[madscientist]

What is a good recipie to use roasted Jalapenos (or other peppers) in?  The recipe wiki says a scotch ale, but i'm curious to what style would provide the best base?  Throw them in the boil or secondary like a dry hop or both?

[bluesman]

Here's a recipe from BYO.

http://byo.com/component/resource/article/710-golden-chili-lager

I'm not sure how it would work with roasted peppers.

[shea-arne]

I brewed an american pale ale, then dry hopped the sucker with chipotle chilis (which i think are roasted jalapenos). Came out surprisingly nice and has recieved very positive feedback.

[jeffy]

My experience is that peppers go better with sweeter, less bitter styles of beer.  I've had good success with peppers in a Belgian Witbier, but I've also had some very nice Scottish, O-Fest, and even Saison pepper beers.  The flavors clash a bit with hoppy, bitter beers in my opinion.
It's also important to get the right pepper flavor and aroma as well as the heat level.  All heat and no flavor can be pretty sneaky.  I was once seriously injured by a habanero mead - still have nightmares.
I usually put the peppers in the secondary or the keg for a couple days (dry pepper?) and judge the level of pepper-ness before continuing.

[tschmidlin]

I brewed an american pale ale, then dry hopped the sucker with chipotle chilis (which i think are roasted jalapenos).

Chipotles are smoked, not roasted.

I've had really nice pepper beers that were light lagers (not that Cave Creek stuff, good homebrewed ones), and a nice brown ale that had a light burn mostly in your throat.  I don't have the recipes though, so that's probably not too helpful.

I think you can get away with either putting them in at the end of the boil or in secondary, but if you keg then for your first try you might want to just make a tincture and dose the finished beer to taste.  In other words, soak the roasted peppers in vodka for a few days or weeks.  Then add a little at a time to a sample of finished beer until you get the proportion right.  Then dose the keg at 80% of the rate you determined and see how it goes.  You can always add more, taking some away is tough.

[Bruce B]

Here are two of mine.  I strongly suggest that you don't put them in secondary or dry hop.  The ones I did that with turned out way too hot.

http://www.bbbrew.com/index.php?page=brewBlogDetail&filter=buergermeister&id=19

http://brewblog.beerbarons.org/index.php?page=recipeDetail&filter=Buergermeister&id=88

[jeffy]

I strongly suggest that you don't put them in secondary or dry hop.

Depends entirely on the pepper and the amount.  I have used three poblano peppers in a five gallon c-keg and had to add a half a habanero just to get a little more heat.

[gordonstrong]

Sweet balances hot, so they're likely to go better with a maltier style.  Hot accentuates bitterness, so watch out if you add them to a bitter (or dry) beer.  They can change the balance.

I like the flavor of roasted peppers better than plain; less vegetal flavors.  You can use them anywhere, but I'd recommend you use them in a way that lets you adjust the balance and flavor.  So I'd wait until the beer was in secondary so you know what the final balance of the beer is like.

Put some in and taste every day until it's the level you want, then pull them out.  Or split your beer in half and do the same thing.  If you go too far, you can then blend with the un-peppered version to fix it.

You pretty much have to do this by taste so (gasp) blending techniques are the key.

[bluesman]

Sweet balances hot, so they're likely to go better with a maltier style.  Hot accentuates bitterness, so watch out if you add them to a bitter (or dry) beer.  They can change the balance.

I like the flavor of roasted peppers better than plain; less vegetal flavors.  You can use them anywhere, but I'd recommend you use them in a way that lets you adjust the balance and flavor.  So I'd wait until the beer was in secondary so you know what the final balance of the beer is like.

Put some in and taste every day until it's the level you want, then pull them out.  Or split your beer in half and do the same thing.  If you go too far, you can then blend with the un-peppered version to fix it.

You pretty much have to do this by taste so (gasp) blending techniques are the key.

How do you blend your beers to prevent oxidation....or is that not a concern.  I'm thinking that you blend beers that are already carbonated to allow for the natural effect of CO2 coming out of the beer and blocking O2 from contaminating the beer.

