Questions on Adding flavours to Beer

[mathews]

Hi, completely new to this site and only have a few brews under my belt. Couple of questions:

1) When adding flavours, say fresh chillies or lime zest to a Mexican Cerveza while in the barrel, whats the best way of sanitising it first?
2) Whats the advantage of putting the brew into secondary and adding these ingrediants, or putting them in primary from day one?

Cheers!

 

[Pie_Man]

Hi, completely new to this site and only have a few brews under my belt. Couple of questions:

1) When adding flavours, say fresh chillies or lime zest to a Mexican Cerveza while in the barrel, whats the best way of sanitising it first?
2) Whats the advantage of putting the brew into secondary and adding these ingrediants, or putting them in primary from day one?

Cheers!

1. Sanitizing the chillies and lime, or the barrel? By barrel, are you refering to a wooden barrel? For the chillies and lime, you can boil first, you can pasturize, your can soak them in alcohol for a few days, maybe tequila or vodka. I've not used a wooden barrel, but if you search the forum, you'll find answers on how to sanitize the chillies and the barrel.
2. If added to the primary during active fermentation, the aromas of the additions will be blown off by the CO2 produced during fermentation. Best to either add to a secondary, or add the additions to the pimary after fermentation is completed.

 

[mathews]

Cheers, will give that a whirl. Thanks for your help!