What's the "weirdest" ingredient you've used?

[bracconiere]

and need fat because it's lipiphilic? you'd need to do a milk stout, and add it in the boil?

 

[El Duderino]

Did youget any THC content in the beer? Don't you need to decarboxylate the weed to release the THC content? Dry hopping wouldn't have the needed heat?

nah, i figured since thc is soluble in alcohol it would just work

 

[BongoYodeler]

I've thought about adding some cereal (Fruity Pebbles or Trix maybe) to the mash of a pale ale or ipa. Haven't tried it yet, maybe some day. Back home in upstate NY there's a small brewery that every fall brews a pumpkin beer where they dump several baked pumpkin pies directly into the mash.

 

[Miraculix]

I went crazy and brewed a regular beer made out of pale malt and hops! And I intend to do this blasphemic homebrew soon again!!!

 

[brewswithshoes]

This reminds of an annual competition here in the Tampa area with several breweries to kick off our Beer Week. Basically each brewery picks 2 random ingredients out of a hat and has to make a beer with them. Some really nail some crazy good beers, others not so much. I have volunteered many times to "pour" for these events and have tasted just about all of them. Quite surprisingly one year a dill pickle gose won. I think another year was a ginger wasabi saison. It really is wild the combos that have come up in this event, and i'm sure even these pro brewers struggle to make a good beer with the ingredients they are given.

You can read up on past events at the Tampa Bay Beer Week pages if interested, but some past combos are below. The event is always a good time and it's impressive how these breweries can make even a palatable beer with some of these ingredients.

Past event combos:
The possible ingredients or ingredient combinations are:
Onions
Real Bacon and Habanero
Cinnamon and Lemon peel
Orange and Old Bay
Thyme and Peaches
Oysters and Hot Sauce
Maple Syrup and Pears
Vanilla Bean and Pomegranate
Dark Chocolate and Mango
Coffee and Curry
Vanillas bean and Jalapenos
White Chocolate and Pistachios
Horseradish
Toffee and Bananas

 

[Murphys_Law]

I made a stout and mashed with half a loaf of dark rye pumpernickel bread. It was pretty good.

 

[Miraculix]

I made a stout and mashed with half a loaf of dark rye pumpernickel bread. It was pretty good.

I got a big bag of self-made dried sourdough bread rests that I collected over time. Mainly rye and spelt mix bread. I was collecting it to make a dessert called "großer Hans", a northern German desert which is made out of old bread and which is reaaaaaaally good (although it doesn't sound too appealing, I must admit). But I actually now got too much of it and I wonder how a beer would taste of I include it in the mash.....

 

[El Duderino]

I've thought about adding some cereal (Fruity Pebbles or Trix maybe) to the mash of a pale ale or ipa. Haven't tried it yet, maybe some day. Back home in upstate NY there's a small brewery that every fall brews a pumpkin beer where they dump several baked pumpkin pies directly into the mash.

Local brewery Duclaw makes a sour beer called Unicorn Farts that's made with Fruity Pebbles, and Edible Glitter

 

[slayer021175666]

I don't do any wierd stuff but, check out Cock Ale in the New Complete Joy of Home Brewing.
It calls for a whole rooster! Muddled until bones are smashed! Says, the older the rooster, the better! WOW! Now, if that don't take the cake, I don't know what will!

 

[Murphys_Law]

I got a big bag of self-made dried sourdough bread rests that I collected over time. Mainly rye and spelt mix bread. I was collecting it to make a dessert called "großer Hans", a northern German desert which is made out of old bread and which is reaaaaaaally good (although it doesn't sound too appealing, I must admit). But I actually now got too much of it and I wonder how a beer would taste of I include it in the mash.....

My wife and I were having some kraut and sausages with the bread and she remarked how much she liked the bread and asked if I could make a beer like that. I think she was joking but I thought "what the hell!". I toasted the bread and cut it into small squares and then mashed for the full 60 mins. I can't remember my grain bill but I do remember adding rye in to the boil at some point, as well. I BIAB and it was a PITA to drain the bag, though!

You should try it!

 

[FromZwolle]

There's a maple bacon porter and a mango/mole wit in my brew queue. perhaps i'll get crazy and push it further into the weird stuff realm, but i've got a long list of beers i wanna get brewed soon as it is.

