Jalapeno Ale

[Old_Skool]

So got a home brew from a friend of a friend --- a dark stout that he had added both jalapeno and Serrano peppers to (seeded and roasted). The brew was very good - pepper aroma - moderate hops - nice malty finish with a peppery end and barely any heat.

I'll talk with the guy this next week - any of you have any direct experience using mexican peppers in your brews ?

I'm guessing you pop the peppers in at the very end of the boil - do they get dumped into the primary - or used in the secondary like dry hops ?

And would they be best in a lighter ale or dark ?

I'm just wanting a little "after burn" ....

[Ozwald]

My Crossley Pale (the first batch was an accident and a fuck up, sorry J but I haven't quite evolved to the carpet filtering stage yet) uses a couple different chili's in it. For the best flavor/aroma from the chili's you need to be dry-hopping with them, 4-8 days. What I noticed was that the chili flavor is surprisingly frail - mine usually tastes very green for a few weeks before it opens up and becomes a mind-blowing chili ale. But drink it quick cause that flavor fades faster than hops. Unless I'm doing it for an event, I only brew a couple gallons at a time so I can finish it in that window.

A few tips - use sweeter malts in your grist, 10L, honey malt & the like. This will help balance the heat. Go easy on hops, the bitterness from them and the chili's really doesn't work well together. Select your hops by what chili's you're using. I would go with earthy/woody type flavors for Jalapeno. Avoid the citrus flavors, I've tried most of the C hops and the flavors just don't work well together. Have fun with it!

[Old_Skool]

Great info - others have said the heat fades fast as well

[boobookittyfuk]

My Crossley Pale (the first batch was an accident and a fuck up, sorry J but I haven't quite evolved to the carpet filtering stage yet) uses a couple different chili's in it. For the best flavor/aroma from the chili's you need to be dry-hopping with them, 4-8 days. What I noticed was that the chili flavor is surprisingly frail - mine usually tastes very green for a few weeks before it opens up and becomes a mind-blowing chili ale. But drink it quick cause that flavor fades faster than hops. Unless I'm doing it for an event, I only brew a couple gallons at a time so I can finish it in that window.

A few tips - use sweeter malts in your grist, 10L, honey malt & the like. This will help balance the heat. Go easy on hops, the bitterness from them and the chili's really doesn't work well together. Select your hops by what chili's you're using. I would go with earthy/woody type flavors for Jalapeno. Avoid the citrus flavors, I've tried most of the C hops and the flavors just don't work well together. Have fun with it!

I judged an incredible jalapeno mead at a homebrew competition a few weeks ago. I found out who made it and asked them about it. He said that he seeded 20 jalapenos and added them for about 8 weeks. He transfered the mead over and noticed that there was great pepper flavor, but not the heat that he was looking for. He then added 5 more jalapenos with seeds and it was perfect for him. Anyway, my point here is that he did all this a year before he entered this competition and I can tell you that his mead was full of pepper flavor and heat.

[Old_Skool]

Good Point on the heat --- my wife indicated that a good deal of the heat of many peppers is either in the seeds or the plant tissues in and around the seeds. So best bet may be to use seeded and chopped peppers for pepper flavor and slice some peppers long-wise and add seeds and all for heat

[mookie1010]

There's another way to determine heat in jalapenos - while most folks will tell you it's in the seeds, you have probably noticed that even seeded jalapenos with the white tissue that holds the seed cut out will vary in their heat. The tighter and brighter the skin of the jalapeno, the less heat it will have. For instance, this will be a relatively mild jalapeno:



The duller, darker and more "wrinkley" jalapeno will be noticably hotter than it's "fresher" looking counterpart - one like this:




I don't remember the reason, but once I read and tested it with several, it seemed to be pretty much true.

[bcmaui]

I don't remember the reason, but once I read and tested it with several, it seemed to be pretty much true.

The capsaicin is in the glands next to the seed - as the fruit becomes more mature, there is more heat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin

"Capsaicin is present in large quantities in the placental tissue (which holds the seeds), the internal membranes and, to a lesser extent, the other fleshy parts of the fruits of plants in the genus Capsicum. Contrary to popular belief, the seeds themselves do not produce any capsaicin, although the highest concentration of capsaicin can be found in the white pith around the seeds."

[Billy Klubb]

I just had speed's jalapeno ale last night. perfect amount of heat to balance the malt. I may have to twist his arm & get the recipe, then try it with habenaros.