# Chilli Beer



## Doc (12/2/03)

I've seen a number of recipes around that use chillis. Generally they are either added to the bottle after primary fermentation, or added to the secondary when you rack from primary.

I have a chilli bush that is going nuts at the moment producing lots and lots of chillis, and I would like to do something good with them. They are small to medium length in size and the plant was called red missile. The chillis are quite hot, but are fantastic in hungarian goulash.

So has anyone actually tried a chilli beer and can recommend a recipe including the method for the chilli additions and dosage ?

Cheers,
Doc


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## Snow (12/2/03)

Brew Your Own website has a good article on brewing with chilis. Check it out at 

http://www.byo.com/feature/605.html

Also if you do a search on their site with "chili", it will bring up a number of other articles and recipes on the subject.

Cheers - Snow.


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## Doc (12/2/03)

I think this line sums it all up



> It's very easy to make a bad chili beer, and very tricky to get it right.



Guidance is what I need. I don't want to go overboard like I did with the first (and only) beer I added coffee too :lol: 

Doc


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## Doc (12/2/03)

Have you tried any of those recipes Snow ?

Doc


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## Doc (12/2/03)

Here is a picture of the chili plant in question.
I picked about 25 red ones last weekend, but check out the number of green ones still there and the flowers.

Beers,
Doc


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## kook (12/2/03)

I've tried a brew of Vindaloo's that had a chilli added to the bottle after primary fermentation. Was bloody brilliant  You got the chilli flavour, as well as the hotness. It balanced suprisingly well with the taste of the honey influenced ale.


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## Snow (13/2/03)

Doc said:


> Have you tried any of those recipes Snow ?
> 
> Doc


  No I haven't, Doc, but I have a friend who just makes a good, malty ale, not too hoppy, and just puts a single bird's-eye chili in each bottle. It's not too hot, but has just the right amount of chili flavour. I might try this with a few bottles of my next brew to gauge the effect. I think I'll try one with half a chili, then another with 1 whole chili, then 1 1/2, then 2.

I'm not sure how to sterilise the chilis first, though. Maybe wash them with Sodium met and then give them a quick rinse?


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## Vindaloo (15/2/03)

Thanks for the praise kook  Richie from OCAU was quite ... disturbed by a bottle of my first chilli ale - something about it being "brutally hot"... but anyway. Chilli beer is easy to make despite what some may think.

Step 1. Make any regular beer - I find it works best with lighter ales and draft style beers.

Step 2. Buy some chillies. Fresh, packet, dried, whatever. I have a big packet of dried ones from the local Coles.

Step 3. When bottling time comes around, drop a chilli into the bottle after lightly scoring the skin. 

Step 4. Age! The longer the more disturbing.

Of course this is a crude method - you get an uneven distribution of flavour and heat as some chillies are hotter than others, but in my experience it's tasty and fun to surprise your friends with!

Vinds.


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## fergiej (8/3/03)

I bottled my first chilli beer last night. I used the pre packed mexican cerveza style pack from Big W (anyone else used these kits??). I then popped a chilli into a stubbie. 

The problem was these were huge chillies and they are in small stubbies will this make fire spew from my nostrils :blink:???

What size chillies are you guys using?? Are or using them in long necks or stubbies?


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## Vindaloo (10/3/03)

fergiej said:


> The problem was these were huge chillies and they are in small stubbies will this make fire spew from my nostrils :blink:???


 Yep  I use medium sized chillies in 600ml PET bottles. If you leave them for a good period you'll get killed when you drink em! Whee! heh.

V.


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## GSRman (28/3/03)

i have some habanero chillis at home i WONT be doing this with..  

(we once put 2 into a full large frying pan of spagetti sauce with mince.. and the 2 chilli heads that ate it were sweating like pigs... and then again a day or so later  )


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## PMyers (28/3/03)

GSRman said:


> i have some habanero chillis at home i WONT be doing this with..


 I once used habanero chilli's in a dish when I was living in Darwin. Of course, being Darwin, I was sweating profusely. After I had finished with the chilli's I wiped the sweat from my neck and forehead. BIG MISTAKE! After three-quarters of an hour under a cold shower I could still feel the buring, and it left large red welts where the chilli juice had come in contact with my skiin. Needless to say, I removed 90% of the habenero's from the recipe.

