Jalapeno Tincture Guidelines

[Noob_Brewer]

Hello all, my wife has requested me to make a jalapeño pale ale as one of her favorite spiced beers is Birdsong Jalapeño Pale Ale (Charlotte). While Im not the hugest fan myself of jalapeños/habaneros/spicy stuff in IPAs, I find this beer pretty good - not too much heat but definite jalapeño flavor. So rather than simply guess and dump some cut up jalapeños directly to the boil or fermenter, Im looking at this as an opportunity to learn how to make tinctures which, by my reading, would allow me to adjust heat/flavor on a smaller scale (one quart) and then know how much tincture to add to the whole batch in the fermenter when the time comes. I do not want to add it once kegged as I like to keep oxygen to a minimum. With all this context in mind, I have a couple of questions. Ive read lots on here and the web regarding the tincture process but would like to see some additional input from ya'll and I know just how much tincture to add to the batch will be highly subjective based on personal preference.

Without knowing exactly how much tincture I might be adding to the fermenter, I will overbuild a tincture and if I have any left over, so be it. How much jalapeños relative to the volume of vodka do people normally use to make the tincture? I cannot find this anywhere really. Brulosophy used 3 jalapeños with 8 total ounces of vodka in his experiment but I cannot find any other "ratios" out there. I would rather have a super saturated tincture with low volume of liquid so that Im not just pouring a ton of vodka into the beer. Simply put, Im trying to find a range of what people use in terms of jalapeños to volume of vodka to make the tincture.

Since we have 8 jalapeños and a bunch of vodka at the house (we rarely drink hard liquor), I think I will be making two tinctures: one with just the skins and one with everything (seeds and all) to see which one we prefer.

Any thoughts on your experiences on the jalapeños/volume of vodka for making the tincture would be appreciated.

EDIT - Im making 5gallon batch - forgot to add this.

Thanks

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I'm definitely going to keep an eye on this...been planning on doing something similar. I had a jalapeno pale ale in Asheville (Asheville Brewing-Fire Escape Pale Ale) and it was just as you described the one in Charlotte. We have three jalapeno plants growing in our backyard...and there's only so much homemade salsa that I can whip up to keep those things from overrunning the backyard garden..haha.

 

[RCope]

So I just made a Mango Habanero IPA. I took a dozen Habanero peppers, cut them into small slices and put them into a 16 oz mason jar. I filled the jar with vodka. I did this 6 weeks prior to using the tincture. Shook it a bit daily or when I remembered. After about 4 weeks I poured out all the vodka and crushed the peppers up with a wooden spoon. Then added back the vodka. (Read about that technique on the inter web somewhere).

A couple weeks later, my base Mango IPA was ready. It was delicious on its own . But I poured four oz into tasting cups and had my wife and two daughters do a taste test. Plain, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 3/4 tsp...The 1/4 tsp was faint, the 1/2 tsp was hot and the 3/4 tsp was too hot. So I split the difference b/w 1/4 and 1/2 tsp, did some math and added 5oz of tincture to a 2.5 gallon purged keg. I then pressure transferred the base beer into the smaller keg. Came out just right, and is delicious. But one is enough.

Everybody's taste is different and each tincture will be different. But this way there is no wild ass guessing...

 

[Noob_Brewer]

So I just made a Mango Habanero IPA. I took a dozen Habanero peppers, cut them into small slices and put them into a 16 oz mason jar. I filled the jar with vodka. I did this 6 weeks prior to using the tincture. Shook it a bit daily or when I remembered. After about 4 weeks I poured out all the vodka and crushed the peppers up with a wooden spoon. Then added back the vodka. (Read about that technique on the inter web somewhere).

A couple weeks later, my base Mango IPA was ready. It was delicious on its own . But I poured four oz into tasting cups and had my wife and two daughters do a taste test. Plain, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 3/4 tsp...The 1/4 tsp was faint, the 1/2 tsp was hot and the 3/4 tsp was too hot. So I split the difference b/w 1/4 and 1/2 tsp, did some math and added 5oz of tincture to a 2.5 gallon purged keg. I then pressure transferred the base beer into the smaller keg. Came out just right, and is delicious. But one is enough.

