Late spice addition

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AnOldUR

AnOldUR

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I have never added spices to a batch, but yesterday I brewed a Mexician style corn beer and planned to add cayenne pepper in the last 10 minutes of boil. Well, I completely forgot until putting the final touches on my brewsheet this morning. There will be no other secondary additions, so I'll probably go right to a keg after a few weeks. The pepper was only going to be a half ounce. Would it be best to just forget it, or could I boil it in a cup or so of water and rack on top of it when moving to the keg? Are secondary additions of powdered spices common? My worry is that it won't dissolve well into the finished beer.
 
Just mix it with some hot water and add it in now. That said .5 oz of cayenne sounds like a lot (especially for a light-ish beer) try adding a smaller amount and waiting to add the rest to see how it tastes. I added dried peppers to the secondary of a chocolate stout I brewed recently with very good results.
 
Oldsock said:
That said .5 oz of cayenne sounds like a lot . . . I added dried peppers to the secondary of a chocolate stout I brewed recently with very good results.
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Five gallon batch? How much did you add? The .5 ounces was based on something I saw in Zymurgy, but I have no idea what it will contribute, so I'm open to suggestions. Thanks for the help.
 
AnOldUR said:
Five gallon batch? How much did you add? The .5 ounces was based on something I saw in Zymurgy, but I have no idea what it will contribute, so I'm open to suggestions. Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

I added more pepper by weigh (for 1 gallon 1/2 ancho and 1/2 guadillero, maybe 1/2 oz combined), but those varieties have much less heat than cayenne (3,000/6,000 respectively vs. 40,000-60,000). The beer (despite being rather sweet) has a nice spice to the finish. How spicy do you want this beer?
 
Oldsock said:
How spicy do you want this beer?
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That's a question I should have asked myself before I started. I bought into the Tarahumara story behind this Mexican style and jumped in without enough thought. I love spicy foods, but other than a six pack of jalapeno beer a long, long time ago, don't know what to expect from beer. With the thought of not ruining a batch, what do you think would be a good starting point?
 
AnOldUR said:
That's a question I should have asked myself before I started. I bought into the Tarahumara story behind this Mexican style and jumped in without enough thought. I love spicy foods, but other than a six pack of jalapeno beer a long, long time ago, don't know what to expect from beer. With the thought of not ruining a batch, what do you think would be a good starting point?
Click to expand...

I’m not a spice head, so I would go easy on the cayenne (maybe ¼ oz, you can always add more later). I would really consider doing for a lower heat pepper so you could get more chile flavor without as much pop. I think something like chipotle (smoked jalapenos) could be a really interesting addition to a beer like this. A friend of mine added ~6 (the dried ones not the ones in adobo) to the fermenter of a mango/smoked beer and it turned out terrific with just the right amount of heat for that beer.
 
Not sure how this applies here, but I just found some interesting information on pepper. It is not soluble in water, but is in alcohol. So, it seems like if you add it to the boil, most of the pepper would drop out of solution and end up at the bottom of your fermenter. As a secondary addition, after fermentation is complete, it should have more impact. This is referring to powder, so adding whole peppers may not be the same.

I wonder if trying to dissolve the pepper in vodka before adding to the secondary would be a good idea?
 
I went with the vodka idea. Added a quarter ounce of dried cayenne pepper to a shot of vodka in a small jar. Left it there for a week while the primary finished up, but shook it up when ever I walked by. Added the mixture when transferring to a secondary for clearing. The liquid went in, but a lot of the pepper slurry stuck to the jar. This had me believing that the effect of the cayenne would be minimal.

Well, I kegged it today and all I can say from the hydrometer sample is WOW! You don’t notice the pepper in the aroma or as the beer enters you mouth, but there’s noticeable peppery warmth to the finish. I think I like it and look forward to drinking it carbonated and chilled. Not so sure what other people will think though.

How will age effect the pepper contribution? Is this something that will fade with conditioning?
 

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