Jalapeno Beer - Questions

[SailorJerry]

Alright, we've been asked to make a jalapeno beer, which we've never attempted. I'm debating what I think a good base for this beer would be and am looking for opinions or recipes or input of any kind, essentially.

Do you just make something light like Cream of 3 Crops or do you go with an IPA or a porter/stout?

A darker beer, full flavored, with some heat in the back sounds interesting to me, but I'm not sure how to pull it off. Do you "dry hop" with the jalapenos?

 

[ong]

I’ve done just a SMaSH with pilsen malt and a single hop, and that can be a really nice base for a spice beer. A brown or something might be nice, too — just note that you get a lot of green pepper vegetal notes from jalapeños (they’re not my favorite pepper to brew with).

I generally cut peppers in half, sanitize with a bit of booze, and pitch the pepper and booze into primary after fermentation has mostly subsided.

 

[Smellyglove]

What a great idea! In my mind I'm looking at a porter/stout thing. Just to have some robust backbone, and the hotness is just a "filler".

 

[TwistedGray]

@Scturo has done some peppered brews that are quite tasty; those were all IPAs, I believe.

If I am not mistaken, peppers in the secondary is the common approach.

 

[SailorJerry]

Thanks everyone - I did assume that we'd use the peppers in secondary, but just was curious on what type of beer to use them on. Or hell, make two different beers with them. I think something with a robust backbone, as mentioned by @Smellyglove, seems like a great idea and a great place for them.

Coffpeno Stout Secondary on jalapeno's, vanilla bean, and coffee beans. Hmm...too muddy?

 

[Smellyglove]

Thanks everyone - I did assume that we'd use the peppers in secondary, but just was curious on what type of beer to use them on. Or hell, make two different beers with them. I think something with a robust backbone, as mentioned by @Smellyglove, seems like a great idea and a great place for them.

Coffpeno Stout Secondary on jalapeno's, vanilla bean, and coffee beans. Hmm...too muddy?

Damn, I like this thinking. I don't like coffee myself, but my SO does. And I like stuff hot. But instead of Coffpeno, I'd call it Coffopeño, rolls easier on the tongue

I too will try this. I'll use a sweet stout as a base, remove some of the lactose to make it slightly less "creamy", not to collide with the jala's, In my mind that would be a crash, and add coffee beans to the fermentor before racking. and just a tiny bit of vanilla bean, just so you don't know it's been there until you taste one without the vanilla.

 

[SailorJerry]

Damn, I like this thinking. I don't like coffee myself, but my SO does. And I like stuff hot. But instead of Coffpeno, I'd call it Coffopeño, rolls easier on the tongue

I too will try this. I'll use a sweet stout as a base, remove some of the lactose to make it slightly less "creamy", not to collide with the jala's, In my mind that would be a crash, and add coffee beans to the fermentor before racking. and just a tiny bit of vanilla bean, just so you don't know it's been there until you taste one without the vanilla.

Exactly what I was thinking, even had the lactose thought as well - milk stout base, but the lactose would make it too sweet, so we don't want to go quite that route. Thinking only 1 or 2 vanilla beans, some fresh coffee grounds, and from what I've read, 1 jalapeno per 5 gallons?

Now, where the hell does a guy find vanilla beans?
@brandtrepair - you best be watching this thread, we've got our first fun beer to make

 

[BobBailey]

Alright, we've been asked to make a jalapeno beer, which we've never attempted. I'm debating what I think a good base for this beer would be and am looking for opinions or recipes or input of any kind, essentially.

Do you just make something light like Cream of 3 Crops or do you go with an IPA or a porter/stout?

A darker beer, full flavored, with some heat in the back sounds interesting to me, but I'm not sure how to pull it off. Do you "dry hop" with the jalapenos?

I had the best Jalapeño beer ever at Ravenna Brewing in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. It was a very well made Kolsch with just a hint of Jalapeño flavor up front and just enough heat on the back end that you knew it had peppers in it. It was very refreshing to be able to taste the beer rather than just the Jalapeños.

In preparing to make my own Jalapeño Kolsch, I made a tincture by finely grinding the peppers in a food processor, putting them in a jar and pouring in enough vodka to cover them. It will sit covered in my fermentation fridge for about a month. This way I can flavor the beer to taste at packaging time. If you don't puree the peppers you can just strain them out rather than running through a coffee filter.

 

[TwistedGray]

I like the reverse idea - rather, a refreshing and crisp beer instead of something heavy. Just a personal preference. Though, I would say if you are going for a stout I would do a chocolate stout instead of a coffee stout. Heat goes better with chocolate than coffee, in my opinion. Ever see a spicy coffee?

 

[Murphys_Law]

I make a jalapeño beer using a simple cream ale recipe so the beer is light and the pepper shines through without conflicting tastes.

Re the peppers - I roast about 4 peppers and add them to the boil At 5 mins left. I also soak about 4 roasted peppers in vodka and dump them into the fermenter a few days before bottling.

Keep the vodka and make bloody Mary’s!

 

[Qtip]

I took a local brewey Kolsch base wort, reboiled added new hops and some dme. I added 3 lbs of strawberry’s with the stems cut off and two jalapeños with the tops cut off. I froze them and then dropped into secondary. The jalapeño overpowered everything, if you had a good pallet you got a hint of strawberry but nothing upfront. It was Spicey and heavily fragrant with pepper smell beer and some people really liked it. It would make a good beer to pair with food but I am no chef so not sure what really. The brewery gave about 50 gallons of wort away for home brewers to really mess with, it was a fun event.

