up with the fat.....so that the THCA denatures instead of stay intact....i mean if you've got a bunch of trim, i'd have fun with kief and seeing what it dissolves in....milk also has emulsifiers.

 

[Teufelhunde]

The discarded parts likely won't have much THC, seems like a waste of effort to incorporate the weed discards into beer.

Just smoke the good stuff, while you drink a beer together.

^^^THIS^^^^ The throwaway parts are throwaway parts for a reason....

 

[bracconiere]

^^^THIS^^^^ The throwaway parts are throwaway parts for a reason....

not nessesarily....have you heard of 'bubble bags'? when the throw away is enough to have pounds of trim and need to filter it throurgh a few filter bags in 50 gallon trash barrels....it's not trash anymore it's 'hash'....

 

[Teufelhunde]

not nessesarily....have you heard of 'bubble bags'? when the throw away is enough to have pounds of trim and need to filter it throurgh a few filter bags in 50 gallon trash barrels....it's not trash anymore it's 'hash'....

You/re right. There is some in there, question is how much, and how much trouble is it to get to it?

 

[bracconiere]

There is some in there, question is how much, and how much trouble is it to get to it?

i lived in mendocino, it was like a barber shop and having to sweep it up off the floor........

 

[MHBT]

I would not make a canna beer i prefer them separately but if i did i would brew a batch normally and dose the bottles with some decarbed oil or isolate, or like you said a tincture ( allow to evaporate to condense) definitely wouldn’t want the plant matter in the beer probably will taste like a$$ once all that chlorophyll leaches out

 

[bracconiere]

probably will taste like a$$ once all that chlorophyll leaches out

but you use hops? i've chewed many a bud and i'd just say it's very strongly 'acidic, tart'....but i don't have a sense of taste, so the feeling was like snow on a old TV..

 

[MHBT]

when we use hops we just want to isomerize the aa and extract flavor and aroma, with cannabis you need to decarb it to activate the goodies and thats at a higher temp then boiling, and you will be pulling out all kinds of bad chlorophyll boiling cannabis buds could it work? Probably, i made many batches of butter without decarbing but the little water i use gets discarded and the good stuff infuses with the butter( fat) just my 2 cents, sounds like a expensive brewday and definitely not worth it in my eyes, dose the bottles with extract and thank me later, take a bud and put it in water and leave it a day or 2 come back and tell me you wanna drink that green nasty thc free water its not water soluble some people water cure cannabis to remove chlorophyll and keep the resin for smoother smoke

 

[bracconiere]

just my 2 cents,

your three cent coin, and my nickle/dime....

sounds like a expensive brewday

damn it....i don't why this always gets me...but something about driving by a baker's dozen of begger's in front the grocery, after helping a guy make $30k off one god damn plant is why i wasn't cut out for drug dealing!

 

[DrGMG]

https://beerandbrewing.com/brewing-with-cannabis/
https://beerandbrewing.com/dosing-homebrew-with-marijuana-tinctures/

 

[Alan Reginato]

I was thinking a vodka tincture and then putting that in secondary.
Is THC a fermentable?

I made some tinctures already, hops pellets, cayenne pepper powder, cinnamon, clove, Cocoa powder (doesn't work) coffee (neither). Use a high proof alcohol, like everclear.

At bottling, make some dosage testing with a syringe in a pint, because it usually gets really strong. Then scale up.

With hops works just fine, I guess it will work as well with other stuff, because you want to extract oil, let it soak for enough time until it gets a light green colour, or you're going to extract other resins and other undesirable compounds. For hops pellets, 3 hours is ok.

 

[Ductapeman]

Many years ago (1972?) a group of us young juvenile delinquents got the same idea, and beat on it for a couple years till one of us who had actually finished college got a bright idea: Since hops and cannabis are genetic cousins, he took one plant of each and grafted the top of the hops plant onto the stem of the cannabis plant below the first cotyledon, and by Golly it worked-- the hybrid hops had plenty of wallop, and tasted like the hops they were. Took a while to grow the plants, but it still seems to me to be the best shot at something like this. Have fun, and enjoy your suds whether nuclear or not!