I've got an extra gallon of wort from my last batch that I collected from my mash tun after gathering the wort for my boil. OG was 1.036 so I'm going to make a small batch of beer with it. The original mash was 8 lbs pale 2 row + 1 lb crystal 40L at 148 for an hour. I've got an ounce of willamette hops. I'll probably do 1/4 ounce at 1 hour and 1/4 ounce at 10 minutes. I'll be using Muntun's yeast. Now I just have to decide what chilis to use and when to add them to the boil. I'm going to use dried chilis. I have chipotles, aji limo rojo, habaneros, aji pancas, aji amarillos and aji cerezas. Anyone have any suggestions? I think I want to start with the milder peppers to get that full pepper flavor and then add the hotter ones towards the end to give it some bite without letting the heat get too intense. I want heavy pepper flavors with a little bit of bite.
Chili Beer?
- Thread starter artyboy
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bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
panca tastes like berries. don't use more than 1/4 of a habanero. not familiar with amarillos and cerezas. chipotles would be awesome of course.
throwbookatface
Well-Known Member
Habaneros have that citrusy flavor, almost sweet, so I think they're a good candidate. However, they packa punch, so I'd get rid of as much of the vein in the middle as possible. You can taste the heat when I use 2 to flavor a 5-pound pack of ground beef for tacos, so I'd limit it to maybe one, with minimal vein/seeds. Chipotle would be great for smoke smoky flavor, too! If you're going a lager or lighter ale, I'd maybe even go with fresh jalapenos - they're almost grassy in flavor, would go well with some nice crisp hops imo.
These chipotles taste REALLY smoky. These peppers are all dry so they don't really taste like they would fresh. Here's what I'm thinking.
aji amarillo @ 1 hour - medium/hot fruity citrusy flavor 40k-50k scovels
.25 willamette @ 1 hour
Aji Limo Rojo @ 45 minutes - spicy, sweet and bright pungeoncy 50k-60k scovels
aji panca @ 30 minutes - mild, earthy, berry flavor 1k scovels
habanero @ 15 minutes - stupid hot berry flavor 200-300k scovels
Willamette @ 10 minutes
aji amarillo @ 1 hour - medium/hot fruity citrusy flavor 40k-50k scovels
.25 willamette @ 1 hour
Aji Limo Rojo @ 45 minutes - spicy, sweet and bright pungeoncy 50k-60k scovels
aji panca @ 30 minutes - mild, earthy, berry flavor 1k scovels
habanero @ 15 minutes - stupid hot berry flavor 200-300k scovels
Willamette @ 10 minutes
KyleWolf
Well-Known Member
I can say after trying the Rogue Chipotle Ale...it doesn't finish hot, or warm for that matter...the spice, at least for this particular ale, was very harsh on the palate, enough so I had difficulty...a lot of difficulty, putting down half a pint. so be careful.
that being said, good luck! may the brew be with you.
that being said, good luck! may the brew be with you.
throwbookatface
Well-Known Member
Let us know how it turns out!
SumnerH
Well-Known Member
Cigar City has got it right on this front; heat builds pretty strongly over the term of a secondary. Adding heat later on is easy, but getting the strong chili flavors is tough. You're best off secondarying with chilis that emphasize the flavors over the heat, a la anchos, pasillas, mulatos, etc. Adjusting heat up and down later is far, far easier than trying to get the flavor/aroma imbued strongly.
Welp I'm having my first bottle. I gotta say...wow. It's really really good. I might try a 5 gallon batch of this stuff. It would be really good on tap. The pepper smell is pretty overpowering but I can still smell a hint of the hops. The pepper flavor really shines through. It's got enough body to balance it with a hint of malt flavor at the finish. It's spicy from the tip of your tongue all the way to the back of the throat. If you're a wuss when it comes to spicy food then it might be too much for you 
. The spice is along the lines of a very spicy bloody mary. Even if I don't do a 5 gallon batch I'll definitely be making some more 1 gallon batches. It's not something that I could hammer all night but it's enjoyable and satisfying. It's a shame I only ended up with a 6 pack.
Here's the grain/pepper/hop bill
The wort for this recipe was from the third runnings of this grain bill. I started with about 2 gallons and boiled it down to about 1.5 gallons before starting ingredient additions. I used dried peppers. I used one pepper for each pepper listed. Terra Dolce is the brand of peppers used. OG was around 1.036. Didn't take a FG reading.
9 lbs pale 2 row
1 lb crystal 40l
Munton's Yeast
chipolte @ 1 hour
aji amarillo @ 1 hour
.25 willamette @ 1 hour
Aji Limo Rojo @ 45 minutes
aji panca @ 30 minutes
habanero @ 15 minutes
.25 Willamette @ 10 minutes
And here's the first pour.
