5x pepper beers

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bovineblitz

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I'm planning a brew this weekend, it's going to be a lightly hopped pale ale, and after primary fermentation I'm racking it to five 1 gallon fermenters where I will add five different peppers, cut into strips if too large to fit in the opening.

I currently have:
dried Ancho
dried Panca
dried New Mexico
dried Habanero
fresh Serrano (will roast before adding to secondary).

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I'm wondering how much of each pepper to put in. It's only one gallon so I don't want to overdo it, especially with the habanero. But with the less spicy peppers, I want to be sure to extract a lot of flavor, especially the berry-like Panca.

I was thinking:
- 1 Ancho
- 2 Panca
- 1/4-1/2 of a habanero
- 1.5 New Mexico
- 1 Serrano

I'm excited to try each one, and then mix and match to find the perfect combination, then perhaps I'll try a 5gal batch with appropriate amounts of each pepper.
 
I don't have an answer for you, but it certainly sounds interesting! IPAs and spicy food are like peanut butter and jelly! :)
 
Well at the very least I'll post updates and specifics. I'll try and remember to take some pics of my pepper preps :)

I've looked all over and there's not a lot of info out there, just general advice.
 
bovine, I think you've got something great going here, but might I suggest you take a second look at just how much of the peppers you're adding. Surely, by adding any peppers at all you will get flavor and heat from them, but if you add too many the beer may be intolerably hot. I would suggest, if you can, to measure the peppers by weight rather than counting whole and half peppers. 1/4 of a habanero pepper may seem minimal but depending on its mass you may end up with a "blistering hot" beer. It could be that 1/4 peppers is equal to 1/4 oz. but it's worth finding out. Either way, with your 5x peppers, I'm sure you will get a flavorful, hot beer, just be careful of how hot you make it.

Coincidentally, I will be adding chili peppers to the secondary of my belgium today or tomorrow. Here is my plan as of yet:

I have dried Guajillo which I plan to add 1 - 4 peppers depending on their weight. I'm thinking I will want 1 - 3 ounces of these, as well. Then I have Ancho and Cayenne powder (I know, why would I get the powder, but those are the peppers I wanted) which I plan to put in a tea-ball laced with cheese cloth and hanging in the fermented beer from a string. I figure I'll do about 1/4 oz. of the Cayenne and 1- 2 oz. of the Ancho.

I'm hoping this will give me flavor and heat without making it intolerable to drink.
 
Cant wait for some updates. This one sounds great.
I would like to find some of those Panca!

I'm lucky enough to have a great spice shop a block away, they have everything I can dream of :)

bovine, I think you've got something great going here, but might I suggest you take a second look at just how much of the peppers you're adding. Surely, by adding any peppers at all you will get flavor and heat from them, but if you add too many the beer may be intolerably hot. I would suggest, if you can, to measure the peppers by weight rather than counting whole and half peppers. 1/4 of a habanero pepper may seem minimal but depending on its mass you may end up with a "blistering hot" beer. It could be that 1/4 peppers is equal to 1/4 oz. but it's worth finding out. Either way, with your 5x peppers, I'm sure you will get a flavorful, hot beer, just be careful of how hot you make it.

Coincidentally, I will be adding chili peppers to the secondary of my belgium today or tomorrow. Here is my plan as of yet:

I have dried Guajillo which I plan to add 1 - 4 peppers depending on their weight. I'm thinking I will want 1 - 3 ounces of these, as well. Then I have Ancho and Cayenne powder (I know, why would I get the powder, but those are the peppers I wanted) which I plan to put in a tea-ball laced with cheese cloth and hanging in the fermented beer from a string. I figure I'll do about 1/4 oz. of the Cayenne and 1- 2 oz. of the Ancho.

I'm hoping this will give me flavor and heat without making it intolerable to drink.

Good point, I definitely should weigh them, especially for consistency's sake in future batches.. I'll be sure to do that, I have a small scale that'll do the trick. I am worried that 1/4 of a habanero will be blisteringly hot, but I don't really know how to scale pepper heat in beer at all... I know it will probably seem hotter than in food, but I really have no idea A) how much heat will be extracted, and B) how much is too much.

