Chile pepper beer

I want to make my first chile beer what would you recommend? Nothing super crazy hot but enough that would have a nice pepper finish in the end.

Looking to make either a light, amber, or hefe.

Wondering if I should add the peppers to primary, secondary, or in bottling? Should I use dried, frozen, reconstituted, blended?

If you have a link to a really good recipe that I could use that would be even better.

Thanks everybody

My friend just brewed a habanero beer. He used a basic ale recipe and added 3 habanero peppers puréed to the primary. Turned out nice . Just a bit of heat on the backside, very drinkable. Finished around a 4.7 ABV

Hamsterheadsalem said:

My friend just brewed a habanero beer. He used a basic ale recipe and added 3 habanero peppers puréed to the primary. Turned out nice . Just a bit of heat on the backside, very drinkable. Finished around a 4.7 ABV

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How many gallons of beer?

It will be a 5 gallon batch and I was wondering if you might have a recipe that I can follow.

richlong8020 said:

It will be a 5 gallon batch and I was wondering if you might have a recipe that I can follow.

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It was a 5 gallon batch. I'll ask him for the recipe.

Cool that would be great.

A nice scot ale is great with chipolte peppers, the light smokiness of the peppers and the sweet ale are a good combo, you can then add ground pepper to the secondary and taste after a few days and add until it has the heat you want. Dried peppers seem to be better.

So here is what I'm thinking. Either a big tbsp of cayenne pepper in the steep with the grain or a big tbsp of smoked chipotle pepper in secondary. What are your thoughts? Reverse them? More or less? Maybe use actual peppers? I'm thinking of using a smoked porter. I have a Scottish old ale in primary but if never had it before so I want to drink it without adding stuff first.

Well,
How long has it been in and has the SG stabilized? If so, you can pull 12-20oz and prime just that and bottle it so you'll have a good idea what it will taste like. If it is super and you want to, you can then split the batch and go from there. As for amounts, I'd use whole peppers, or whole crushed pepper, not ground. Myself I would add more than that simply based on how much heat I like. You also need to consider the heat of the actual pepper. I eat Tabasco and Cayenne peppers right off the plant while I mow ( I like a lot of heat). And the peppers I grow may be more or less hot than what you grow or have available in your area. So exact amounts are hard to judge.

Well it would be a new batch. I don't want to mess with the Scottish ale that I have going now because I have never had one before. I'm really thinking that a smoked porter is the way I will go.

we did anaheim and jalepenos in a pale ale. it was delicious. I will do this again, soon.

A batch I made with a large amount of peppers was with a half pound of dried Serrano peppers (they weren't overly hot to be fair) that I added to the mash itself for a stout. I shredded the peppers so they had as much surface contact as possible. And I hopped it to the high end of balance for what BrewSmith gave me ignoring the pepper addition entirely (90m boil). The end result was not unpleasant but rather strange. I don't know if it was the oil from the pepper or the hops but while the taste was a nice mix from the wort initially, the end result was almost as if it were segregated. Some of the bottles came out extremely hoppy but not hot... Others came out extremely hot but not overly hoppy. And a 6 pack or so of the bottles that I kept around to see what age did to it came out with a strange mixture of both. It was as if it separated and the peppery part was heavier than the hoppy part (or vice versa). I really have no explanation as to why this was. It was not unpleasant. It did not cause any problems with the yeast that I could tell. It was just... peculiar. The ones I aged a bit also seemed to stay separated on the pour to a degree. It didn't look any different though.

I've not tried one since. I've considered it as they were easily drinkable in both instances (although my wife would hand it over if she got one of the heavily pepperish ones) but I've just not had the push to do so. I'm considering it in the future however, perhaps with a lighter pepper possibly bypassing the separation thing?

Ballast point does many peppered beers. They always dry hop with the peppers. Obviously, you could play around with it and figure out what suits you..but they are continuously putting out EXCELLENT pepper beers. Habanero Sculpin, ghost pepper double IPA, ghost pepper imperial stout to name a few.

Weizer said:

Ballast point does many peppered beers. They always dry hop with the peppers. Obviously, you could play around with it and figure out what suits you..but they are continuously putting out EXCELLENT pepper beers. Habanero Sculpin, ghost pepper double IPA, ghost pepper imperial stout to name a few.

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Here's a habanero sculpin clone based on a sculpin recipe floating around here and discussions with Ballast point for how much to "dry pepper" with.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/habanero-ipa-360249/

AZ_IPA said:

Here's a habanero sculpin clone based on a sculpin recipe floating around here and discussions with Ballast point for how much to "dry pepper" with.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/habanero-ipa-360249/

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Nice! I might have to give that a shot here in the near future.

This is my recipe. Although I would like to use a little more smoked malt and citra hops instead next time.
2 lbs 6 rocorn
1 lb flaked corn
8 oz smoked malt
2 lbs amber dme
3.5 lbs light lme
.5 oz galena 60
. 25 galena 30
.25 galena 15
1 tsp irish moss 15
2 tsp lime peel 10
12 oz agave flame out
3 serranno peppers primary
Nottingham yeast
Three weeks primary then bottle.

