Unusual ingredients

[Nicks90]

Inspired by this link -
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2019/06/kelloggs-launces-beer-made-from-rejected-rice-krispies/
Has anyone else tried something completely off the wall?

I am due to try @MyQul brut using 30% rice crispies, but this article has me thinking about something even more outlandish.
What about a saki wine made entirely from rice crispies?

So what whacky stuff have you brewed with?

 

[The Baron]

I've used Corn Flakes and Microwaveable rice in the same brew apart from that nothing unusual just the normal fruit and juices

 

[strange-steve]

Calling @Drunkula

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I did a tour of 7 brothers micro brewery in Salford last year, they get broken corn flakes from the nearby Kellogs factory in Trafford Park. Wasn't impressed with their corn flake beer.

 

[Drunkula]

I've done the occasional experiment. Ok - I brewed with 3 boxes of fruit n fibre and it wasn't a disaster but it's not worth doing. FnF is really fortified with iron and you get this lovely first taste and then - Ooooohhh - iron filings. As it was brewing I heard on a podcast John Palmer saying beware of using fortified cereal because of the oxidation acceleration.

I've used popcorn. Just took normal un-popped corn, put it in a air popper and used that. It just dissolves in and while it works it doesn't actually bring anything to the table.

My 'brexfast' beer was all non-continental breakfast items, basically everything I could get my hands on, shreddies, shredded wheat, muesli, porridge, toast, cascade hops because of grapefruit being a breakfast thing.... a few more things but I can't remember. That was ok. It was just like a light ale, really and you'd never know it had stupid stuff in it.

I brewed with bird mix from Poundland recently which is mostly flaked maize and corn n stuff and did a split with kristalweizen yeast and belgian yeast and those beers are great. The kristalweizen is really good. It's like a lighter version of a wheat beer, almost lagery but with the hint of banana and other good wheaty things. The belgian I was first thrown by the taste of because I wasn't used to the flavours but I like the complexity more and more each time I have it. I would brew with the bird mix again in a heartbeat.

I've got a few boxes of cornflakes and some chocolate wheat-o things that I'm going to look at the iron levels of but I think I'm going to do the chocolate ones anyway. I've got some uncrushed spelt but don't have a mill and it's like shotgun pellets. If they just gelatinise with heating I'll do it. Ummm, probably more things but I forget. Oh, I use muesli all the time but I don't consider it any different to using oats. It's like - out of porridge, muesli it is then.

 

[An Ankoù]

What a fascinating thread. I definitely need to cast my net further than my Imperial Camembert and Fisherman's Friend Blonde Porter.

I've got some uncrushed spelt but don't have a mill and it's like shotgun pellets

If your talking about spelt malt then use it in any recipe that calls for wheat malt. It's amazing. Stick it in a pillow case and belt it with a hammer, but don't let it go to waste.

 

[marshbrewer]

Be sure to double check for yourselves, but I had a quick glance at the cheapo cornflakes in Lidl and the ingredients were just corn and malt extract, so they might be worth a shot. About 80p for 500g.

I also have an email from a chap at Henry Bell & Co , who produce various cereal based animal feedstuffs, that their micronised maize is just prime french french maize that is micronised then flaked, and has no additives or anything added so should be fine for brewing. My local grain merchant will sell me a 20kg sack of it for about £9, which works out seriously cheap if you use corn as an adjunct a lot.

 

[Drunkula]

If your talking about spelt mal

Nah, sadly not. It was reduced to 25p for 500g in Holland and Barrett so I thought I'm having you. I don't want to damage my hammer on it so I'll see if it's easy to tame when I can be faffed.

I am now imagining your mentholated stout. I can see that.

 

[fury_tea]

Found this thread on Reddit a while back:

https://www.reddit.com/r/holdmywort

There's all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff on there, like people making beer from dog food, turtle food, baby food, dandelions, the list goes on

Worth a read, some are hilarious.

