Mexican Chocolate Stout

Mase

Well-Known Member
Trial Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
Messages
1,616
Reaction score
1,853
Points
113
Looking to add some dried homegrown Cayenne peppers that my son gave us over the summer into a homebrew. Was originally thinking that I would need some residual sweetness to cut the heat from the pepper, but I came across this recipe from “Craft Beer & Brewing” on the interwebs and thought it sounds intriguing as I’ve had brownies with hot peppers in them and they were delicious.

The tinctures in the recipe below use a variety of peppers, but I was thinking of only using Cayennes that we already have dried and ready.

I haven’t run it through the BF recipe creator yet, but wanted some input from some of our seasoned brewers on their thoughts on the specialty grains in the grainbill, thoughts on negatives (if any) of using cinnamon (head retention?) as well as thoughts on only using Cayennes as the “heat” source, before I build the recipe.

Any other advise would also be greatly appreciated.

5 Gallon batch:

Grain bill:
11 lb 4 oz (5.1 kg) 2-row malt
1 lb (454 g) chocolate malt
12 oz (340 g) dextrine malt
12 oz (340 g) crystal malt 77L
12 oz (340 g) roast barley
8 oz (227 g) flaked oats

Hop addition:
1 oz. Warrior hops at 60 minute boil

Spice Addition #1 (Flameout):
½ habanero chile, dried, chopped
4 whole guajillo chiles, dried, chopped
2 whole ancho chiles, dried, chopped
2 oz (57 g) Saigon Cassia Cinnamon chips or sticks

Spice Addition #2 (post fermentation):
1/4 habanero chile, dried, chopped
0.5 oz (14 g) Saigon Cassia Cinnamon chips or sticks
1 oz (28 g) cacao nibs

Using a California Ale yeast.
 
No experience here with brewing with chillies but I know @BOB357 done a brew or two with them.
 
You could use cayenne. I've done tincture using vodka and added them to the boil. I prefer the tincture method. I could add as much or as little as I wanted. Cayennes pack some heat so the tincture method may give you more control.
In my neck of the woods, it's easy to find different dried chiles, like ancho, at the supermarket if you want to mix it up a bit. A Chipotle might add a lil somethin somethin.
 
Good point with the tincture to gauge relative ‘heat’.
 
Good point with the tincture to gauge relative ‘heat’.
It's still a bit tricky. Peppers are hot and you do get a bit of burn from the alcohol also, so you just kind of have to guess the extent of heat and flavor in 5 gallons.
That recipe looks excellent!
 
Yep agree any issues with head retention I'm sure will be unlikely judging by the recipe. Chillies dont have any oil compounds?
Or is it the heat compounds in the chillies that are likely head destroyers?
 
Just putting it out there mase have you considered lactose for a bit of back sweetness to ballance the burno_O might be worth a thought?
 
I haven't had any head issues with chiles in my cream ales.
IMG_20191110_141502.jpg

I've been using fresh peepers that I roast and peel myself though. Not sure about dried.
 
Just putting it out there mase have you considered lactose for a bit of back sweetness to ballance the burno_O might be worth a thought?
My first ‘pepper’ beer was sweetened with Jolly Ranchers and the pepper balanced that well. Don’t ask, it was a weird beer but I enjoyed the slight pepper burn on the back of the pallet, and have wanted to brew a pepper beer since.
 
My first ‘pepper’ beer was sweetened with Jolly Ranchers and the pepper balanced that well. Don’t ask, it was a weird beer but I enjoyed the slight pepper burn on the back of the pallet, and have wanted to brew a pepper beer since.
Haha, I could see that working really well. I'm a fan of sweet/hot.
 
You could use cayenne. I've done tincture using vodka and added them to the boil. I prefer the tincture method. I could add as much or as little as I wanted. Cayennes pack some heat so the tincture method may give you more control.
In my neck of the woods, it's easy to find different dried chiles, like ancho, at the supermarket if you want to mix it up a bit. A Chipotle might add a lil somethin somethin.
I do like what chipotles do. But it's easy to overdo it with them.
 
No experience here with brewing with chillies but I know @BOB357 done a brew or two with them.

I have, but only in cider. I always use tinctures to make it easy to control the heat and flavor of the peppers and would do the same with beer. Not unlike hops, there can be a significant difference from crop to crop and even garden to garden. With a tincture you can start off with a light dose and build to taste.
 
I have, but only in cider. I always use tinctures to make it easy to control the heat and flavor of the peppers and would do the same with beer. Not unlike hops, there can be a significant difference from crop to crop and even garden to garden. With a tincture you can start off with a light dose and build to taste.
Your a wise man Bob douse a known amount of tincture into a set volume until your happy with results then scale it up for a keg.

I've been following a UK brewers vlog where he has been trying to craft a plum porter inspired by a bumper back yard plum harvest he had. He ended up going down the tincture route to perfect that beer.
 

Back
Top