Brewday came early--MEXICAN BLACKBIRD!

**Dude** · 07-20-2005, 06:33 PM

Well, plans changed and I had some free time so I'm doing it.
I've been formulating this recipe for a few eeks, it came to fruition finally, and the grist is in the mashtun right now.

Its a complete experiment. I had the name first (thank you ZZ Top!) and tried to make a recipe around it. Its gonna be a real puta! A 27 SRM jalapeno pepper beer.
I cannot wait to try this. I just hope it works out!!!!

Check out the specs of the recipe and please, DISCUSS!

Mexican Blackbird
A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------
Batch Size (Gal): 3.00 Wort Size (Gal): 3.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 6.23
Anticipated OG: 1.052 Plato: 12.95
Anticipated SRM: 27.4
Anticipated IBU: 36.6
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Grain/Extract/Sugar
% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
43.1 2.68 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
31.4 1.95 lbs. Pilsener Malt Germany 1.038 2
4.4 0.27 lbs. Black Patent Malt America 1.028 525
4.4 0.27 lbs. Flaked Corn (Maize) America 1.040 1
8.0 0.50 lbs. Crystal 120L Great Britain 1.033 105
4.4 0.27 lbs. Honey Malt Canada 1.030 18
4.4 0.27 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2

Hops
Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.50 oz. Cascade Whole 6.55 24.2 60 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade Whole 6.55 6.2 30 min.
0.25 oz. Czech Saaz Whole 3.00 1.9 20 min.
0.25 oz. Mt. Hood Pellet 3.40 2.3 20 min.
0.25 oz. Cascade Whole 6.75 2.1 5 min.

Yeast
-----
WLP060 American Ale Blend

ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS:

2 LBS. Chipotle peppers (Add to secondary)

SwAMi75 · 07-20-2005, 08:10 PM

"Let's drive that old Chrysler to Mexico boys!"

**Baron von BeeGee** · 07-20-2005, 09:04 PM

Quick noob question...how do you plan to sanitize the chiles, or is it necessary? I'm planning on doing something similar this weekend but with chiptoles, hopefully similar to Rogue Mexicali. I'm still debating whether to just boil them in the wort or toss them in the secondary.

**DeRoux's Broux** · 07-20-2005, 09:16 PM

good luck brother man! that one will hurt the coming out!!!!!

"....the wings of the blackbird will spread like an eagle for you....."

Rhoobarb · 07-20-2005, 09:19 PM

WOW! Two pounds of Chipotles in secondary! I would think that by the time you place them in secondary, you really won't need to sanitize them.

I'd be interested to see how you like the WLP060 American Ale Blend. I never knew it existed until your post, then I went to the White Labs website to look it up. Looks interesting!

Toilet Rocker · 07-20-2005, 09:25 PM

Orrelse--how did you decide on 2# of chipoltes? And how long will you let it sit on the peppers?

**Dude** · 07-20-2005, 10:56 PM

All--I'm not fully decided on how much chipotle chiles to put in. I'm going to start with a pound, and taste if after a week or so in secondary. I'll add more if necessary. I don't want it to hot. I want to be able to taste the chiles like in the Rogue beer, but not have a 3 alarm fire in my mouth every time I crack one of these open. I plan on blanching the roasted chiles briefly and tossing them in secondary--I'm not too worried about infection cause the alcohol in the fermenter will inhibit nasties. I hope.

Brewday problems: I missed my efficiency on this one, so I had to add some DME. Its not near as dark as I wanted it to be. It looks like a Brown ale. I'm wondering if I can remedy that somehow. I want this sucker black. My thief took a dump. I started taking a pre-boil sample from the brew pot and wort started flowing out through a hairline crack. I'm assuming this is going to happen to my autosiphon soon as well, as cracks are developing in that too.

Otherwise brewday went smooth. I pitched right onto that slurry of WLP060 that housed the Gravedigger ale up until today. Its been locked up for an hour and no activity yet. I'll bet its bubbling quite furiously before I hit the sack tonight.

This whole batch is getting bottled. I can't wait to have one with a nice rack of ribs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhoobarb

I'd be interested to see how you like the WLP060 American Ale Blend. I never knew it existed until your post, then I went to the White Labs website to look it up. Looks interesting!

I asked my LHBS owner what those yeasts were, cause the Whitelabs site isn't very informative about it. He assumed it was American Ale 1 (chico) and 2 (who is that?), and the East Coast Ale (Sam Adams). That rocks.....

Oh yeah... "Go find a Mexican Blackbird and send all your troubles back home...."

uglygoat · 07-21-2005, 01:19 AM

i once picked my nose after i had cut up habenaro peppers... not a very good idea.. my nose ran for twenty minutes...

i think if you slice em up, the acid should keep anything nasty from growing...

in addition to the secondary, did you ever think about just dropping one pepper into each bottle, then bottling it? i read that somewhere on this forum before.

SwAMi75 · 07-21-2005, 01:24 AM

I haven't been able to get that song out of my head all day.

"They all call her puta, 'cause no one really knows her name."

LOL

**Baron von BeeGee** · 07-21-2005, 02:22 PM

Gotcha. Blanching sounds good...I think I'll try the same thing. I don't think I could bear getting a batch to secondary and then losing it to some chile microbe!