A couple questions on two Special ingredients

Hey all. I have coulple questions about adding some special ingredients to brews.

First, I'm planning on doing an IPA here shortly that I'm going to add about 1.5 lbs. of honey to. I've read and heard conflicting takes on when to add the honey. One group says to add it at the end of the boil, say 10 minutes before KO. Another says to add it as the wort is cooling, somewhere around 170F or so to kill any "bad yeasties" that may be in the honey. And still another says to add it to the cooled wort. So the question is, who's right, or I guess better yet, which method works best, or is there one that I haven't seen?

Question 2: Has anyone used chili peppers in their beer? I'm planning on doing a hopped up chili porter and was looking for some advice on how much to add and when (I was thinking secondary, but didn't know if there was a better method).

Thanks all.

Cheers,

Honey in an IPA? Interesting. Actually, honey is one of the only, if the only, food product that doesn't go bad, I think only Botullitus can live in it and that's not harmful to adults. When to add the honey really depends on how much honey flavor you want. If you add it to the boil before fermentation it will ferment out pretty much completely.

I think if you're going to add honey to an IPA, you probably only want a tiny bit of honey flavor. I would recommend adding it at 10 minutes left in the boil, then when you transfer to secondary, take a taste of it. If you don't think there is enough honey taste, you can add a little bit in secondary.

With any "special ingredients" it's always best to start off small...you can always add more later.

Ive always added honey for to the boil for the last 5 or 10 min. This has alway helped me RDWHAHB. However, the honey flavor has never been dominant in these beers.

There are a few threads on chili beers around here. Brewpastor has a good recip that I plan to follow at some point (Ole Mole Portrero).

- magno

My low gravity chili stout used ~12 red long dehydrated asian cooking chilis in the last 5 mins of the boil. It is just coming of age now and has a very nice mild spicy bite with minimal chili flavour.

FYI, I primed it w/ a cup of honey

Edit: Oh, I'm firmly in the boil honey for a little while camp, even with my meads. Its mainly out of paranoia and habit not for any really scientific reaons.