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:


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## Snow (28/3/03)

I had a similar experience, Pete. Except I went to the toilet and had to put a bag of frozen peas down my y-fronts for an hour!


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## kook (28/3/03)

Anyone know where I can get pickled Habaneros in Sydney while I'm over there?

I know where I can get powdered/dried habanero, but I'm looking for some whole pickled ones to take back for whenever I cook mexican.


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## GSRman (28/3/03)

kook: i bought mine fresh in woolies.. they have them occasionally in the boutique chilli section.. you could preserve them yourself? or just keep them under beer


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## kook (28/3/03)

Woolies over here dont have fresh habaneros 

None of the fruit+veg shops I've been to have any either...

I'd grow a plant myself, but I tend to kill plants very quickly


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## GSRman (28/3/03)

they dont normally have them here either..  only for about 2 weeks a year... i just look when i go past and stock up the freezer


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## PMyers (30/3/03)

Try around the November/December period. As far as I can recall, that is when I had the habanero-sweat pore incident.


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## fergiej (2/4/03)

:blink: whoa, I'm blowing smoke from my ears, that was hot!!!!!! 

I just tried the mexican chilli beer and it was way, way to hot, and I like hot and spicy food.

I did like the flavour and will try this again with smaller chillies.

Looks like I will be looking for chilli beer food recipes so that I can use up this batch!!!!!

Anyone got any good recipes???


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## Linz (2/4/03)

what about a chilli beer batter?
Nice piece of fish/seafood,fried
Should be nice with a thai side dish/salad

Linz


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## Doc (3/4/03)

hey I like the sound of that.
mmmm, may even get me cooking in the kitchen rather than just making beer and pouring drinks  

Doc


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## Indy (8/4/03)

fergiej said:


> <snip> way to hot, and I like hot and spicy food.
> 
> I did like the flavour and will try this again with smaller chillies.


 but, don't chillies have a 'set' amount of 'hotness' in them? ie a tiny chilli is very concentrated with 'hotness' and, when it grows big the 'hotness' spreads out (more flesh same amount of 'hotness')

i think thats arough idea of how it goes, you might need to try the same 'mass' of chilli's but from fewer bigger chilli's...


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## kook (8/4/03)

Indy said:


> fergiej said:
> 
> 
> > <snip> way to hot, and I like hot and spicy food.
> ...


 Depends entirely on the strain of chilli


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## nicko (27/4/03)

Sounds interesting about adding chilli to beer 

Just a question.

How would you go about making a chilli beer in a keg system??

Would I put a few chillis in the bottom of the keg after racking into it?, or would the chilli become to strong in a keg?


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## RegBadgery (28/4/03)

Nothing to do with beer but related to chillis. I remember an occasion when my dad decided that he'd remove some of the heat from a load of birdseyes by frying them on the stovetop.

Pretty soon we were all outside the house so we could see and breathe and we stayed outside for a wee while.

cheers
reg


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## Indy (28/4/03)

Doc said:


> Guidance is what I need. I don't want to go overboard like I did with the first (and only) beer I added coffee too :lol:





Vinds said:


> Step 1. Make any regular beer - I find it works best with lighter ales and draft style beers.
> 
> Step 2. Buy some chillies. Fresh, packet, dried, whatever. I have a big packet of dried ones from the local Coles.
> 
> ...


ok i'm thinking about step 2 - 3 - 4... :unsure: 

you seem to have plenty of fresh chillis...
what if you did put them into your secondary and not each bottle...

each beer would get ~the same heat;
you would need to add more chillis;
but you could do the aging in the secondary (less time in there, so more chillis needed)

Vinds, how long in a bottle until the beer is warm; hot; disturbing?
also do you make about 35 beers with 600ml bottles?

what if doc put ~50 scraped chillis in the secondary for 14 days, do you think it would be warm?
what do you think if he choped them up? :wacko: 
(maybe only chop up ~15 h34r: )


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## kook (28/4/03)

I say use 25-35 crushed habaneros in secondary and age it for 3-4 weeks.

