How Long Can I Leave Jalapeños In My Beer?

[rodwha]

I have a jalapeño cream ale in the back that's been "dry peppered" around the 6th. I forgot to write it down, and things have been bit hectic around here.

SWMBO has been going 90 mph since before Thanksgiving, and hasn't slowed down. She's been in the kitchen making candies, cookies, dehydrated camping foods to try out, among way too many other things, and watching her in there reminds me of the Swedish chef from the Muppets!

Is it detrimental to bottle or remove the jalapeños from the fermentor? It's getting close to 2 weeks now, and I just can't seem to get into the kitchen until after Christmas. They had been soaking in vodka for 2 weeks prior.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I'd say you're fine. There's no greater chance of anything going wrong just because they've sat a bit longer. I did a peppered ale and left it for 2-3weeks without issue then for a month or so in the bottle and they came out fine.

 

[rodwha]

I checked my gravity readings with a 3 beers and noticed the hop sack floating so I sanitized my tongs and pulled it out.

I did noticed a small amount of bubbly mass on the surface. It looked similar to what I see others freaking out on. I'm going to relax and wait 'til after Christmas to worry about it since I can't do much now anyway as I'm still recovering from surgery and would need help anyway. And I've siphoned under stuff I thought was nasty and had some great beer!

It smells nice and jalapeno-y and fermented a little lower than anticipated unless the few shots of vodka did this.

 

[Calder]

The longer the jalapenos are in there the more heat the beer will absorb. Depending on how many you put in there, it might be some hot beer. I think the general guidance is to sample the beer periodically after adding peppers, and remove the beer from the peppers when the desired amount of heat is reached.

 

[PSF]

I'm looking to add jalepanos to the secondary of a smoked porter. Would y'all please clarify the soaking in vodka -- is this done to kill anything on the jalepeno? Is soaking 2 weeks required or would a minute or two be sufficient just prior to adding to a secondary? I'd think the alcohol concentration of vodka wouldn't necessitate soaking for 2 weeks, but not sure.

Also, is the "heat" mostly in the seeds? Are y'all adding seeds and the pepper? Just one or the other?

 

[rodwha]

I think this may be rather hot. It smelled fairly strong of jalapeño goodness!

It is soaked in vodka to extract the taste and heat. I'm not positive, but I think the long soak is necessary. It's not to kill anything. And use the whole thing.

 

[rodwha]

Use a small container and cover the jalapeños you use.

For my 4 gal batch I used 2 large jalapeños @ 10 mins that were roasted @ 350* and sliced somewhat thin, and 2 more done in the same manner, but then placed in a small container and covered with about 4 shots of vodka for 2 weeks.