Martin, for my Mexican Hot Chocolate stout I used 4 homegrown cayenne peppers and 4 habaneros. I deseeded them and roasted them in the oven at 325F for about 15 minutes and then added them to 1/2c vodka for a few days and added the vodka and peppers all at the tail end of fermentation to help make sure there was still some fermentation going on to push any o2 out of the fermenter. I also added 2-3 cinnamon sticks as well. I let it sit another 2 weeks and then kegged the brew. The beer came out amazing. Some good heat on the way down but nothing that didn't feel good and warm the soul without making you cry! It's been one of my most popular beers and I've brewed 4 iterations over the last 4 years. Last year and now this year i've roasted cacao nibs and added them during the tail end of fermentation as well and that made the beer even more amazing by leaps and bounds!
The beer was outstanding Martin. As you know, I'm a big fan of Guinness, so this one was a "sweet spot" beer for me. Can't wait for you to turn up the heat and try another 👍🍻
I have left adjuncts like this in the bottom of a keg and gotten most of the flavor on the first few pours. My hypothesis was that the extracted flavors are just sitting on the bottom and didn't disperse into the rest of the beer since there was no agitation. It stratified. I rigged up a gas to liquid post line with a check valve to carb from the bottom up and that seemed to help mix things up.
Freezing for at least a week kills MOST bugs and bacteria. But point taken. there are some bugs and bacteria that are resilient. Freezing is generally good enough for brewing.
On the /r/homebrewing subreddit I've got an extensive guide to brewing a Mexican Hot Chocolate stout (u/LiquidGold83). I actually need to update my recipe on there as I've done 4 iterations so far and the latest one I've used cacao nibs and it was mind blowing. I highly recommend giving it a read and a brew, as lots of users love it!
I made a chocolate habenero stout years ago. I racked onto the peppers in the secondary for a week. I forget the specific numbers, but I know I did not put the seeds in. My co-worker who supplied the peppers from his garden said he liked it. I couldn't drink it, it just tasted like burning.
I agree with the pickling hypothesis. Capsaicin (the chemical in chillies that gives the burning sensation) is an alkaloid and is likely neutralised by the acidity of the beer over time. This possibly explains why pickled chillies (or anything with capsaicin) have less heat given the high acidity of the pickling solution.
I do a chili, myoga (Javanese ginger), lemon IPA. I recommend about 3g of fairly spicy chili (seeds in), like a habanero per 10 liters. I love chili, but this amount of chili gives slight kick that is not too strong for the average person to enjoy. Happy brewing and thanks for another great video :)
I love chili beers, especially in the summer! If I am just going for the chili "heat" in a beer my approach is a bit different as I use dried chilies. 1. I initially grind a weighted amount of dried chilies. 2. Put it in a teabag and add it to 200ml of boiling water for 10 minutes. 3. If the water is too hot or not hot enough I reiterate with a different volume of chillies until satisfied. 4. Then I just scale it to the boil volume and drop that amount into the boil at 10 min.
Nice one. What about drying the peppers first, then crushing and adding that to a beer? I use this method, but I also use peppers like Carolina Reaper and Habenero together - mostly because, to my palate, Reaper is a flame forward pepper while Habenero is "back-flame" beast. For me, using Hab alone will get you a beer with a flame that builds, sip by sip, on the backside of the sips. Why dry it? I'm hoping to both kill bad bugs and reduce oils to keep my head retention up. Cheers!
Long time watcher here. If you're experimenting for a niche beer, might I suggest a smoked IPA? what is the perfect % of smoked malt? What hope compliment the (pseudo) style? What IBU should you shoot for? ...asking for a friend.
Star-san isn't really meant to sanitize food surfaces, it is meant for work surfaces, containers and utensils. If you want to sanitize peppers, just blanch them in boiling water for about 15 seconds, it shouldn't be long enough to cook the peppers but it is long enough to kill anything on the surface, or if you want to add a little smokiness you can char the outside, wipe off most of the char and chop it up, it would be fully sanitized by heat.
Did you purge the keg with carbon dioxide before filling? If so, how did you do that with the pepper in there? If not, what are your thoughts on cold side oxidation?