I did think about doing a habanero experiment where I'd do a "dose-response" test with 5 mini beers containing differing amounts of habaneros, but I figured I'd rather explore many peppers at the same time. If the habanero is waaaaay too hot, I can always dilute it with the ancho, or I can dump it if need be... it's only a gallon and an experiment at that.

I almost got Guajillo but decided on New Mexico instead. It sounds like you should have a good blend of flavorful peppers... in my experience powder is generally very hot in comparison to actual peppers, not sure how that'll shake out. I decided to avoid powder (I did consider coarsely crushed dried peppers but it was cheaper to get the full ones). That'll definitely be an interesting beer, let us know how it turns out!

One thing about powder... you can always add more if it's not hot enough.
 
I've been wanting to do a similar experiment with a Pale Ale. I will brew 5 gals. and try a different pepper in each of 5 split 1 gal. batches. Anyone know if there's a difference between peppers at the end of the boil or in the secondary?
 
So here is what I decided on for my Belgian Chili Ale.
O.G. 1.055
F.G. 1.010

After racking to secondary I steeped 5 dried Guajilo peppers (just under an ounce) 4 grams of Ancho Powder and 1 gram of Cayenne powder at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minuets. Since the tea ball was to big to fit into the carboy, of course, I wrapped the powder in the cheese cloth and then tied it up, making a little cheese cloth sack. Then threw all the chiles, powder sack, and steeped water into the secondary. I plan to let it sit for about three weeks but I will taste it every week to see just how flavorful and hot it is.
 
Basic Brewing video podcast has something similar to this if I remember correctly. You may want to check it out.
 
So here is what I decided on for my Belgian Chili Ale.
O.G. 1.055
F.G. 1.010

After racking to secondary I steeped 5 dried Guajilo peppers (just under an ounce) 4 grams of Ancho Powder and 1 gram of Cayenne powder at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-15 minuets. Since the tea ball was to big to fit into the carboy, of course, I wrapped the powder in the cheese cloth and then tied it up, making a little cheese cloth sack. Then threw all the chiles, powder sack, and steeped water into the secondary. I plan to let it sit for about three weeks but I will taste it every week to see just how flavorful and hot it is.

Very cool, can't wait to hear how it turns out.
 
Brewed today!

I went with a simple pale ale recipe but with Northern Brewer hops (0.75@60min, 0.25@20min), was thinking the earthiness will go well with peppers. Used 1lb candi sugar to lighten the body as I was thinking this should be a lighter refreshing beer. Wound up with an OG of 1.048. Pitched S05 at about 68 degrees.

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Now I'll wait about a week and rack to my 1gal secondary bottles and add the peppers!
 
I did a batch of BM's centennial blonde and racked 1 gallon of it onto a serrano and it was quite hot. I entered it into a local competition and it pulled out a 38 (very good score, IMO) but did not get a medal. I don't know if I will make anything like it again... but, it was interesting!
 
Seems like a great idea to me! I've had beers with only one kind of pepper (either jalapeno, habanero or ancho) and they were excellent. I'm interested to hear how the 5x action worked out. Looking forward to updates! Don't forget pics ;)
 
Mini-update! Tues, 4/13, day 3 of fermentation:

The brew is fermenting away! It is going crazy, lots of motion on the carboy. It's about 68 degrees in my apartment and I've been keeping it cool with the 'wet t-shirt and fan' method hoping to avoid any overly estery or off-flavors.

I plan on racking it onto the peppers either Friday or Saturday.
 
I just did a chili beer. In a five gallon batch there was four different types of peppers. I used 1 whole habanero in the fermenter and you could definitely taste it. It puts a zing on the tongue and I like hot stuff. I would really be careful with those. Great flavor addition but I could see where it can get out of control.
 
Today I racked to the secondaries! It's day 10 of fermentation and the beer is looking pretty clear. The krausen looked like it hadn't fallen yet but it was just stuck to the sides, so I was giving it an extra couple days. Turned out pretty dry, 1.012, and tastes pretty good... I'll admit, I finished the whole amount I took out for a hydro reading. :p It wound up being just about where I wanted it.

