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Taste Notes

Recipe Type: All Grain Yeast: Wyeast 1056 -or- White Labs 080 Yeast Starter: yes Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5 Original Gravity: 1.052 Final Gravity: 1.011 IBU: IBU 42.6 Boiling Time (Minutes): 60 Color: 4 SRM Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 14 days @ 68F Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 68F Tasting Notes: Very well balanced for pepper flavor without going over the top. The jalapeno seeds and core are what add the heat. If you strip the insides, you will eliminate the heat. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/jalapeno-cream-ale-131294/ 7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) 1.00 lb Corn, Flaked 1.00 lb Vienna Malt 8 oz. Cara-Pils/Dextrine 1.00 oz Cluster [7.0%] (60 min) 1.00 oz Liberty Leaf [4.3%] (25 min) 1.00 oz Liberty Leaf [4.3%] (15 min) 1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 min) 7.00 items Jalapeno pepper (Boil 15.0 min) see notes Wyeast 1056 or a neutral dry yeast Mash 150F-152F for 60 minutes

Notes

Slit, rinse, & roast the FRESH jalapenos. But don't scrape them, leave the seeds in! ROAST for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Flip often. Then SOAK the Jalapenos in Vodka overnight to sterilize. Retain Vodka for Spicy Bloody Mary's. I make sure to get a good roast on the jalapenos by TURNING them several times and I always do 25 minutes. The roast is a definite part of the flavor profile. I do the oven just because the first time I brewed it, it was winter here in Salt Lake City and I didn't want to get the grill out. I think grilling would work fine for much less time though. I think the level of char is something to keep a close eye on. You want some char on the sides that are touching the baking sheet/grill, but you don't want much more. Too much char can give off bitterness and you just want the roasted pepper flavor. 25 minutes, flipping once or twice, works great. The grill probably only needs a few minutes per side. Make sure to slit them first for the grill for sure. Add the 4 roasted jalapenos to the boil at 15 minitues left. Strain them just like your excess hops = no loose jalapenos in the primary fermenter. Then add the 2-3 more roasted jalapenos to secondary............................ depending on how hot you want it. Peppers vary from crop to crop so I'd advise tasting samples of the beer in the secondary to get it spot on before you keg it. Jalepenos can be judged at the store when you buy them by looking at the vertical white lines on the pepper. the more little white lines on the jalepeno the hotter that baby will be (means its older). The young peppers are firm and are without the white lines, they are crisp and fresh. Have a peek at the jalepenos your store sells and use it to flavor your beer in the way you like. Q: This seems like a stupid question but do the Jalapeño's from the boil go into the fermenter or or are they pulled out prior? A: Yes, then they are strained out prior like the excess hops. Whirlfloc comes in a tablet form and is basically just a souped up version of Irish Moss ( a clarifying or finning agent). They both help clarity in beer. I use Whirlfoc but Irish Moss will do also. This is my most requested beer from friends and family. It's very well balanced, which I believe is the key to brewing a good pepper beer. I've tried it with different styles but the cream ale base has always been the very best and will remain so. It has done well in the few competitions it was entered. Don't change the pepper type..No fiery habaneros...no serranos. If you want to use anchos, brew another style. What I liked most about it is the way the beer transitions across the palate. The aroma is smoky with "green" hints like cutting into fresh jalapenos. What's really nice is how the smoke flavor continues to come through along with everything else. It adds a wonderfully assertive balance to the whole beer. The initial flavor somewhat matches that aroma, then it finishes with a nice balancing act from the cream ale itself. Then the heat comes in the very late finish, making you want to reach for your next sip. I used White Labs 080 Creme Ale Blend instead of the Wyeast 1056 American Ale. I can't say how much difference there is, but obviously it works! After all it is advertised as a "Cream Ale". Comments & a little added info from other brewers: 1) After 2 weeks in the bottle it never did lose any of the heat. I would rate the hotness of 9 Jalapenos at a 6 out of 10, and I like HEAT. I had some co-workers sample