Critique please: Pepper-Lime blonde ale

[Supergrump]

Hi,

This is my first post. I'm working on my first all-grain recipe (done several AG brews already with recipes borrowed from this forum). I'd like a little constructive criticism please...

Pepper-Lime Blonde Ale

Grain:
2-row pale malt - 6lb
wheat malt - 2lb
crystal 60 - 1lb
rye malt - 1lb
Hops:
cascade - 1oz, 60 min boil
hallertauer - 1oz, 2 min boil
Adjuncts:
1-2 oz lime rind, 10 min boil
1/2 oz peppercorn, 10 min boil
Additional lime & orange peel (rind) to secondary (depending on taste)
using an Americal Pale-Ale dry yeast (Wyeast)

The goal is to go for a light, slightly sweet blonde with slightly more-than-a-hint of lime and a bit of spice due to the pepper.

This is my first attempt at creating my own recipe so any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ztanner25]

sounds good, but i'm not sure what effect the peppercorn will have. i've done a lime ale before and a jalepeno ale but not one recipe with both. i would think that fresh peppers (in a very small amount) might compliment the lime better than the peppercorn would. but what's the fun if you don't try something new? go for it, and tell us how it turns out!

 

[Supergrump]

lime and black pepper seem to go well together for chicken wings or potato chips. I often add a twist of lemon and lime to my wheat ales and its delicious so I thought Id try a lime ale for the spring/summer. I remembered that black pepper sometimes goes with lime and did some research here to find that peppercorn adds a nice spice to ales. Why not try both?

This is kinda two big leaps for me - experimenting with the pepper / lime combo and the first attempt at an all grain recipe. What do I have to lose, I guess (other than $30 and a few hours of my time)?

 

[jiggs_casey]

Interesting! I have been toying with the idea of using black pepper in a stout. The lemon in a hefe is always a go. I was in the middle of a belgian wit last night and I thought that a slice of lime would have been perfect. Why not take it one step further and try and incorporate a little black pepper? I'm really intrigued now!

 

[SwivelHips]

One of our Canadian breweries (Dead Frog) makes a pepper lime ale. It's quite good and the Mrs has asked me to make her some so I'm curious how this works out for ya.

 

[rhoop]

Mmm, Dead Frog pepper lime lager. My favorite hot summer evening beer. I curious too, was thinking about trying to make one this summer.

 

[Supergrump]

I'm not a huge fan of the Dead Frog pepper lime lager, but the chocolate mint brown ale is tasty.
So far I've had a great response to the above recipe but I thought the pepper and lime were a little overpowering. I can't remember if I posted that I added an ounce of rind 'dry' to the keg (I boiled it first to kill any natural yeast).
I brewed a new batch with half the lime and pepper (half ounce pepper, one ounce lime) in the boil with no dry. It's being entered in the Vanbrewers brew competition in a couple weeks and I'll post the results afterward.

 

[davidr2340]

Trip XII, from New Belgium / Elysian is an IPA that uses pink peppercorn, and IMO is one of my new favorite beers!

I say go for it! Let us know how it turns out!

 

[thejakester]

if I were you I would put in a white peppercorn as opposed to a black peppercorns it has a slightly more fruity flavor which would more likely complement the lime in your beer

 

[MVKTR2]

davidr2340 sort of beat me to it. I was going to suggest you go with pink or red peppercorns rather than black. Otherwise I like the sound of it. Sounds like the kind of thing that would go well with coriander or fresh cilantro. On that note I've been thinking of doing a summer brew with major thai flavors: cilantro, lime, coconut, and chili paste.

Let us know how this goes.

 

[Supergrump]

This won 3rd place (bronze medal) at the Vanbrewers Awards competition in May. It was my first competition. The version I submitted had 0.5 oz of peppercorn and rind of about 6 limes (maybe 1.5 oz?) boiled for 5 min. No dry addition. The feedback was that the peppercorn was a little too mild. I'll try 0.75 oz next time because a full oz is almost too much. A full oz burns the back of the throat at first but mellows out very nicely after a lot of aging.

I used the colored peppercorn mix from the local supermarket. It has a mix of red, green, white and black peppercorns in it. I also didn't crush them - I wanted to play it safe. I might try experimenting with different colors as recommended above. I might also try a Belgian yeast to enhance the pepper a bit.

 

[Supergrump]

I should clarify... It won 3rd prize for category 21 (vegetable or spice beer), not overall.