Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer Jalapeno Cream Ale

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I guess I waited too long and can't edit my earlier post.



I made mine with a whole 12 oz. jar of sliced jalapenos because I couldn't find fresh, and added some of the packing juice and vodka. I'm not sure if that had something to do with the retention of the taste, but I finally finished my keg last night and the aftertaste had died down a little, but it was still near perfect.

I cooked, soaked, and added the jalapenos as directed, let a few slip into the fermenter, and added the juices and vodka after the fermentation had settled a bit.
I'd say the spice and burn was similar to something of a banana pepper. Certainly bearable.


A big thanks to the OP. This was my first competition. The third place ribbon was for a Kolsch. Out of 10 brews that I entered, your recipe score the highest for me :)
 
gonna brew this tomorrow. huntsman you really used 6 in the boil? I think i'm gonna do 4, then 7 in the secondary.
Actually, 7 in the boil and 6 in primary with requests next time for more. Do it. It's well worth it.
....very sorry for the late post:(
 
I guess I waited too long and can't edit my earlier post.

I made mine with a whole 12 oz. jar of sliced jalapenos because I couldn't find fresh, and added some of the packing juice and vodka. I'm not sure if that had something to do with the retention of the taste, but I finally finished my keg last night and the aftertaste had died down a little, but it was still near perfect.

I cooked, soaked, and added the jalapenos as directed, let a few slip into the fermenter, and added the juices and vodka after the fermentation had settled a bit.
I'd say the spice and burn was similar to something of a banana pepper. Certainly bearable.


A big thanks to the OP. This was my first competition. The third place ribbon was for a Kolsch. Out of 10 brews that I entered, your recipe score the highest for me :)

That is awesome. Congrats and one thrown back in honor of your accomplishment and award.:mug:
 
i used 7 jalapenos in the dry hop. roasted at 350 for 20 min, soaked in vodka overnight.

it's a good beer, good pepper flavor, but no heat whatsoever. none.

i used 4 in the boil. wth? I tasted the jalapenos before adding, they were definitely spicy.
 
i used 7 jalapenos in the dry hop. roasted at 350 for 20 min, soaked in vodka overnight.

it's a good beer, good pepper flavor, but no heat whatsoever. none.

i used 4 in the boil. wth? I tasted the jalapenos before adding, they were definitely spicy.

interesting I made this last week and used 5 in the boil and am going to dry hop 5 wonder how its going to turn out
 
mine turned out great there is a bit of heat almost to much hits you right in the back of the throat but taste great
 
Whats the benefit of 24hour vodka soak? I can follow the instructions on the vodka soak in the secondary (maybe sanitary reasons?), but to do so for boil I will have to wait till tomorrow and I would rather start on it tonight. Any opinions out there on 20-30min bake and directly pitch into wort @ 15min? Is the point of the vodka to tone down the hotness before pitching into the wort?
 
I thought I would chime in on this recipe since I am brewing my 4th batch. I find you do not need this vodka soak. I keep playing w/ the peppers. In Utah we have a brewery called Wasatch, they do an excellent Jalapeno cream ale. Matt beemer, head brewer adds a pound per barrel of fresh cut jalapenos to the mash. I did this the last time on this recipe and during transfer to 2ndary, it was smelling hot, and tasting hot. I went balls out and added some cleaned jalapenos to the last 15 min of boil and I added more in secondary. I love the recipe, the hops are awesome. Note, every time I make this, I want it hotter. Maybe it is the quality of jalapenos and such. Sundowner, thanks for the recipe, everyone loves it and want me to brew it. I add in a lil' crystal 20-40 to up the color. I may add some honey malt the next time!
 
Well I'm about to try my luck with this brew. I've been wanting to do a pepper beer for some time now and this sounds perfect. I didn't soak the peppers in vodka so I'll just have to throw them in the boil for now and see how it turns out.

And the peppers I'm using are coming from my garden. They were mild salsa peppers that I left unpicked for far too long. Now they have a deep burn to them so I'm only gonna put in one or two for now until I can taste it later and see how much heat I got out of them. And I just baked them in the oven for 20 minutes, put them in a ziploc bag to steam for a while and now I'm gonna peel the skin off and cut out the seeds and veins. Hopefully that helps

Wish me luck!