. The spice is along the lines of a very spicy bloody mary. Even if I don't do a 5 gallon batch I'll definitely be making some more 1 gallon batches. It's not something that I could hammer all night but it's enjoyable and satisfying. It's a shame I only ended up with a 6 pack.Here's the grain/pepper/hop bill
The wort for this recipe was from the third runnings of this grain bill. I started with about 2 gallons and boiled it down to about 1.5 gallons before starting ingredient additions. I used dried peppers. I used one pepper for each pepper listed. Terra Dolce is the brand of peppers used. OG was around 1.036. Didn't take a FG reading.
9 lbs pale 2 row
1 lb crystal 40l
Munton's Yeast
chipolte @ 1 hour
aji amarillo @ 1 hour
.25 willamette @ 1 hour
Aji Limo Rojo @ 45 minutes
aji panca @ 30 minutes
habanero @ 15 minutes
.25 Willamette @ 10 minutes
And here's the first pour.
throwbookatface
Well-Known Member
Looks great - I'm all for experimentation! I'm glad the pale and crystal malts gave you enough body to balance it - I'm surprised that all came from the third runnings, I've never done that!
If you're going to use third runnings then you need to count on them being really low gravity. Only try to get a couple of gallons and then boil them down to get the OG up. I usually boil for an hour or so before I start hop additions. It's nice because it's on the stovetop and the boil doesn't get anywhere near as violent as it does on the propane burner so you don't really have to watch it closely at all. It's an easy way to experiment with small batches.
throwbookatface
Well-Known Member
Nice, I'll keep that in mind. I think I'm finally going to brew 5-gal batches once I move to my new apartment, which means I might have to invest in real all-grain equipment, but it'll be fun as hell to have the freedom to experiment with volume, multiple runnings, and new techniques. Plus, I think I'm going to try some chile beer and bacon beer...
I'm going to go all out and do 5 gallons of this today. I want to tweak it a little. I'm going for a lot of malt/caramel sweetness and some body to balance out the spice. Here's what I'm thinking. Once I get this recipe dialed in then I'm going to start working on an imperial habanero stout.
8 lbs pale
.5 lb crystal 60l
.5 lb Special B
1 lb Vienna
Safale S-04
1 oz Northern Brewer @ 1 hour
chipolte @ 1 hour
aji Cereza @ 1 hour
Aji Limo Rojo @ 45 minutes
aji panca @ 30 minutes
habanero @ 15 minutes
.5 oz cascade @ 15 minutes
Estimated OG: 1.051
Estimated FG: 1.013
Estimated ABV: ~5%
8 lbs pale
.5 lb crystal 60l
.5 lb Special B
1 lb Vienna
Safale S-04
1 oz Northern Brewer @ 1 hour
chipolte @ 1 hour
aji Cereza @ 1 hour
Aji Limo Rojo @ 45 minutes
aji panca @ 30 minutes
habanero @ 15 minutes
.5 oz cascade @ 15 minutes
Estimated OG: 1.051
Estimated FG: 1.013
Estimated ABV: ~5%
JNye
Well-Known Member
they really need to invent flavor USB ports on beer glasses already!!!!
I just cracked the first one from my latest batch. I think that I have the malts and the hops where I want them but the beer is really really spicy. The flavor is awesome. The peppers really shine through and the malt balance is good. It just keeps burning after you drink it. My first batch didn't burn anywhere near this much. This one even burns your lips lol. Despite the heat it's surprisingly drinkable.
bovineblitz
Well-Known Member
That's probably the habanero. How much did you use?
My habanero-only pale was a little too hot too... I dilute it a little with something else and it's fantastic.
After a few weeks it's really mellowed out. It's awesome now. The heat hits you in the back of the throat pretty hard when you first drink it dissipates pretty quickly and after a couple of them you don't really even notice it.
throwbookatface
Well-Known Member
Good to hear! I think I wanna do a chile porter for fall/winter. Light some fires, you know? I'll need to perfect a chili-less recipe first, but I've got time.
throwbookatface
Well-Known Member
Oh for sure - SS's Oatmeal Stout is incredibly complex. I swear I almost taste mud or earth in it (a good thing) in addition to all the roasted and caramel flavors. Throw some heat in there and you have a roasted adobo taco in a glass. Serve it with some Mexican or Thai food!
I brewed a similar beer to this over the weekend, except I used 9lbs of Smoked Cherrywood malt in mine and used Jalapenos, Serranos, Chipotles and 1 Habenero. The stuff looks like brown sewage in the carboy, wondering if the brown chipotles are to clame for that? Doesnt look the most appetizing right now...