 

[50calshooter]

I've made a bacon beer- not so weird after reading this thread. I have used Pink Peppercorns imported from France for a Pink Peppercorn Pale Ale. Very popular at my brewpub.

 

[OldDogBrewing]

I will update my weirdest ingredient, artemisia absinthium

 

[Kirkwooder]

I often add cracked corn to brews to either up the IBU or lighten the body. I get it straight from the feed bucket. Scratch grain also has made it into a few of my beers. It's likely the cheapest ingredient you will ever use. Chicken feed isn't just for chickens anymore!

 

[FromZwolle]

I often add cracked corn to brews to either up the IBU or lighten the body. I get it straight from the feed bucket. Scratch grain also has made it into a few of my beers. It's likely the cheapest ingredient you will ever use. Chicken feed isn't just for chickens anymore!

i usually use corn meal, as that's what i have lyin around in the kitchen. popcorn also works just fine, as long as it's not drowning in butter flavored oil...

 

[BoudBrew]

Local brewery Duclaw makes a sour beer called Unicorn Farts that's made with Fruity Pebbles, and Edible Glitter

How does it taste?

 

[McMullan]

I used 500g yew arils, seeds removed, in a 'South Downs Way' bitter a few years back. The arils are the only part of the tree that isn't poisonous. Quite a nice flavour. A mild sweetness with a hint of floral character. Kind of reminds me of a very mild Turkish Delight. Didn't really add anything noticeable to the bitter, which tasted like it normally does. The only benefit really was an excuse to wonder around Kingley Vale collecting yew arils.

 

[D the Catastrophist]

I had a coffee flavored sour ale at a brewery in Colorado. It actually was pretty damn tasty. That is what inspired me to try a coffee mead(which well still green is coming along nicely).

Raspberry Habenero hard cider was great as well.

 

[Johst12]

I used rosemary a couple times and liked it. Saison, IPA and in a smoky lager/pils, always at flameout.

 

[mschoeffler]

Oyster shells

 

[monkeymath]

I think to anyone who doesn't brew themselves - and even many of those that do - bottle dregs would seem very weird/disgusting. Definitely don't want that on your bottle label.

"We only use the freshest, local, high quality ingredients: fresh spring water, barley that grows on the fields surrounding our brewery, hops from our own farm, and the dregs of various beers."

 

[mashpaddled]

I've made a few beers with mesquite pods that turned out nicely. It has sort of a caramel/coffee flavor that really screams for a cocoa addition. The last time I brewed with them I added cocoa nibs and it turned out stunning.

My first all grain batch was a brown ale and I tried adding amaretto at the end of fermentation thinking that almond taste would be a nice addition. The sugar in it fermented out and whatever additives they add to it made it taste like not much at all. I found some of the bottles a few years later and they tasted like the brine from black olive cans. I didn't think that was a terribly weird ingredient but it turned out poorly.

I also tried adding ground cherries to a batch of sour beer. I know some breweries have brewed with them but again just did not turn out well at all. The beer developed a real weird taste of cheap white wine, watery tomato sauce and this medicinal off flavor that would stay in your mouth for like an hour. Ground cherries are part of the nightshade family and grow like tomatillos but the berries (on this variety) taste like pineapple and vanilla with just a hint of tomato in the background. Like tomatillo they have a lot of seeds. I think in a mixed fermentation some of the seed compounds fermented into all the unpleasantness.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Hibiscus blooms in a Saison.
I've rebrewed it a couple of times, and have it on tap currently.
I recommend it highly.

I've used honey several times in a Blonde and in in a wit and a triple.
Initially I didn't like the wit or the triple(too sweet), several years later, I cracked open the triple and the honey had continued to ferment and it was awesome, it had the tingly little bubbles like Belgian beers do, and thought that this could have been a winner in a comp.

 

[GoodTruble]

I wanted to make pumpkin beer that didn't suck. I succeeded. I roasted canned pumpkin and then soaked it in peanut butter flavored whiskey. It was perfect.

 

[estricklin]

I have a potato beer that is one of my regulars, the potato flavor is very subtle.

I have brewed a rye and juniper ale before. I've used peanut butter, probably would add that hot side if I had it to do over.

