Friend wants to brew a weed beer

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jcook2

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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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
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?
 
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.
 
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
 
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?
 
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..?
 
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....
 
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%
 
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
 
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;-)
 
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.
 
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....
 
^^^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'....
 
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?
 
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
 
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..
 
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
 
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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! :mug:
 
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.
 
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!
 
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!
C4A17CE2-89E0-4C92-AD03-943EF4632849.jpeg
Grafted below the first cotyledon? How is that possible? cannabis only produces 2 cotyledons in its life and its the first leaves that emerge from a seed like in the pic ,the round leaves are cotyledons after that true leaves start growing
 
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MattyHBT, please elaborate on this infused butter. .. Sounds very interesting 🤔
Sure, you take some quality trim and/or dried buds(preferably cured) grind it down, in a saucepan add about 1lb of butter per oz of buds( might need more trim compared to flower) you can decarb the buds first if you want by putting the buds on a baking tray and covering tightly with foil and bake @ 250 or so for 20-30 mins making sure you are not vaporizing the oils then add ground buds/ trim to saucepan with butter and add like 1/4 cup of water, on lowest setting allow to steep or slightly simmer for about 2 hours, strain butter water mixture into a bowl with fine mesh or cheesecloth, muslin bag, put in fridge allow butter to solidify and separate from the water, discard nasty water and use butter as you wish but be careful it can be extremely potent and can ruin your day if you are not ready, there are many ways people do this this is how i do it and it works great, i have skipped decarbing before and it worked but most people recommended decarbing before you start, if you dont decarb add less water so you will be able get the temp above 212f again eat with caution, keep away from dogs( its a long story)
 
👍awesome, never heard of it , New York State went legal not too long ago. I’ve worked for the government for 35 years and am now retired ( they always threaten drug screening but never happened), 2 total knee replacement surgery’s this past winter , so a good amount of aches and pains .
 
👍awesome, never heard of it , New York State went legal not too long ago. I’ve worked for the government for 35 years and am now retired ( they always threaten drug screening but never happened), 2 total knee replacement surgery’s this past winter , so a good amount of aches and pains .
I recommend cultivating your own so you can do selections and find cultivars that help you, not all cannabis has same effect, some can cause a racey, paranoid effect and for someone looking to ease pain thats not plesant I recommend 1:1 cbd to thc or broad leaf varieties, yes we are legal now but to be honest i been treating it like it was legal for 28 years already 🤣 cheers
 
I once brewed a medicated PA, I only added the cana to a 120 min boil, and some flower near the end for flavor. It was okay, but other's said it was more powerful than what I found. Also, I believe you can make butter/oils in a slow cooker for like 8 hours. Not sure about the decarb effect on the low and slow method, but it seemed to work when I tried it with canola oil on low. :mug:
 
I once brewed a medicated PA, I only added the cana to a 120 min boil, and some flower near the end for flavor. It was okay, but other's said it was more powerful than what I found. Also, I believe you can make butter/oils in a slow cooker for like 8 hours. Not sure about the decarb effect on the low and slow method, but it seemed to work when I tried it with canola oil on low. :mug:
I tried both decarbed and non decarbed, strongest butter i ever made was dry/cured non decarbed, ate half a cookie i was praying in the shower on my knees asking God to make it go away 🤣 full on panic attack borderline schizophrenic episode scary experience
 
Always Decarb or yer in for alot of wasted material: Put an Oz of good bud not ground, but only partially broken up, or three Oz of trim in a quart mason jar and screw lid on tight, but don't crank it. Preheat oven to 250 F. Put jar or jars in the oven for 30-40 min if yer oven holds a decent temp, 20-30 min if it fluctuates and gets hot.

Cannabutter: Bring two quarts (or more) water to a boil, and reduce heat. Add four sticks of butter to the simmer, and wait till it fully melts. Add the ounce of cannabis from one mason jar (don't grind it, leave it in chunklets) to the super low simmer. Keep the simmer super low. Stir once in a while. It's important to keep at least 3 inches or so of water under the cannabis chunklets... it's important to keep them off the bottom and direct heat. Let simmer for 45 min.

Filtering/separation: Place two layers of cheese cloth in a 4 qt pyrex bowl. Gently pour the hot water/butter/cannabis mix on top of the cheesecloth in the bowl. Gather the edges of the cloth up and pull it out of the bowl and suspend it above the bowl to drip. Once it's cool enough squeeze the last water/butter outta the plant material in the cheesecloth. Place bowl of water/butter mix into the fridge and leave it be for a few hours to overnight. The water and butter will seperate and the butter (now green) will harden. Cut a small wedge into each side of the butter and pour off and discard the water layer under the butter. Some times I remove and pat dry the underside of the butter disc, sometimes I don't bother. Bring a sauce pan of water to a gentle boil. Place the bowl with the cannabutter ontop as a doubleboiler. Once the butter is melted, pour it into a butter mold or mason jar and freeze. If left in the fridge it can go bad in as soon as a week.

Use responsibly.
 
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