Peppers in beer

Well I am going to make a poblano smoked porter. My question is how much poblano to use...

I know with fruit it seems like most people use ~1lb/gal depending of course

Any suggestions on poblanos? I'm not gonna use 1lb/gal lol

poblano, or ancho?

from the pepper beers I have tried, dried is the way to go. Much more complex flavors and subtlety as opposed to the in your face fruitiness and spice of raw.

Just had a chipotle black beer tonight by Evil Twin (Denmark). Interesting, but I can't say that I liked it.

Peppers definitely do not need the volume that fruit do. I use 10 chiles per five gallons for seven days. I could probably use fewer chiles but I'm happy with the results. I do four fresh and six roasted. Since poblanos are about the same size, flavor and heat as hatch chiles that's probably a good starting point for you.

Are you going for more of a fresh poblano taste or something more complex? Consider swapping out some of the poblanos for jalepeno or serrano for heat, ancho and/or chipotle for more flavor, etc. The combination of fresh and roasted hatch chiles gives my desired flavor of fresh hatch chile but with some roast and smoke in the background that adds depth.

I used 3 sliced, roasted jalapenoes for a 5 gallon batch and it was HOT...

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Peppers definitely do not need the volume that fruit do. I use 10 chiles per five gallons for seven days. I could probably use fewer chiles but I'm happy with the results. I do four fresh and six roasted. Since poblanos are about the same size, flavor and heat as hatch chiles that's probably a good starting point for you.

Are you going for more of a fresh poblano taste or something more complex? Consider swapping out some of the poblanos for jalepeno or serrano for heat, ancho and/or chipotle for more flavor, etc. The combination of fresh and roasted hatch chiles gives my desired flavor of fresh hatch chile but with some roast and smoke in the background that adds depth.

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I plan on using both like you roasted and fresh.

bovineblitz said:

poblano, or ancho?

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Poblano

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Are you going for more of a fresh poblano taste or something more complex? Consider swapping out some of the poblanos for jalepeno or serrano for heat, ancho and/or chipotle for more flavor, etc. The combination of fresh and roasted hatch chiles gives my desired flavor of fresh hatch chile but with some roast and smoke in the background that adds depth.

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Point of order! As someone who is building up his tolerance to capsinoids, I would like to make it clear that Jalapenos have a high ratio of flavor to heat, especially as compared to the corrosive, radioactive, mutant little red things that the lady at my favorite thai restaurant grows.

Jalapenos have a lot of funk going on. If it's heat without flavor you want, go for a scotch bonnet or a habanero. Or find a viet/lao/thai market and get some of the little red ones.

TimpanogosSlim said:

Point of order! As someone who is building up his tolerance to capsinoids, I would like to make it clear that Jalapenos have a high ratio of flavor to heat, especially as compared to the corrosive, radioactive, mutant little red things that the lady at my favorite thai restaurant grows.

Jalapenos have a lot of funk going on. If it's heat without flavor you want, go for a scotch bonnet or a habanero. Or find a viet/lao/thai market and get some of the little red ones.

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Lol nah I'm not lookin for heat.

Actually I was in grand rapids this summer and went by Brewery Vivant and had some of their poblano sour and loved the pepper aspect so I figured I would use the same in a different beer and see what happens hahaha

So what I learned with my chile saison is that i got a lot of aroma and flavor with just a bit of heat from boiling the peppers in the last 10 minutes, and that i got a lot of straight up heat with almost no flavor and aroma from "dry-peppering", if you will. Kind of the opposite of what happens with hops.

Hulud said:

Lol nah I'm not lookin for heat.

Actually I was in grand rapids this summer and went by Brewery Vivant and had some of their poblano sour and loved the pepper aspect so I figured I would use the same in a different beer and see what happens hahaha

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Yeah, I guessed you weren't.

Anchos might be good for flavor too, fwiw. But jalapeno cream ale is something i can get any summer month out here, and day of the dead too if the brewery has anything left over, and the funky flavor comes out a lot more than the heat. I see jalapenos as a flavor pepper strictly.

Except, at the pho` restaurants, and the place i get banh mi, whatever sliced pepper they are using LOOKS like a jalapeno, but tastes like a hot curling iron.

I have a little 1oz shaker bottle of the roasted red peppers that the lady who owns Mekong Cafe in Midvale UT grows, and i have used maybe 1 gram of it in the last 6 months because they are hot enough to burn the hair off of your feet.

TimpanogosSlim said:

Yeah, I guessed you weren't.

Anchos might be good for flavor too, fwiw. But jalapeno cream ale is something i can get any summer month out here, and day of the dead too if the brewery has anything left over, and the funky flavor comes out a lot more than the heat. I see jalapenos as a flavor pepper strictly.

Except, at the pho` restaurants, and the place i get banh mi, whatever sliced pepper they are using LOOKS like a jalapeno, but tastes like a hot curling iron.

I have a little 1oz shaker bottle of the roasted red peppers that the lady who owns Mekong Cafe in Midvale UT grows, and i have used maybe 1 gram of it in the last 6 months because they are hot enough to burn the hair off of your feet.

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I'm thinkin I should take the seeds and veins out but I dunno if that will detract from the flavor some

Hulud said:

I'm thinkin I should take the seeds and veins out but I dunno if that will detract from the flavor some

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nah, seeds and the little glands and veins are where the heat comes from.

Question about roasting them, I plan on freezing the fresh ones should I do the same with the roasted ones? If so before or after roasting?

The idea behind freezing is to break the cell walls, right?

Roasting changes the composition of what's in those cells, but it might do different things if the cell walls are broken.

