chili pepper beer

when you guys brew with chilli peppers, do you slice the chillis, or just cut the stems off and add them whole?

I am following the recipe for Chili Beer in the book "The Homebrewers Garden" but the recipe does not say anything about slicing the chili peppers.

All of the chilis I am adding will be during the boil

If you plan on boiling the chilis for an hour, they probably won't be in a solid enough form for it to matter.

good point. thanks

thats pretty much what I decided. Its boiling now!!

you might want to cut them in half. it'll just speed things along.

BYO had a chile beer recipe recently and they were saying to toss them in the boil at 10 mins.

Last night there was some left over chiles from a can after cooking. I took tsp worth and tossed it in my bitter. It was pretty good.

Its a 3 gallon extract lager recipe

Fermentables
3.6 lbs extra light DME
.3 lbs honey
.33 lbs toasted 2 row pale
.1 lb smoked malt


Additions:
Hallertauer Hops 1 oz 60 mins
Serano .25 oz 60 mins
Serano .4 oz 20 mins
Roasted Jalapenos 2.4 oz steeped

Yeast
Saflager 34/70

All the peppers stay in the primary during fermentation.

Personally, I would use something like this: Food Chopper after cutting off the stem and removing the seeds. Of course, you should do whatever you're most comfortable with.

I slice mine across the width like pickle slices are cut...seeds and all...

I followed the byo recipe and it worked out pretty good

CNL said:

I followed the byo recipe and it worked out pretty good

Click to expand...

Do you have the recipe? My favorite brewpub from my college days (Coopersmith's in Fort Collins) has a phenomenal chile beer.

Eric

Do a search for Brewpastor's recipe.

Several guys at our club have made chili pepper beers using various methods. What we've noticed is that if you put the peppers in the boil you mainly just get the heat, but lose a lot of the flavor and aroma of the chili variety. However, if you add them to the secondary, like dry-hopping, you preserve much of the flavor/aroma.

For some people this isn't a big deal since they just want the heat, but to my taste I much prefer the beers made with chilies-in-secondary method. You can actually taste the type of chili used. I like being able to taste the buttery flavor of habaneros, or the earthiness of jalapenos, etc.

I bought a 6 pack of Cave Creek Chile Beer. I like spicy food. However, I cannot get through one of these beers. It's just too spicy for me.

I have tried to drink one twice, once sober, and then once after some liquid courage buffering. Neither time was I able to successfully down the whole thing (although I got very close on the second attempt).

I was considering brewing a chile style beer, but after trying it, it has moved infinitely lower on the "up next" list for me.

I applaud you guys that drink and enjoy this style of beer.

bsay said:

Personally, I would use something like this: Food Chopper\.

Click to expand...

no way! use the slapchop! You're gonna just throw your money away on other stuff anyways. If you get the slap chop now they'll throw in the graty for free!

nutcase said:

no way! use the slapchop! You're gonna just throw your money away on other stuff anyways. If you get the slap chop now they'll throw in the graty for free!

Click to expand...

And the best line in an infomercial.... from the Slap Chop.... "If you like this, you're gonna love my nuts!" As the hooker-biting salesman throws some walnuts down. LMAO!!!!

Back on topic...For those of you that have used the peppers in the secondary for flavor, how much heat comes thru vs. adding them in the boil?

Only chile beer I've ever had included a whole chile in each bottle. I suspect there was more chile involved than just this though.

I've made a cream ale using three sliced habenero's @ 15 min. I enjoyed it, although it may have been a little overpowering for most.

i'm wanting to try this recipe again with less heat and more flavor and aroma. so, like Mosy inquired i am also curios as to the amount of heat you recieve from secondarying the peppers?

I made a Jalapeno Blonde recently. I actually just racked off about a gallon of BM's Centennial Blonde from my secondary and steeped the peppers in another jug for 2 days. I used a little over 1 oz of jalapeno for the gallon - no seeds but left the membrane. Even with that small amount of pepper, the beer has a really nice flavor and bite. Not too hot but enough heat for most people who like spicy food.

sahuaro said:

I've made a cream ale using three sliced habenero's @ 15 min. I enjoyed it, although it may have been a little overpowering for most.

i'm wanting to try this recipe again with less heat and more flavor and aroma. so, like Mosy inquired i am also curios as to the amount of heat you recieve from secondarying the peppers?

Click to expand...

One of the first dishes I made for my fiance was a stir fry. I wanted a good bit of heat, so I used habaneros. Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand what I was doing, and diced the habaneros up, and tossed it in the stir fry.

It took a while to get over that one...

Just finished making the Smoked Habenero Amber Lager from Mosher's Radical Brewing; only used one fresh habenero, diced, no seeds and no white veins from inside the pepper @ 5min for 5.5gal batch. Prepitch gravity wort sample was only mildly spicy around the edge of the tongue, not so much on the back or the tip of the tongue. Its only been in primary for 4 days... only time will tell... might need to dry-pepper for some flavor and aroma.

Thanks for all of your replies. I entered this beer in the CASK Beer Blitz competition here in Virginia a few weeks ago. It won third place out of 20 in the Spiced Vegetable Beer category!

Any one have an idea of how many days to Secondary with peppers?

