CHILLI!!!!

[hong]

Hi everyone, just had some Durham brewery, hellfire a fantastic imperial Russian stout flavoured with chilli. Oh my god this is incredible. Just wondering if anyone has brewed with chilli before? Don't know when to add it and how much?? Any help would be massively appreciated, thanks. Matt

Just had to edit this, it really is an amazingly fantastic brew. Still tingling away in the back of my nose, but a truly delicious imperial stout, find some buy it and drink it all!!!

Hi Wigwamheed, i too have had the privelage of trying this stout. I live in Durham so will defo be going back! Infact, it was after sampling this stout that got me back into homebrewing. I love Coopers stout, & was thinking of how to add chilli without ruining the brew. Maybe the boiling method could be the safest. It was a helluva stout, 10% with a chilli kick, awesome!

 

[alawlor66430]

There have been some brews with Chilli on the forum from time to time, this one always made me laugh :lol:

Oh that's quality, 25 seems a bit crazy, I think if I do it ill put 2 or 3 dried chopped jalipinos in just to give it a hint of warmth, do you think a lager would be better to do it with ?

 

[winelight]

A lager would be better, but if you're going to chop them I'd only put a small amount in, to be honest.

Anyone else made chilli vodka? You stuff a bottle of voddy full of chopped red chillies. It's utterly impossible to drink. If you make very strong very sweet hot chocolate and put the tiniest drop of the vodka in it, it's just about tolerable.

 

[alawlor66430]

I fancy giving it a go with a lager, it will be good at a summer BBQ me thinks, ill be carful with the amount of chillis I use cod if hate to ruin a whole batch

 

[Grotzilla]

I've just bought a mexican cerveza kit with free brewing sugar from Wilkinsons for a tenner! Think I might experiment with a few jalapenos in the near future

 

[wigwamheed]

25 jalapeños wow

 

[Loetz]

"Crazy Ed's Chilli Beer"

I have drunk this but it must have been, oh, about 20 years ago.

"a Serrano Chili Pepper is dropped by hand into every bottle"

That's as much sanitisation trouble as you need to go to. If it's worked for them for 20+ years, it will work for you.

No! Dear lord in heaven, please do not follow their lead. I lived next to Crazy Ed's for a while, and I can tell you that crazy is a good word to describe his beer. Even he admits it. He used to go to beer festivals wearing shirts which said 'my beer is the worst' on them. Nevertheless, I did enjoy going to the resturant from time to time even though it was a bit of a tourist trap. Unfortunatly though, he had to shut the place down a few years ago. He got caught cheating on his taxes and he owed years of back rent on the property. It was a real shame. He managed to keep ahold of the beer though. He has it contract brewed by one of the large brewers across the boarder into Mexico. I think Tecate makes it. I asked about the brewery equipment when I heard that he was losing the place, but I guess it all got snatched up at bargon prices really quickly. They told me that it was mostly pretty well trashed anyway, and I'd believe it because a lot of the other beers that they sold there seemed to be infected and/or fermented at high temps. It was pretty disgusting.

If you're thinking about making a chili stout, you might want to read what I wrote about mine:
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=30346&start=20

As I said in my post there, I thought it was infected but now I'm not sure. I still have it all, and I'm going to try it again later.

I don't know how you are planning to make your tea, but do not boil the chili. It will release oils that will ruin the head on your beer. I've also read that it makes for a more vegital taste which can be unpleasant. You could follow my additions as I wrote in that previous post, or I might suggest decreasing the dosage a little bit. What I did there would probably be the max. tolerable for heat.

OR you might let the chili sit in vodka for a couple weeks and then mix only the liquid from that with your beer when bottling. I've recently read some interesting things about chipotle infusions.

http://ourlifeoutsidethebox.com/2010/09/02/homemade-chipotle-infused-vodka/

You could save whatever is left over for mixing to make bloody marry.

I want to say that I highly suggest the use of chipotle. If you cant find it in a store, check amazon or ebay. Don't buy the stuff in a can because that has oil.

For more info: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/attachments/0000/2500/ndzym02-Chile_Beer.pdf

Good luck!

 

[Loetz]

Some vids:
Basic Brewing on types of chili in beer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Ke5VY6s0w
About Crazy Ed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7Wod56rhg

 

[wigwamheed]

Thanks everyone for the great posts, think I've got some dried chipotles from a farmers market not so long back can imagine the sweet smokiness would be nice. Seems to be getting more complicated than I originally thought, off to send an email to Durham brewery. Or even better I could nip in next time I'm up there :))

 

[winelight]

Some vids:
Basic Brewing on types of chili in beer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Ke5VY6s0w
About Crazy Ed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc7Wod56rhg

Thanks for this and your other great post on Crazy Ed, fascinating story! I had one case of his beer and I found the problem was that the chilli made you want to drink, so you drank more beer, and so on...

 

[Loetz]

I had one case of his beer and I found the problem was that the chilli made you want to drink, so you drank more beer, and so on...

I think it probably is like he says in the video. Most people take a sip and hate it, but 1 in 20 end up enjoying the beer.

 

[winelight]

I like anything with chilli in... I should make a chilli stout sometime. I have 3 Coopers kits so no problem. Label design? I'll just superimpose a chilli on my existing design...