I investigated making a weed infused brew during a legalization pipe dream a while back. What I learned was not promising. It seemed like you would need crazy amounts of weed to make it so it would be strong enough - 1/2 pound of bud per batch. Personally, I only sort of like those edibles (commercialization has made them better - we had several candies and things in Colorado, but of course no beer). As a beer connoisseur, I would not want it to taste too weedy. It seems to me that, in the hands of a really good brewer, you could get a balance and even have the weed compliment other ingredients, especially hops. Since becoming legal in January 2017 my big sis (a doc from Massachusetts) has already grown far more weed in her basement than she can consume. I think it would be better to give away her excellent buds than cook it into an experimental home brew. Have any of you expert cooks tried this?
I'm certainly not an expert homebrewer, but I made an IPA a while back with some trees in it. My roommate gave me a ton of sweet leaf from his Blue Dream plants. I added the trim at flame-out. Had many people tell me it was delicious, but I felt it really missed the mark as far as being an IPA. It tasted more like a hoppy saison that had a very strong, though not overpowering, weed flavor. Had I not known what the style was supposed to be, I'm sure I would have liked it more. Also, it was not psychoactive, though it was somewhere in the 8% ABV range
^^^ This. Make a beer and smoke some weed. Don't try to make the two into one. Or, conversely, make some brownies or even make some hash. Just keep it out of your beer.
That sounds about right on the taste - an IPA ends up more like a grassy saison. So if you were using the huge quantities that would be needed to be psychoactive the taste would need mountains of hops at all stages. It would be important to find the most opportune time to add the weed - early or late?
Since THC is not water soluble, the only way to get it in there is probably a tincture at bottling time.
I know a guy who has done a LOT of "research" on brewing this kind of beer and that's the method that he suggests.
Chocolate is pretty easy to add by using cocoa powder, cacao nibs, and/or natural chocolate extract (like vanilla extract). Coconut, I've never used, but I don't think the problem with it is getting character from it. The problem tends to be infection, as coconut tends to harbor some unwanted microbes.
I tried a cannabis IPA at GABF called General Washington, it was just ok. Not sure how it was brewed. As for adding THC to beer, I would be careful. Some of the edibles are quite potent and adding alcohol in the mix is a recipe for finding yourself face down somewhere.
I've been awfully intrigued by the idea of making one. But, I'd only do it with reggie, and it's damn hard to find him!
There are certainly hops you can use to magnify the weed aroma that's for sure. 7270 is super potent. Mix it with a little Chinook, CTZ and Medusa and or Equinox and you got max dankness.
So perhaps a second stage addition, once fermentation is nearly complete, would make a tincture out of the beer. I would think it would need to be very boozy, adding to the heavy buzz quality of such a beverage. Dogfish Head had some kind of "infuser" in their pub when I visited 10 years ago. I wonder if something like that would work - with finished brew. It would still probably be an egregious waste unless there simply is too much weed to smoke or give away as gifts. I need to go visit my sis and take some off her hands.
