Pepper and Spice without Pepper or Spice

[dugward]

Hello Gurus!

I am working on a porter, and one of the goals that I have set for myself is to make a very peppery beer without actually using pepper or spice. In other words, to find yeast and hops that would give me strong pepper notes on their own. Ideally, since this is going to be based on a brown porter, I would like to avoid too much bitterness.

Any suggestions for yeasts or hops?

Thanks!

 

[motorneuron]

Haha, this may sound obvious, but uh... why not add a little pepper or spice, if that's the flavor you're going for? Not trying to be flip, here, I just want to understand what you're after.

 

[acidrain23]

Yeasts: Wyeast 3711 or 3724; 3522 is also peppery but a bit more subtle

Hops: Styrian Goldings, Saaz, Pacific Jade all have spicy and or peppery notes

In my experience, without actually using some black pepper- these notes come across more as "zingy" flavors

If you were to use some actual black pepper I have had good luck cracking about an ounce of black peppercorns and soaking in aproximately three ounces of white rum (or other neutral alcohol) for a couple of weeks. Then just add the liquid at bottling time.

Good luck!

 

[dugward]

motorneuron: I like the challenge. Constraint makes for creativity! And one of the things I love about beer is the incredible variety of flavor that you can get with just three or four ingredients.

 

[sweetcell]

the supposedly belgian dry yeasts are often described as peppery: T-58 and the new Belle Saison. these might throw off other flavors that might not work in your porter, tho.

 

[acidrain23]

Personally I would steer clear of T-58 unless you have impecable temperature control and ferment it on the cool side of its temperature tolerance. T-58 gets WEIRD in my experience and can make some nasty beers if the temps get out of hand. YMMV

 

[BridgeBrew]

I'm not sure how pepper will taste in a porter, but if you like a spicy note use Challenger hops as you bittering. It gives a nice spicy note when you use 3/4 of an ounce or more. Some of the noble hops are known to have a peppery taste, but that might be lost in a porter.

 

[joyceman]

Dont grains of paradise give a peppery/lemony flavor?

 

[hopmonster2189]

Crystal hops are pretty spicy

 

[dugward]

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I do realize that a peppery porter sounds a little strange. It's all part of my even stranger plan to make a beer that reminds me of good English tobacco.