Muahaha.. muahahahhaahahhahha

:blink:


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## PostModern (1/5/03)

kook said:


> I say use 25-35 crushed habaneros in secondary and age it for 3-4 weeks.
> 
> Muahaha.. muahahahhaahahhahha
> 
> :blink:


 You are a cruel cruel man 

I have a little habanero plant that has just borne fruit. It has all of 2 chillis on it. Should be quite enough for 20 litres, I reckon. But as I've said before, chillies on my plate, beer in my glass. Mix in stomach.


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## GSRman (1/5/03)

i actually think that habanero's might not be the best pick for a chilli beer... eg they have a very fruity taste.. depends if you are going for heat or flavour.. perhaps a blend of chillis.. i'd guess at 5-7 red thai chillis and one habanero.. or around 10 thai... especially if you are going to include the seeds... actually that would be about right, unless you were including the seeds.. then you might get a bit hot.. 

i take no responsibility though


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## kook (1/5/03)

Little tip to anyone slicing habaneros for cooking:

WEAR GLOVES.

No really. WEAR THEM.


My hands have been burning for nearly an hour now. I've tried washing them in milk, i've tried washing them in oil, nothing seems to work.


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## PostModern (1/5/03)

kook said:


> Little tip to anyone slicing habaneros for cooking:
> 
> WEAR GLOVES.
> 
> ...


 Careful when you go to the loo kook!
Ouch!

You'll also learn not to pick your nose or rub your eyes. 

Habaneros are farking excellent!


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## kook (1/5/03)

PostModern said:


> Careful when you go to the loo kook!
> Ouch!
> 
> You'll also learn not to pick your nose or rub your eyes.
> ...


 I thought about the loo thing ahead, infact everytime I make my chilli I think ahead in that aspect. A small tub of yoghurt before and after the meal seems to help  I think it was you that advised me of that.

I used 4 habaneros (small), aprox 3 sliced large green jalapenos and 1 teaspoon of megadeath sauce for the chilli addition to the dish. The thing is, it was hot, but it wasnt as hot as last time (1 1/2 tablespoons of mega death, same amount of jalapenos, no habaneros). Ohwell 

Theyre damn good chillis, happy I managed to find them. If anyone in WA is looking for them, Action in Innaloo has them fresh in packs of about 10.


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## PMyers (2/5/03)

kook said:


> Little tip to anyone slicing habaneros for cooking:
> 
> WEAR GLOVES.
> 
> ...


 Looks like somebody didn't believe my post above regarding this.  

Well, you can't say you weren't warned :lol: 

Cheers,
Pete

:chug:


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## Snow (2/7/03)

Well guys, I tried my first chilli beer last night. I had put a single chilli in two bottles of an american pale ale and left them for three months. It was surprisingly good! It started off with a normal beer flavour, followed by a hoppy/chilli aftertaste. Then about ten seconds later, the heat kicked in. Not mouth-numbingly hot, but hot enough to make you notice. The combination of cold, refreshing beer with a hot aftertaste was surprisingly satisfying. I had it with a big bowl of chilli con carne, corn chips and guacomale. Perfect!

- Snow


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## deebee (2/7/03)

Snow, Too easy! I'm gonna try this next bottling day.

Tell me, did you use very hot or mild chillis? I have four different types of chillis in my vege patch, all with plenty of fruit and each a different heat rating. I might try one of each.

Worth a quick boil to sterilise or just whack em in?


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## Snow (2/7/03)

Deebee, I experimented with 2 types. One very hot birds eye in one bottle and a medium heat black chilli in the other. I only gave them a rinse with cold water and then scored the sides of the chillis with a sharp knife before popping them in the bottles. Strangely, the black chilli ended up being hotter than the birds eye (it was twice the size), but had negligible chilli flavour, and the birds eye wasn't quite as hot, but had great flavour.

I just bottled my sparkling ale last night and put a few chillis in some bottles again. This time I cleaned them with rubbing alcohol first, just to be safe.

Cheers - Snow.


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## Trev (2/7/03)

Guys,

I tried this ONCE.