 

[terrym]

I did a tour of 7 brothers micro brewery in Salford last year, they get broken corn flakes from the nearby Kellogs factory in Trafford Park. Wasn't impressed with their corn flake beer.

Be sure to double check for yourselves, but I had a quick glance at the cheapo cornflakes in Lidl and the ingredients were just corn and malt extract, so they might be worth a shot. About 80p for 500g.

Old thread on using cornflakes rather than flaked maize here
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/using-flaked-maize-aka-the-great-cornflake-debate.75604/
The beer I made had 15% of the grain bill as maize or in my case Tesco cornflakes and tasted of them too. So I havent used cornflakes in any beer since then. But I have used flaked maize in other beers and you can't taste it, or at least I couldn't.
And flaked maize is only 85p for 500g from HBC.

 

[An Ankoù]

Found this thread on Reddit a while back:

https://www.reddit.com/r/holdmywort

There's all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff on there, like people making beer from dog food, turtle food, baby food, dandelions, the list goes on

Worth a read, some are hilarious.

Just had a look. Some of them look horrendous. I was interested in the guy who successfully mashed a bag of flour though. I wonder how he stopped it all lumping together.

 

[Clint]

I might have said a while back....do not use animal feed!
It's just that. Low grade,not for human consumption. It's not screened,cleaned properly,could be infected with fungal growth or treated with chemicals.

 

[An Ankoù]

I might have said a while back....do not use animal feed!
It's just that. Low grade,not for human consumption. It's not screened,cleaned properly,could be infected with fungal growth or treated with chemicals.

.... and full of hormones that'll shudder your udder. Didn't "mad cow disease" come from dodgy animal feed containing infected sheep tissue?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The Grocery and Produce thread over on HBT has some fun ideas. One advantage we have over the Septics is the standard Allinson bread yeast you get in Tesco etc actually works quite well in beer - and we have bottle-conditioned ales like 1845 in supermarkets as a source of proper brewing yeast.

+1 on avoiding animal feed.

 

[Hanglow]

I've only used cornmeal (did a cereal mash) and porridge. Not sure what else I'd try, I think I'll leave that to others :)

The leftover bread beers I've tried have all been pretty poor

 

[MyQul]

Inspired by this link -
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2019/06/kelloggs-launces-beer-made-from-rejected-rice-krispies/
Has anyone else tried something completely off the wall?

I am due to try @MyQul brut using 30% rice crispies, but this article has me thinking about something even more outlandish.
What about a saki wine made entirely from rice crispies?

So what whacky stuff have you brewed with?

I definately say go for it. iirc rice crispies are the same as torrified rice (but with added vitamins and other crap)

 

[proost]

I've done the occasional experiment. Ok - I brewed with 3 boxes of fruit n fibre and it wasn't a disaster but it's not worth doing. FnF is really fortified with iron and you get this lovely first taste and then - Ooooohhh - iron filings. As it was brewing I heard on a podcast John Palmer saying beware of using fortified cereal because of the oxidation acceleration.

I've used popcorn. Just took normal un-popped corn, put it in a air popper and used that. It just dissolves in and while it works it doesn't actually bring anything to the table.

My 'brexfast' beer was all non-continental breakfast items, basically everything I could get my hands on, shreddies, shredded wheat, muesli, porridge, toast, cascade hops because of grapefruit being a breakfast thing.... a few more things but I can't remember. That was ok. It was just like a light ale, really and you'd never know it had stupid stuff in it.

I brewed with bird mix from Poundland recently which is mostly flaked maize and corn n stuff and did a split with kristalweizen yeast and belgian yeast and those beers are great. The kristalweizen is really good. It's like a lighter version of a wheat beer, almost lagery but with the hint of banana and other good wheaty things. The belgian I was first thrown by the taste of because I wasn't used to the flavours but I like the complexity more and more each time I have it. I would brew with the bird mix again in a heartbeat.