Thanks

In secondary, I used one halved habanero for three gallons. I soaked the halved habanero in vodka overnight to sanitize. I added the pepper and some of the seeds to the secondary while it lagered for a month. I ended up with a nice kick of spice and heat on the finish. The heat is noticeably present, but for anyone who remotely enjoys a tame amount of heat its not too much. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

For 5 gallons of ale, I would think one to two weeks with 1.5 habaneros is plenty to get the heat integrated into the beer.

jamest22 said:

In secondary, I used one halved habanero for three gallons. I soaked the halved habanero in vodka overnight to sanitize. I added the pepper and some of the seeds to the secondary while it lagered for a month. I ended up with a nice kick of spice and heat on the finish. The heat is noticeably present, but for anyone who remotely enjoys a tame amount of heat its not too much. I'm happy with the way it turned out.

For 5 gallons of ale, I would think one to two weeks with 1.5 habaneros is plenty to get the heat integrated into the beer.

Click to expand...

Good Deal, thanks

Anyone know what judges look for in a Chili Beer at competitions? I just cracked open the Chili Beer I made last month and I really like it. There's almost no heat, and great crisp jalepeno flavor and just wondering if anyone had any experience with judging.

Like I said, my Chili Pepper Lager whose recipe is at the beginning of this thread won third place in the Spice Herb Vegetable category at a recent competition here in Virginia.

If you are interested in the feedback it got from the judges, here are my score sheets: (use the magnifying glass to zoom in on each one, otherwise they are hard to read)
http://picasaweb.google.com/tweeddale/ChiliLagerScoreSheets?feat=directlink


Overall, what they liked about it was its balance of spice/pepperiness with the clean lager base. There are a few comments about the clean lager base being able to be identified below the flavor and heat of the chili peppers. For category 21A (Spice, Herb , & Vegetable) the BJCP guidelines specify that the underlying beer style (ie stout, wheat beer) must be specified and that balance of flavors is key.

You should check out the BJCP guidelines for Category 21A if you haven't already:
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category21.php

Check out this thread about Green Chile Beer. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/green-chile-beer-134940/

I racked BM's Centennial Blonde into secondary and onto 5 roasted green chiles and left it for 2 weeks. It was great! Just roast the chiles until mostly blackened (that also sanitizes them) and throw them in whole. Skins, seeds, veins, everything. Best beer I have made so far. I plan to enter it in the New Mexico State Fair next year.

New Mexicans sure do love their green chiles.

And so do I. I'm gonna have to try that one.

I made a Jalapeno IPA with home grown jalapenos. Put 2 in the boil for the last 20 min, and then added 1.5 to the secondary with my dry hop for 8 days. Just put one in the fridge to chill for a few days, so i will report back when i sample.

SNB said:

I made a Jalapeno IPA with home grown jalapenos. Put 2 in the boil for the last 20 min, and then added 1.5 to the secondary with my dry hop for 8 days. Just put one in the fridge to chill for a few days, so i will report back when i sample.

Click to expand...

I'm curious to hear what you think. I'm trying to decide between Serrano's or Jalepeno's.

Yankeehillbrewer said:

I'm curious to hear what you think. I'm trying to decide between Serrano's or Jalepeno's.

Click to expand...

Sampled last night and it was flat still, but it did have a nice jalapeno flavor. However, i did not get much in the way of heat. I think i would up the amount of peppers in the dryhop next time, maybe even 4-5.

one sliced habanero aged for a couple weeks in secondary (for a 3 gallon batch) will give you a nice kick and heat

jamest22 said:

one sliced habanero aged for a couple weeks in secondary (for a 3 gallon batch) will give you a nice kick and heat

Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. Did it give you an over powering heat? I just want a nice bite from the heat in the finish, not like drinking tabasco sauce or sucking on a habanero.

no, for three gallons it did not produce an overpowering heat. just some spiciness on the finish. almost everyone who tried it thought it had a decent bit of heat and kick, enought to make them go "whoa", but not overpowering. it doesnt burn and its nowhere near as hot as tabasco sauce. There were a couple people who tried it who do not like ANYTHING spicy at all, and it was too spicy for them.

So if you are making a 5 gallon batch and you add 1 sliced habanero it should be almost half as spicy as mine, since I made a 3 gallon batch. If you are nervous about getting the right amount of heat, split the batch into two three gallon carboys and try two different amounts one bold, one less bold.

jamest22 said:

no, for three gallons it did not produce an overpowering heat. just some spiciness on the finish. almost everyone who tried it thought it had a decent bit of heat and kick, enought to make them go "whoa", but not overpowering. it doesnt burn and its nowhere near as hot as tabasco sauce. There were a couple people who tried it who do not like ANYTHING spicy at all, and it was too spicy for them.

So if you are making a 5 gallon batch and you add 1 sliced habanero it should be almost half as spicy as mine, since I made a 3 gallon batch. If you are nervous about getting the right amount of heat, split the batch into two three gallon carboys and try two different amounts one bold, one less bold.

Click to expand...

sounds like it would give me just what i am looking for, and i also do 3 gallons so one would be perfect.

I will give it a try in the next attempt.

I've done a couple of chili pepper beers and they've turned out well, but I've roasted, skinned, seeded and removed the membrane from most of the peppers and put them into the secondary. I have gotten a really good roasted pepper flavor and a very slight heat. In the future, I'll probably add more raw peppers, but I'll still use the roasting technique for most of what I add.

I am currently "dry chileing" a single gallon of BM's Centennial Blonde right now. It has been on the chiles for about 3 days. Maybe I should take a taste test; I added one medium sized serrano chile roasted and then frozen for 2 days to break the cell walls down a bit.

I fear that a whole serrano pepper in a single gallon of beer might be quite overwhelming.