[kylebures]

Hello Homebrewers,

Last summer I made a jalapeno beer in which I added a jalapeno to each bottle on bottling day.  To prep/disinfect the peppers I first boiled them for about 5 minutes.  The end result was a heat that was stronger in aroma than in taste.  This wasn't bad, but I am wondering if some of the heat was lost to the prep boil and if there is a better way to prepare or infuse jalapeno into a batch of beer and what the pros/cons are of each.

Thanks!

[euge]

You might try serranos which are hotter and fit in the bottle better. Also similar in taste.

Can you describe your boiling process a but more? Do you prep the peppers for it in someway?

Also, jalapenos often vary as to how spicy they are due to constant commercial availability. Some are as mild as a green pepper while others will randomly blow your lid off. Seems to me the home-grown varieties tend to be consistently hotter.

[MAKI831]

My 4th extract batch was actually a jalapeno beer. It was a red tail ale clone kit to give you an idea of what the beer was similar too. I picked fresh jalapenos from my girlfriends garden and they were WAY to hot to eat, grilled along side a steak. Most store bought jalapenos I can wolf down raw no problem.

So I picked about 10 more the next day, soaked them in some star san, cut them down the middle and discarded most of the seeds/pith and let the peppers soak loose in secondary for 3 three days. Five gallon batch.

The result was surprisingly pleasant. The heat did die off twice the speed of the hop bitterness, but the aroma seemed to stay behind very well. The only thing I would change would be maybe use so me hotter peppers as euge suggested, but also maybe grill half of them to get some roasty pepper skins flavor/aroma. Mine had a green pepper skin taste in the background that might offend wine people.

Enjoy picking a peck of peppers.

Disclaimer: Been brewing for 3 years now, 2 years all gain. Reading a lot and listing to a lot of the brewing network.

[Stevie]

I throw peppers in split in half with seeds and all. 2 peppers per gallon for 2 or 3 days.

I like to experiment with peppers in growlers. Allows me to try differnt  peppers and lengths of time without fear of dumping.

[mabrungard]

Wait a second, the best use of jalapenos is to use them fresh or pickled on your favorite Mexican food. 

[euge]

I've had good results with dried chile de arbol thrown into the kettle at the end of the boil. One per gallon. Nice subtle creeping heat that shows as the beer warms. Hardly overbearing it could be mistaken for fusels, but in a good non-headache kinda way.

Pairs good with dried bitter orange peel and grains of paradise.

[jeffy]

If you really want to put the pepper into the bottle, then I think that pasteurizing them in the toaster oven would do the trick.  It seems to me that would be better than boiling.

I use poblanos, which have less heat, but a distinctive aroma and flavor.  I roast and peel them and use three in five gallons with a half a habanero for a little heat, all added either in the secondary or in the keg.

[erockrph]

Wait a second, the best use of jalapenos is to use them fresh or pickled on your favorite Mexican food. 

For green jalapenos, I'll agree with you. Once they ripen, smoking is the best option

[euge]

Wait a second, the best use of jalapenos is to use them fresh or pickled on your favorite Mexican food. 

For green jalapenos, I'll agree with you. Once they ripen, smoking is the best option

Hard to light tho...

[majorvices]

Wait a second, the best use of jalapenos is to use them fresh or pickled on your favorite Mexican food. 

+1

Ya know, I've had some tasty pepper beers but never one that. I could have drank more than an couple ounces of

[HoosierBrew]

Wait a second, the best use of jalapenos is to use them fresh or pickled on your favorite Mexican food. 

+1

Ya know, I've had some tasty pepper beers but never one that. I could have drank more than an couple ounces of

Yeah, I'm the same way. I eat spicy food all the time, grow hot peppers, make hot sauces, etc. If anybody oughta be into chile beers, it's me. Just not into them. I had one the limited release Yeti RIS last winter - it was really excellent in every way except the slight little chile heat diminished it for me. Go figure.

[dmtaylor]

My jalapeno porter has won a lot of awards.  I add them on bottling day.  Need about 9 jalapenos for a 5 gallon batch, plus or minus a couple depending how much heat you want.  Chop them all up, seeds and all.  Soak half the jalapenos in vodka for at least 5-6 hours, then add the vodka infusion to the beer.  With the other half, remove about 3 cups of your finished beer from the fermenter and boil the jalapenos for 5-10 minutes, cool, then add that liquid to your beer as well.  This provides the very best flavor AND aroma AND heat that I've come across.  And it's easy to taste the beer behind the peppers because you're doing it all on bottling day, AND you can add as little or as much of the liquids as you want until it tastes just right.  Sometimes I only add half the liquids, sometimes all, to get just the right level of heat and flavor.  Works like a charm.

[euge]

That's a great approach! I will certainly try this.

[redbeerman]

Wait a second, the best use of jalapenos is to use them fresh or pickled on your favorite Mexican food. 

For green jalapenos, I'll agree with you. Once they ripen, smoking is the best option

Hard to light tho...

+1 LOL

[kylekohlmorgen]

I made a really nice chipotle cream ale by tossing one dried chile (NOT the ones in adobo) straight into a keg of boring cream ale.

No boiling, no soaking in vodka. As long as its not a chipotle RIS/barleywine, I wouldn't worry about it. Consume fresh  RDWHAHB, AMIRIGHT?

You can pull it when you get enough extraction, or add another if its too subtle. They float when rehydrated, so they are easy to fish out.