So, freeze after.

tally350z said:

I used 3 sliced, roasted jalapenoes for a 5 gallon batch and it was HOT...

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When did you use them? During boil (if so, how far out from flameout), and if secondary, how long.

I keg, so I'll probably put a hop bag with them in it and just toss it in the keg shortly after carbing it, and let it age for a week or so.

TimpanogosSlim said:

The idea behind freezing is to break the cell walls, right?

Roasting changes the composition of what's in those cells, but it might do different things if the cell walls are broken.

So, freeze after.

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Ok cool I'll probably do that tomorrow and brew in a couple days

This thread gives me some ideas, we have a delicious pepper here in Guate called "Chile Coban". Small red pepper normally sold smoked. Great flavor (I use them ground as a seasoning a lot) and not overly hot. Great smoky pepper taste. Not sure if they are available anywhere else. But a Chile Coban Porter sounds like a fine idea!

What base beer styles have you guys used for your pepper flavored beers?

Hulud said:

Lol nah I'm not lookin for heat.

Actually I was in grand rapids this summer and went by Brewery Vivant and had some of their poblano sour and loved the pepper aspect so I figured I would use the same in a different beer and see what happens hahaha

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Not to take this thread too far off topic, but I'm intrigued by this poblano sour that you had at Brewery Vivant. How did that taste?

Curtis2010 said:

This thread gives me some ideas, we have a delicious pepper here in Guate called "Chile Coban". Small red pepper normally sold smoked. Great flavor (I use them ground as a seasoning a lot) and not overly hot. Great smoky pepper taste. Not sure if they are available anywhere else. But a Chile Coban Porter sounds like a fine idea!

What base beer styles have you guys used for your pepper flavored beers?

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IMO porters and stouts are the bet fodder for peppers. This is only from a taste, not brewing standpoint. Left hand makes a pepper porter that is delicious, more smokey with just a little tang.

Now that I'm thinking, maybe a Mexican hot chocolate milk stout would be delicious. Chocolate, cinnamon, and chiles is a time tested combination. Guajillo or ancho I think would be nice.

moti_mo said:

Not to take this thread too far off topic, but I'm intrigued by this poblano sour that you had at Brewery Vivant. How did that taste?

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I enjoyed it it's first initial taste was a sour beer then you get an aftertaste of pepper

Also should I just throw them in the secondary or what seems to be the consensus?

Hulud said:

Also should I just throw them in the secondary or what seems to be the consensus?

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Well, as I mentioned above, when I tried some with the peppers in the boil and some with peppers in post fermentation, i found I got more flavor and aroma from adding them in the last ten minutes of the boil. The batch where I just added the pepper after fermentation, I got mostly heat and little flavor or aroma.

BrewKnurd said:

Well, as I mentioned above, when I tried some with the peppers in the boil and some with peppers in post fermentation, i found I got more flavor and aroma from adding them in the last ten minutes of the boil. The batch where I just added the pepper after fermentation, I got mostly heat and little flavor or aroma.

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I guess I'll do that and if after fermentation it doesn't taste enough I'll try it in the secondary

I just made a jalapeno IPA by putting 5 peppers in the secondary for a week. Just fresh peppers, slit them along either side to allow beer to get to the seeds and all, but trying to get a good flavor to heat ratio. Turned out fantastic, and now I really want to try the Mexican hot chocolate milk stout that someone else suggested.

punkerdru said:

I just made a jalapeno IPA by putting 5 peppers in the secondary for a week. Just fresh peppers, slit them along either side to allow beer to get to the seeds and all, but trying to get a good flavor to heat ratio. Turned out fantastic, and now I really want to try the Mexican hot chocolate milk stout that someone else suggested.

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RAM makes a chocolate hot pepper porter that is AWESOME (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1455/74850). Definitely looking to brew something similar soon!

Xpertskir said:

IMO porters and stouts are the bet fodder for peppers. This is only from a taste, not brewing standpoint. Left hand makes a pepper porter that is delicious, more smokey with just a little tang.

Now that I'm thinking, maybe a Mexican hot chocolate milk stout would be delicious. Chocolate, cinnamon, and chiles is a time tested combination. Guajillo or ancho I think would be nice.

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"...bet fodder..." -- is that an unfamiliar technical term or a typo?

Xpertskir said:

IMO porters and stouts are the bet fodder for peppers. This is only from a taste, not brewing standpoint. Left hand makes a pepper porter that is delicious, more smokey with just a little tang.

Now that I'm thinking, maybe a Mexican hot chocolate milk stout would be delicious. Chocolate, cinnamon, and chiles is a time tested combination. Guajillo or ancho I think would be nice.

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It is delicious I just brewed one up recently, it's a porter but still close. Aging well (about 8 weeks in bottles now), hard to be patient.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16354/81254

Just found one of these in my fridge that had been forgotten, and remembered this thread. Apparently brown ales are also the bet fodder for peppers. This one used Jalapenos and the spice is subtle(at least at first) and presents more like dryness.

I had a Joaquin Murrieta Chile Pepper beer the other day that was awesome. It tasted like the perfect pair with chicken mole.

One the other end of the spectrum, I had a beer in college that was cheap Mexican beer with a whole jalepeno in every bottle. That came very close to keeping me from ever trying a chile beer again.

Definitely roast at least a few of them. It makes a world of difference!

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Yup, jalapeños and women leather hobo bags!

I found a bunch of hatch chilies at my local independent market and roasted them. I plan on making a cream ale (probably use the cream of 3 crops recipe) and also a porter using them. The idea is to showcase the pepper flavor in the cream ale and use it to add complexity and depth to the porter.