I think I see where you got the freezing technique from (fruit?), and it makes sense in a way, but peppers are different for some reason. Take a page from making Mole and Mexican hot chocolate, they use smoked and dried hot peppers for flavor. That way you get a sharper, more chocolatey and smokey flavor with a kick, rather than the green pepper vibe you get from using fresh peppers.
I've had this same result in pepper beers with the heat fading over time. I believe it's because Capsicum is oil based and over time cold crashes to the bottom of the keg. That's my theory anyways!
I tasted a really good habanero peach wheat beer the other day that was so pleasant . You definitely tasted the habanero on the tongue but it was nice .
Love pepper beers. Recommend any generic Asian hot chili for a homemade chili stout. Jalapeños or Serranos for pale ales and lagers … just drop them into the whirlpool and do a chili stand! Never fails …
For this year's December stout I plan on making a jalapeno chocolate & orange imperial stout, but I have yet to do the research on how I'm going to do that exactly!
98% of the spice sits in the white fabric near the seeds. You have not put this part of the habanero into the keg, so you missed the chance to get a really spicey beer.
Traditional definition of Beer: Malt, water, hops, yeast. Adjuncts of malt can also be included. Chilly peppers, watermelon, Chocolate, coffee, beef stew, caramel, peanut butter and pork crackling etc can be added - just dont call it beer.
Martin, for my Mexican Hot Chocolate stout I used 4 homegrown cayenne peppers and 4 habaneros. I deseeded them and roasted them in the oven at 325F for about 15 minutes and then added them to 1/2c vodka for a few days and added the vodka and peppers all at the tail end of fermentation to help make sure there was still some fermentation going on to push any o2 out of the fermenter. I also added 2-3 cinnamon sticks as well. I let it sit another 2 weeks and then kegged the brew. The beer came out amazing. Some good heat on the way down but nothing that didn't feel good and warm the soul without making you cry! It's been one of my most popular beers and I've brewed 4 iterations over the last 4 years. Last year and now this year i've roasted cacao nibs and added them during the tail end of fermentation as well and that made the beer even more amazing by leaps and bounds!
Thank you buddy, going to brew one up today and your comment helped a lot!
The Look on your face when Norm just casually eats that pepper hahaha
The beer was outstanding Martin. As you know, I'm a big fan of Guinness, so this one was a "sweet spot" beer for me. Can't wait for you to turn up the heat and try another 👍🍻
I have left adjuncts like this in the bottom of a keg and gotten most of the flavor on the first few pours. My hypothesis was that the extracted flavors are just sitting on the bottom and didn't disperse into the rest of the beer since there was no agitation. It stratified. I rigged up a gas to liquid post line with a check valve to carb from the bottom up and that seemed to help mix things up.
Freezing doesn't kill off any bugs, just prevents them from growing whilst frozen. The growth will recommence once back at a suitable temperature
Freezing for at least a week kills MOST bugs and bacteria. But point taken. there are some bugs and bacteria that are resilient. Freezing is generally good enough for brewing.
Haha. Love Norm. Glad you have him on the show
Been wanting to try brewing a spicy beer but always a bit nervous so this was fun to watch. And at first I thought that shirt said "IPA" ha
On the /r/homebrewing subreddit I've got an extensive guide to brewing a Mexican Hot Chocolate stout (u/LiquidGold83). I actually need to update my recipe on there as I've done 4 iterations so far and the latest one I've used cacao nibs and it was mind blowing. I highly recommend giving it a read and a brew, as lots of users love it!
I love your wife's taste in beers. I wish we could have seen her reaction when she first tasted it. Cheers!
I made a chocolate habenero stout years ago. I racked onto the peppers in the secondary for a week. I forget the specific numbers, but I know I did not put the seeds in. My co-worker who supplied the peppers from his garden said he liked it. I couldn't drink it, it just tasted like burning.
🤣🤣🤣 Math is hard.
Loving the video series so far, thanks for all the hard work.
I agree with the pickling hypothesis. Capsaicin (the chemical in chillies that gives the burning sensation) is an alkaloid and is likely neutralised by the acidity of the beer over time. This possibly explains why pickled chillies (or anything with capsaicin) have less heat given the high acidity of the pickling solution.
I do a chili, myoga (Javanese ginger), lemon IPA. I recommend about 3g of fairly spicy chili (seeds in), like a habanero per 10 liters. I love chili, but this amount of chili gives slight kick that is not too strong for the average person to enjoy. Happy brewing and thanks for another great video :)
I love chili beers, especially in the summer!
