Chili Beer

[brew2you]

I'm wanting to try making a chili beer. My plans are to use an American Amber kit and add sereno chilis. My question is.. should I use fresh chilis or dried? And when should I add them, During the boil or into the fermenter like dry hopping? Also if this is a horrible idea please let me know as I am just experimenting. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Walker]

I've done both fresh (jalapenos) and dried (chipotles...also jalapenos, I suppose). Either works great depending on the profile you're going for. I would add them to the secondary like dryhopping.

Not a horrible idea at all.

BeeGee

 

[dtduffy]

Walker. How many chilis would you add for a 5 gallon batch?

 

[fineexampl]

you can also add chopped serranos to your boil and extract some capsaicin from them. might not be a bad idea to sterilize the pods before you add them to your fermenter? not sure really. I added a whole habanero to a bomber once and it was too hot to comfortably drink more than a little bit without getting scorched.

 

[Walker]

That post from me wasn't actually from me. Baron von BeeGee was at my place for a brew session and was using my conputer. You'll have to PM him to get his attention. I've never put any peppers in beer.

 

[dtduffy]

Thanks, will do.

 

[Lcasanova]

Basic Brewing Video, check it:

September 30, 2009 - Chili Beer Experiment
Steve shares the results of his experiment comparing five different chili peppers in the same base beer.

 

[bad67z]

I have never brewed a chili beer,but I sampled a fantastic pale ale at a band mate"s of a buddy of mine. He had 12 homebrew on tap and I sampled all of them, I went back for 2 pints(it was that good) of the Smoked Chill Pale Ale. He put 5-10 split and seeded smoked Serrano peepers in the secondary.


Cheers...

 

[Imp_atient]

I made a Pilsner kit. I roasted 5 big Jalapeno peppers on the BBQ, then I scraped the black stuff off and threw them right in the boil towards the end.

I let them ferment in the primary as well. Didn't have a secondary at that point.

At first it tasted SUPER peppery and a little bit hot. After about 3 weeks in bottles there was no heat and the pepper flavor blended nicely with everything else. I was hoping for the heat to stay but I suppose I could have used more and added them later.

I think people generally use more peppers than I did, but the results were great because seriously...IMHO peppers are way better on nachos to consume alongside beer than beer that tastes just like peppers.

 

[spence21989]

I made a basic APA(execpt a little low on the IBU's so the chili flavor will stand out) and added 1 roasted ancho chili per gallon to the secondary.

Batch Size: 2gal
3.25lb American Pale Ale Malt
0.25lb Crystal(45L)
~0.1lb Carapils
0.5oz Cascade for 30min
0.25oz Perle for 10min

OG 1.050

I'm going to bottle it in a couple days so we'll see how it comes out. It was more of an experiment with some leftover ingredients than anything.

+1 for the Basic Brewing Video, good tips on there for chili beers.

 

[brew2you]

Thanks for the advice! Now I'm really wanting to try this!

 

[spence21989]

I tasted my chili beer a couple days ago that I bottled on 12/16. It was very nice overall. A little vegetable taste but you could really taste the chili. The hotness was not overpowering and left just a little kick on the tip of your tongue. the 1 ancho per gal seems like a good place to start but I have read that ancho can vary in hotness...maybe adding 1 or 2 small very hot peppers to a 5gal batch on top of the ancho's would be interesting and give a little more kick if desired.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I did 5 habaneros in 5 gallons once. I roasted them slightly over a flame and dumped the hot pods into secondary.

It was a basic pale ale with bullion hops.

It turned out great, but was so freaking HOT.

It is amazing how much heat is imparted.

 

[TeufelBrew]

My favorite is Billy's Chili's from Twisted Pine. They do a wheat beer with peppers in secondary. I believe they do a taste of the chili's to determine how hot they were and used around 1/4 to 1/3 lb per five gallons.

If the peppers are too hot, seed and remove ALL the white pith inside the pepper. Soak in vodka overnight or blanch in boiling water for a few minutes.

 

[Handle]

I'm still looking to try a really good chili beer. I've tried Rogue's Chipotle Ale and thought it was decent, but I want something hotter. There was also something a little too overwhelming with the spice -- not from a heat standpoint, but just maybe too much going on.

What do you guys think some of the better styles are for a chili beer? Pale Ale, Amber Ale, Cream Ale, etc.?

And you guys might think I'm crazy, but what do you think about adding peppers to something with a maltier backbone, like a Mild or an ESB? I think the latter would be particularly good.

 

[jitteringjr]

I did 5 habaneros in 5 gallons once. I roasted them slightly over a flame and dumped the hot pods into secondary.

It was a basic pale ale with bullion hops.

It turned out great, but was so freaking HOT.

It is amazing how much heat is imparted.

I'm thinking about doing a roasted habanero dunkelweisen and roasting the pepper skins and throwing them into the secondary. Can you or anyone else tell me if you added the seeds when you say "hot pod"? I've cooked with habaneros before and the heat is mostly in the seeds and the flavor more in the skins.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I didn't de-seed jitteringjr, it would seriously reducethe heat.