 

[aharri1]

I made a mango habanero IPA. I took the habanero peppers deseeded and deveined them then I soaked them in 8 oz of vodka 10 days shaking it up every now and then and pulled them out. Once the beer was finished I added 2 oz of tincture to the entire bucket tasted and then adjusted to appropriate levels. I also dry-hopped a good bit to to give a nice aroma so the spiciness was not overpowering. It actually came out well-balanced!

 

[dmtaylor]

I'll just set this here:

 

[Scturo]

I've made a Habanero NEIPA that used Habaneros and some jalapeños. I roasted some and dropped them in the boil for 10 minutes. Then I dry hopped with more. I've also used ancho chiles in a coconut stout. They add a nice heat that compliments the roasty/coconut beer. How many chiles you add depends on how much heat you want.

 

[ong]

One of my favorite recent homebrews was a 100% pilsen wort bittered to 30 IBUs, with nectarine purée and habaneros added after primary and fermented dry. Super easy and tasty.

 

[Bombo80]

Years ago I bought a Vienna lager kit with plans to do a jalapeno beer. I was trying to make a chili beer, that I had many years ago. At the time, I was growing jalapeno peppers, and planned my brew day around harvesting the peppers. I was picking them when they were small enough to fit in a beer bottle. On bottling day, I slit the ends of each pepper and put them in a Starsan bath. Once I was ready to bottle, I put one pepper in each bottle, and filled it with the beer. Once it carbed up, I was very surprised that it was full jalapeno aroma and flavor, but very little heat. I recently found a couple of these, and now they are probably 5 or 6 years old. The aroma is not as intense, nor is the flavor, but it picked up some heat. Would I do it again ? Sure !! It was a really good tasting jalapeno beer.

 

[SailorJerry]

Sooo many great ideas. Maybe we need to get some 2 gallon or 3 gallon fermentors, and do several attempts!

 

[TwistedGray]

Sooo many great ideas. Maybe we need to get some 2 gallon or 3 gallon fermentors, and do several attempts!

Your controls should be the base beer, the type of pepper, and how it is added (tincture or whole). Only change the volume or amount of pepper.

 

[tmendick]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/jalapeno-cream-ale.131294/

This is my feedback on how I add jalapeno to this recipe "Jalapeno is tough, They are very inconsistent in heat. I cut and roasted 8 total 4 for flame out and 4 for secondary. I cut a small piece off of each to gauge their heat."

 

[orionol73]

I have had great success with cream ale as a base for jalapeno beers. When I have done it I will cut the peppers in half and sanitize in some vodka before adding to beer in secondary. I don't have my notes right now so I cannot remember the timeline but it was certainly no more than a week of contact time. I think it was more in the 3-4 day range

As a bonus, the jalapeno vodka is good for bloody Mary's or cooking with!

The best jalapeno beer I have had was in Park City years ago and had a high amount of corn in the brew that really gave it this jalapeno cornbread flavor!

 

[brandtrepair]

@SailorJerry good thing we have a ton of grains that need to be used up

 

[benco]

Here's a tip on the jalapeños. The peppers that look fresh aren't very hot, I like the ones that are darker and have real fine lines in the skin, those are hot. Also I prefer to grill or smoke the peppers, more flavor. Good luck!

 

[TwistedGray]

Here's a tip on the jalapeños. The peppers that look fresh aren't very hot, I like the ones that are darker and have real fine lines in the skin, those are hot. Also I prefer to grill or smoke the peppers, more flavor. Good luck!

What he said, look for the white veins/lines in the pepper for hot ones. No lines/veins, it won't be that hot. Also, if you deseed them you are going to remove a lot of heat as well.

 

[aharri1]

I have found the most of the heat is in the veins not the seeds actually. They lose a good bit of heat after being deveined and deseeded then soaked in tequila or vodka [emoji16]

Cheers ! Here's my mango habanero IPA recipe . I used a ninja to blend the ripe mangoes and put them in at flameout with the honey. Then I made a tincture with deseeded and deveined habanero peppers (3) orange and green mixed in 8 oz of Tito's vodka. I put that in the Mason jar and shook up everyday for about a week or so then added 2 oz of tincture to kegging/bottling.. of course you can add more to taste

 

[Toastman]

I agree with the taste notes of Jalapenos as well and their inconsistencies. I usually will make a base chocolate stout and then use dried ancho chiles. Ill add cinnamon too and I call it "Mexican mole" (mo-lay) like the sauce. The dried ancho is much more consistent and gives a nice warm heat.

 

[jcubit]

I have been partial to habaneros. They work well with a sweet or fruit beer. Blueberries, mangos or even maple syrup which I do in a Maple Habenero Porter.

 

[aharri1]

I have been partial to habaneros. They work well with a sweet or fruit beer. Blueberries, mangos or even maple syrup which I do in a Maple Habenero Porter.

Hmmm.. that sounds delicious!

 

[wiseguy]

I made a jalapeno saison that I enjoyed. I made a 2 gallon batch I added 2 chopped jalapenos to the boil for the last 5 minutes.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

Judged a flight of spice beers in August most jalapeno, couple of green chili. The lighter clean beers were best, blondes and kolschs. The green chili killed it, but I'm originally from New Mexico. [emoji2]