Scorpion pepper IPA. Am I insane?

[aiptasia]

To preface, our LHBC is having an all extract competition in April and i've been planning what to brew for this. I've found the Sculpin habanero recipe and that's what i'd intended to make.

Then, this past weekend, I went to our local weekly bottle share. The brew pub where we hang out and sample beers has an employee that loves hot peppers and anything spicy. He brought in some sweet vinegar relish he made with Trinidad Moruga Scorpion peppers, which currently holds the record for the world's hottest pepper. This pepper is typically anywhere from 2 million to 3 million scoville units (but can be as weak as 1.5 million).

In comparison, the typical market habanero is 350,000 scoville units at the hottest. Jalapeno's range anywhere from 3,500 to 8,000 scoville units.

Here's the kicker. I ate some of the relish, and the trinidad pepper was absolutely delicious. It had amazing fresh fruit and floral flavor that I hadn't really encountered in a dried pepper before. It's a deceiving little devil, too, as you don't feel the heat immediately. It takes 2-3 minutes before it really kicks in, and then the burn hits you all over. Very hot, with legs on it that last about an hour. It will make you sweat.

So, while contemplating the heat and how amazing the taste was from the pepper, the guy that brought the peppers whips out a gallon sized ziplock full of the dried Moruga's he's grown from seed. He brought them in to trade for some ghost peppers from another guy, but I was able to talk him out of three dried peppers for brewing purposes.

The recipe for the habanero IPA calls for 1.5 to 2.5 grams of habanero per gallon depending on desired heat. I've decided to use 1 gram of Scorpion pepper per gallon for my first attempt, so 6 grams for a 6 gallon batch. I will de-seed and de-vein the pepper before chopping/crushing it up and putting it in a hops bag, then soak it in the bag in no rinse sanitizer (idophor) before putting it in the fermenter for five days.

It's either going to be amazing or so fiery, it's undrinkable. I can't wait to find out!:rockin:

 

[cheezydemon3]

Yes, You are insane.

I made a habanero ale and it was truly so spicy, even pepper heads could only sip it while eating something.

 

[aiptasia]

How much habanero did you use, for how long, and what was the batch size?

 

[cheezydemon3]

5 habs in secondary for 2 weeks.

 

[broadbill]

you are going to have to do it by trial and error, but like its done with every other spice or flavor extract (at least if you are serious about it, looking to enter in competitions, etc.).

I think the "ol' dump and pray" or "how much did you use?" methods is just not going to work here with peppers that hot. You are talking a very, very narrow window of palatability here. My 0.02

 

[aiptasia]

Well, there's enough time to do some testing. I may scale the pepper to a 12 oz amount and add it to a bud light and re cap it for 5 days to see how it heats up.

 

[aiptasia]

By my maths:

1 gr per gallon
1 gallon = 128 FL oz
128 FL oz / 12 oz = 10.5 oz in 1 gal (rounded)
1 gr / 10.5 = 0.095 gr or 95 mg per 12 oz

Can someone confirm?

I may just doctor a six pack of bud light at 25 mg, 50 mg, 75 mg, 100mg, 125 mg and 150 mg and let them sit a week and see how hot they get.

 

[adamc]

Do it right.

Brew the beer (I would not recommend an IPA if you want the focus on tasting the peppers) as you would any other recipe.

Ferment completely.

Rack the beer onto 5 or 6 one gallon jugs, each with a slightly larger amount of peppers than the previous. Take extra care to maintain a sterile environment.

Divide peppers accordingly and soak each in vodka (just enough to cover) for a couple days prior to racking. Pour the entire mixture in the fermenters.

Don't ferment with the peppers. No reason to do so and you will lose any delicate aroma (if there is such thing with these peppers).

Bottle after another week or two.

Keep us updated.

 

[bob1852]

Make a tincture with 3-4 cut up peppers in a cup of vodka. Let soak for a week and strain into eye dropper bottles.

Take a commercial beer and add drop(s) until you get the flavor/heat you want.

Make the homebrew recipe, and at bottling time, add the number of drop(s) in a few different incriments to several bottles (conditioning will likely produce slightly different results).

Now you'll have a bunch of different bottles with a bunch of different heat levels and you can decide what you like best.

 

[aiptasia]

AZ, I think I like your method the best. I can use a bottle of real sculpin to try this on.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Alcohol is an insane solvent for capsaicin.

1 scorpion (sliced open) in 5 gallons will have too much heat. I know it sounds impossible, but 5 orange habs in 5 gallons was nearly undrinkable. (although it did get consumed only 1 or 2 beers went into steak marinade)

 

[aiptasia]

I've decided to do an everclear extraction. I have a single split open pepper soaking in a mason jelly jar with four ounces of everclear. I'm going to let it sit for three days, shake it every once and a while, and then strain out the pepper. Once I have that, I can grab a medicine dropper and add one drop at a time to some real sculpin for a taste test.

 

[aiptasia]

5 habs in secondary for 2 weeks.

Yeah I can imagine that'd light somebody up. The recipes i've seen for the sculpin habanero IPA is about 1.4 grams of hab per gallon, which would've been about seven grams. If one pepper weighs 23-24 grams (1 ounce or so), that'd been what, 1/3 of one pepper?

 

[bob1852]

Yeah I can imagine that'd light somebody up. The recipes i've seen for the sculpin habanero IPA is about 1.4 grams of hab per gallon, which would've been about seven grams.