After sanitizing my secondaries and supplies, I started by roasting the serrano pepper in a pan on medium high. When it was fairly blackened, I put it in a covered bowl for about 10min. It smelled great!

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Then, I put on some lab gloves (a must have when working with habaneros), sprayed my work area with a bit of star san and spread it with my gloves, and took out the rest of the peppers. I cut the ancho into a couple of strips since it was too big to fit through the top of the jug. I picked out a medium-sized habanero and cut it into about quarters (as best I could, it kind of exploded)... whole pepper would've been suicidal. I used 1 pepper for everything but the habanero and didn't de-seed any of them. The pepper I didn't cut I poked with the end of my paring knife to be sure the insides were exposed to the beer.

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Habanero - Ancho - Panca - New Mexico - Serrano

Amounts:
Serrano - 9.4g fresh, pre-roasted
Habanero - 1.5g whole, only used 0.4g
Ancho - 9g
Panca - 8.4g
New Mexico - 6.6g

Then, I simply racked to the 1 gallon containers (actually, four 1 gallon containers and two growlers). It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, I just pinched the hose when I wanted the flow to stop. The hardest part was actually seeing the liquid level in the amber bottles. I had exactly 5 gallons so the batch size was perfect at 5.5gal.

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Finished!
 
Very cool. I think you should video a sampling of each beer starting with the mildest pepper. It could be very entertaining.




Seriously though, I hope you end up with 5 good beers.
 
I was actually thinking about brewing one of these this monring and I'm excited to see a discussion on it! I love the thought of a big, bad pale ale pumped full of heat.

I know peppers have a considerable amount of oils in them. What kind of effects will these have on head retention? Do dried/crushed/powdered peppers solve this problem?
 
Just finished bottling! The brews spent 11 days in secondary.

That was an experience. My bottling device clogged with seeds that I can't remove to save my life, I'm gonna have to buy a new one I think. Oh well. I just kinked the siphon tube to stop the flow between bottles, it worked out okay. I used those cough drop-like sugar thingies for the bottles because I didn't want to rack 1 gallon at a time to a bottling bucket just to add sugar for priming. In the end, it all worked out fine.

I got about 10 bottles per pepper, give or take. Here are my thoughts on the tastes from my small samples of green beer:

Serrano - Starts normal, then the serrano flavor hits, then the heat hits the back of the throat. Not an overpowering heat but it's definitely strong enough. The serrano flavor came through perfectly.

Ancho - Great dark fruit taste, earthy, a little bit of heat. This may wind up being my favorite.

Panca - AMAZING! Not much discernible heat, but wow, it tastes like a fruit beer. It's somewhat similar to the Saranac Pomegranate Wheat. Very strong berry flavor. I think SWMBO will love it. I'm betting you could seriously pass this off as a raspberry beer and nobody would question it.

New Mexico - Kinda in between Panca and Ancho. A little more heat. Nice and fruity... the flavor seems a little less pronounced, I'd probably use more next time.

Habanero - At first, I thought it wasn't all that hot. It hits as you swallow. Nice punch, good flavor. It seems like 1/4 a habanero was a good amount, I wasn't afraid to sample it at all, yet got some heat.

For the two spicier beers, I don't feel like I can really judge it yet, once I have a full pint I'll be able to determine how much heat there really is. It seems like it'd be an additive effect. Also keep in mind these tastings were all on extremely green beer... I'm not sure what changes to expect since the peppers were really the only flavor, but maybe some flavors will mellow a bit.

All in all, I'm extremely excited by this project. The amounts of peppers seemed just about spot on for the most part. It'll be really fun to mix and match the different peppers to figure out the ultimate combination, which I'll later brew into a batch dedicated to my Uncle. He used to make hot sauce with his homegrown peppers and I'm going to name it after his signature sauce - Uncle Rick's Fire in the Hole!

I can't wait until these are ready, it's going to be so hard waiting!

:D :D :D
 
Very interesting!

I found that the habanero heat goes away quite considerably when the beer is chilled to serving temp. Let me know if you have similar results for the habanero or other beers.
 