and they all agreed that while the flavor of this beer is excellent, the 9 total Jalapenos used gives it a throut burning sensation that is unexpected when drinking beer. When you first take a drink you will get a really good Jalapeno Cream Ale flavor, and about 4 seconds later the back of the throat will start to burn. Next time I will reduce the number of Jalapenos to Sundowner's original suggestion of 4 in the boil and 3 in the secondary. Thus, others will find it easier to drink. What can I say, I LIKE IT HOT! I used 9. Thank youi Sundowner for posting this recipe as I will be brewing it again. I believe the base recipe could be used without any "Jalapeno flavoring" it's that good. Keep it fresh. Keep it real. 2) Since I first read Sundowner's post I've made 35 gallons of this beer. I can't keep it in stock. It's now part of my regular rotation. Like all of us, I've experimented with this recipe. I've used different yeasts, mulitple combinations of hops, even smoked grains. I think controlling the amount of heat is the key to keeping the beer consistent form batch to batch. I smoke the Jalapenos on the grill before putting them into the vodka. I always use an overnight soak to the Jalapenos in vodka. 3) The beer turned out great! Wonderful jalapeño smell and flavor without being overpowering. One of my favorite beers to date! I used 3 in the boil, 3 at the beginning of the secondary and 2 more with the vodka with a few days left in the fermentation process. My only gripe is there is no heat what so ever. Next time I will leave the seeds and core in a few of the jalapeños to add a kick. Also, I might modify the beer recipe a bit. Its not bad at all but could have a little more flavor and creaminess. Might be great on a nitro tap... The jalapeno seeds and core are what add the heat. If you strip the insides, you will eliminate the heat. 4) When smoking the Jalapenos on the BBQ I'll add a portion of Hickory wood. It adds a nice touch. Then soak them in vodka. The vodka draws out the smoke, heat, and green Jalapeno flavor. 5) I've also made this wonderful brew three times, and will brew it again this weekend. Adding Jalapenos to the secondary is a crap shoot. You can bite into 1 Jalapeno and it tastes like a green pepper with no heat, the next 1 will knock your socks off! I've always made a tincture (soaking the Jalapenos in vodka) and added to taste at bottling or kegging. It's the only way to take the guess work out of how hot the finished product will end up. I try to get the aroma of cutting into fresh Jalapenos. The initial flavor somewhat matches that aroma, then it finishes with a nice balacing act from the cream ale itself. Then the heat comes in the very late finish, making you want to reach for your next sip. As for the pepper heat........ that's why I say 5-7 Jalapenos max. They vary in heat from crop to crop. It's best to taste test the beer to get the best heat factor. If you like it scorching, do 9. I like it hot! 6) I just want to say that I brewed this a few months ago, and it is a HUGE hit. I have not had a single person say they didn't completely enjoy it, and two brewing buddies are now determined to get their own batches going. Make this beer. You will not be disappointed. I made it exactly as the op described and I don't think a single thing needs to be changed. 7) After 2 weeks in the bottle it never did loose any of the heat. I would rate the hotness of 9 jalapeños at a 6 out of 10, and I like heat. I had some co-workers sample and they all agreed that while the flavor of this beer is excellent, the 9 total jalapeños used gives it a throat burning sensation that is unexpected when drinking a beer. When you first take a drink you will get a really good jalapeño cream ale flavor and about 4 seconds later the back of your mouth/throat will start to burn. Next time I will reduce the number of jalapeños to OP's recommendation of 4 in the boil and 3 in the secondary to make this easier to drink so other folks won't be blown away. 8) Since I first read Sundowner's post I've made 35 gallons of this beer. I can’t keep it in stock so now its part of my regular rotation. Like all of us I’ve experimented with the recipe. I’ve used different yeasts, and multiple combinations of hops. I always stick with hops with low alpha acids. I’ve even added smoked grains to a couple of batches. I only entered this into a competition one time and it took 3rd place. I always use a tincture. I think controlling the amount of heat is the key to keeping the beer consistent from batch to batch. I also smoke the jalapenos on the grill before