If I recall correctly, Whut said the folks at Ballast Point used 9 whole habaneros per barrel (31 gallons). That's how we scaled our recipes (~1/3rd of a pepper per gallon).

 

[aiptasia]

Well, we'll try a 12 ounce pour on top of one or two drops of this devil juice that's marinating on the shelf. It'll be interesting. Either it's going to be good and hot, or fit for hand to hand combat.

 

[bob1852]

Well, we'll try a 12 ounce pour on top of one or two drops of this devil juice that's marinating on the shelf. It'll be interesting. Either it's going to be good and hot, or fit for hand to hand combat.

I'd split the beer into three, 4oz servings so you can get more trials out of a single bottle. I suspect one drop in 12oz won't be as bad as you think.

Our club has a bunch of different pepper tinctures at our NHC booth a couple years ago. Several drops were needed in those small samples.

 

[cheezydemon3]

As mentioned, even if it is fit for combat, it makes a fantastic steak marinade!

 

[aiptasia]

I'd split the beer into three, 4oz servings so you can get more trials out of a single bottle. I suspect one drop in 12oz won't be as bad as you think.

Our club has a bunch of different pepper tinctures at our NHC booth a couple years ago. Several drops were needed in those small samples.

I have a few bombers, so yeah I figure 4 ounce pours might be a good gauge per drop. One drop in the first, if that's too tame, two drops in the next and so on.

As mentioned, even if it is fit for combat, it makes a fantastic steak marinade!

I remember when we could afford steak.

 

[cheezydemon3]

I have a few bombers, so yeah I figure 4 ounce pours might be a good gauge per drop. One drop in the first, if that's too tame, two drops in the next and so on.



I remember when we could afford steak.

Lol, good to see that your priorities are in place.....beer before food!

 

[jeepinjeepin]

With the gradual way the heat comes on it sounds like its gonna be hard to taste/wait/taste. Maybe pour 4 samples for four guys with 1,2,3,&4 drops? Draw straws.

 

[cheezydemon3]

With the gradual way the heat comes on it sounds like its gonna be hard to taste/wait/taste. Maybe pour 4 samples for four guys with 1,2,3,&4 drops? Draw straws.

You are thinking!!!!! Habs and scorpions are chinense (nevermind if that means nothing to you) and therefore creepers, but the heat is slow to be percieved.....not slow to incorporate.

The tests will work fine.

 

[aiptasia]

With the gradual way the heat comes on it sounds like its gonna be hard to taste/wait/taste. Maybe pour 4 samples for four guys with 1,2,3,&4 drops? Draw straws.

That's a hell of an idea. I like. Next bottle share I make it to, we'll try that.

You are thinking!!!!! Habs and scorpions are chinense (nevermind if that means nothing to you) and therefore creepers, but the heat is slow to be percieved.....not slow to incorporate.

The tests will work fine.

Yes, I had some sweet pickle relish that was made with these peppers. It's definitely the genuine article. I was impressed by the fruity/flowery taste. The first few chews are just delicious, and then the heat sets in. It builds, and builds, and builds. He used just enough to get that pleasant heat burn before it leveled off, and it had legs that lasted about an hour or so.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Sweet spicy relish! That does sound good.

 

[aiptasia]

It was. Gonna see if I can snag some the next bottle share.

I think I might cut the extract soak short. It's been in the jar about 48 hours now with the everclear, and the liquid has taken on this devilish clear pink hue. I feel quite certain that all of the capsaicin i'm going to get out of the pepper has probably diffused into the alcohol by now. I'm going to pick up some eye droppers at walmart today and I might try a single drop taste test tonight.

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Just remember, they aren't eye droppers anymore.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Just remember, they aren't eye droppers anymore.

Lol, "Why is ths baby SCREAMING??"

 

[aiptasia]

Just remember, they aren't eye droppers anymore.

Bahahahahaha. I'll definitely keep them with the brew gear.

Lol, "Why is ths baby SCREAMING??"

She actually likes hot sauce. Her Mother lived on Mexican food during the pregnancy. We ate at Mexican joints so often we thought the baby would pop out with a sombrero on her head. Now when we go, the baby would quadruple dip in the salsa if we let her.

Eyedroppers are procured. First test of the extract is tonight.

 

[aiptasia]

Alright, I removed the pepper from the everclear jar. I cheated and used four ounces of my leftover lunchtime root beer. One drop, no noticeable change. Two drops, floral fruit flavor starts to come through but sugars or something neutralizing the heat. Four drops, first noticeable heat but faded fast. Six drops, good heat and finally some legs... I gave myself and my palate a 10 minute or so break in-between 4 oz sips.

I stopped at seven drops of the extract. Seven drops seems to be the magic number for this test. It goes down like a gentle flame version of injected anesthetic and has about 15 minutes worth of legs. The flavor though. OMG, this is one delicious pepper. Every exhale is producing this delicate fruity floral sweetness across my tongue. This is just awesome.

I'm going to give it a rest until tonight. I'm going to try a seven drop level again on 4 ounces of beer (probably hopslam) and see how well it works stand alone. I also have no concept of how fast the capsaicin fades. Does anyone have experience with that?

 

[jeepinjeepin]

Ok, now you have your extract and a baseline. New deal. 4 guys. 4 glasses. At the table in plain view 3 glasses get 7 drops, 1 gets 10-12. Shuffle and draw.

 

[501irishred]

subscribed! PLEASE let us know how this turns out! IMO if you can make one of the judges cry, you win first place regardless what the cards say.