[ZEROorDIE]

Hey all, this forum doesnt seem to get a lot of traffic and there isnt a whole lot out there done in the way serious beer brewing with cannabis, other than dry hopping with buds, or Bastard Brewers limited posts here on cider, wine and mead making. This is an on-going work in process and an extra place to store and share my thoughts as well as seek input and advice.

Background: I have been homebrewing for a couple years now and cultivating on and off for the better part of the last decade. I have a reasonable amount of experience in concentrates and extracts and would consider myself on an intermediate level in that respect, far from an expert. the idea of making a well crafted cannabis infused beer has always been a probing thought in the back of my mind and i have finally decided to go through with it.

Goals: Brew a strong ale w/ a significant amount of active cannabinoids, sans dirty plant flavors.
Develop Intermediate/advanced level Recipe with easy to follow instructions.

Approach: Brew an extraordinary beer, mostly in compliance with BJCP guidelines, with mind towards traditional beer flavor, but added effects of active cannabinoids. cannabis may be no more than a very mild secondary/tertiary flavor, which compliments the malt and hop profiles without making itself the center of attention.

Equipment: 3+gal SS kettle, flavorless/odorless detergent, Star-san or equivalent sanitizer, 2x 2+gal fermentation vessel and airlock/blow-off tube, various kitchen utensils.

Note: Recipe will be developed for a 1 gallon batch allowing it to be easily to scale up for larger batches. the recipe will be designed in the Partial Mash style until it reaches the final stages in the interest of simplicity, consistency and time.

so without further adieu
Bourbon Barrel Barleywine w/ hash oil, v.1
Batch Size: 1 gal
Boil Time: 90 min
Estimated O.G.: 1.150
Estimated abv: 15.5% abv
Estimated IBU: 80 IBU
Color: 16.8 SRM

Ingredients:
2.5 lb extra light DME
1 lb pale 2 row brewers malt (US)
.5 lb munich malt
.25 lb crystal 80
.25 oz columbus (bittering)
.25 oz east kent golding (flavor)
.25 oz charred oak cubes
3 oz small batch bourbon
s-04 english ale yeast
4g hash oil(highest quality)

Oak cubes must be hand charred(preferably over a natural gas stove burner) then soaked in the bourbon for ~1-2 months. use some type of canning jar.

Procedure:
-heat 2.5qt water to ~160*f then add pale malt, munich malt, and crystal malt. stir very well. target temp is ~149-152*f. maintain temp for 1 hour.
-batch sparge twice, with 3 qts @ 168* for a total volume of 1.75-2 gal
-stir in 1lb extra light DME and bring to a boil gradually so as not to burn the dissolved sugars.
-when full boil is reached add .25 oz columbus hops and boil for 90 minutes
-with 10 minutes remaining in the boil add .25 oz east kent goldings hops
-after 90 minute boil is complete chill wort down to 67* as quickly as possible(immersion chiller prefered, but ice bath will work) and transfer to fermentation vessel.
-Pitch s-04 yeast, let stand 20-30 minutes to hydrate, then shake throroughly to aerate wort. fermentation should begin within 4-12 hours.
-maintain temps under 70*f,

The Following steps are all performed after fermention has begun, so sanitation is paramout
-after36-48 hours begin adding .5lb of extra light DME dissolved and boiled in 1 cup water, every 12 hours to keep fermentation going.
- after gravity has stabilized (~4 weeks) transfer to secondary. add oak cubes and age 2 weeks. set extra oak aged bourbon aside and save.

Now this is where we, step back from our brewing procedures and go to our cannabis infusion. we want a very pure product with absolutely no hazardous chemicals, as this will be for consuption. my method of choice is 200 proof ethanol extraction as per greywolfs instructions here: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=200660

the reasoning behind this choice was the desire to use only food grade materials. 190 proof ever clear may also be used, as well as BHO if you are confident in your ability to make an absolutely pure product

the goal is to gather 4 grams of pure hash oil, which will be distributed between roughly 12, 12oz bottles. the resulting bottles will contain roughly 2 oz's of pure ethanol and .3gram of pure hash oil. this is why we share, this shit should be potent!

so while your beer is aging away on the oak cubes, make you hash oil, once your hash oil is made, pull out the 2-3 oz of bourbon that was set aside after the oak was added. add your hash oil to the bourbon and allow to dissolve. this can be done quickly by lightly heating the mixture and shaking, or slower over a couple weeks and at room temp.

-once your beer has reached the desired level of oak flavor, its time to bottle. siphon beer from fermentor to bottling bucket or other bottling vessel. boil .5 oz table sugar in 1 cup water, cool and stir into beer along with the bourbon tincture.

-bottle and age 2-3 weeks at 70* to carbonate, then store at or below 55*. at this point its all preference but i believe this beer should be allowed to mellow for roughly a year before consumption, but is ready to drink as soon as it is carbonated.


SO, this is where my recipe stands as of now. i should be putting version 1 into action within the next couple weeks. pictures will be added into this post and the following as i have updates. still might make some minor tweaks to the grain bill, but other than that im looking to share my ideas here and maybe gather some input, comments, questions or concerns regarding my procedure.

thanks all.
ZERO

[ZEROorDIE]

reserved

[Stranger]

Sounds Good


Subscribed

[trichrider]

standing by.

[IndicaCowboy]

Huh, I was looking forward to reading more. Looks like the thread petered out. I have some experience with Whiskey Barrels. Most (here in the States) are coopered out of White Oak. I never did like putting wine or beer in them. Now, it is fun to put your own distillation in them for a few years. This ole boys recipe sounds like something I would like to try

[ozman]

Wow sounds good to me,Im not much of a beer drinker but hey Im willing to learn.The idea of infusing thc into this does very much intrigue me.Will be waiting on the drinking report............

[Apache123]

Awesome!

[Kushy]

This sounds awesome.

[ZEROorDIE]

UPDATE: Sorry for no follow up posts. project was put on hold in lieu of a new flowering room. also have been refining my ethanol hash extraction methods. with spring come my brewing season so check back semi-infrequently.

cheers all

[Kushed_]

I would also like to hear about your QWET refinement!