putting them into the vodka. I think I’ve explained it this way before: What I liked most about it is the way the beer transitions across the palate. The aroma is smoky, with a "green" aroma like cutting into fresh jalapenos. What’s really nice is how the smoke flavor continues to come through along with everything else. It adds a wonderfully assertive balance to the whole beer. The initial flavor somewhat matches that aroma, then it finishes with a nice balancing act from the cream ale itself. Then the heat comes in the very late finish, making you want to reach for your next sip. 9) I brewed this using the original recipe, except for the hops, a few weeks ago and thought I would share my experience. I like spicy things but was a little scared about a spicy beer. I added 4 jalapeños to the boil. The beer had a nice little kick after the boil. Waited 10 days moved to secondary and it still had about the same spice. So far so good. Added 3 more jalapeños to secondary and tasted about 4 days later. Holy crap! It was like drinking a liquid jalapeño. Way to hot. Pulled the jalapeños out of the secondary and let it sit for about another week or so. After bottling the hotness went down a lot and was drinkable. Tried one last night after about 1.5 weeks in bottle and it is very very yummy. Just the slightest spice in the aftertaste. So far this is my favorite brew I have done. For those of you worry about the spiciness of the beer it is not that bad and as time goes it gets better. My Conclusions: Here is my HANDS-ON Experience. I brewed this beer twice according to the OP's original recipe. But both times I scraped out the insides, per a post instructions later in the thread. It was good, just needed more of a punch. 1) Used 5 jalapenos in the brew, scraped the insides and roasted in the oven. The beer had a very mild taste of jalapeno & it was no-way hot. 2) Used 9 jalapenos in the brew. Did the same thing per instructions and it was nicer............. but not hot enough. Most of the heat came through in the aftertaste. The beer is excellent though. 3) Now the 3rd time I brewed this I did not scrape the seeds. Kept them in there, sliced them up & roasted them all together. The finished beer was HOT, HOT, HOT. The aftertaste was like breathing fire, but the beer lacked a jalapeno aroma. The heat was a result of the "dry peppering" in the secondary. If I want to increase the aroma, I'll try adding more to the boil. I took the beer to our local brewery/restaurant that just opened in town. The owners are really nice and they've even given a presentation to our brew club. I brought over a growler of the stuff but wasn't expecting much. They each had 1 glass, then another, then another. They quickly emptied the growler between the 2 of them. Both commented how good it was! Now I just received a commercially available jalapeno beer from Weed California.............. some of my friends that tried mine brought me it...................... it's VERY hot. The aroma is over the top jalapenos, it almost blew my head just from the smell. The beer underneath is not as good as sundowner's, but I LOVED all the jalapeno's. So now I'm ready to try this again. I could up the count on the roasted jalapenos, but I'm thinking back to my cooking 101 and remembering the heat is all in the seeds. What if I use 9 jalapenos, slice 'em, roast 'em & just leave the seeds in? Will this be drinkable? When & if to add Jalapenos to: 1) Mash 2) Boil 3) Primary 4) Secondary Please help, oh you beer gurus. I'm just thinking of trying Sundowner's original recipe without the scrape!? I like it hot! Fire! My Mexican Father In Law makes a salsa that is HOT!!! It's full of seeds. 3 days after you try it, you're still burping up the hot stuff!!! From Brew Magazine & Carlos Sanchez: I use 4 varieties of peppers & I roast them before I add them to my brew. Habanaro, Jalapeno, Serrano, Anaheim or Anchos. I use 1 lb. of each varity per 5 gallon batch and roast them to bring out a sweetness and aroma I'm looking for. After roasting, I run the peppers throug a food processor and add them to the kettle, seeds and all. I add them later in the boil, usually after 60 minues along with any hop additions. I have also tried adding them in steeping bags and placing them in the secondary fermenter for a few days, but have found it is far better and more consistent to add them to the boil. If you're planning your 1st chili beer, err on the side of caution. You can always make a hotter batch later or increase the heat by "dry peppering" in the keg or secondary. Whatever you do, don't get it in your eye.