Ghost chili IIPA

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Breweralex

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Today I am brewing my first imperial IPA utilizing ghost chili flakes, I am wondering if anyone has experience with this. I am thinking 1/4oz of the flakes in secondary with my dry hop addition

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be careful when adding hot chili peppers.. especially ghost pepper. To much and no one will drink it. it's MUCH better to be on the light side than the heavy handed side.
 
Maxkling said:
Soak it in 5 gallons of water and see how it turns out.

I do have a super accurate scale in my yeast lab, I'll measure out 1/5 of what i'm thinking and try it in water. I may have to scale it down further so I can add some vodka to mimic the alcohol content of the beer (because of the way alcohol interacts with capsicum)
 
use the vodka... or even try soaking some in a beer.. ghost is one of those peppers that bite you real hard.. I treat that one with a lot of respect.. and I eat habanero peppers because I think they taste good!
 
Be careful to put too much from the Ghost Chili.
i wondered where did bought your Ghost Chili, because i want to buy it to.
i found this place -Ghost Chili
what you think about the new idea to grow Peppers?
is it better?
 
Be careful to put too much from the Ghost Chili.
i wondered where did bought your Ghost Chili, because i want to buy it to.
i found this place - Ghost Chili
what you think about the new idea to grow Peppers?
is it better?

growing peppers isn't a new idea and you'll get some of the freshest peppers that way. I currently grow Habanero, Serrano, and Cayenne peppers. They'll be used in a beer or three this year :). As far as growing Ghost peppers, you really have to have a need for them if you plan on growing them. if done right you'll get a LOT of peppers in a single season and will most likely be much more than you'll ever use. As an example out of 2 habanero plants last year I harvested over 1000 peppers. If you think you'll NEED a lot of ghost peppers, go for it. if not, just buy it as you need it.
 
I do have a super accurate scale in my yeast lab, I'll measure out 1/5 of what i'm thinking and try it in water. I may have to scale it down further so I can add some vodka to mimic the alcohol content of the beer (because of the way alcohol interacts with capsicum)

Hey you're right in my neck of the woods... or I'm in your neck of the woods... haha. I've been wanting to make a pepper beer... not sure I'd choose a ghost chili for me, but keep us posted on your results!

:mug:
 
Seriously, I brewed a habanero beer a few years ago. 5 habaneros in secondary. HOLY HELL!!!!! it was hot.

i eat habs and ghost chilis, and I tell you this beer was radioactive.

Ghost chili, 7 pot, scorpion, or naga should never go near a beer unless you plan to just use it for a marinade.
 
Ghost chile has a unique ( good ) flavor. Just don't over do it or you might have to blend that 5 gal batch into 2 others to just make it drinkable.
 
Ok, so I did my test last week using 1/2 gal of water and a bit of high octane spirits a friend makes. I measures out 0.1 grams of ghost chili flakes, added them to the water, shook and let sit for a bit. It was so hot!!!

So I figured half that would be good. I measured out 0.5 grams of the flakes and added it to 5 gallons in the fermenter with the dry hop addition. After 6 days I kegged it (today) and tasted it while racking. It was perfect! Heat was there but not overpowering. Added to the flavor and complexity of the beer! Oh it's soooo good!!!
 
ive been playing around with habanero's in an ipa ive been working on. this last batch i added 6 (scrapped out) in whirlpool for 30 min. added 8(scrapped out) to secondary with fruit and dryhop (5 days for peppers). its got a good peppery characteristic with very little heat imo. i will now add a vodka tincture at kegging to get the right heat. now when adding spicy heat, be careful, it is very subjective from what ive found. i eat a lot of spicy food so im not as sensitive as others may be. thats why i liked adding the bulk of spicy heat at kegging to control its final outcome.
 
I made a 6 gallon batch of chocolate stout specifically so I could bottle the extra gallon with some jolokia. Given your addition of a half gram for 5 gallons, I am now worried that my intentions are too hot.
 
I was shocked by the solvency of pee in your pants heat from just a few peppers.

Jolokia, ghost, scorpion, 7 pot are all too hot for brewing IMHO. I have grown and eaten all, and I tell you 5 orange habs in 5 gallons was damned near undrinkable to me and my few chili head friends.

