lostcheesehead
Well-Known Member
- Recipe Type
- All Grain
- Yeast
- Koelsch (WLP029)
- Yeast Starter
- 1L
- Batch Size (Gallons)
- 5
- Original Gravity
- 1.054
- Final Gravity
- 1.011
- Boiling Time (Minutes)
- 60
- IBU
- 19.9
- Color
- 3.7
- Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- 5 @ 66F
- Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- 7 @ 66F
- Tasting Notes
- Light bodied, but with a nice kick of heat. Make sure you follow the pepper prep.
Per request, this is one of 9 beers I made for my wedding. As you can imagine, the key to this beer is the pepper. I took the technique for prepping the peppers from someone on this forum, but for the life of me I cannot remember who. If anyone knows who the pepper guru from the southwest US is, please comment here so I can give him proper credit for his awesome advice. The pepper technique gives you both the flavor and the heat of the pepper without becoming an experiment in masochism, so I cannot emphasize enough to follow the technique.
Note, the recipe below is what I brewed, and I am not completely satisfied with it. When I do it again, I am going to eliminate the mango and instead add an ounce of Citra hops at the last 5 minutes of boil to get the mango flavor. Actual mango fruit is a difficult fruit to get flavor from.
Brewhouse efficiency: 80.5%
ABV: 5.6%
7.25 lbs Brewer's Malt 2-row
1 lb Wheat Malt
6 oz Bonlander Munich Malt
6 oz Carapils
Mash at 148F for 60 minutes.
0.75 oz Cluster hops (5.4% AA) - Boil 60 min
0.25 oz Cluster hops (5.4% AA) - Boil 20 min
Cool to fermentation temps and rack to primary. Oxygenate and pitch yeast. After 5 days (or whenever primary fermentation ceases), add the secondary ingredients:
1.5 lbs mango, pureed and frozen with 3 oz of vodka.
Follow the pepper instructions carefully, or you will end up with a beer that can melt lead
1.5 oz habanero peppers. Halve the peppers (leave seeds, stem, and skin intact), and roast them in an oven until the skin begins to blacken, then freeze them for at least one day. I used store-bought habanero, if you are using peppers you grew yourself, try to estimate how they measure up against what you would find in the store, and adjust amount accordingly.
I found that this mass of habanero adds a pleasant kick to the beer; a warming sensation as you swallow, which lingers for about 30 seconds before dissipating. Some of my wedding guests thought that it was a little too much heat for their comfort, whereas others didn't think it was enough. Be prepared this a few times to dial the heat in.
Leave secondary ingredients in for a week or less. I have never made this and allowed the peppers to stay on the beer for longer than 7 days. I don't know what would happen if I did, and because I love my esophagus the way it is, I don't plan to find out.
If anyone brews this, I'd be curious to see what they think. Most everyone at my wedding enjoyed the flavor and the surprising pepper kick, so I hope the same is true of you.
Note, the recipe below is what I brewed, and I am not completely satisfied with it. When I do it again, I am going to eliminate the mango and instead add an ounce of Citra hops at the last 5 minutes of boil to get the mango flavor. Actual mango fruit is a difficult fruit to get flavor from.
Brewhouse efficiency: 80.5%
ABV: 5.6%
7.25 lbs Brewer's Malt 2-row
1 lb Wheat Malt
6 oz Bonlander Munich Malt
6 oz Carapils
Mash at 148F for 60 minutes.
0.75 oz Cluster hops (5.4% AA) - Boil 60 min
0.25 oz Cluster hops (5.4% AA) - Boil 20 min
Cool to fermentation temps and rack to primary. Oxygenate and pitch yeast. After 5 days (or whenever primary fermentation ceases), add the secondary ingredients:
1.5 lbs mango, pureed and frozen with 3 oz of vodka.
Follow the pepper instructions carefully, or you will end up with a beer that can melt lead
1.5 oz habanero peppers. Halve the peppers (leave seeds, stem, and skin intact), and roast them in an oven until the skin begins to blacken, then freeze them for at least one day. I used store-bought habanero, if you are using peppers you grew yourself, try to estimate how they measure up against what you would find in the store, and adjust amount accordingly.
I found that this mass of habanero adds a pleasant kick to the beer; a warming sensation as you swallow, which lingers for about 30 seconds before dissipating. Some of my wedding guests thought that it was a little too much heat for their comfort, whereas others didn't think it was enough. Be prepared this a few times to dial the heat in.
Leave secondary ingredients in for a week or less. I have never made this and allowed the peppers to stay on the beer for longer than 7 days. I don't know what would happen if I did, and because I love my esophagus the way it is, I don't plan to find out.
If anyone brews this, I'd be curious to see what they think. Most everyone at my wedding enjoyed the flavor and the surprising pepper kick, so I hope the same is true of you.
