Green Chile beer

[pnj]

I'll be tasting my beer tonight, from the carboy, if all goes well.

How long do those of you that have done this, leave the peppers in the beer? I already hit my FG.

 

[Brewpastor]

secondary for about 2 weeks.

 

[pnj]

cool, thanks!

 

[pnj]

Yuck.

I bottled this today. One week ago I dry hopped, with pellets, one ounce of Willamette hops.

The beer smelt weird. kinda vinegary, kinda spicy.

I've always been able to drink my beer when I bottle. Not this time.
It tasted sharp and dry and spicyer then I would have thought. (I am a chili head, so my heat sensors are pretty high up the chart)

There is NO sense of hops at all. Infact, I don't even know if I'd put it in the 'beer' category. I probably wouldn't know it was beer in a blind taste test.

I sure hop this gets better somehow....

 

[akpingel]

I have read of people adding peppers to each bottle when bottling, has anyone tried this?

I want to make a batch, but I don't want five gallons of it. I was thinking of using jalapenos into a couple bottles of a heffe.

 

[woodenbuick]

I made a Kolsche and "dry hopped" a gallon of it over a couple of nice Hatch Chilis I roasted. Let them sit for a week. Tasted yesterday while bottling and you could taste the Hatch Peppers but not much heat.
Thinks it will be good in a month or so but if not, I only have 12 bottles.

 

[AirRageous]

It is official! This batch turned out great. I rushed it to get it ready for the big Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque and after just 2 weeks in the bottle, it is by far my best tasting brew out my total of 10. I have friends who want me to brew and sell them an entire 5 gal. batch of the stuff. Of course I would never "sell" any of my homebrew. That would be illegal ....

 

[AirRageous]

I took some of this to the Dukes of Ale Homebrewing Club here in Albuquerque last night. It was definitely a hit. Brewpastor gave me some very nice compliments although he thought it needed just a little bit of heat to it. I used very mild Big Jim chiles. It has a very nice aroma and taste, just now heat.

I have another batch ready for secondary this weekend and will experiment with combining mild Anehiem chiles and medium Big Jims.

 

[Brewpastor]

It really was a good batch. Great chile character and aroma, well balanced in a nice clean and crisp beer. Really well done.

 

[heywolfie1015]

Hey guys, out of curiosity, when do you break out a bottle of this? I would assume it pairs well with a Mexican meal, but very curious how else you've used it?

Intriguing recipe. Congrats on it coming out so well.

 

[SourHopHead]

How did I miss this? Guess standing next to the Belgian kegs was a bad idea... Maybe catch it next time.

 

[AirRageous]

Hey guys, out of curiosity, when do you break out a bottle of this? I would assume it pairs well with a Mexican meal, but very curious how else you've used it?
QUOTE]

This is a great beer for any spicy Mexican dish. I brewed my batch very mild so it will help cool you down. If you used hotter chiles in the beer, you might want to pair it with a mildly spiced dish to add some kick.

 

[AirRageous]

How did I miss this? Guess standing next to the Belgian kegs was a bad idea... Maybe catch it next time.

Sorry you missed out. I'm the older guy with the white beard that showed up late. Had my wife, daughter and son in law with me. If you want to try some, PM me and we can get together somewhere in town and swap a bottle or two.

 

[AirRageous]

I have been following the Chile Beer thread for a while but I can't see an exact recipe to follow in order to get a beer similar (or exactly like ) to the beer that you created based on that thread. There was talk of a pale ale, is that the way you went? Any info you could offer would be appreciated.

Neal

The above was in a PM to me from NealF and I thought I would post my reply here as well in case anyone else has the same question.

For my brew, the base beer is: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

I mashed low at at 148F which made it dryer and not as malty. The light hop bill balances well with the green chiles.

Primary the beer for one week and add the chiles to the secondary for two weeks.

Roast the chiles very well. Mostly blackened skin. You can fresh roast them and add to the secondary immediately (once cooled). This is what I did on my first batch. Or, Brewpastor recommends to freeze them for a time to help breakdown the cell structure and release more flavor. I did this on my newest batch. The roasting sanitizes the chiles so you shouldn't have to worry about infection. Throw the whole chile in the fermenter, stems, seeds, skin and all. This gives it that roasted smell.

The chiles, seeds and skin bits will float. I carefully racked to the bottling bucket and let that sit for several hours to settle. I primed with 1 1/4 cup light DME. This tasted great after just 2 weeks bottle conditioning but is getting better with age.