I've got a few boxes of cornflakes and some chocolate wheat-o things that I'm going to look at the iron levels of but I think I'm going to do the chocolate ones anyway. I've got some uncrushed spelt but don't have a mill and it's like shotgun pellets. If they just gelatinise with heating I'll do it. Ummm, probably more things but I forget. Oh, I use muesli all the time but I don't consider it any different to using oats. It's like - out of porridge, muesli it is then.

I had to check the date after reading "bird mix from Poundland" Really? I'm interested, can you post the recipe? I only tend to do 10l all grain brews now.

 

[MickDundee]

I’ve not done anything as “out there” as some of the posts on this thread.

I had an issue with my wheat kernels not going through my grain milk, so I lobbed in 750g of Shredded Wheat Bitesize to compensate for the loss of efficiency. That Belgian Wit was one of my favourite beers I’ve brewed!

 

[Drunkula]

"bird mix from Poundland" Really? I'm interested, can you post the recipe?

Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
1.000 kg​	Minch Pale Ale (Hook Head) (5.0 EBC)​	Grain​	1​	55.6 %​	0.65 L​
0.800 kg​	Maize, Flaked (Thomas Fawcett) (3.9 EBC)​	Grain​	2​	44.4 %​	0.52 L​
5.0 g​	Pilgrim [9.30 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	Hop​	3​	15.9 IBUs​	-​
6.0 g​	Huell Melon Hull [6.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min​	Hop​	4​	8.3 IBUs​	-​
10.0 g​	Huell Melon Hull [6.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min​	Hop​	5​	8.3 IBUs​	-​
1.0 pkg​	Kristalweizen repitch (Crossmyloof #) [35.49 ml]​	Yeast​	6​	-​	-​

This for 10 litres - I ended up with 8 in the bottle because I had lots of boil off and the trub was a bit fluffy. I entered the bird food as flaked maize. Efficiency was a bit rubbish because of the loss at 63%.

It was actually a split with the Crossmyloof Beligian yeast and the Kristalweizen (KW). Here's some notes.

Water: BnW yellow balanced. used 2.1g of gypsum and 1.4g of CaCl 78:61
I gelatinised the bird food in 90c water. It gelatinised alright. I adjusted the amount of mash water right up - probably 10 litres. It was quite thin after that.

1.3g of yeast in the Weizen, there wasn't any more in the packet. 2g for the Belgian. I put them in the 5 litres tubs and clingfilmed them. That way I could stack them and put them in the small freezer with the wine fermenter.
19.5 c for the ferment.

Pitched 19th Jan 11pm. Did the mash with the sun contributing. Think the electric cost for the brew was about 50p.
28th turned off the heating for it. Belgian @ 5.3 brix ~ 1.007 4.7%, Weizen 5.1 ~ 1.006 4.8%.
The weizen was super, super clear and tasted just slightly sweet, no esters, super neutral straight away. The esters in the Belgian popped straight away.
Bottled 7th Feb 2020

From the tasting notes: 20th Feb Kristalweizen: not much carb and it's nice! It really is. Reminds me of the first all grain. It's lightly lemony upfront then you get sweet, then grain. I'd drink it again straight away. Such a nice finish.

20th Belgian - such a difference compared to the lightness of the KW. Almost spicy but very different to the kolsh. Didn't like it at first then I started liking it. Not as much as the KW, it's almost got too much character.

26th Feb Belgian with strawberry Haribo (yes, I put haribo in the bottles for fun).
It was nice, with a very slight berry taste I would only notice if I was looking for it. The flavour is so different the the subtle banana of the KW.


Anyway, over time I started like the Belgian more and more as I got used to the new flavours.

The bird food I used was in the light blue bag 800g and all the things were crushed or flaked. There's a bag that's 1.4kg that looked much better value but I think you'd need a grain mill for it. Loads of corn and grains that were whole. If I had the technology I'd do another one with that.