Strangest Ingredient You Have Used???
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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...
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?
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
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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...
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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!
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
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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.
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.
Beets are full of sugar so at least I would expect a bump to the starting gravity.
Hopinista
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Can't be worse than that pizza beer
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
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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?
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/
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
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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.
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.
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
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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."
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."
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.
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.
Wintergreen leaves. Added them randomly to a pale ale and it ended up being one of my favorite brews.
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bobdaferret
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I once put a cup of maca root powder in a 5-gal batch of hefeweizen. I thought it rocked.
:rockin:
:rockin:
cjalderman
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Made a lemongrass saison that turned out pretty tasty.
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!
Since we're still under a year of brewing experience, haven't tried anything else exotic yet!
ffaoe
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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
Active Member
Alaskan Brewing Co does a winter beer that they incorporate the tiny new growth of evergreen trees. Namely Spruce tips. Very nice!
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:
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/recipe/beer-of-the-week-potato-vacation-beer/Following Link said:
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.
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.
crawfman
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Currently have a saison going with porcinis and figs. First round addition is one package dried porcinis and 1/2# dried figs I carmelized and puréed. Will do a second round addition with 1# figs and one more pack shrooms.
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JordanKnudson
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These aren't necessarily *that* crazy, but I've used:
-Rose water in a lager (tough to get the quantity right, as the method of taking a small sample and adding until you get the proportion right, then scaling up, doesn't seem to work in this case)
-Pink peppercorns in a wheat beer (basically in place of the more standard coriander)
-Ginger. Used half a pound fresh in secondary with a brown ale, trying to create a "gingersnap" type flavor. It actually turned out with a great taste, but after a few days I started to notice some plastic taste. Turned out I had let some untreated tap water get into the mix at some point (I think when I mixed up priming solution to bottle, and I just wasn't paying attention to what water I was using), and the whole batch went to hell.
-Rose water in a lager (tough to get the quantity right, as the method of taking a small sample and adding until you get the proportion right, then scaling up, doesn't seem to work in this case)
-Pink peppercorns in a wheat beer (basically in place of the more standard coriander)
-Ginger. Used half a pound fresh in secondary with a brown ale, trying to create a "gingersnap" type flavor. It actually turned out with a great taste, but after a few days I started to notice some plastic taste. Turned out I had let some untreated tap water get into the mix at some point (I think when I mixed up priming solution to bottle, and I just wasn't paying attention to what water I was using), and the whole batch went to hell.
Irishpenguin13
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Made a lemongrass and peach ipa. Ended up keeping it as my regular summer brew.
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Hopinista
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Recipe? That sounds fantastic!
That's pretty funny, but have you ever been on Phish lot? You'd have a lot more success with a Heady clone.
mb82
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Mint in a Belgian Single. I only added it to a couple of bottles. It was pretty good. Not good enough to do a whole batch of it but different. Now I just muddle up the mint in the glass before pouring the beer whenever I want that flavor.
I am planning on a Sahti with juniper. Really while it is out of the norm for most people I can't say it is weird.
I am planning on a Sahti with juniper. Really while it is out of the norm for most people I can't say it is weird.
Irishpenguin13
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Its quite a wild ride but here you go:
OG 1.061
FG 1.011
Grain:
15 lbs. Pale malt
1/2 lb victory
1/2 lb honey malt
1 lb crystal
Hops:
1/2 oz simcoe
2 1/2 oz williamette
4 oz chinook
3 oz fuggles
Other:
1 cup pressed lemongrass
7 lbs peaches pitted and pre frozen prior to brewing
152* for 60 min
Sparge 170*
6.25 g
Hops
1 oz simcoe @ 60
30 min:
1/2 oz williamette
1/2 oz chinook
1/2 oz fuggles
15 min:
1/2 oz chinook
1 oz. Fuggles
1/2 oz williamette
10 min:
1/2 oz chinook
1/2 oz williamette
1/2 oz fuggles
5 min:
1/2 oz fuggles
1 oz chinook
1/2 oz williamette
1 c lemongrass
Flame out
1/2 oz simcoe
1/2 oz fuggles
1/2 oz williamette
1/2 oz chinook
2 lbs. Corn sugar dilute with boiling water, cool to 70* add to primary.
3 weeks in primary
rack to secondary on peaches/ 1/2 oz chinook preferably in a sack . F'real...trust me.
ive dry hopped with a few different hops in secondary with the peaches and found 1/2 oz chinook was my favorite, but the above recipe is what ive always used as a solid base.
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Raising an old thread to quote myself? Yes. Yes indeed.
Not saying it turned out being bad, just that for the extra ingredient cost of the potatoes (which isn't much), and the extra work involved I was hoping for something a little special. Perhaps I'll try a second batch using some bulk food store dehydrated potato flakes as an adjunct in the mash later on.
So I whipped this up with a slight (actually major come to think of it) change in that I used some sweet potatoes and T58 that I had on hand for some reason. Also a little lighter on the colour on account of a Vienna malt being used, I had forgotten to pick up the munich. A little disappointing, this is like a slightly spiced adjunct lager. A little more body, but that's about it. No doubt that's from the T58.
Not saying it turned out being bad, just that for the extra ingredient cost of the potatoes (which isn't much), and the extra work involved I was hoping for something a little special. Perhaps I'll try a second batch using some bulk food store dehydrated potato flakes as an adjunct in the mash later on.
mb82
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I have one upped myself.
Newest oddball ingredient: Cedar. I just brewed a Sahti and will comment about it once it ferments. At this point it is pretty good.
Newest oddball ingredient: Cedar. I just brewed a Sahti and will comment about it once it ferments. At this point it is pretty good.
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