Cheers
 
Update on my beer; It tastes awesome! It has heat at the back of the palate and is not over the top. The beer has a great character to it. This beer get better every time I brew it. Thanks sundowner, this beer is awesome. I added 16 halved jalapenos to the mash and do a sach rest @ 60min. I also added 7 cleaned jalapenos to the boil @15min and also added the same amount @ 2ndary. This beer is going fast and shows that a great base recipe w/ peppers is a always a good bet!
 
I am going to try this. What do you guys think about smoking the peppers instead of roasting? I really enjoy a slight smokyness to beers.
 
I'm going to try smoking them too. I might kick up the heat with a few more peppers too.
I love subtle smoked flavors.

How do you think a Belgian yeast would hold up the heat/smokiness? I think it would add a nice depth of flavor, with the spicy phenols. I'm thinking along the lines of a Saison with background smoked pepper flavor, and a fair amount of heat front.
 
I'm going to try smoking them too. I might kick up the heat with a few more peppers too.
I love subtle smoked flavors.

How do you think a Belgian yeast would hold up the heat/smokiness? I think it would add a nice depth of flavor, with the spicy phenols. I'm thinking along the lines of a Saison with background smoked pepper flavor, and a fair amount of heat front.
I Think wlp550 would help the peppers come through. I would stay on the lower temp side to avoid any of the banana flavors.
 
I was going to use a yeast I harvested from Boulevard's Smokestack Saison. It's really earthy, which should go well with the smoked undertones. In the next couple weeks, I'll have to brew this up.
 
Wonder how long it takes for the peppers in secondary? I've had my roasted peppers in the bottle for 3 days and it smells very peppery, but it tastes mellow and very light on the heat.

Will more time give more heat and pepper flavor? Or only more peppers?
 
Wonder how long it takes for the peppers in secondary? I've had my roasted peppers in the bottle for 3 days and it smells very peppery, but it tastes mellow and very light on the heat.

Will more time give more heat and pepper flavor? Or only more peppers?


I left mine in for 5 days but I put 5 peppers in the carboy it turned out perfect not to hot but you get the heat and can taste the peppers
 
Thanks man, I put mine in exactly 5 days ago. 2 days ago it tasted pretty good but with a soft heat and nice peppery flavor. I don't know if the heat will get any hotter without putting more peppers in there
 
I'm also looking at crash cooling in primary and adding gelatin to clear without removing peppers or racking to secondary. Mainly doing this for carboy conservation but also a little for lazyness! Anybody think that's a bad idea?
 
Oh, and one more thing. I just discovered yesterday that I didn't have any corn in this brew. Went to the LHBS and asked the girl if she remembered putting it in there when she helped me get it together because when I got home I didn't see the maize in the grains. She told me that she did indeed forget to add the corn.

So, now I'm contemplating throwing a bit of malto in there at bottling because I can't think of anything else that might help it like the corn would now. Anybody else know how I can try to get that crisp corn taste now??
 
Adding this to Beertools, What category would this fit best into;

Cream Ale?
Spice/Herb/Vedg?
Specialty?
 
Well I smoked the Jalapenos over a hickory/mesquite blend and added 5 to the boil. I dialed the hops down a bit by using a hop schedule more like this on a 90 minute boil.

0.50 Oz Cluster [7.0%] Mash
0.50 Oz Cluster [7.0%] 45 Min
0.50 Oz Liberty Leaf [3.6%] 20 Min
0.25 Oz Liberty Leaf [3.6%] 15 Min
0.25 Oz Liberty Leaf [3.6%] 10 Min
0.50 Oz Liberty Leaf [3.6%] 5 Min
0.50 Oz Liberty Leaf [3.6%] Flame Out


The IBU is more around 20 and still to style. Since i didn't get the efficiency i would have liked, i added 1/2 lbs of extra light DME to the final 15 minutes of the boil to kick up the ABV a few points and add a small bit of color.

I know that "Mash hopping" supposedly doesn't do anything for your beer, but for some reason it helps me not to have boil overs when i add further hops. I feel that the mash hopping also helps give the beer a bit of hop flavor without the bitterness. I'm going to be adding the vodka and remaining smoked peppers to the beer when the fermentation slows down a bit. Since i have it in the conical i wont need to transfer to secondary and i can just drop the trub and yeasties when they finish up.

So far so good. The peppers in the boil didn't add to much "heat" but they did add a bit of that chipotle flavor.
 
I haven't visited the brewing forums in a long time. It warms my heart to see you guys enjoying my Jalapeno Cream ale and playing around with the recipe. That's what brewing on the edge is all about...

If you ain't brewing on the edge, you're taking up too much space..:)

Cheers! :mug:
 
How about some photos of the Jalapenos Smoking?