I've always wanted to brew sort of a root beer....beer. Flavored along the same lines, so wintergreen, vanilla, star of anise, sassafras, that sort of thing.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I wanted to make pumpkin beer that didn't suck.

I'm not sure that can be done.
Glad you enjoyed yours.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

Dead fox in the secondary. The gamey flavor came through a bit strong and if I did it again I'd probably cut down on the corpse, maybe just the head or a hind leg.

 

[GoodTruble]

I'm not sure that can be done.
Glad you enjoyed yours.

Make a wee heavy, add roasted canned pumpkin soaked in booze to the secondary. It works. =c)

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

Oats
Grits
Maple Syrup
Roasted Potatoes
Hickory smoked malt
Coffee Malt

... All in the same batch for a Breakfast Stout.

 

[JAReeves]

I have a saison in the secondary stage right now, hibiscus, dried tropical fruit mix, and pink peppercorns. It's gone through some interesting stages: initially, super bitter; then kind of bland and nothing, now it's moving into the tart pepper stage. It's been about 3 months and I think I am going to move it to a barrel in a few weeks, as FG is near 1.000. We'll see how it works out.

 

[mattman91]

.

 

[D the Catastrophist]

Dead fox in the secondary.

Well, that's what you get for trying to make improve a Bud select 55 clone...

 

[nanobrau]

Grapewood Lager

100% Light Munich
Saflager W-34/70
Perle for bittering and Tettnanger at flameout
Toasted grape wood in secondary

This is basically like letting the beer sit on oak but using grape wood instead. The grape wood is harvested 1-year old vine that I toasted in the oven at 350F for 1 hour. It didn't come out much in the flavor of the beer, but you can definitely smell grapes as you drink.

 

[JAReeves]

Grapewood Lager

100% Light Munich
Saflager W-34/70
Perle for bittering and Tettnanger at flameout
Toasted grape wood in secondary

This is basically like letting the beer sit on oak but using grape wood instead. The grape wood is harvested 1-year old vine that I toasted in the oven at 350F for 1 hour. It didn't come out much in the flavor of the beer, but you can definitely smell grapes as you drink.

That sounds cool.

 

[estricklin]

Grapewood Lager

100% Light Munich
Saflager W-34/70
Perle for bittering and Tettnanger at flameout
Toasted grape wood in secondary

This is basically like letting the beer sit on oak but using grape wood instead. The grape wood is harvested 1-year old vine that I toasted in the oven at 350F for 1 hour. It didn't come out much in the flavor of the beer, but you can definitely smell grapes as you drink.

Kind of along those lines, I brewed 15 gallons of Shiner Bock clone, and 5 gallons of it I used wine yeast and toasted oak.

 

[dnr]

I've been dry hopping my hard ciders lately. It's actually really delicious. I get them as dry as possible and it tastes kind a fruity dry white wine.

 

[Rish]

I've been dry hopping my hard ciders lately. It's actually really delicious. I get them as dry as possible and it tastes kind a fruity dry white wine.

I've been looking to add some character to my ciders. What hops are you using, how much and how long, please?

 

[dnr]

I think I used Crystal Northern Brewer (1 oz each) in 1.5 gallons for ~1 week. Just dumped them in after 1 week of fermentation and then waited until everything settled out. Racked then cold crashed. Then bottled.

I also made a blend of white grape, apple and pear juice to try to make a cider wine thing... When blending them, I had some juice left over in a bottle. I threw it in the pantry I do small batch fermentations in (even temp and dark). When checking on the progress, I saw the leftover bottle was swollen and a pellicle was forming. I figured I had a wild ferm happening and blended that with some other cider. It is tart, sharp and dry. It works really well with some aromatic citrusy hops.

 

[leedspointbrew]

I wanted to make pumpkin beer that didn't suck. I succeeded. I roasted canned pumpkin and then soaked it in peanut butter flavored whiskey. It was perfect.

Sounds good to me. The roasted canned pumpkin went in secondary? And what was the brand of peanut butter flavored whisky?

 

[JoeSpartaNJ]

The only non-standard ingredient I have even used was hazelnut extract in a keg of brown ale once (was trying to do a Rogue Hazelnut Brown clone.)

Aside from that, I have added a shot of Frangelico to Stout or Porter on a few occasions.