Freeze Jalapenos Before Smoking?

[dan46nbrew]

I'm going to make a Pilsner or maybe Kolsch Jalepeno flavored beer. I was wondering if it would be better to freeze the jalepenos before putting them in the smoker, or after? I thought freezing them before will open up the cell walls letting them absorb more smoke?

 

[slayer021175666]

It couldn't hurt. Making them mushier might be good like, you're thinking.

 

[Beerstein]

Do an A/B experiment and let us know….

 

[Elric]

Have you ever smoked a jalapeno before? Trust me, they take on more than enough smoke as is, you don't need to do anything to increase the amount they are going to absorb.

cheers, and happy smoking!

 

[Teufelhunde]

Freezing them will increase the heat.....

 

[Jayjay1976]

I smoked a bunch of jalapeños last summer, carefully removed the seeds and membranes but the long, low heat made them unbearably hot. I threw them out and moved on.

I think there are ways to leech out/reduce the heat from the peppers, I'd look into that and then just go for a moderate smokiness. Hopefully that means you can use more jalapeño to bring the smoke and get a nice, balanced flavor.
But since you're brewing with these I'd just use fresh jalapeños, and yes freeze them before hand, and use a couple of pounds of smoked malt which is easier to dial in than rolling the dice with however much smoke you can get into the peppers. Also, smoked malts come in a few flavors, IME, beech smoked has the classic bacon/hot dog/summer BBQ flavor. I've also had good results with cherry smoked malt.