canndo
Well-Known Member
I have recently been on a nanobrewery excursion. A friend's son's wife is having a baby so he and some of his friends and some of the older folks opted, rather than hang around a gigantic baby shower, crawl around a few nanobreweries. We discovered some very interesting conepts in beer but my friend's son was VERY into brewing - only on the theoretical level, he has yet to have a sucessful beer.
But he brought up some very interesting concepts.
Beer is made of water, some sort of grain where the sugar has been enhanced somehow, hops, and yeast. The rest is just adjunct. Hudson began to teach me about the particulars of beer. My knowlege was even more theoretical than his, but as we drank we began to think about beer. I am SURE there are some home brewers inhabiting this place so you guys correct me if I am wrong.
The hops are used as a bittering agent in order to counterbalance the malty, sweetish or rich qualities of the other brewed ingredience.
Old recepies did not include the use of hops - I believe at least Germany has a rule, that beer is not beer unless it is made from hops andI believe the ingredients are limited to grains, water and yeast (not sure).
Now I had always wondered why different alcoholic concoctions seemed to have different psychoactive effects. Scotches tend to envigorate me, wake me up. Tiqullas tend to impart a very slight perception altering affect, and beer is always somewhat sedating.
I figured it was my imagination - ethyl alcohol is - etyl alchol, be it from wine or beer or distilates, right?
But hops DOES have an inherent sedating property, mescal Does have a certain slight psychoactive property - so what's up? Am I the victim of the same thought processes that had us all hold that THC was the only psychoactive in pot? and that mushrooms had but a single active constituant? Aren't all the best natural inebriants either artficialy or naturaly a combination of a series of psychoactives?
So what if other bittering agents were used instead of hops? What if (given that it doesn't make the beer taste like crap), ephedra was used as a bittering agent? how about yohimbine? Skullcap? Horny Goat weed? Kava? How about san pedro cactus extract?
Would it be possible to create a new range of beers that replace that soporific quality that hops imparts with some other minor ingredients? oh, not enough to have someone buzzed out of their minds on a single glass, but wouldn't it be possible to create as much subtle mental effects as flavors in one's "beer"? I am sure that some have used pot in their brew but I have neither tasted it nor heard about how it might work - would the agents have to be water soluable? would it have an effect on the ph? the fermentation process? would the chemicals survive the process?
I don't know, it was just a drunken thought at the time.
But he brought up some very interesting concepts.
Beer is made of water, some sort of grain where the sugar has been enhanced somehow, hops, and yeast. The rest is just adjunct. Hudson began to teach me about the particulars of beer. My knowlege was even more theoretical than his, but as we drank we began to think about beer. I am SURE there are some home brewers inhabiting this place so you guys correct me if I am wrong.
The hops are used as a bittering agent in order to counterbalance the malty, sweetish or rich qualities of the other brewed ingredience.
Old recepies did not include the use of hops - I believe at least Germany has a rule, that beer is not beer unless it is made from hops andI believe the ingredients are limited to grains, water and yeast (not sure).
Now I had always wondered why different alcoholic concoctions seemed to have different psychoactive effects. Scotches tend to envigorate me, wake me up. Tiqullas tend to impart a very slight perception altering affect, and beer is always somewhat sedating.
I figured it was my imagination - ethyl alcohol is - etyl alchol, be it from wine or beer or distilates, right?
But hops DOES have an inherent sedating property, mescal Does have a certain slight psychoactive property - so what's up? Am I the victim of the same thought processes that had us all hold that THC was the only psychoactive in pot? and that mushrooms had but a single active constituant? Aren't all the best natural inebriants either artficialy or naturaly a combination of a series of psychoactives?
So what if other bittering agents were used instead of hops? What if (given that it doesn't make the beer taste like crap), ephedra was used as a bittering agent? how about yohimbine? Skullcap? Horny Goat weed? Kava? How about san pedro cactus extract?
Would it be possible to create a new range of beers that replace that soporific quality that hops imparts with some other minor ingredients? oh, not enough to have someone buzzed out of their minds on a single glass, but wouldn't it be possible to create as much subtle mental effects as flavors in one's "beer"? I am sure that some have used pot in their brew but I have neither tasted it nor heard about how it might work - would the agents have to be water soluable? would it have an effect on the ph? the fermentation process? would the chemicals survive the process?
I don't know, it was just a drunken thought at the time.
