I created this blonde beer to be split half into a lime beer and half into a chili beer. Because I didn't want the hops interfering with the other flavors, there are no aroma or flavor hops. This beer would work well with other fruit.
I split this 5 gallon batch into two 2.5 gallon batches for the chili and lime, so if you want to do a full 5 gallons, double the additions.
Lime Beer (aka Acid Trip):
1. I froze, and then thawed and peeled 7 small limes and tried to remove as much of the pith as possible.
2. I crushed the lime fruit up to release the juices and provide as much surface area for the yeast as possible. In retrospect, I would not do this, because the small pieces of lime clogged up my bottling lines. I would recommend instead just cutting the lime into thin slices.
3. I added the lime to a cup of water and pasturized at 160F in a saucepan for 20 minutes.
4. Cooled and then racked the beer on the fruit. Ferment for seven days, and then bottle.
Tasting notes:
Very tasty. It is more bitter than Bud Lime or Miller Chill, but on the other hand, it doesn't have that chemical-lime flavor. It's mostly a tart flavor, but it is definitely a little bitter. It tastes exactly like what you would expect of a blonde or pilsner if you added a healthy amount of lime to it.
If you wanted to make it a little sweeter and more like Bud Lime/Miller Chill I think it would work to backsweeten this beer with some lactose to balance the bitter lime flavor without making it taste chemically like the commercial products.
Chili Beer (aka Lying Scorpion):
This beer uses hatch green chilis, but the blonde base could easily work with spicier chilis. My dad grows these chilis, so I made this beer with his chilis. It is easily one of, if not the best beer I have ever brewed.
1. I used two fresh hatch chilis and three roasted chilis, all treated the same way. I froze them and then thawed them out to breakdown the cell walls. I then chopped off the tops, sliced them length-wise, and removed the seeds and veins.
2. Rack beer on chilis
3. Ferment seven days in secondary, then rack and bottle.
Tasting notes:
Awesome beer. It has great chili flavor with only a hint of heat in the aftertaste. The roasted flavor comes through. As I said, perhaps the best beer I've brewed.
You will want to taste the beer every couple of days to see when it reaches the flavor profile you want. Early in the chili addition the beer will be hotter and the fresh chili taste will come through. About five days in the heat subsides and the chili flavors blend well into the beer. The roasted flavor started to show at about five days in and melded well at seven.
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