Chili Pepper Beer

Hi everybody!
I plan on making a chili pepper beer this week and I have a few questions regarding the whole thing.
What kind of chilies should I use and how much?
How should I prepare the chilies?
When should I add the chilies and for how long?
Any other ingredients would you suggest to add?

I'm going to use an amber ale has my base and I will be making a 5 gallon batch. Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

I make a mango habanero pale ale that is a hit with people who are fans of spice. After brewing it a few times I've settled on 6 whole peppers per 10 gallons (or 3 peppers for 5 gallons). This gives a nice amount of spice, but still makes a drinkable beer. I pull about 1 liter of wort from the kettle at 15 minutes left in the boil, cool enough so it won't screw up my blender (maybe to 170?), and add it to the blender with the peppers. Blend away then add back to the boil.

I used 1 seeded jalapeno (diced, added with 10 minutes left in the boil, and left in fermentation) for a 1 gallon Jalapeno Saison batch and it was awesome - almost no heat, but great flavor.

I did another 2 gallon batch where I used 1 jalapeno and 2 chipotles - again, , mostly seeded, diced, and left in fermentation. This beer was much spicier, so I'd guess that a ratio of about 1 jalapeno per gallon would be decent.

Use chipotles for more heat, jalapenos for more fresh pepper flavor/smell.

I make a high-gravity version of a cream ale (aim for about 7.5%, moderate IBUs, and ferment as clean as you can) as a summer beer. Last year, I put small dried chili peppers in a few of the bottles at bottling time, to good effect. This year, I did it with a whole batch, and it's pretty awesome. This year's edition features Peruvian orange peppers, which are a little more potent than the Japones I used last year, but have a delightful earthy flavor that blends amazingly well with the Cluster hops I use in the base beer.

One warning, though - when it's first ready to drink, this beer is pretty mild. A month or two later, it's anything but.

Go just a tiny bit light on the priming sugar, since the pepper provides lots of nucleation sites and the beer throws off an impressive head.

I've got a Chilli pepper porter in the secondary right now. I tasted it when moving to secondary and it's really good. I did 2 sliced fresh jalapeno's with seeds in the boil then scooped out with sterilized strainer. Then added 4 oz of chopped dried ancho chilli's (did quick boil in muslin bag) and added to secondary. Has just the right heat and the ancho's are still lending additional sweet chilli flavor. Will bottle in 1 more week. I can't wait to try this after it conditions for a few weeks in bottles.

I just made an Imperial Stout with 2 roasted Jalapenos in it (among other things). I put them on a cookie sheet, drizzled Agave syrup over them, and put them under the broiler until partially blackened. Then I rolled them up in tin foil and let them steam themselves while they cooled. Removed the seeds, and ground up in the food processor with the rest of the spices (cocoa, vanilla, cinnamon, orange peel). Put it in at flameout.

The result, at least upon initial taste before fermentation, is a quite potent burn and good flavor that's balanced out by the cocoa and huge malt base (almost 1.100 OG).

You need to figure out how much heat and what kind of flavor you want.

Theo, could you post more about your recipe? Did you find that you had to change your IBU's in one direction or the other to help bring out or not cover the chili flavor? I would love to see your recipe, or percentages if you didnt want to post the whole thing...

theo1069 said:

I make a mango habanero pale ale that is a hit with people who are fans of spice. After brewing it a few times I've settled on 6 whole peppers per 10 gallons (or 3 peppers for 5 gallons). This gives a nice amount of spice, but still makes a drinkable beer. I pull about 1 liter of wort from the kettle at 15 minutes left in the boil, cool enough so it won't screw up my blender (maybe to 170?), and add it to the blender with the peppers. Blend away then add back to the boil.

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I am drinking on a 5 gal batch of jalapeno pepper beer right now. I brewed it May 5th, bottled on may 23rd. I used 13 large sliced peppers, in a bag, added in last 15-20 minutes of a 60 minute boil. I also used citra hops on this one, a first for me and I like them better than Cascades I used before. The citra goes well with the peppers. I have brewed this both as an AG and as an extract. It is my yearly Cinco de Mayo brew and I always want more.

10 lbs 2 row american (mash 154 F, 60 min..batch sparge 170)
2 lbs honey added at last 10 minutes of boil
1 lb brown sugar 30 minutes
12 jalapeno peppers sliced in a hop bag last 15-20 min
Don't boil too long, you might end up with some oils from the skins of the peppers. If you want taste and aroma only remove seed before adding to boil.
1 oz Northern Brewer Euro hop 60 min
1/2 oz Citra 15 min
1/2 oz Citra 1 min
dry Safle US-05
OG 1.070 (high because of peppers I suspect)
FG 1.010
I racked to secondary after 12 days because this pepper ale tends to cloud up if I don't.
After 30 days in bottle this is really good with nice spicy aroma and taste, no severe bite either, just enough heat that you know it's there.

I brew a Green Chile Blonde Ale that just got a Bronze at a larger homebrew comp. I used one Green (Anaheim/New Mexico) chile in the secondary for 5 days. The key is the prep. I roasted the pepper on the bbq until the skin was charred and bubbly. I immediately put it into a ziplock bag to "steam". Once it cooled a little I put it into the freezer overnight. The freezing will burst the cell walls and let out more flavor. I put the whole chile (stem, seeds, skin) into the secondary and racked the finished beer on top of it. Let is sit until you are happy with the amount of flavor..I usually go 5 days. Lots of chile flavor with very little heat!!

Great ideas....I'm brewing a wheat beer that has cloves and a little bit of nutmeg with vanilla ..and I added about a teaspoon or half. Of gost pepper.... this should inpart a smokyness not so much heat..only time will tell..

Gixxer said:

Theo, could you post more about your recipe? Did you find that you had to change your IBU's in one direction or the other to help bring out or not cover the chili flavor? I would love to see your recipe, or percentages if you didnt want to post the whole thing...

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I am at work now, but I'll try to remember to post the recipe tonight. My recipe has a nice balance between the sweetness from the mango and the heat from the habanero pepper. It is more of a long, slow heat on the finish, and has very little "pepper" flavor. (which is what I was going for.) From the chili beers I have tasted, I have gotten more of the "vegetable" pepper flavor and less spice from jalapenos and more spice, less vegetable flavor from the habaneros. I guess its all about what you are looking for....

theo1069 said:

I am at work now, but I'll try to remember to post the recipe tonight. My recipe has a nice balance between the sweetness from the mango and the heat from the habanero pepper. It is more of a long, slow heat on the finish, and has very little "pepper" flavor. (which is what I was going for.) From the chili beers I have tasted, I have gotten more of the "vegetable" pepper flavor and less spice from jalapenos and more spice, less vegetable flavor from the habaneros. I guess its all about what you are looking for....

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Hope you can remember to post the recipe with the habanero.. Do you roast the pepper or what is the process?? Also with the Mango.. process

HECK.. the WHOLE enchilada..... Por pavor


Thanks