They all sound delicious! This has really inspired me to make a chile pepper beer and the other night in the produce section of Raley's I found myself starring at all of the peppers and contemplating.

I think what I'd like to try is the roasted serrano and ancho in a full 5.5 gallon batch. First of all, you mention the serrano flavor... what is that exactly? Secondly, would you recommend I just scale up your weight from 1 gallon to 5.5. gallons?

Thanks and I can't wait to hear how these turn out in the end!
 
Did you try freezing any of the peppers before you put them into the secondary? I think i read somewhere that freezing them breaks open the cells and really allows for the peppery goodness to enter the beer. Might also help if you decide to scale up the recipe to a full batch so you don't end up with lbs of peppers in your beer.
 
They all sound delicious! This has really inspired me to make a chile pepper beer and the other night in the produce section of Raley's I found myself starring at all of the peppers and contemplating.

I think what I'd like to try is the roasted serrano and ancho in a full 5.5 gallon batch. First of all, you mention the serrano flavor... what is that exactly? Secondly, would you recommend I just scale up your weight from 1 gallon to 5.5. gallons?

Thanks and I can't wait to hear how these turn out in the end!

Awesome! :)

Serrano and Ancho would probably be nice. Serrano has that unique brightness to it, very distinct (and one of my favs). It's "green" tasting, whereas the ancho is very earthy. You'll get a nice spicy finish with the serrano, it's one of those "time delayed" heats.

When I scale up, my plan was just to scale the weight up exactly as you described. I don't think we have to worry about "capsaicin utilization" like with hops... treat it like a fruit (that's what it is after all).

Did you try freezing any of the peppers before you put them into the secondary? I think i read somewhere that freezing them breaks open the cells and really allows for the peppery goodness to enter the beer. Might also help if you decide to scale up the recipe to a full batch so you don't end up with lbs of peppers in your beer.

I didn't freeze them because they were already dried. I figured the drying would bust up the cells... drying makes the heat come out in peppers so I figure I don't have to do anything else. As far as the serrano goes, I roasted it to damage the cells a bit and to activate the heat. I did slit it down the side a bit. For the larger dried ones, I stabbed them a few times to ensure the beer could get at those seeds. When I took the peppers out they were completely waterlogged so I don't think you really have to worry about it.

If you weren't going to roast fresh peppers, freezing is probably a good idea (again, like fruit).
 
Now that my batch is 85% gone I figured it's time to write up the end of the story! The base beer is a very simply pale ale-ish recipe with Northern Brewer hops. First I'll go through my thoughts on each beer individually.

Ancho: Deep, earthy flavor. Hint of heat, nothing to be scared of at all. The heat is rounded in that it affects the whole palate with just a slight extra touch at the back of the throat. Full flavor, dark fruits... I think if I did it again I'd add more and I'd definitely add more in a beer with more of a malt presence.

Habanero: Wooh! Good amount of heat in the back of the throat. The delicious earthy flavor hits right before the heat but just barely. For me, it's too much heat on its own about 80% of the time... I like heat but I don't normally like to be bombarded with it. It'd be cool to separate out the heat from the flavor but I'm not sure how to do that... I only used 1/4 of a habanero in a gallon after all.

Panca: Wow, starts off like berries then finishes with a very slight peppery punch of heat. Very clean flavor. Delicious on its own, I'm considering doing a panca pils once I get a lagering setup. I would use a little bit more though, the flavor is just a little too light.

Serrano: Definitely my favorite on its own, refreshing summer ale. Clean flavor, nice and green, good balance of heat. I think this and panca would both pair well with lighter beers.

New Mexico: I initially thought this was a bit disappointing and that I didn't use enough, but it's probably my second favorite on its own. Earthy yet clean flavor, almost an 'ancho lite'. Like all the less spicy beers, I could have used more and been happy with it. This feels as though it works best unblended IMO.

---

Blends:
I spent a night mixing and matching the beers in as many combinations as I could think of before I was completely hammered... SWMBO was unable to drink that night so it was up to me to consume 5 beers in the course of half an hour. I managed to choke them down and hopefully could differentiate the flavors! It got a little tough to figure out what I was tasting but I think I got the general trends down.