From my experience all of those peppers have about the same flavor, so for more flavor and drinkable heat, garden variety habs would be my goto.

Dammit! I swore never another pepper beer, but you guys are turning my wheels!
 
I am not a big fan at all of hot peppers and heat, but you have my full attention. This seems like a brewers hardest balancing challenge that one day I might take part in to see how well of a brewer I truely am. Good read, thanks folks.
 
here's the thing about hot peppers... the amount of heat in each one can vary from pepper to pepper. even ones from the same plant can be hotter than others. I grow habanero's and Serrano's and Cayenne peppers. I make jelly out of the Habanero's and have to adjust my recipe for each batch due to the amount of heat changing.

Another thing to consider when testing different amounts for the heat. get someone that isn't a HUGE chili head and have them do the tasting. if you eat a lot of hot stuff then your idea of mild could burn the crap out of "normal" people. I have to keep reminding myself about that one (and remind my wife too) since we cook with a lot of spicy peppers (her jambalaya made a Cajun break into a sweat and I thought it was medium heat)

hope the ghost beer turns out great for ya..
 
cheezydemon3 said:
From my experience all of those peppers have about the same flavor, so for more flavor and drinkable heat, garden variety habs would be my goto.

No offense, but I completely disagree with you. I grow lots of different superhot varieties, and they all have a different flavor. However, you have to have the tolerance level from eating them regularly in order to be able to taste the difference. Of course, since I'm looking at adding them to a stout, most of those subtleties will be lost. The exception to that is jolokia, which have a natural smoky flavor when dried, and will complement my stout.
 
usfmikeb said:
No offense, but I completely disagree with you. I grow lots of different superhot varieties, and they all have a different flavor. However, you have to have the tolerance level from eating them regularly in order to be able to taste the difference. Of course, since I'm looking at adding them to a stout, most of those subtleties will be lost. The exception to that is jolokia, which have a natural smoky flavor when dried, and will complement my stout.

When dried you say.......hmm.

All of the chinense family seem to have the same citris flavor to me. Except...the orange habanero to me is smoky.:)

odd that "smoky" seems to be the exception.

I wonder....the subtle diffetences might be more perceptible since the heat is diluted over 5gallons, or less since It is diluted over 5 gallons....
 
I dry them myself, so I know they aren't smoked as part of the drying process. :)

Of course! Dried bhuts might be hard to come by if not home dried.

Honestly, do you consider bhuts different from nagas or ghosts?

I think all 3 are the same pepper.

7 pot, scorpion, nagas, and most habaneros have that citrusy twang.
 
There are several different "naga" species, I don't equate them to bhut jolokias, whose nickname is "ghost chili".

I know a number of places where you can order dried and smoked jolokias online, and have used them in my sauces before. However, I've got a pipeline of fresh peppers, and dry my own now.
 
just ppicked up some dried ghost chili peppers from india and am planning on maling an IPA. How did this trun out? What was the concensus on how much to use for a 5 gallon b atch? should i chop it up or just drop a whole pepper into secondary? thanks all!

E
 
Here you go... THIS is undrinkable! Body's instinct when it hit your palate was to throw it up. They even had a cask version at a hot food festival that was dry hopped with more dried peppers - people were vomiting. Ultimately glad I tried it lol

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I am sorry that I can't give you advice on how much to put in...

Just be careful and do as others suggest--soak in water and taste.

The only Ghost pepper beer I tried was only suitable for chili because it was undrinkably hot! I respect the spectacle but can't drink it without getting hiccups and watery eyes and nose.

I just brewed a mild pepper beer (I call it En Fuego Pale Ale) with 3 Poblanos for 15 mins during the boil, then I'll add 2 roasted jalapenos to secondary. This beer is delicious.

Good luck.
 
Results: for a 5 gallon batch I ended up using 0.25 grams of ghost chili flakes. (See attached pic). The IPA base beer was good and the heat from the chilies was subdued by the alcohol content and residual sugar leaving a tingling on my lips and a hint if heat that resided right as I was ready for another sip.

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