Picture0195.jpg


And the Jalapenos ageing in Vodka?

Picture0198.jpg
 
i have everything to make this, just need a free fermentor to get started! Howd the smoked jalapeno version come out? Also, when you had the jalapenos to the boil, theres no need to have soaked them in vodka right? Just the ones you add to secondary?
 
I soaked them all in Vodka, and poured the Vodka into secondary with the peppers. But there really is no need to. The Smoked Jalapenos and cream ale is still in the cone. So far they have NO heat but a ton of chipotle flavor. I may add a few more Jalapenos (un-smoked) just to heat it up a bit.
 
I soaked my smoked peppers in everclear, and it makes KILLER bloody mary's. Smoky, and super spicy. Can't use more than a half-ounce or so. Definitely no doubles!
 
I usually try to keep my abv fairly low so I can drink it all night. In this case, however, I probably can't drink it all night anyway... I might just pour it in.
 
Hey Sundowner. I got a version of this with some minor tweaks brewing right now. I found the roast took quite a bit of heat off the top of the peppers so no vodka soak. I put (2) sliced in the mash and will put the other (4) in the last 15 mins of the boil. I will taste at the end of fermentation and see if it needs more heat before I drop any in the fermenter. Gonna use WLP080 cream ale yeast. Thanx for the cool recipe.
 
Tapped a keg of this with 4 smoked habenaros, 4 smoked jalapeños, and 4 smoked cayenne peppers this weekend.

Mine were all put into the secondary, and sat for 1 month. Better than my last batch which just had jalapeños. More smoke flavor too, from cooler longer smoke.

It's super hot, but has amazing flavor! nice sipper on a rainy day (which is 2/3rds of the days here...).
 
I'm definitely going to brew this one up, and jumped ahead of a few in my pipeline. I just need to free up some fermenters. I'll do the original recipe first, but the second time around I'm thinking about using a good deal of rauch malt for a hot smoky beer.
 
I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of this - using the original recipe. I used 5 roasted Jalepenos at 15 minutes of the boil, and put another 2 in for a "dry hop" secondary after soaking in vodka for 3 days.

My first impression after tasting it 1 month in the bottles was "good, but slightly veggy flavor, and a little low on the heat."

After a 2nd month of conditioning - the veggy flavor was gone, and the heat seemed to stand up a little better on its own, but I would call it noticeable, not pronounced.

Overall, this beer wins lots of props from the BMC crowd. I'll brew up 10 gallons next time. I'd agree with the original recipe's tasting notes of a balanced beer.
 
going to be "dry hopping" the peppers tomorrow. any problem with adding the peppers in the primary? or should i keg and put the jalapeños in a hop back like i do with dry hopping? i put 4 peppers in the mash, right now theres no heat. i have 4 peppers soaking in vodka now. think i should add a few more?
 
going to be "dry hopping" the peppers tomorrow. any problem with adding the peppers in the primary? or should i keg and put the jalapeños in a hop back like i do with dry hopping? i put 4 peppers in the mash, right now theres no heat. i have 4 peppers soaking in vodka now. think i should add a few more?

Zero problems with putting peppers in primary. I think mine were in primary for about 10 days.

And I would add more peppers. Just remember to sample the wort regularly so you can get a feel for how hot the beer is getting. I took mine out when it started to worry me. The burn tamed down after I took out the peppers and turned out fantastic.

This beer disappeared fast. It's that good
 
I brewed up the exact recipe (except I slit my jalapenos in half lengthwise, roasted, and then froze them right after roasting then added direct with no vodka soak) on the 1st page 7 weeks ago to be ready for today, CINCO DE MAYO! AYE! This beer turned out fantastic, perfectly balanced flavors, really a great recipe. When I get home tonight it will be tacos, home-made cilantro lime salsa fresca, and Jalapeno Ale!!!!

Thanks to the OP for posting this awesome recipe!
:mug:
 
brewed again a couple weeks ago. This is easily my top beer subbed galena for the cluster. Could not tell any difference. my next batch, I'm thinking of doing the vodka soak and see what happens. I always add .25# of c-40 to make the color more like Wasatch.:ban:
 
You guys talked me into it - I will be brewing this weekend - substituting Vienna with Munich. I like the idea of smoking the Jalapenos, I think it will reduce the chance of wild yeast, and knock down the veggie flavor. As far as heat, Jalapeno heat is always hit and miss.
 
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