Things that rocked:

Panca/Serrano - heavenly! The two cleanest peppers combine into a fruity capsaicin heaven! I liked this combo so much that I currently have an american wheat in secondary with this combo with about 20% extra panca.

Habanero/ancho - Excellent combo, would be great with a porter or stout. I plan on brewing up one of these for the winter. Habanero is delicious but since it's so damn hot it's hard to get enough flavor to complement the heat. Ancho fills in that role perfectly. I was thinking it'd be fun to do a high heat and low heat version... one with double the habanero and one with 2.5x the ancho.

Habanero/panca - panca is magical! Great combo, again. The earthy hot punch lasts just a second, punctuating the slight heat from the panca and contrasting nicely with the fruitiness. I had a tough time deciding habanero/panca vs serrano/panca for my american wheat but decided cleaner would be better... plus I'm just a sucker for serrano.

Ancho/serrano/panca - one of my fav combos, quite outstanding. I'm keeping this combo in the back of my head as a 'pale ale' recipe that substitutes peppers for hops. I'd double the amount of panca but keep the other two the same.

Habanero(x0.5)/Ancho/Panca - great combo, balance of clean and earthy, light heat but still definitely present. Ancho/panca was good too but I really liked what Habanero brough tot the table.

Serrano/Ancho - solid combo, a little clean heat, a little deep earthiness. Not sure what type of beer it'd mix with well but I liked the flavor combo in this instance. Was good but may have been the weakest combo of the ones that were good... a little panca really improves it.

---

Things that sucked:

An equal mix of all 5 peppers... sucked. It was just too messy and unfocused. It was by far the worst mix I tried.

New Mexico as a mixer - just seemed weak, even with habanero. Too light yet too earthy... balanced on its own, skews any combo in the wrong direction. It'd be a good option if you're afraid you're going to make your batch too strong, it'll dilute the heat but still keep a solid semi-undefinable pepper presence.

Serrano/habanero - messy, both were hot but in different ways that didn't complement each other, plus it was too much of a clean green flavor vs too much of a sharp earthy flavor. No matter the combination, if both of these were present, I found it disagreeable.

Serrano/New Mexico - meh. Nothing special. NM just seemed bland and watered down the serrano. Perhaps the NM was just weak.

---

Basically... the two hot peppers were great with panca. Panca was the undisputed highlight as a mixer, it made everything brighter and better. Serrano was nice and clean and combined well with ancho and panca and it seems to me would fit right in in a lighter style. Ancho had a deep almost 'grungy' feel and would be perfect in a darker beer, especially when complemented by habanero. Hab is the ass-kicker, giving you that strong pepper heat but when applied in the proper amounts really shines, especially if the flavor is highlighted with ancho. I tried a lot more combos than I took notes on and a lot of them weren't stellar... the ones that really stood out are the ones I took notes on.

I really felt that combinations of two peppers were overall better than combinations of three. Combos of 4 and 5 peppers were all awful. When I say awful, I mean relative to the other combos... I'm sure if I were handed a 5 pepper blend beer I'd enjoy it, but side by side with less 'complex' combinations I thought it was lacking. The only exception might be the hab(x0.5)/ancho/panca which I think would make for a good darker beer with a mild amount of heat.

All in all, a great experiment that I fully enjoyed and I really learned a lot about these peppers and their uses in brewing.


A little note... at bottling the pepper flavors were very pronounced, when the beers were carbing but still a little green the flavors almost disappeared, then when carb'd they came back at about 80% the strength of at bottling... so for all you impatient brewers out there (like me!), don't freak out that your young beer lost its flavor!
 
Very interesting!

I found that the habanero heat goes away quite considerably when the beer is chilled to serving temp. Let me know if you have similar results for the habanero or other beers.

