Chipotle Porter - Chipotles in Secondary or Create Concentrate?

[jasonerichard]

Working on a Chipotle Porter recipe for the holidays and am battling over whether or not to add dry Chipotle peppers during "secondary" (I do everything in primary) or if I should create a Vodka concentrate and then add it during bottling. My hope is to add some true Chipotle flavor to the Porter and not just the hotness. Not sure which is better... Thoughts?

 

[TheHairyHop]

Neither! Chili beer disgusts me! I think you'll find it can go both ways. Adding it during bottling will be effectively the same as secondary, but I would expect a bottling concentrate to be more intense.

 

[924RACR]

LOL...

We've always added our peppers either in the boil or secondary. When we've done chipotle and ancho (for a Theobroma clone), they were sliced into strips, steeped in hot water to sanitize, then in the secondary. Plenty of flavor that way, definitely worth the trouble.

Or throw in some cocoa nibs too, and make a Mole Porter!

 

[master_haze]

hmmm sounds good, the smokey flavor of the chipotle, not too spicy variety. I think that will go nicely with the flavor of a good porter. If it was me I would put the strips of pepper into the bottle and age it a little. Gives you a nice presentation to let people know that it isn't just your regular porter. ^_^ kind of like the caterpillar in the famous drink.

master_haze

 

[jasonerichard]

Can you let a tincture/extract sit for too long? Would it go bad after a month for instance?

 

[HerrHepcat]

Generally they last a long time.

One month shouldn't be a problem. Just keep it sealed or it will evaporate to a thick syrup.

 

[Mindsculptor]

Not being a fan of extracts or tinctures, I'd say soak them in a good whiskey, cut them into strips, and drop a strip into each bottle. Maybe let the beer bottle age a couple months.

 

[HerrHepcat]

Well don't do that. If you soak them in whisky, and don't use the whisky, you just lost all the flavor. It's like making a tincture and not using the tincture.

 

[Mindsculptor]

Well don't do that. If you soak them in whisky, and don't use the whisky, you just lost all the flavor. It's like making a tincture and not using the tincture.

Not really. Chipotle are dehydrated, so if you leave them in he whiskey just long enough to rehydrate, you won't lose any flavor at all.

 

[QuercusMax]

For my Cocoa Chipotle Porter (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cocoa-chipotle-chocolate-mole-robust-porter-397526/), I added them whole at flameout, then put them into the fermenter and left them for a month. I got a nice level of spice from 5 or 6 of them, although not as much smoke as I was hoping for. When I rebrew it, I'll probably add some smoked malt and swap out 2 of the peppers for guajillo or ancho.