Jalapeno Beer

[Thewalljw]

I am looking to make a jala beer. I am new to home brewing and was wondering if the jalas should boil in my wort or ferment?

 

[andycook]

I chopped one jalapeno finely to a pulp and dumped the pulp and liquid into the secondary with one gallon. I was careful to not let the seeds get in. I get plenty of green/jalapeno taste.

 

[dmtaylor]

I make the beer as normal without the jalapenos, then on bottling/kegging day, I chop the peppers, seeds and all, and remove about 3 cups of the finished beer from the fermenter, add to the peppers, bring to a boil for about 5 minutes, cool, then add just the flavored beer back to the fermenter. Works awesomely, and you can keep most of the seeds out if you pour it carefully.

 

[Morrey]

Got a question (Dave if you are listening) about jalapenos in beers.

I made a jalapeno saison and for the life of me I couldn't get a head to form on the beer. The beer had adequate proteins and ingredients to have a beautiful head but was a no go.

I had added the RAW peppers into the boil near flameout for flavoring. I searched this problem and it was suggested that I may not have this issue if I had roasted or otherwise cooked the pepper before adding to the boil. Was it pepper oils that killed the head? Not sure but I now shy away from jalapenos in beers BUT I love a jalapeno beer a lot!!!

 

[dmtaylor]

Yes I'm listening.

A couple thoughts:

Saisons are often fermented hot, like 75 or 80 F. However in my own experience, I don't think this is necessary or a good idea. When I make saisons, I start fermentation in the 60s and bring up temperature only in the second half of fermentation. Reason: Generation of fusel alcohols, which you may know can kill head retention. Question: Did you pitch and ferment hot, like 75 F or higher? Could be the culprit, regardless of what others might tell you about making saisons.

Second thought: Jalapenos purchased from your local grocer seem to have a wax applied to them. Wax = fat, which could again mess with your head retention. When I use jalapenos, I give them a good scrub to try to remove at least some of this film. Did you give your peppers a good washing? Might be the culprit.

Other than that, could be a number of factors. Yes, it could be from oils in the peppers themselves, or from the seeds, or who knows. Personally I have not experience this in my own jalapeno beers (which I've made many many times), but could it happen? I dunno, maybe!?

Thinking out loud... Perhaps adding them to your boil and going through the whole fermentation is making a difference vs. what I do which is to add at the very end. I really have no idea why this would make a difference though.

My guess is it's either from fermenting way too hot, or from the waxy coating. If you can grow your own, then you can easily avoid the wax thing, too.

Cheers, and better luck in the future!

 

[BNolt17]

I haven't done Jalapeno but I've done Habanero. Personally, I add 1 to the mash, 1 in the last 15 minutes of the boil, and 2 soaked in vodka in secondary. From what I have read, the mash/boil peppers will leave the pepper flavor without much heat. The peppers added in secondary will add some heat. I've made a peach habanero the past 2 years with this method and both have been excellent in my opinion. I have not kegged this beer. Everything that I have read indicates that the Capsaicin oil will separate and rise to the top so the beginning of the keg will have almost no heat and the end will be very spicy. Not sure if this is true, but it makes sense to me and therefore I have always bottled. Never had an issue with head on these beers either, for what it's worth.

 

[Morrey]

Thanks!! ...for listening!! LOL

Dave, I am not a big fan of any fermentation in the 70'sF so I think I remember I may have run this one at 68-69F. That typically is my upper range with my normal go to temp being 65F on ales.

I am going raise my hand as guilty on the "did I scrub the peppers really well" question. Waxy...probably. You made me think.

I like the way you did your infusion so that's a definite possibility. Another factor is I think the Saison was not the best choice to infuse. Don't laugh but I think I'll try a lower ferm temp Kolsch as my platform next attempt. Either make a vodka/jalapeno tincture or a beer boil like you did to add at kegging.

Oh yeah...and really scrub the wax off!!! Good point.

 

[Thewalljw]

Nice, thank you all for the help. Another quick question, I am doing Oktoberfest for my first beer. I have been fermenting for two weeks now and thinking of moving to bottle bucket. Bubbles have slowed down in the air lock but from what I have read I am suppose to move to a carboy for two weeks too. Do I have to do that or can I move to bottling bucket and then put in bottles to ferment the rest of the way?

 

[dmtaylor]

Leave it alone until all activity ceases for at least about 4 days. Moving it too soon can prevent full attenuation and lead to off-flavors. Ignore any instructions that may claim otherwise. They are wrong.

 

[Morrey]

Did you use a traditional lager yeast for your Oktoberfest?

A risk you take when bottling too early is over carbonation which can actually make the bottle burst called bottle bombs. The surefire way to tell if you are ready to bottle is to read the gravity with a hydrometer. Look for stable readings for a few days (3 is safe), then you know you can bottle safely.

The beer may seem dormant but there are plenty of live yeast colonies in the beer to take care of carbing your bottled beer when fed a bit of priming sugar. Enjoy!!

 

[Thewalljw]

Ok so get the reading to a 3 and then transfer. So the carboy isn't important huh?

 

[Thewalljw]

Thank you all! I'm glad I joined this forum!

 

[dendron8]

I haven't done Jalapeno but I've done Habanero. Personally, I add 1 to the mash, 1 in the last 15 minutes of the boil, and 2 soaked in vodka in secondary. From what I have read, the mash/boil peppers will leave the pepper flavor without much heat. The peppers added in secondary will add some heat. I've made a peach habanero the past 2 years with this method and both have been excellent in my opinion. I have not kegged this beer. Everything that I have read indicates that the Capsaicin oil will separate and rise to the top so the beginning of the keg will have almost no heat and the end will be very spicy. Not sure if this is true, but it makes sense to me and therefore I have always bottled. Never had an issue with head on these beers either, for what it's worth.

