Dried Hatch Chiles Advice on a Recipe

[bucketnative]

I was recently in NM, and picked up 1 oz of dried Hatch chile peppers (red) for fun at a farmer's market. I thought it might be interesting to use them in a recipe. When I am looking at the recipes for chiles on this site (and others), most are using fresh or roasted chiles. Also, most of the beers seem to be going for a lot of heat, and I'm more interested in a little warmth at the end of the sip, with pepper flavor and aroma on the nose.

Is that possible with dried Hatch peppers?

How many dried peppers would you recommend for 5 gal batch given info above?

Last few minutes of boil, vodka tincture, or dry hop style?

I was thinking either cream ale or pale ale... I have read to keep hops on the lighter side of the scale. Any advice?

Thanks.

 

[DromJohn]

1 oz at flame out should give you what you what.

 

[bucketnative]

1 oz at flame out should give you what you what.

Thanks, I think I am leaning toward the cream ale style to allow the pepper flavor a better chance of standing out (i.e. less emphasis on hops).

 

[bucketnative]

OK, just to keep this thread updated... I change my mind and went with a Kolsch-style hybrid:

5lb German Pils
1lb American White Wheat Malt

Mash at 150 F for 60 minutes, batch sparge. I really struggled with efficiency in this brew, I was targeting a ferment volume of 4 gal, but ended up with 3 gal. in order to hit my OG.

I roasted the dried Hatch chilis for a few minutes in the toaster oven at 400 F. Just until they started to darken and released a good aroma.

1/2 oz Tradition hops - 6.8% AA (60 min)
1/2 oz Tradition hops - 6.8% AA (15 min)
1/2 oz Dried Hatch chilis (15 min)
1 tsp Crushed red pepper (flameout) - I had tasted the wort prior to this and it need a little boost.

Wyeast 2565 Kolsch yeast. Fermenting with the basement room temperature at 63 F.

I'll update with a taste test when all is said and done. Just in case anyone else ever Googles Dried Hatch Chili Beer Recipe.

 

[bucketnative]

As a further update to this thread... This may be the best-tasting Kolsch I have ever made. Unfortunately, the best Kolsch I have ever made comes with zero pepper flavor or heat detectable above the hops and pils flavor. While I could detect a bit of heat in the unfermented wort, that is not the case in the final product. I think I would need to use a heck of a lot more peppers than the 1/2 oz of dried hatch chilis and the 1 tsp crushed red pepper. Also, I believe the peppers added pectin which causes this to be a hazy beer, for those that care about clarity.

Also, I bottle-primed with DME to an expected 2.7 vol CO2.

So, what made this the best-tasting Kolsch I have ever made? I believe it was the use of German pils in the grain bill. Previously, I had only used American pils, and the proprietor of my LHBS had me taste the two grains in the store. The difference was astounding even in the raw form. Not sure I'll ever go back to American pils for a German recipe.

 

[TandemTails]

Friends that have homebrewed with dried chiles have done so in secondary. Only leaving the chile in for 15 minutes probably isn't going to lend much flavor, which is what secondary would do for you.

If you want to try this again, just look up some recipes for adding dried chipotle peppers to a beer and sub in the NM chile

 

[bucketnative]

Friends that have homebrewed with dried chiles have done so in secondary.

I plan on giving this a go in the fall when my basement temperature drops down into a less saison-ish range. I think secondary is probably the way to go as well.