Cannabis wine

[Crow River]

I've been making cider and wine recently from a bumper harvest of apples. You can make wine from just about anything, and I wondered about making it from weed.

 

Found a couple of ways of doing it: basically the difference is between fermenting the weed along with the fruit juice, or just adding it afterwards for an infusion. Reckon I'm going to go for the former approach. It will be a way of using up some of the stems, leaves and so on that are left over after each harvest. You can use flower too, but for my test run I'm going to just use the stems and leaves. I will try and make a stronger wine, upping the amount of sugar so more alcohol is produced, the better to extract the cannabinoids into the final product.

 

Anyone tried making cannabis wine?

[Boojum]

I'd have thought it would lend itself better to beer than wine, adding it instead of or in addition to hops

 

Never tried to make either, but I've got a bottle of cannavodka in the cupboard that's just decarbed trim, sticks etc left over from sifting decarbed week to make cannachocolate that's been steeping for a few months and it's fucking lethal

[Crow River]

@Boojum, I hear you about beer. I find beer is a bit more temperamental, you need to have the temperature just spot on, etc. Wine and cider are relatively simple in comparison. Also wine tends to be stronger, so more alcohol to extract the good stuff.

 

I already make a cannabis infused liqueur, and at some point I'll try making green vodka too. Was just intrigued by the possibility of fermenting weed. I've got all this fermentable fruit available for free, and lots of canna stems and leaves too. So makes sense to do something with them. Not really bothered if it tastes a bit weird or "medicinal", that's the point surely?

 

Anyway I'll brew up a small batch - a gallon probably - and report back. If I do make it quite strong, will probably need to condition for around six months or it will be really rough hooch!  

 

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Crow River

[Pepe Ramon]

I tried some cannabeer at the CBD & Hemp Fair in Barcelona last weekend. I was hoping it was going to taste of weed but it was mango flavoured, why I don't know? It was disappointing.

 

I think using leaves, stems, stalks and some popcorn buds would make a cracking white wine.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Arbre Medicinal

[Absurdist]

I don't think there's much carbohydrate in weed, so it's not going to ferment into alcohol. Rather it will impart flavour just like hops.

 

In beer making you can hop at the mash stage before fermentation, or dry hop afterwards. Dry hopping imparts most flavour. Also the cannabinoids will dissolve more readily when the alcohol is present after fermentation.

 

I've often been tempted to add some in with my dry hops but it seems like a waste of good weed. Not that there's any shortage.......

[Crow River]

1 hour ago, Absurdist said:

I don't think there's much carbohydrate in weed, so it's not going to ferment into alcohol. Rather it will impart flavour just like hops.

 

I can see that. The recipe I've found specifies just stems and leaves. These parts of the plant would seem to be the most starchy, so maybe there's some fermentable stuff there. However most of the carbohydrate for the alcohol comes from added sugar, so yeah more of a flavouring from the weed maybe. Plus the cannabinoids will infuse too.

 

I'm modifying the recipe I found by using apple pomace 'juice' instead of water, which will hopefully give the wine a bit more body.

 

I've also seen a video from a California vineyard where they infuse cannabis flower at the pre-fermentation stage, post-fermentation, and maturation stage also. So three separate infusions. Just using a Beaujolais as the basis for the wine.

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by Crow River

[Crow River]

Well that's the ingredients all in a demijohn, yeast in. Now hopefully it starts primary fermentation.

 

I used about 200g (dry weight) of stems and leaves, chopped and ground up. 

 

We'll see how it gets on over the next few weeks...

[Boojum]

Good luck with it man, hope it turns out well

[Crow River]

A few pics of the wine being prepared. It's bubbling away vigorously just now.

 

[Crow River]

A wee update on this project. 

 

The wine completed initial fermentation a couple of weeks ago. I let it sit for a while, hoping to infuse further with the weed soaking in it. 

 

Today I racked off most of the liquid to another demijohn. The liquid is still very sweet, and there are citrus and cannabis flavours. I was left with a large quantity of wet weed and sultanas. I scooped these out of the original fermenter, strained them then pressed in my fruit press to get all the juices out. I've let the resulting turbid liquid settle in a sterile jar overnight. I will rack off the liquid from the sediment tomorrow.

 

Rather than throw out the pressed cakes of weed, sultanas, citrus zest and yeast, I rehydrated with some water and have left to steep overnight.

 

I might press again and top up the wine with the resulting liquid. I also want to use the plant matter somehow, as there will still be cannabinoids in there.

 

I read about extracting oil or infusing butter from bubble hash leftovers. I could do something similar with this residue. However it has been fermented for about six weeks, and contains sultanas, citrus zest and yeast. I'm thinking to boil it up with some water and coconut oil. The resulting infusion might have some interesting flavour notes but could be potent.

 

For alcohol extraction I would need to dry the plant matter out and not sure how the extra substances will interact with the extraction process. Maybe I could make a kind of liqueur with half of it instead.

[Crow River]

So anyway, I filled a 75cl sherry bottle with the broken up, pressed remnants from squeezing the juice from weed/sultanas etc. The juice went to top up the secondary fermentation vessel. To the 75cl bottle I added about 30cl of high proof Jamaican rum (63% ABV), then whatever I had around to fill to up to the top: some fortified wine and some Crabbie's green ginger. Sealed, gave it a good shake and put in a dark place for a bit. 

 

The rest of the pressed remnants are currently simmering on the stove with a mixture of water and coconut oil. I'll filter using a cafetière shortly.

 

Here's the demijohn with the cannabis wine starting secondary fermentation. A few stray bits of weed still floating around...

 

[porky]

Nice ! What yeast did you use ?

I did a lot of brewing and all my country/wild fruit wine concoctions got gervin no 4,  high alcohol and quick to start beating down all wild yeasts.

[Crow River]

@porky, it was a Gervin yeast, forget the number just now. so-called "robust wine yeast". No problems with initial fermentation, very vigorous. We'll see how secondary goes...

 

E2A: Gervin No.2.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Crow River

[Crow River]

So I decided to bottle my cannabis wine today. It's beautifully clear, and a dark amber colour like tea. Racked off the sediment and decanted into a clean demijohn through a sieve to get rid of any wee bits of leaf. 

 

Had a taste, and while there's a note of alcohol, it's very sweet. Too sweet. Fermentation must have stopped at some point, leaving lots of sugar behind. Either I added too much sugar (likely) or temperature dropped too low (possible) or the cannabis slows the yeast down (possible). Took a hygrometer reading and it's quite high.

 

So I have some special yeast for stuck fermentations, I'll try that and see if I can get some of that sugar converted into alcohol...

 

I'll update the thread again in about a month.

 

Pic below is before decanting.

 

[Crow River]

Bit of an update on this experiment. The re-ferment ran its course, and I opened the demi-john so I could taste a wee drop of the wine. Very interesting aroma, and a really unusual, quite pleasant taste. But still too sweet. I suppose the yeast can only handle so much sugar. 

 

So I'm going to split this batch in two, top up with a mix of apple pomace juice and water, and re-ferment again. I won't add any extra sugar, and hopefully I'll get a better wine this time. Might also add in some extra cannabis, as I have quite a lot now from outdoor grows.