I was bottling using Grolsch swingtops and added one whole chilli to one of the bottles - just to find out. I used a little rocket chilli, about 25mm long that I just dropped whole into the bottle.

Some few months later I tried it. Now I like chilli and I'm not adverse to very hot dishes but &^%$# I couldn't go near this. It was just far too much and after a couple of swigs I've put the bottle back in the fridge and will use it as a marinade on a bar-b-que or the like.

I'll probably try it again but will use only half of one of these or maybe a less fire-rated chilli.

Interesting taste though, hot and cold  

Trev


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## johnno (1/11/04)

OK,
since i love my chilli, I will be adding some sort of chilli to a few bottles come next bottling time. I've been meaning to do this for a while but havent gottne around to it yet. I am very curious to see how it goes in a beer.

cheers


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## Jovial_Monk (1/11/04)

I have added small whole chili to a mead. . .flavor, no excessive heat

Otherwise, slit chili open, remove seeds & pith, cut into small pieces, one piece a bottle

Doesn't take alcohol long to dissolve the heat part of a chili

Jovial Monk


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## action man (1/11/04)

there are a few commercial chilli beers on the market that i have heard of, but i have only tried one. 

it was from the sail and anchor brewery in fremantle. not a bad beer and it had the taste of green chillis and a decent bit of warmth. 

would reccommend it if chilli was your thing.


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## barfridge (1/11/04)

JM: I was always led to believe that most of the heat from chilli's was in the seeds, so keeping the seeds might be good if you want heat, otherwise discard for flavour only.


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## johnno (1/11/04)

barfridge said:


> so keeping the seeds might be good if you want heat


 Yeah. Yeah.
I want Heat!!


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## Jovial_Monk (1/11/04)

heheheh barfridge. . .I can stand a bit of chili heat. . .was talking about removing the seeds for the faint of heart on this list. . .

have 8 hab plants growing, yeah baby!

JM


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## Batz (23/1/05)

Well how did these all go guys?

I love chilli and have heaps of hot azz birds eye ones growing and ready to pick

Batz


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## Vlad the Pale Aler (23/1/05)

Like it hot eh?
I have a chilli vodka that sorts the men from the boys


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## Batz (23/1/05)

Now that sounds nice
I did see somewhere that that is a good way to add chilli to a brew , put chilli in vodka for a while then add too the brew

Batz h34r:


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## Backlane Brewery (1/2/05)

Batz, we made a batch of Santa Puta chilli beer back in November, been drinking a few recently.
About a dozen chillis were chopped & boiled briefly in a litre of water, then the resulting chill firewater added to the fermenter.

40 stubbies bottled- 20 mild, straight fromthe fermenter & 20 hot, with an added whole chilli in the bottle.
After nearly 2 months in the bottle, the mild ones are great- good smooth beer with a mild chilli undertone & a real zingy aftertaste. The hot ones are pretty much undrinkable, unless you like to chew a mouthful of hot chilli while drinking beer. Way too hot, and it's a really raw/bitter flavour too. May be good for cooking with.

We are taking a stack of each (& a few other brews) to the Melbourne Bar B Q Appreciation Society's "Brew & Q" day in a couple of weeks.


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## Backlane Brewery (16/2/05)

A couple of points to add to this thread.

We saw a commercial chilli beer in Acland Cellars the other day, made by Robinson's (Robertson's?) which looked almost identical to our Santa Puta chilli beer except for the label, and the puny little chilli floating in it. Price tag of $4.80 for 330ml- no thanks.

Last night I used a 375ml bottle of the hot SP to make a fantastic Mexican dinner with beef beans onion garlic capsicum coriander tomatoes & chilli beer, served with guacamole & sour cream. If you don't want to drink it, you can still cook with it. 

Am also thinking of a wasabi brew but tried & tested recipes & methods are hard to find. Any suggestions?


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## bretto (19/7/05)

Doc said:


> Here is a picture of the chili plant in question.
> I picked about 25 red ones last weekend, but check out the number of green ones still there and the flowers.
> 
> Beers,
> ...




that looks like an awsome bush . how did the beer turn out.


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