Jalapenos, seeds or no seeds?

TechyDork · 11-06-2009, 11:29 PM

I am planning to brew a jalapeno IPA in the next few days and was curious if those of you that have brewed with peppers leave the seeds in or do you remove them?

I will be adding 3-4 peppers to the last 10 minutes of the boils and allowing them to steep for an additional 10 minutes.

I will also ad 2-3 peppers to the secondary for 10 days.

my plan is to roast them for 30 min and then soak them over night in vodka before i brew, but i am just not sure about the seeds.

any ideas?

nolabelbrewing · 11-07-2009, 02:38 AM

Um. I love hot things. Seeds are spicy. I would look at the amount of hops you are adding in to the boil. Do your best to make an educated guess. Too many hops, no need for seeds, less hops, perhaps some seeds. The spicyness is going to accentuate the bitterness of your IPA. Hoppy things make spicy things more spicy.

Good Luck and please post recipes and tasting notes.

TeufelBrew · 11-07-2009, 02:43 AM

Seeds and pith (white membrane) are the hottest part of the pepper.

I like hot stuff, but I would leave the seeds out. I'm thinking beer that has a jalapeno flavor, not a hot drink that has an ETOH content.

Also, for the dry hop, you can leave the peppers unroasted with a soak in the vodka for a nice fresh pepper taste. Could add some layering to the flavor.

If you can get it, try "Billy's Chili's" from Boulder Beer. Great job of adding spicy peppers and getting a really balanced flavor and depth to the pepper taste.

Brew-Happy · 11-07-2009, 03:55 AM

FYI:

Quote:

Myth #1: Most of the heat in hot peppers lies in the seeds.

Nope. Most of the capsaicin, (the compound that gives chile peppers their kick), rests in the white flesh, referred to as the veins or ribs. The seeds have little to no capsaicin but taste hot because when you cut a pepper open, capsaicin is released and dispersed onto the seeds.

Done this test with Caribbean Red Peppers (form of Scotch Bonnet aka Habanero).

The flesh is what carries the capsaicin. My ears were ringing after that taste test

**Brew-boy** · 11-07-2009, 01:21 PM

There is a recent video on Basic Brewing Radio where they did an experiment with peppers.
You may want to check it out.