+1 for good information. I made a reaper blonde recently and did a tincture... but all i got was heat and no real pepper flavor. now i know how to get the flavor AND the heat.. thanks!

 

[Murphys_Law]

I slice the peppers and remove the seeds, then roast in the oven. I usually use about 4 of these for a 5 gallon batch and throw them in with about 10 mins left in the boil.

I take a few more roasted peppers and throw them in a few OZ of vodka for a few days and then "dry hop" for about 4 or 5 days before packaging.

You can throw the whole tincture in, just the vodka, or just the peppers. I usually do a little of the vodka and all the peppers and keep some of the spicy vodka for bloody Mary's.

 

[rodwha]

A jalapeño blonde is a favorite at my place. It began life as a bastard cream ale and I've since modified things.

Some time back I did a comparison of boiling vs extract and found that boiling killed most of the heat. I can't say for sure that the extract had more flavor but I continue to do both as there is plenty to handle for me as an extract.

I use everything but the stem as I like a good bit of spice as well.

I roast half of the peppers at 350* for 30 mins and slice thin. These go into a ziplock bag and into the freezer for boiling. The other half I now leave raw and slice thin and cover in vodka or 50/50 everlclear and leave until the last week of fermentation, though I'm contemplating adding at bottling instead.

World Market sells large tea baskets for $7 that work great for this and whirlpool/dry hopping.

I, too, suffer from no head retention, and until now hadn't been given an answer. Thanks Dave! I'll have to try scrubbing them next time. Do you actually wash them with dish soap?

 

[stz]

Experimented with thai birds eye chills in a fairly fruity and malty best bitter because we had spare beer when packaging. We racked a pipkin 2 points off FG onto 9g whole dried which had been given a dash of boiling water to help sanitise first and allowed to complete secondary fermentation in cask for 2 weeks before stillage. It ended up with a 4/5 on untapped as a one off variation. We felt that the aroma was more significant than the heat and flavour contribution and while it left a burn on the lips we would use either 12g or break them up for greater utilisation next time. The aroma from them was very fruity.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Thanks!! ...for listening!! LOL

Dave, I am not a big fan of any fermentation in the 70'sF so I think I remember I may have run this one at 68-69F. That typically is my upper range with my normal go to temp being 65F on ales.

I am going raise my hand as guilty on the "did I scrub the peppers really well" question. Waxy...probably. You made me think.

I like the way you did your infusion so that's a definite possibility. Another factor is I think the Saison was not the best choice to infuse. Don't laugh but I think I'll try a lower ferm temp Kolsch as my platform next attempt. Either make a vodka/jalapeno tincture or a beer boil like you did to add at kegging.

Oh yeah...and really scrub the wax off!!! Good point.

Morrey - for what it's worth, I used a single, red, Fresno-type pepper for my 1-gallon batch, using essentially the same recipe and method that you used. I did scrub the pepper pretty well, as I recall. Fermentation temperatures were in the mid-to-high 60s.

The beer had a decent head; but to me, even a great head is never enough. I recall that it was fairly nice and full, but I don't recall any lacing. The beer itself was really a good one. It had a spicy aroma and while there wasn't much heat in the taste itself, there was a really wonderful warmth in the finish. Best of all, in my opinion, was the lack of "green" taste, since I used a red pepper - it was more earthy, which is a personal preference. In my opinion it was a perfect use of the saison profile (as I understand it), and I'd definitely try it again.

Hope this helps -

Ron

 

[InTheBasement]

Although I am not a fan of hot peppers in the beer, I will say that I once had a beer called Cave Creek chili beer and they put a whole Jalepeno right in the bottle. I think they just cut the stem end so that there can be a breach in the skin and the flavor could flow. From a presentation point of view, it was very nice. The pepper was too big to come out of the bottle. I think they got the pepper in the bottle by putting a small amount of water in the bottle (like less than an ounce) and heating it to boiling. Then place the pepper in the top of the bottle so that it seals to the rim. As the water cools, the vacuum effect will suck the pepper into the bottle.Then empty the remaining water, and fill the bottle with beer.

 

[stz]

Although I am not a fan of hot peppers in the beer, I will say that I once had a beer called Cave Creek chili beer and they put a whole Jalepeno right in the bottle. I think they just cut the stem end so that there can be a breach in the skin and the flavor could flow. From a presentation point of view, it was very nice. The pepper was too big to come out of the bottle. I think they got the pepper in the bottle by putting a small amount of water in the bottle (like less than an ounce) and heating it to boiling. Then place the pepper in the top of the bottle so that it seals to the rim. As the water cools, the vacuum effect will suck the pepper into the bottle.Then empty the remaining water, and fill the bottle with beer.

After a few weeks in the beer the whole dried chillis I used rehydrated to the point where they looked like fresh ones. While what you say sounds cool and I imagine it would work I'd wonder if it was just whole dried peppers.

 

[dmtaylor]

I, too, suffer from no head retention, and until now hadn't been given an answer. Thanks Dave! I'll have to try scrubbing them next time. Do you actually wash them with dish soap?

Not dish soap - LOL! Just give them a good scrub all over with my fingers and running warm water. You could also roast the peppers, or blanch (sp?) them by dipping the peppers in hot water for a minute, then moving to ice water. Either process will cause the skins to crack and peel off, thus removing any possible wax or oil from the skins. Should improve head retention, at least in theory. But hand washing has proven good enough for my beer -- head has never been a problem here.