Strangest Ingredient You Have Used???

[bdknuc2]

What is the strangest ingredient you have ever used? I've stayed conservative for the most part and the craziest ingredient I've used is mint in a Mint Chocolate Stout!!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[kh54s10]

I made a pale ale and added a tablespoon to crushed red pepper flakes at 10 minutes. It gave a great flavor and some pepper "bite" I could only drink a couple a night because the burn would increase...

 

[smccarter]

Belgian Aromatic Malt.... I know it's WAY out there... but I am a rebel.

 

[klinus]

I just read that Brooklyn breweries has used "spruce fronds" in a beer that they call a "swedish strong ale" (http://brooklynbrewery.com/brooklyn-beers/brewmasters-reserve/hammarby). Anyone have any experience with that?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Pasta, I make what I call spaghetti wheat beer, I use about 30 - 40% thin spaghetti, or angel hair pasta in the mash. Try it, you'll be surprised! Pasta is 100% wheat, and makes a pretty tasty adjunct IME, cook the hell out of the pasta before mashing, and add all of the pasta water as well to the mash. Typically I strike low, then the addition of 4 lbs of hot pasta will bring up the mash temp considerably, then add heat to hit the low 150's.

 

[RyanVTBrew]

Magic hat (a brewery from my homestate) made a cucumber beer, and it was the lost horrible thing I've ever drank. None of their beers are anything to write home about, not to mention they were bought out by a Puerto Rican based company. Really don't like those guys...


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[wilserbrewer]

Magic hat (a brewery from my homestate) made a cucumber beer, and it was the lost horrible thing I've ever drank.

Yea agreed!
They also made a beer with some beet juice, wasn't too bad, but just unnecessary!

The No. 9 with the apricot flavor is so overplayed it irritates me!

They do have some cool names for their brews, I will give them credit there, Fat Angel and Circus Boy come to mind...but like you, I'm done with them!

 

[Zepth]

Cayenne pepper to add some extra bite to a ginger beer. Not exactly an off the wall ingredient, though I think it to be untypical for beer. Future brew idea is to include "red river cereal." Heated and served oatmeal style it is 3 ingredients: wheat rye and flax. Cook it, add to a 2 row mash, call it breakfast beer.

 

[youngpretender13]

Yeah not to push it much further (least this become a magic Hat hate thread) but after having like 5 different styles of their beer I can honestly say that I am done with them. I haven't really used anything too risque yet but my local brewery made a Beet Saisson that was damn good. He put local bulls blood beets in the mash then dry hopped with some of the same. Fantastic color and the sassion treats the aroma and taste profile very well.

 

[ChefRex]

Your spaghetti wheat beer sounds interesting, may have to play with that this summer. Is the flavor profile similar to a regular wheat?
Beets are full of sugar so at least I would expect a bump to the starting gravity.

 

[CUrchin]

I haven't done it yet, but I'm researching the use of potatoes in a beer. During WWII potatoes were used in place of corn due to shortages. As I understand it the add no flavor, just some additional fermentables.

 

[Hopinista]

Pasta, I make what I call spaghetti wheat beer, I use about 30 - 40% thin spaghetti, or angel hair pasta in the mash. Try it, you'll be surprised! Pasta is 100% wheat, and makes a pretty tasty adjunct IME, cook the hell out of the pasta before mashing, and add all of the pasta water as well to the mash. Typically I strike low, then the addition of 4 lbs of hot pasta will bring up the mash temp considerably, then add heat to hit the low 150's.

Can't be worse than that pizza beer

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

i used graham crackers in a beer. Couldn't taste them at all but they gave me head retention like I've never seen before. Sounded like rice crispy's when the bubbles would pop was kinda funny.

 

[Hopinista]

i used graham crackers in a beer. Couldn't taste them at all but they gave me head retention like I've never seen before. Sounded like rice crispy's when the bubbles would pop was kinda funny.

Lol that's awesome! I'd love to get some Graham cracker flavor into a beer though, do you think you'd just need more? Or how would we go about it?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Your spaghetti wheat beer sounds interesting, may have to play with that this summer. Is the flavor profile similar to a regular wheat?

It is actually subtle, I think the flavor is like using raw wheat (that's what pasta is I believe). The wheat adds a tang or crispness / clean flavor, maybe citrusy IDK, I'm not the best at describing flavors.

Brought some to a party last weekend, had comments like..."best beer I have ever had", from a BMC non beer drinker of course,,,haha, and "you should sell this".

Haha maybe they were being kind or they were hammered IDK.