GrantH said:

we did anaheim and jalepenos in a pale ale. it was delicious. I will do this again, soon.

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Hey is there anyway you could post that recipe here for and extract brew? If it is AG I can convert also.

AZ_IPA said:

Here's a habanero sculpin clone based on a sculpin recipe floating around here and discussions with Ballast point for how much to "dry pepper" with.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/habanero-ipa-360249/

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I think I'll try this as a starter too. The Sculpin is a great beer and see if the pepper addition is good for a smoked porter too.

Colorowdy said:

This is my recipe. Although I would like to use a little more smoked malt and citra hops instead next time.
2 lbs 6 rocorn
1 lb flaked corn
8 oz smoked malt
2 lbs amber dme
3.5 lbs light lme
.5 oz galena 60
. 25 galena 30
.25 galena 15
1 tsp irish moss 15
2 tsp lime peel 10
12 oz agave flame out
3 serranno peppers primary
Nottingham yeast
Three weeks primary then bottle.

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So maybe 10 oz of smoked malt. When and where and how much for the citra hops

Why lime peel and why agave

May just use WLP001 yeast

Instead of serranos I may use 1/4 - 1/2 of a habanero in secondary.

What do you think of all that

I think that 10oz smoked malt would be good. The hops schedule I would keep the same.
I used thw lime peel for a little more citrus flavor. Until I brewed this I had not used agave nectar yet and figures what the hell.
Habanero go for it.
My brother in law will drink one from time to time and he.'s a bmc guy.
Sorry for any incoherence. No coffee riding into work

reed1911 said:

Well,
How long has it been in and has the SG stabilized? If so, you can pull 12-20oz and prime just that and bottle it so you'll have a good idea what it will taste like.

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Can anyone explain this process?

gilbert said:

Can anyone explain this process?

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I believe he was wondering if primary had finished. Therefore take a small sample and chilies and whatnot then prime and "test". It was suggested I try the Scottish Old Ale that I have in primary now. I've never had one in the past so I didn't want to mess with it before tasting it without additions. Hope that helped.

I see no issues with using the peppers to dry hop. It'd probably be fine. In the mash/boil you get a very clear taste of the fruit of the pepper though if that's what you're going for.

Forgot to add (reminded by SWMBO) the pepper taste will be magnified by the carbonation. Remember that hot pepper you ate and drank soda to wash it down with and it intensified the flavor? Same effect with the add-then-taste, if you get it as hot as you want then carb, it will be hotter due to carb.

But it will mellow with age.

I'm certain it will, I don't normally end up with anything I make that would be aged, it tends to be consumed within the 6 weeks or so following the opening.

Ya know?? I have that same problem

I really enjoyed the flavor of Stone's 11-11-11 Vertical Epic with Anaheim (I think?) chilies, although something about the oily texture of chile beers messes with my stomach.

The book Radical Brewing has a Smoked Habanero Lager recipe. I haven't tried it, but it sounds interesting:

2.5 lb pale DME
2.5 lb amber DME
1 lb pale crystal malt
1 lb smoked malt

1 oz. Hallertau or Crystal @ 90 min.
1 oz. Hallertau or Crystal @ 30 min.
1 oz. Hallertau or Crystal @ 5 min.

1-3 Habanero or Scotch Bonnet peppers, chopped, seeded, and deveined, added at the end of the boil or in secondary.

We did a 2.5 gallon batch and used a 1/2 lb. grilled/charred anaheim and 1/2 lb. grilled/charred jalapeno. Just in a basic pale ale.

richlong8020 said:

Hey is there anyway you could post that recipe here for and extract brew? If it is AG I can convert also.

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We just used a super basic pale ale recipe from the Charlie P book Adventures in Homebrewing. Just put the peppers in secondary and racked on top of them for a few weeks. You could eat chips with it and it was perfect.

Chips and salsa. Sounds soooo good. I like this idea. I've also been working on a chocolate chipotle porter.

At a homebrew competition last week, a guy had me try his habenero beer. He brewed an american ale and "dry hopped" 4 habeneros into his 5 gallon batch. It was the equivalent of maybe some Frank's Red Hot as far as spicy goes, but very complex in taste. I'm not huge on Chili pepper beers but it was something I would definitely be willing to buy a six pack of at the store for the occasional novelty. Anything spicier would have been overkill, anything less would have been a "so where's the heat?" experience.

See that's what I'm worried about. I'm thinking 1/4 habanero would be great and you mentioned that guy did 4 habanero peppers. It's crazy how broad it is?!?