I actually just poured myself a straight up habanero beer and didn't really find that to be the case... it's pretty powerful right out of the fridge. If it gets hotter as I drink it (in this 95 degree heat) I'll edit this post :p
 
I just brewed a 2.5 gallon blonde with hatch chilies (what you called New Mexico chilies). I used three fresh chilies and two roasted. I froze them and then removed the veins and seeds once thawed. I pasturized them in some water and then dumped the whole thing in. My dad grows these peppers, so I figured it would be a great opportunity to try something new and a way to tie two of our hobbies together.

Not a lot of heat, but lots of flavor. At first it was mostly aroma and little flavor, but 7 days in it was less aroma and a lot more flavor. Only a small amount of heat at the end. Hatch chilies are generally used for flavor rather than heat, so I'm not surprised. Sometimes, you can get a really spicy one or a plant that kicks out really spicy peppers.
 
The wife and I are in the process of brewing up a Chipotle/Ancho Chocolate Porter. We're pretty excited, especially after reading these posts. We're planning on putting in 3 dried chipotles, and 2 anchos. Do you think that would be a good combo or should I do 3 and 3? We'll also be adding 4-6 oz of cacoa nibs to the mix. The porter goes into the secondary this weekend. :ban:
 
The wife and I are in the process of brewing up a Chipotle/Ancho Chocolate Porter. We're pretty excited, especially after reading these posts. We're planning on putting in 3 dried chipotles, and 2 anchos. Do you think that would be a good combo or should I do 3 and 3? We'll also be adding 4-6 oz of cacoa nibs to the mix. The porter goes into the secondary this weekend. :ban:

Holy balls that sounds amazing... not sure on the raito but yes, do it!

EDIT: Just don't forget your Chipotlaway! :D :D :D
chipotlaway.jpg
 
i brewed an IPA with dried pasilla peppers, which are fairly mild. I used 5 peppers, 3 of them with seeds removed. It dry hopped for about 2 weeks. It came out great, but the heat really creeps up on you. I was surprised how much heat it picked up from mild peppers

On a side note, make sure you clean your tanks well afterward. I always clean and sanitize thoroughly but the heat from this beer carried over into the next, most likely from reusing bottles and not scrubbing them like i do with my tanks. CHeers!
 
Well, after reading this thread, I decided to try a Mr. Beer sized version of this. I'm going to add some Panca and Serrano chiles. The mix arrives tomorrow and my peppers should be here Mon or Tues. I couldn't find one online store that had both peppers. I also looked at some ghost peppers. Yowza, that's got flaming sphincter all over it.
http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/250/nm/Fire_in_the_Hole_Chile_Beer1
 
Well, after reading this thread, I decided to try a Mr. Beer sized version of this. I'm going to add some Panca and Serrano chiles. The mix arrives tomorrow and my peppers should be here Mon or Tues. I couldn't find one online store that had both peppers. I also looked at some ghost peppers. Yowza, that's got flaming sphincter all over it.
http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/250/nm/Fire_in_the_Hole_Chile_Beer1

Flaming sphincter. That sounds like a perfect name for a pepper beer! My next recipe... :D
 
jgourd, Thanks. Glad I could help. My Panca chilies arrived Sat.. Man, do they smell good. Lots of "fruity" smells. Damn Columbus day pushed my Serrano delivery back a day or two. I need to start working on the front end (drinking) of my pipeline. My "rear end" is starting to get big! Hmmm, do these beers make my ass look big??
 
Brewed the chile beer today. 2/3 oz. of coarsely chopped dried Panca chiles and 2/3 oz. of coarsely chopped dried smoked Serrano chiles. The chiles are in a muslin bag resting on the bottom of the Mr. Beer keg. I know about the risks of infection from opening my fermenter too often, but should I give it a stir occasionally to get more of the chile flavor in the brew? It'll be in the primary for a month.
 
Brewed the chile beer today. 2/3 oz. of coarsely chopped dried Panca chiles and 2/3 oz. of coarsely chopped dried smoked Serrano chiles. The chiles are in a muslin bag resting on the bottom of the Mr. Beer keg. I know about the risks of infection from opening my fermenter too often, but should I give it a stir occasionally to get more of the chile flavor in the brew? It'll be in the primary for a month.

Have you had the chance to try it yet? <3 panca!
 
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