Too bad we are almost out of the first batch after just 6 weeks or so.

I have also discovered that getting consistency with this beer will be difficult. For my second batch, we were not able to find the same chiles and heat level we bought back in Sept. so we used a different variety. Next year, I plan to buy extra chiles at the start of the chile season and roast and freeze them for use throughout the year.

 

[user 38649]

I see lots of people using a Blonde as a base for a chili addition... what about a Mild? I have a Northern Brewer Mild kit ready to go this week, and am considering holding over a gallon for spicing.

I've never had a chili beer, and I'm having a hard time piecing together the flavors in my head. Curious to hear any thoughts on this...

Jason

 

[nealf]

The above was in a PM to me from NealF and I thought I would post my reply here as well in case anyone else has the same question.

Thanks for the reply, how much did you add? And of what variety... also, if you were to change the amount/variety, how would you go about that?

edit: after reading, it seems you added 1lb of green chiles

Thanks again,

Neal

 

[AirRageous]

Thanks for the reply, how much did you add? And of what variety... also, if you were to change the amount/variety, how would you go about that?

edit: after reading, it seems you added 1lb of green chiles

Thanks again,

Neal

That was 1 lb pre-roasting. It works out to about 7-8 chiles for 4-5 gallons of beer.

But please bear in mind, we have only made this twice. We have tasted the first batch and it was fantastic. The second is still in secondary and we have no idea if we will get the same result. I am not sure I can make all the same mistakes two times in a row.

 

[AirRageous]

Here is a pic of the roasted green chiles in the secondary bucket. Looks really bad but the smell coming out is great. Notice that the chiles are well roasted and have the charred skins still on.

If you are not familiar with the roasting process for green chiles, check out this site: http://www.zianet.com/focus/chile/chile2.htm

 

[pnj]

Ugh. I can't drink mine. I actually poured a bottle down the drain last night. I bottled on 9/3 or so. this bottle was in the 'fridge for two weeks or so.

The sad thing is, the beer LOOKS amazing. very clear, light amber color. Just really pretty. but the flavor is really off/odd. I can't explain it but know this, I NEVER WASTE beer. Guess this is the exception. It just tastes wrong, in a bad way.

I can't explain the flavor but it tastes like a really bad bmc beer. with heat. I dry hopped 2.5 gallons w/ an ounce of hops and there is no hop aroma.

 

[AirRageous]

Ugh. I can't drink mine. I actually poured a bottle down the drain last night. I bottled on 9/3 or so. this bottle was in the 'fridge for two weeks or so.

The sad thing is, the beer LOOKS amazing. very clear, light amber color. Just really pretty. but the flavor is really off/odd. I can't explain it but know this, I NEVER WASTE beer. Guess this is the exception. It just tastes wrong, in a bad way.

I can't explain the flavor but it tastes like a really bad bmc beer. with heat. I dry hopped 2.5 gallons w/ an ounce of hops and there is no hop aroma.

You have to start with a good base beer for this. Is the problem with the base beer or the chiles? In my research and talking with people who have brewed good green chile beer, the concensus is to use a lightly hopped, dry beer. That lets the unique chile flavors to come through. If you are are adding extra hops, that may throw the flavors off. IMHO this is not about the heat, it is the roasted chile flavor and taste.

 

[pnj]

I used the same Haus ale recipe that I had made a number of times. All I did was add the peppers and the hops. There is no roasted flavor at all in mine. I figured with the munich and the peppers, this would be a really tastey beer.

 

[misanthrope]

Years ago, my buddy and I brewed a batch of "Salsa" beer.

I don't recall the exact base recipe, but it was a lightly hopped light ale.

During the last 5 or 10 minutes of the boil, we added 12 jalapenos, a "bunch" of cilantro, a diced onion, and a single cherry tomato. (Five gallon batch.)

This was all strained out when it went into the primary.

It was delicious, but extremely hot. I have a high tolerance for such things and I could only take two mouthfuls before I had to set the beer aside for a while.

Mixed with tomato juice, however, it was perfect.

 

[Handle]

I'm wondering if a fruit and pepper combination, as is often done with salsas, might be ideal? You could undercut the spiciness of hotter peppers like habaneros with fruits like mango, or peach, or blackberry.

 

[SourHopHead]

I will see what I have left and bring it to the next Dukes Meeting. Found out this morning it took Best Of Show.