It all started here....
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/anybody-ever-used-pasta-adjunct-96661/

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Lol that's awesome! I'd love to get some Graham cracker flavor into a beer though, do you think you'd just need more? Or how would we go about it?

possibly I used 2 sleeves out of a box of 3 I believe. so I guess maybe a box or box and half for starters if I was to try to brew it again. My tobrew list is pretty backlogged currently however. But I just crushed them and threw them in the mash. So maybe a flameout edition of powdered Graham crackers? i'd start with at least 2-3 boxes. like I said I used 2/3 a box when I did mine and I believe that was only a 2.5gallon batch and like I said I really didn't taste them at all.

edit**
or I just saw graham cracker extract on a quick google search, which would probably be a quicker easier way.

 

[Hopinista]

possibly I used 2 sleeves out of a box of 3 I believe. so I guess maybe a box or box and half for starters if I was to try to brew it again. My tobrew list is pretty backlogged currently however. But I just crushed them and threw them in the mash. So maybe a flameout edition of powdered Graham crackers? i'd start with at least 2-3 boxes. like I said I used 2/3 a box when I did mine and I believe that was only a 2.5gallon batch and like I said I really didn't taste them at all.

edit**
or I just saw graham cracker extract on a quick google search, which would probably be a quicker easier way.

What style was it? I've been thinking about a Graham cracker Porter when I get around to brew something not Belgian.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

What style was it? I've been thinking about a Graham cracker Porter when I get around to brew something not Belgian.

It wasn't really to any style and I don't have a recipe for it anymore either. It was when I first was starting brewing and wasn't keeping notes. I believe i was aiming for a brown ale so it would probably go in a porter well.

 

[geouy0523]

zucchini, you know that huge squash you found hiding in the garden, cut it in half and roasted it in the oven then pureed and added the mash for a stout. I was hoping for some additional mouth feel but I didn't seem to get any though.

All of you graham cracker fanatics might want to consider just adding some toasted wheat flakes since that's what they are made of.

 

[aiptasia]

Saffron and rose water. I did a one gallon test batch of a back sweetened cream ale and used saffron and rose water instead of hops. It was interesting, very delicate and smelled & tasted like Grandma's bath water. Hops would've overwhelmed the saffron flavor so after debating adding them for a few days, decided not to.

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't that good either. My Wife put me up to the challenge to brew a flavor combination nobody has ever tasted in a beer before. The most interesting thing was that after you drank it, your breath smelled and tasted like flowers for a good solid hour or so.

I should brew it and sell it at Phish shows and call it, "Hippy Breath."

 

[peterj]

I made an Earl Grey Saison recently that turned out really well. I just steeped 20 Earl Grey tea bags for about 10 minutes at flameout. The Earl Grey flavor and aroma works really well with the saison character.

I've also made a rosemary orange IPA that was a little underwhelming. If I made it again I'd probably take out the orange and try adding the rosemary to secondary or maybe make a tincture instead of adding it at flameout. But I don't think I'll do it anytime soon.

I'm planning on using lemongrass and ginger in a rye saison sometime this Spring.

 

[bboyeruga]

Wintergreen leaves. Added them randomly to a pale ale and it ended up being one of my favorite brews.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[bobdaferret]

I once put a cup of maca root powder in a 5-gal batch of hefeweizen. I thought it rocked.

:rockin:

 

[RonPopeil]

simcoe hops. i just don't have a place for them in my brewing.

 

[cjalderman]

Made a lemongrass saison that turned out pretty tasty.

 

[Temptd2]

We make an extract of roasted jalapeno peppers, then add that extract into the bottling bucket to taste. Makes some might fine Jalapeno pepper beer - have made it with CA cream ale. Spicy, but not "burn your mouth off" hot.

Since we're still under a year of brewing experience, haven't tried anything else exotic yet!

 

[ffaoe]

Swedish Fish. When I was starting out, i was doing half gallon test batches. I melted a packet down and added it to a pale ale during boil just to see how it would turn out. It ended up being alright, barely any Swedish fish flavor though.

 

[rainmanak44]

Alaskan Brewing Co does a winter beer that they incorporate the tiny new growth of evergreen trees. Namely Spruce tips. Very nice!

 

[Zepth]

I haven't done it yet, but I'm researching the use of potatoes in a beer. During WWII potatoes were used in place of corn due to shortages. As I understand it the add no flavor, just some additional fermentables.

Great minds think alike. I was actually considering this as well, but decided that the experimental option would be too scary for me to try at the time. Also had about 10 other things in my "list of things to brew." Anyways, from research:

Named after a traditional, week-long break from school and work for potato harvesting in Germany, Potato Vacation Beer, or Kartoffelferienbier, is a funky ale that lives outside the realm of classic styles.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/recipe/beer-of-the-week-potato-vacation-beer/

Come to think of it, I have a bag of potatoes that just hasn't been getting eaten fast enough. This might be an ideal way to get rid of them in a productive fashion.

 

[RichBrewer]

When I first started brewing I found a recipe for a Christmas ale. It was an extract beer that included orange peal. It turned out to be the worst beer I ever made or tasted. The batch finally got dumped after about three months.