Jalapeño Beer?

[rodwha]

I've actually considered making my jalapeños chipotles.

And I also enjoy jalapeños when I'm getting congested! Best medicine for a moment!

I'll be making this later this week, and figure I'll make a starter for the US-05 that I'll be making for my 6.2% 6 gal stout and save a small portion for this 1.8 gal jalapeño cream ale (5.3%).

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

Search for jalapeño cream ale on this forum and you will find an excellent jalapeño beer. Just follow the original recipe and you will be quite pleased with the results.

 

[rodwha]

I've settled on a variation of a jalapeño cream ale recipe I was given by jph here.

It's for a 1.8 gal batch:

8 oz 2-row
8oz lager malt
4 oz crystal 10
1 lb pilsen LME (FO)
4 oz honey
4 oz wheat DME
.3 oz Liberty @ 60 mins
.2 oz Liberty @ 5 mins
US-05
2 small jalalpenos roasted and steeped in vodka @ 40 mins
1 large jalapeño roasted and frozen dry hopped for 10 days

Should be about 5.3% ABV 3* L, and 15 IBU's.

I swapped honey for rice solids and wheat DME for flaked wheat, and varied the amount of ingredients slightly as I scaled his recipe down and adjusted it a bit.

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

If you don't mind my input, make the first addition the frozen roasted peppers at 5 min and the second addition your vodka tincture, saving the vodka itself to possibly add to the bottle bucket or keg if more heat is warranted.
The 5 min boil will retain more jalapeño flavor and the addition after boil will be sterilized by the vodka as well as bring able to have control over the heat. Trust me, to much heat is a bad thing in a beer.

 

[rodwha]

I'm curious why the switch to using the tincture as the "dry peppering" addition? It adds less heat?

i certainly want heat, but I reconsidered the real burn. I've had to set aside a portion of a jalapeño as it was just a bit much from time to time (fresh jalapeños). But I do want a nice jalapeño kick, and not the typical pickled variety as I don't generally waste my time with them.

 

[sloanfamilydsm]

Main reason is sanitation. Anything added to the beer after the boil needs to have extra precautions to prevent microbes inadvertently contaminating all the previous work you've done. The second reason is having more control over the heat. If you reserve the "juice" from your tincture and only add the peppers on your second addition, then when you sample your brew before kegging/bottling you now have an opportunity to add the liquid if its not to the heat you desire.

Cheers

Kc

 

[rodwha]

That all makes sense, and I'll give it a go. Thanks!

 

[rodwha]

I just couldn't keep well enough alone and revised this recipe.

Using what I have on hand (DME, honey, and hops) I've now made it into:

4.5 gal yield

1.8 lbs wheat DME
1 lb light DME
1 lb pilsen LME (FO)
1 lb honey (FO)
1/2 lb 2-row
1/2 lb lager malt
1/4 lb crystal 10
.5 oz Willamette @ 50/15 mins
.3 oz Liberty @ 50/15 mins
US-05
2 lg roasted jalapeños @ 5 mins and 2 more for a 10 day dry "hop" using the instructions given for their preparation.

1.050/1.010
4* L
20 IBU's
5.3% ABV

I suppose I ought to "lager" these for a month?

Is this technically still a cream ale?

 

[Pie_Man]

Is this technically still a cream ale?

Cream ales use ale yeast. Although they usually feature corn in the grist. I'd call this more of a peppered Blond ale or an American wheat.

 

[rodwha]

I didn't have any more light DME.

The original recipe had a little wheat, which I was going to omit, but I was told it was a part of what made it so good.

It's using US-05 ale yeast.

I could go back to my original version and just be unhappy with the hops...

 

[rodwha]

I'd prefer not to need to make another stop to the LHBS as I've been there several times within a week! But I'm considering it since I need to work around the hops, and don't want to add any more honey. I have thought about table or corn sugar.

Doesn't adding the vodka soaked jalapeño mix boost the ABV? I'm looking for this to be a mid 5% beer. How much should I figure in? I'm guessing that 5-8 oz in a 4.5 gal batch would only add 0.1-2%.

 

[rodwha]

I couldn't help myself. It tasted good at bottling, and because it "bulk conditioned" in primary I cut the conditioning time a bit for a bottle. I even put it in the freezer for a bit to help "force carb" it a little, which didn't help, but WOW!!! Great beer!

I would say that I'd probably add 1 more jalapeño and split it between the boil and "dry peppering."

Got me some BBQing beer here!

Oh, and it became 6.3%, which is well out of the range for a cream ale, and possibly a bit much for a long BBQ, which I like to do as I like a low heat nice and smokey flavor.

 

[MiroicBrew]

I've made an Apricot & Jalapenos Imperial IPA last year and it was almost perfect. I used way too many peppers. It made us cry but the flavor was on point.

 

[rodwha]

Resurrection!

I revised the recipe and made it into a blonde and called it Smokin' Hot Blonde. The heat and flavor nose dived quickly this last time.

I just recently made another as I wanted to send some to someone interested. I had to rob another brew to piece together a recipe, and then I did a few things differently. I had 7 jalapeños to work with so I used the extra in the "dry pepper" and the 3 I used in the boil I tried for 14 mins instead of 7 and kept them in the pot while I cooled it down like a whirlpool.