Peppers in beer

[JosephN]

I'm sure many of you have put peppers in a batch before and I just did that last night to a gallon out of 5 gallons of a pale ale that I made a few weeks ago. I split the gallon between two growlers and put half of a roasted jalapeño in one and half of a roasted Serrano pepper in the other. Now obviously I know it comes down to preference, but is there a suggested rule to go with when making a pepper beer? I've read articles on this topic and they usually just say it's preference and you need to experiment, which is what I'm doing.

Also what types of peppers have you used, how did you prepare them, and at what point did you add them?

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

I think the key is having a soft hand when adding peppers. I've had a mango jalapeño beer that blew my butthole out the next day and I didn't think I'd be able to taste anything ever again. I've also had a brown ale that had Thai ghost chills and scotch bonnets in it and it showcased the fruity citrusy character of the two peppers, it was spicy but pleasantly spicy (the kind where you get addicted to the heat and wanna keep drinking).

So it's really about starting low and working your way up, until I tried that brown ale with the worlds hottest peppers in it I never thought I'd like pepper beers.

De-seed and de-membrane the peppers. Roasting is a good idea too as that adds more layers of flavor and mellows the heat.

 

[motleybrews]

Habanero goes well in IPAs. Boil the peppers, add the water to the keg

 

[mrdail87]

Brewed a pepper amber recently using about 2 pablanos, and 3 jalapenos in a 5 gallon batch. Thought it gave it a nice little bite, without giving too much "heat". Goes great with some lime too.

Note that pablanos will give a strong pepper flavor, without the spice.