recipe-help Beer sauce and chili beer

[BDP]

I made a new friend recently who brews his own beers. We discussed combining our efforts and working on some beer-infused hot sauces and chili-infused beers.

I’m under the impression he knows his craft really well but I can’t make the same claim about myself.

Have any of you worked on similar projects in the past? Any recommendations on musts and must-nots? I’m not worried as much about wasting a couple liters of his beer on failed hot sauces but ruining a whole keg with the wrong chili flavor is a little concerning. - more to add to my friday googling list I guess.

 

[sirex]

As with any test sauce/batch/new endeavour-research and start small (batch wise). You got this!!!

Edit: I also imagine that any of the beers that have chocolatey notes would pair well with pepper. Kind of reminiscent of mexican hot chocolate.

 

[BDP]

Appreciate the positive response! …I’m one of those people who finds a “new thing” and then dives in with no plan or knowledge and just “goes” - It makes for some incredible successes! And heartbreaking failures…. But what a ride!

 

[BDP]

As with any test sauce/batch/new endeavour-research and start small (batch wise). You got this!!!

Edit: I also imagine that any of the beers that have chocolatey notes would pair well with pepper. Kind of reminiscent of mexican hot chocolate.

I tasted one years back with that chocolate-chili profile. I want to say it was called “Prairie Fire” and brewed in Oklahoma. Not a go-to beer for every occasion but really good for what it was! This brewer friend is particularly into citrus hops and hazy IPAs so I think that’s probably the profile we’ll start from. So I’m thinking pods with a really fruity profile as a jumping-off point.

 

[sirex]

Aji Lemon drops. Really citrusy. One of my faves. Especially a lemon drop x bhut cross. You'd expect it to be super hot but it isn't.

Datils would be good. Datil will surprise you with heat level though.

 

[BDP]

Aji Lemon drops. Really citrusy. One of my faves. Especially a lemon drop x bhut cross. You'd expect it to be super hot but it isn't.

Datils would be good. Datil will surprise you with heat level though.

I was thinking of Ajis. I don't have any plants but do have seeds for lemon drops and White fantasies.... so could have some ready in however many months. I also have some pink tiger seeds - I've never tasted but the reviews I've seen describe it as very fruity. these are likely the top candidates for a real project several months out. in the meantime I'll play with whatever flavors I can find locally.

edit: tell me about datils?

 

[CaneDog]

I'm used to seeing chili infused beers more on the lighter side, but the idea of putting it in a darker/maltier beer is an interesting one. I don't remember having seen that myself.

When are you thinking of adding the peppers in the process? I would think during secondary fermentation in which case you could split a batch into smaller secondaries. I'll use 3 gallon carboys to split larger batches in secondary when messing around with stuff like cherry or coconut porters in order to not put as much beer at risk (from a taste standpoint, as I find flavored beers very hit and miss and it can be tough to get the levels right). I have 2.5g corny kegs to transfer into, but there's no reason you couldn't transfer to a 5g with a lot of headroom. As far as contamination, blanching the peppers before adding them might help with that - or perhaps just a few minute's soak in star-san. I'm not sure what effect blanching might have on flavor, good or bad.

I haven't brewed anything other than cider in a while. This has me a bit fired up about brewing something.

 

[BDP]

I'm used to seeing chili infused beers more on the lighter side, but the idea of putting it in a darker/maltier beer is an interesting one. I don't remember having seen that myself.

When are you thinking of adding the peppers in the process? I would think during secondary fermentation in which case you could split a batch into smaller secondaries. I'll use 3 gallon carboys to split larger batches in secondary when messing around with stuff like cherry or coconut porters in order to not put as much beer at risk (from a taste standpoint, as I find flavored beers very hit and miss and it can be tough to get the levels right). I have 2.5g corny kegs to transfer into, but there's no reason you couldn't transfer to a 5g with a lot of headroom. As far as contamination, blanching the peppers before adding them might help with that - or perhaps just a few minute's soak in star-san. I'm not sure what effect blanching might have on flavor, good or bad.

I haven't brewed anything other than cider in a while. This has me a bit fired up about brewing something.

So the Hazy IPA is a lighter beer. Very crisp with assertive citrus notes - the idea in my head is to try to impart that fruity-ness from the pepper while only casting a bit of the burn. I plan to lean on brewer-dude for timing as I have no clue… but I can almost taste how I think it could work… will be an incredibly fun project!