If I am just going for the chili "heat" in a beer my approach is a bit different as I use dried chilies.
1. I initially grind a weighted amount of dried chilies.
2. Put it in a teabag and add it to 200ml of boiling water for 10 minutes.
3. If the water is too hot or not hot enough I reiterate with a different volume of chillies until satisfied.
4. Then I just scale it to the boil volume and drop that amount into the boil at 10 min.
Nice one. What about drying the peppers first, then crushing and adding that to a beer? I use this method, but I also use peppers like Carolina Reaper and Habenero together - mostly because, to my palate, Reaper is a flame forward pepper while Habenero is "back-flame" beast. For me, using Hab alone will get you a beer with a flame that builds, sip by sip, on the backside of the sips. Why dry it? I'm hoping to both kill bad bugs and reduce oils to keep my head retention up. Cheers!
Long time watcher here. If you're experimenting for a niche beer, might I suggest a smoked IPA?
what is the perfect % of smoked malt? What hope compliment the (pseudo) style? What IBU should you shoot for?
...asking for a friend.
Hops*
Yea!!! Its Norm!! Possibly a new show in the works? Fermentlosophy starring Norm.
😂😂😂
Try this again but use smoked peppers. You get chocolate, smoke and heat. If you balance it correct, its just a flavor bomb.
Habanero is a sweeter chilli than most. That's why I use it in a mango chilli jam
Star-san isn't really meant to sanitize food surfaces, it is meant for work surfaces, containers and utensils. If you want to sanitize peppers, just blanch them in boiling water for about 15 seconds, it shouldn't be long enough to cook the peppers but it is long enough to kill anything on the surface, or if you want to add a little smokiness you can char the outside, wipe off most of the char and chop it up, it would be fully sanitized by heat.
Did you purge the keg with carbon dioxide before filling? If so, how did you do that with the pepper in there? If not, what are your thoughts on cold side oxidation?
I think I see where you got the freezing technique from (fruit?), and it makes sense in a way, but peppers are different for some reason. Take a page from making Mole and Mexican hot chocolate, they use smoked and dried hot peppers for flavor. That way you get a sharper, more chocolatey and smokey flavor with a kick, rather than the green pepper vibe you get from using fresh peppers.
you should do a carolina reaper style stout... its insane!!! ive been doing some random off the wall recipes
I've had this same result in pepper beers with the heat fading over time. I believe it's because Capsicum is oil based and over time cold crashes to the bottom of the keg. That's my theory anyways!
You should have made a tincture with everclear. That’s the best way to add peppers to beer.
The everclear also kills any bugs so no risk of infection.
I may have to try this when I come over. Xx
I tasted a really good habanero peach wheat beer the other day that was so pleasant . You definitely tasted the habanero on the tongue but it was nice .
Love pepper beers. Recommend any generic Asian hot chili for a homemade chili stout. Jalapeños or Serranos for pale ales and lagers … just drop them into the whirlpool and do a chili stand! Never fails …
Very interesting I’d love to put chilli in a stout 👍🍻
For this year's December stout I plan on making a jalapeno chocolate & orange imperial stout, but I have yet to do the research on how I'm going to do that exactly!
I want to try this beer with brown habanero. Much more bold robust flavor, not as citrus forward as orange habanero. Also way spicier!
Sounds tasty! Can't wait to try my hand at a pepper beer!
what is IBM supposed to mean ?
but if you boill the chilli you can fruty and sweet flavor of the chilli with the heat
sign language IPA hahah tight
IBM
The seeds are where the heat is going to come from. creating a tincture would be way more efficient.
Lets see a Habanero Hazy IIPA
101% malt bill. Nice way to improve efficiency😅
98% of the spice sits in the white fabric near the seeds. You have not put this part of the habanero into the keg, so you missed the chance to get a really spicey beer.
Traditional definition of Beer: Malt, water, hops, yeast.
Adjuncts of malt can also be included.
Chilly peppers, watermelon, Chocolate, coffee, beef stew, caramel, peanut butter and pork crackling etc can be added - just dont call it beer.
Well, that was anticlimactic. I f you did the tincture, and bottled, you could add one drop to one bottle, two to the next...