The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.
Houston generally puts on a great fireworks show downtown, and I'm lucky enough to be able to view it from my roof-top. My neighbors are all awesome so we generally end up celebrating all day on our street, then running upstairs to watch the show. Plus, the last few years several friends have come into town to grill and go out on the lake. This year is looking like another repeat. Because of this, I'm in need of an easy drinking, refreshing beer that everyone can enjoy. Something along the lines of a Premium American Lager.
The goal for this one was ~4.5% ABV with 18-20 IBUs. I decided to go with Golden Promise for the base malt because I wanted that little bit of sweetness. I also added flaked corn in the hope of lightening the body a bit and hopefully contributing a bit of "crispness". The last cream ale I made used about 25% corn, and it took a while for the corn flavor to fade out. I didn't have time for that, so I decided to reduce that down to ~10%. For hops I chose Sazz and wanted somewhat even additions at 60, 30 and 10 minutes targeting 18-20 IBUs. In the end, the hops I received had lower AA than anticipated (2.4) so I had to front load a little more. Even then the Brewer's Friend calculator showed I would end on the low side at 17.
For yeast.. unfortunately, given my inability to reach fermentation temperatures below ~50F (especially in the summer) and the need to turn this one around in under a month, lager strains were out. I had some WLP029 on hand, so the goal was to use that to simulate a lager. I've used hybrid yeast in this way twice so far, and both times turned out "just okay". The beers were fine, but they lacked the crispness I was looking for. To try and compensate for that, this time I'm pitching at a higher rate (1.5 million cells / ml / degree Plato), and may also try to increase the carbonation level.
So those were the building blocks... for a really boring beer. Why would a home-brewer make this sort of thing when it's so readily available and cheap at every gas station and grocery store? Answer: it's a solid base for a first attempt at a chili beer!
Houston generally puts on a great fireworks show downtown, and I'm lucky enough to be able to view it from my roof-top. My neighbors are all awesome so we generally end up celebrating all day on our street, then running upstairs to watch the show. Plus, the last few years several friends have come into town to grill and go out on the lake. This year is looking like another repeat. Because of this, I'm in need of an easy drinking, refreshing beer that everyone can enjoy. Something along the lines of a Premium American Lager.
The goal for this one was ~4.5% ABV with 18-20 IBUs. I decided to go with Golden Promise for the base malt because I wanted that little bit of sweetness. I also added flaked corn in the hope of lightening the body a bit and hopefully contributing a bit of "crispness". The last cream ale I made used about 25% corn, and it took a while for the corn flavor to fade out. I didn't have time for that, so I decided to reduce that down to ~10%. For hops I chose Sazz and wanted somewhat even additions at 60, 30 and 10 minutes targeting 18-20 IBUs. In the end, the hops I received had lower AA than anticipated (2.4) so I had to front load a little more. Even then the Brewer's Friend calculator showed I would end on the low side at 17.
For yeast.. unfortunately, given my inability to reach fermentation temperatures below ~50F (especially in the summer) and the need to turn this one around in under a month, lager strains were out. I had some WLP029 on hand, so the goal was to use that to simulate a lager. I've used hybrid yeast in this way twice so far, and both times turned out "just okay". The beers were fine, but they lacked the crispness I was looking for. To try and compensate for that, this time I'm pitching at a higher rate (1.5 million cells / ml / degree Plato), and may also try to increase the carbonation level.
So those were the building blocks... for a really boring beer. Why would a home-brewer make this sort of thing when it's so readily available and cheap at every gas station and grocery store? Answer: it's a solid base for a first attempt at a chili beer!
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/9/2/12929432/6983068.jpg?295)
I have had a few commercial beers that used peppers that I enjoyed, and had been reading for a while about different ways to add chili to beer. How much of what kind of peppers should I add, and when? The information was all over the board. Some say add them to the boil, others say secondary, and others like to wait and strait up add a full pepper to every bottle. And I found even less on what kind of pepper to use, and the qualities to expect from each. It seems to me that once a brewer finds a method, they stick to it which makes method comparisons rare. Since I wasn't able to find any reliable information about how each method differs, I ended up going with a bit of a hybrid.
What I'm looking for is a beer that has a subtle but noticeable pepper addition. I want the fruit aspect of the peppers to be noticed first, and then a very soft, long, mellow warmth to come along at the end. I have no idea how to do that. But based on the sporadic information available, I chose what I believe to be a conservative method that I hope comes close. I selected three large Anaheim chilies weighing a total of 14oz. I cut off the ends and removed the core, but left the "ribbing" and even allowed a few seeds to survive. I then cut each pepper into chunks, and brought the lot to a boil in a small amount of water for 5 minutes. Then, I cooled the mixture (which smelled lovely), and added it all straight to my fermenter before racking the freshly brewed wort on top. I'll leave them in the beer for as long as possible before I have to keg it (so about 3 weeks). I have no idea what to expect, but I'll be sure and report back.