Sorry to OP for the thread hijack...I'm just curious as to how Gordon does his blending.

[madscientist]

Sweet balances hot, so they're likely to go better with a maltier style.  Hot accentuates bitterness, so watch out if you add them to a bitter (or dry) beer.  They can change the balance.

I like the flavor of roasted peppers better than plain; less vegetal flavors.  You can use them anywhere, but I'd recommend you use them in a way that lets you adjust the balance and flavor.  So I'd wait until the beer was in secondary so you know what the final balance of the beer is like.

Put some in and taste every day until it's the level you want, then pull them out.  Or split your beer in half and do the same thing.  If you go too far, you can then blend with the un-peppered version to fix it.

You pretty much have to do this by taste so (gasp) blending techniques are the key.

How do you blend your beers to prevent oxidation....or is that not a concern.  I'm thinking that you blend beers that are already carbonated to allow for the natural effect of CO2 coming out of the beer and blocking O2 from contaminating the beer.

Sorry to OP for the thread hijack...I'm just curious as to how Gordon does his blending.

no worries.  There are some great ideas in here, and I was just curious as to the backbone recipe.

[gordonstrong]

How do you blend your beers to prevent oxidation....or is that not a concern.  I'm thinking that you blend beers that are already carbonated to allow for the natural effect of CO2 coming out of the beer and blocking O2 from contaminating the beer.

It's not a concern for me.  Either I'm doing it at the last minute, so oxygen won't have time to do any damage, or I'm blanketing everything with CO2 any time it's opened.

Basically, if I'm messing around with something in a carboy, I take the grey connector off the gas line and just blow some CO2 on top of the beer and then put the airlock back on it.  Whatever minor O2 got in there is displaced.  Or I do it in a keg, and then I do the same thing, except I don't need to remove the connector.

Keg equipment helps even if you don't keg.  Get a 5lb CO2 tank first.  Use the connectors that you can unscrew so you don't have to mess around with clamps.

[bluesman]

Inquiring minds are at ease now. 

Thanks Gordon.

[Beertracker]

I recently made an O-fest using Ancho chiles which turned out really nice. I also make a serrano cream ale that borders the line of being offensive, but to each his/her own!   

[hopaddicted]

I brewed a Haberno Smoked Corn Pale Ale (inspired by Radical Brewing). I used 2 habeneros at flame out through the chilling process. Beer came out way off target, but it was my first parti-gyle batch and efficiency of both batches was in the toilet. Beer has a nice kick to it, not overpowering, but definitely highlighted.

Witch's Brew - Hot Tamale Pale Ale
American Pale Ale

 
Type: All Grain
 Date: 7/8/2010
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
 Brewer: Thomas Rome
Boil Size: 6.41 gal Asst Brewer: 
Boil Time: 60 min  Equipment: Brew Pot (7.5 gal) and Cooler (48 qt) 
Taste Rating(out of 50): 35.0  Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00
Taste Notes: 
 
Ingredients
 
Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 60.13 %
2.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 18.50 %
1.00 lb Melanoiden Malt (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.25 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.25 %
0.31 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2.87 %
1.00 oz Columbus (Tomahawk) [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 47.4 IBU
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (15 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 
0.50 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (5 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops - 

 
 
Beer Profile
 
Est Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
 Measured Original Gravity: 1.030 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.84 %  Actual Alcohol by Vol: 2.60 %
Bitterness: 47.4 IBU Calories: 131 cal/pint
Est Color: 9.0 SRM Color: Color 
 
 
Mash Profile
 
Mash Name: My Mash Total Grain Weight: 10.81 lb
Sparge Water: 2.96 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F TunTemperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.4 PH
 
My Mash Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step 1 Add 20.00 qt of water at 157.7 F 150.0 F

 
 
Mash Notes: 

Mash temp dropped to around 145o, used four ears of oak smoked corn instead of flaked corn
Created with BeerSmith
 

 

 

 

[gordonstrong]

Can you describe what it tasted like?  Did the corn flavor come through?  I'd think it would be hard to capture that 'masa' flavor, maybe some oats to provide more mouthfeel.