Well you have to consider that he simply cut them open and threw them into secondary. It's a lot like hops: If you want to get the bitterness out of them, (you can liken this to a pepper's "heat") you put them in the boil to isomerize and utilize the alpha acids for their properties. Likewise, if you just want the flavor and aroma out of them, you dry hop. Dry hopping adds negligible or no bittering properties, and similarly the habanero; uncooked and unpulverized/ground/blenderized to increase surface area and release the peppers' heat and phytochemicals into the beer means that you will get less heat out of them than if you threw them into the boil etc. If you are planning on making a batch of habanero beer, and you are unsure about how to process all of the information you are receiving, I would do a test batch so that you can tailor the recipe to your own taste and flavor. Usually the best way to do that is to brew one batch and if you're going to "dry hop" like the guy I mentioned, toss 1/2 to 1/4 of the batch in each fermenter depending on how many you have and just experiment with different amounts/types of peppers. Best of luck and hopefully you've gotten some good information that will get you moving on this batch!

tacks said:

At a homebrew competition last week, a guy had me try his habenero beer. He brewed an american ale and "dry hopped" 4 habeneros into his 5 gallon batch. It was the equivalent of maybe some Frank's Red Hot as far as spicy goes, but very complex in taste. I'm not huge on Chili pepper beers but it was something I would definitely be willing to buy a six pack of at the store for the occasional novelty. Anything spicier would have been overkill, anything less would have been a "so where's the heat?" experience.

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I did a serrano amber ale (supposed to be a pale ale but i threw in amber DME and that doubled the malt in the recipe) and dry hopped a half pound for 8 days in the secondary, then added a cut one inch peice of pepper in the bottle. The result was a great amount of heat on the back end but really good pepper flavor on the front.

I have to agree with the poster that said the heat will intensify after the beer carbs up in the bottle. Mine did! At the time I bottled the heat and flavor were mild and I was a bit dissappointed but decided to wait it out. Glad I did, because I got the best heat possible that met every expectation I had hoped for. Anything less would have been ... *SIGH*...

I will be rebrewing mine and will detail the process when I do. I don't care to be egotistical...but mine was damn good and everyone loved it that tried it. I think the pepper-ness of it takes your mind away from the minor flaws in the beer itself...but that is sort of what you're going for to begin with. Give me a month or so, we'll get it going!

richlong8020 said:

I want to make my first chile beer what would you recommend? Nothing super crazy hot but enough that would have a nice pepper finish in the end.

Looking to make either a light, amber, or hefe.

Wondering if I should add the peppers to primary, secondary, or in bottling? Should I use dried, frozen, reconstituted, blended?

If you have a link to a really good recipe that I could use that would be even better.

Thanks everybody

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I found a clone recipe for "Patty's Chili Beer" from Wynkoop Brewing Co,in CO.
It's listed in The Best of BYO's 250 Classic clone Recipes,page 101.
5G,extract with steeping grains;
OG-1.039
FG-1.007
IBU-23
SRM-4
ABV 4.2%
3.3lb Cooper's Light un-hopped LME
1.5lb light DME
5oz (140g) flaked oats
5oz (140g) Munich malt
1tsp irish moss (it says 60mins??)
1.5oz Saaz hop pellets,3.5%AA-60 minutes
.5oz Saaz hop pellets-10 minutes
10oz (280g) Anaheim peppers (end of boil)
1/2 medium size ancho chili,roasted (end of boil)
WLP002 English ale yeast or Wyeast 1098 British Ale yeast.
3/4C (150g) dextrose for priming.
**** Steep the crushed grain & flaked oats in 3 gallons of water @160F for 30 minutes.Remove grains from wort & drain well. Add LME & DME & bring to a boil.
Add Saaz hop bittering addition & Irish moss & start timer for 60 minutes. During the boil,use this time to de-seed peppers & chop into 1/4" dice. Roast the 1/2 ancho chili over open flame-gas stove or bbq-until lightly charred. chop into 1/4" dice also. Add the Saaz 10 minute addition. Add the chopped chilies at flame out,cover & steep 15 minutes.
>>>Here's where my style comes in. Chill wort in ice bath till down to 75F. It must be poured through a sanitized fine mesh strainer into fermenter to get out pepper peices,etc. Top off with chilled cold water to 5 gallons. This should get the wort down to 64F or so if the top off water was chilled in the fridge a couple days previously as I do. Aerate wort heavily (they say). I do that by pouring wort & top off water through fine mesh strainer in a circular motion. Then stir roughly 5 minutes to mix well & aerate a bit more. Take hydrometer sample & pitch yeast. Wort should be 68F according to recipe at this point. Hold this temp till fermentation is complete. It says to condition 1 week then bottle or keg. What this tells me is the usual 1 week after FG is reached to let the beer clean up & settle out clear or slightly misty. Then package.
<**> It's my educated opinion that much of the extract be added at flame out for that light SRM of 4. In other words,use the 1.5lbs of light DME in the boil. Being 3 gallons,with an average boil off of 1/2 gallons per hour,that 1.5lbs of DME should work fine. If you have an electric stove,roasting the 1/2 ancho chili right on the burners can be done with a close eye.

Thx man. I'm gonna try this out. I'm also looking into infusions. Vodka and peppers gonna be a good match.

For shooters with this beer,of course! Double trouble...

No not shooters . As an additive to different beers for experimenting.