BJCP Style: 30A - Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
For this pepper beer I'm using the tried and true CSB for a base and adding a tincture of Very Hot Peppers to the keg.
And since I am doing a tincture (sliced/processed peppers added to white rum) in this case, this Brülosophy 'ExBEERiment' is relevant. TL;DR: tasters (even brewer) could not tell a difference in flavor/heat between adding whole peppers vs strained tincture.
The full recipe is on BrewersFriend but here's the TL;DR:
- Brewday: 2019-9-29
- Malts: Maris Otter, Crystal 120 (~4%)
- Hop: Centennial
- Other: Some Really Hot peppers. Likely Trinidad Scorpion or similar. The growers weren't 100% sure. We just know they are pretty stupidly hot and I'm only adding 3 to the beer. Maybe 2 and see how it goes...
- Yeast: SafAle S-04
- OG: 14.2°P; FG: 2.7°P; ABV 6.1%
- Kegged 2019-10-10
Grains in the mill
Mash temp
While mashing I took a trip over to River North and had this tasty Lemon Drop Kellerbier
Back home. Bag out. 2hr mash total.
Boil
Floor Manager Steve
100% Centennial hops
Into the fermenter
Fresh pitch of S-04
Wort sample (with fruit fly)
Away we go...
And here we go: Evil-looking peppers to be added to the fermenter later:
Peppers processed (gutted and sliced) and added to rum:
2019-10-9 (+10): kegged - no pepper stuff added yet...
2019-10-14 (+15): Pepper tincture strained and half added to the keg along with gelatin
2019-10-15 (+16): tincture has had time to mix with the beer and it's getting hot in here! There's a slight burn but nothing too painful. Heat fades pretty quickly.
2019-10-29 (+30): Clear sample. Super clean with fruity hops and a good bite of heat.