Everybody's taste is different and each tincture will be different. But this way there is no wild ass guessing...

Interesting approach! Thanks for the response. I wonder how much flavor was “lost” with that first 4weeks before you poured off the vodka? Obviously habs are more potent than jalapeños so unless this was for sanitary reasons? Not sure what the pour off would accomplish prior to you crushing the remaining peppers and re adding some vodka for the tincture. If ya have a link to where you read this I’d appreciate it. The overall vols you used is helpful though so perhaps 10oz for 5g batch may be a helpful guideline although I know how much tincture to add will be dependent on the spiciness you want overall. Thanks again!

edit: just reread your post and you simply re-added the same vodka after crushing the peppers after 4weeks?

 

[CodeSection]

..... But I poured four oz into tasting cups and had my wife and two daughters do a taste test. Plain, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 3/4 tsp...The 1/4 tsp was faint, the 1/2 tsp was hot and the 3/4 tsp was too hot. So I split the difference b/w 1/4 and 1/2 tsp, did some math and added 5oz of tincture to a 2.5 gallon purged keg. I then pressure transferred the base beer into the smaller keg. Came out just right, and is delicious. But one is enough.....

Could you expound on "but one is enough"? Was the mix between 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp too hot still? Why only drinking one beer?

....edit: just reread your post and you simply re-added the same vodka after crushing the peppers after 4weeks?

Yes, I read it that he removed the vodka so it would be easier to crush the peppers with a wooden spoon and then he added back the original vodka solution he removed once the peppers were crushed.

 

[day_trippr]

Maybe it gets annoying?

Cheers!

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Could you expound on "but one is enough"? Was the mix between 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp too hot still? Why only drinking one beer?

Im pretty sure he was referring to the "one beer" being one batch of beer. Not a single beer.

 

[RCope]

To clarify, one spiced beer is enough for me at a time. I made 2.5 gallons...Sometimes I want some heat, but it does get "annoying" . I can drink the Mango IPA all day...
And the muddling step is to increase the extraction from the peppers. I poured off the vodka (tincture), left the peppers behind, crushed them with a spoon, then added back the vodka (tincture). Apparently, it allows the vodka to get to more of the pepper cells and makes it hotter. I'm sure it's not necessary.

 

[CodeSection]

To clarify, one spiced beer is enough for me at a time. I made 2.5 gallons...Sometimes I want some heat, but it does get "annoying" . I can drink the Mango IPA all day...
And the muddling step is to increase the extraction from the peppers. I poured off the vodka (tincture), left the peppers behind, crushed them with a spoon, then added back the vodka (tincture). Apparently, it allows the vodka to get to more of the pepper cells and makes it hotter. I'm sure it's not necessary.

Thanks, that's what I thought. I appreciate you detailing your process as it gives a great starting point!

 

[Brownyard]

Would have loved to see a follow up to this.

 

[homebrudoc]

So, there are two brewpubs that I've visited in my travels. They both had a very similar look / vibe to them. Oddly enough, they both had a pepper beer that I absolutely love. A little bit of Dr. Googling and I find a narrative regarding how they add the pepper flavor. I'll edit it just a bit and post it below my signature. I will be pursuing this process this winter, although I'll be using more pedestrian peppers than they described in their narrative.
homebrudoc

Wearing gloves and safety glasses, the two brewers chopped and diced about five pounds (total) of the seven different peppers, then blended them into a juice that was added to about 100 gallons of beer.

"I treat peppers as three tiers: heat, flavor and aroma," ... "Then I find the right balance that showcases the peppers, where heat and flavor come through without overtaxing the palate or overwhelming the pilsner."

They add the pepper puree slowly, tasting the blended beer to get the level of heat, flavor and aroma where they want it. While it's easy to overdo the pepper, they actually intend for the final beer to be on the hot side because it can be easily diluted to preference. Over the bar, customers have a choice of three levels of heat: mild, medium and hot, just like salsas.