Dry Habing? (as in habaneros)

[cheezydemon]

I am planning to take brewpastor's advice and put roasted peppers in the secondary of my traditional american pilsner. Yes I know they will be hot and overpowering.

Any other tips? I suppose I will strain with cheesecloth from secondary to bottling bucket to catch any burnt bits.

I am only doing this to 4 of the 12 gallons I brewed, so if it goes all wrong I will still have 8 good gallons.

 

[WBC]

I am planning to take brewpastor's advice and put roasted peppers in the secondary of my traditional american pilsner. Yes I know they will be hot and overpowering.

Any other tips? I suppose I will strain with cheesecloth from secondary to bottling bucket to catch any burnt bits.

I am only doing this to 4 of the 12 gallons I brewed, so if it goes all wrong I will still have 8 good gallons.

If you just have to do it, go for it. I personally like my beer to taste like beer. I have tasted hot pepper spiced beer before and it is just a novelty beer as I see it. No one in the group took more than two tastes and put it down for good.

 

[mrkristofo]

you could steep them in some warm vodka to help extract the capsaicin and then add that "tea" to your secondary. Just be careful to not let the vapor get near your eyes.

 

[LouT]

De-seed beforehand, that and the white stuff inside the peppers is the hottest part. If you can mild it down somewhat you'll get more of the hab flavor and less of the heat.

 

[Iordz]

Why don't you try something like Jalapeño, in my opinion they taste better and have less spiciness, so they won't burn the roof of your mouth off. Have you ever had a Habañero? They are one of the hottest peppers in the world, so why not try something milder, at least at first.

 

[e lo]

Mmm... that sounds awesome. The heat will be intense, but the flavor of a Scotch Bonnet is unbeatable. Our crop went nuts this year. 3 huge batches of salsa and a ton of homemade hot sauce, and we still had a bunch to pickle and can. Maybe I should think about a hab. beer too.

 

[cheezydemon]

Thanks All for the thoughts.

Hey e lo, I grew a smoky orange hab and the plant was so covered that I had 2 nodes within 3 inches of each other, each with 4 pods. The peppers are crowding each other out. It has been hot and dry here. A real drought. Guess the habs are right at home. "Central Mexico in Louisville Ky" has been the apparent theme this year.

And Iordz, I applaude your taste. If I did not have all of my ripe jalapenos ear marked for smoked red jalapeno powder, I would definitely consider it.

I eat habaneros at least every other day when they are in season, and these that I have are not the hottest, but they have a fantastically complex smoky flavor that I can't seem to get enough of.

Mr kristofo that is a great thought. I have also considered a hop bag.

I am hoping that there is chili beer and then there is chili beer. In other words, I have had oktoberfests that I thought were horrible. I have been fortunate enough to taste many others that were excellent. It would have been a shame to stop after one bad one and decide that I hate oktoberfests.

Brewpastor won a gold medal at some prestigious event with his chili ale. I am pretty sure it tasted better than whatever you had WBC, but then again, some people just don't like certain things. To each their own! If we all liked the same things then nothing new would ever be invented. Thanks all.

 

[mrkristofo]

This might work kind of well actually...if you can brew it with a high enough gravity. Capsaicin is soluble enough in ethanol for "them" to say that taking a shot after eating a hot pepper will take away the spice. Whether that's an effect of the booze on the brain or actually diluting the spice is questionable, but if the latter than you might be able to make a beer that has a sharp kick at first, then abruptly goes away. Maybe.

 

[cheezydemon]

Interesting! I am afraid it will end up around 4.5% abv, so that will be hard to test. If it turns out decent, I will definitely try another bigger one. Thanks.

 

[Grimsawyer]

A bit off topic but... ROGUE has a Smokey Chipolte ale that isn't half bad. It's a bit on the bitter AND dry side for my tastes but if it was in a stout or anything with more body it'd be a really KICK @$$ beer!

 

[cheezydemon]

I was considering smoking the peppers instead of just roasting them.

I am a fan of Rogue's stuff, what kind of ale is it (pepper aside) and what did you think of the smoke? I like a smoked or oak aged (what's the difference sometimes) porter or imperial stout, but I was not sure with a pilsner.

I love a glass or so of Yeti oak aged imperial stout, then the smoke becomes too much. That is saying a lot considering I smoke my own pork butts, briskets, wings, turkeys, game hens etc.

(chipotles are smoked jalapenos, figured you knew)