What I'm looking for is a beer that has a subtle but noticeable pepper addition. I want the fruit aspect of the peppers to be noticed first, and then a very soft, long, mellow warmth to come along at the end. I have no idea how to do that. But based on the sporadic information available, I chose what I believe to be a conservative method that I hope comes close. I selected three large Anaheim chilies weighing a total of 14oz. I cut off the ends and removed the core, but left the "ribbing" and even allowed a few seeds to survive. I then cut each pepper into chunks, and brought the lot to a boil in a small amount of water for 5 minutes. Then, I cooled the mixture (which smelled lovely), and added it all straight to my fermenter before racking the freshly brewed wort on top. I'll leave them in the beer for as long as possible before I have to keg it (so about 3 weeks). I have no idea what to expect, but I'll be sure and report back.
Recipe:
Batch Size: 12 Gallons (Actual: 12 after adding 0.75 gallons distilled)
Planned OG: 1.042 (Actual: 1.042)
Planned IBU: 19 (Actual: 17 due to low AA hops)
Planned Efficiency: 75% (Actual 83%)
Grain
17# Golden Promise
2# Flaked Corn
Hops
3 oz Sazz @ 60 (all hops 2.4% AA)
1 oz Sazz @ 30
1 oz Sazz @ 10
Extras
2tbs Irish Moss @ 10
14oz anaheim chilies with cores removed, boiled for 5 minutes and added to half (5.5 gallons) for primary fermentation.
Yeast
White Labs German Ale (WLP029 Gen 2)
Water
Target Profile:
Salt Additions:
Calculated pH = 5.6. Actual= 5.4
Made starter 4-June-2015
4.5L starter made based on Brewer's Friend calculations and the following:
Made starter 4-June-2015
4.5L starter made based on Brewer's Friend calculations and the following:
The additional ~100 Billion Cells were harvested for a future starter.
Brewed 7-June-2015
Started at 10am on a hot, sunny day
- Brought 6.5 gallons treated RO to 167*F and doughed in. Mash temp = 152, pH = 5.4
- After 75min mash, temp = 151. Heated 11 gallons treated (non-acidified) RO to 181 & fly sparged. Due to high efficiency, stopped with 13 gallons of 1.040 wort (goal was 13.75 gallons of 1.037). pH @ 5.5
- Added hop additions, Irish moss, and immersion chiller as per (adjusted) plan. Due to stopping sparge early, added back 0.75 gallons distilled water post boil to get back to 12 gallons total.
- 1.75 gallons boiled off over 1 hour. Solid rolling boil w/ lid half on.
- Cooled with Immersion Cooler (only down to ~90* due to warm ground water and no pre-chiller) and transferred first 5.5 gallons into new Big Mouth Bubbler.
- Cut the center and most seeds out of 3 large anaheim peppers (14 oz), chopped into smaller chunks, boiled for 5 minutes, and cooled. Racked 2nd 5.5 gallons on top of peppers and the water they were boiled in.
- Placed both carboys into fermentation chamber to cool to pitch temp. Cleaned up and done by 3:00 (half the time of my last brew!).
- With the wort chilled to 58*, decanted starter beer off yeast and pitched thick slurry into both fermenters. Wort was only down to 73 by next AM, so yeast was not pitched until 6pm on June 8.
16-May-2015 - Both batches look to be done w/ fermentation. Both at 1.010
Brewed 7-June-2015
Started at 10am on a hot, sunny day
- Brought 6.5 gallons treated RO to 167*F and doughed in. Mash temp = 152, pH = 5.4
- After 75min mash, temp = 151. Heated 11 gallons treated (non-acidified) RO to 181 & fly sparged. Due to high efficiency, stopped with 13 gallons of 1.040 wort (goal was 13.75 gallons of 1.037). pH @ 5.5
- Added hop additions, Irish moss, and immersion chiller as per (adjusted) plan. Due to stopping sparge early, added back 0.75 gallons distilled water post boil to get back to 12 gallons total.
- 1.75 gallons boiled off over 1 hour. Solid rolling boil w/ lid half on.
- Cooled with Immersion Cooler (only down to ~90* due to warm ground water and no pre-chiller) and transferred first 5.5 gallons into new Big Mouth Bubbler.
- Cut the center and most seeds out of 3 large anaheim peppers (14 oz), chopped into smaller chunks, boiled for 5 minutes, and cooled. Racked 2nd 5.5 gallons on top of peppers and the water they were boiled in.
- Placed both carboys into fermentation chamber to cool to pitch temp. Cleaned up and done by 3:00 (half the time of my last brew!).
- With the wort chilled to 58*, decanted starter beer off yeast and pitched thick slurry into both fermenters. Wort was only down to 73 by next AM, so yeast was not pitched until 6pm on June 8.
16-May-2015 - Both batches look to be done w/ fermentation. Both at 1.010