Chilli & Kaffir Lime Leaf Summer Ale

[mwd]

U.K. Pioneer might work out quite well in this one.

So many ideas for brews and so little time and bottles to try them all out in a lifetime.

 

[501]

Yum ! that sounds damn tasty.
:beerbang:

 

[Katherine]

Aussie Galaxy !!! Fresh citrus aroma.

did you get the 10kg bag katie ?

I went halves in a kilo with Patch...10kg were the hell would I fit them. I want to try other hops other then Nelson and Galaxy as I just did two brews with them and have another idea with those hops. I might take Gryphon up on the Mt Hood that is what I wanted to use originally for some reason.

I'm a little naive on SAISONNNNNNN! As I HATE IT.

A single batch so 23lt, about 8 kaffir lime leaves and 8 birds eye chillis (the ones I have at the moment arnt very hot). So might look for more tonight. Ive done a chilli and kaffir lime leaf beer before and was quite happy throwing them in the fermenter (kit bit first time around). I didnt find the fresh chilli throwing any vege flavour at all. Might put a couple of dried chillis in the bottles I give to Neville (he he he).....

 

[bconnery]

I haven't quoted the posts but with regards to the lemongrass etc. I've done that once in the past...
I put in juice and rind of 1 lemon, juice of 2 limes, about 12 kaffir lime leaves, 75g coriander, 2-3 sticks of lemon grass, 5 lumps of ginger and about 25-28 odd chillies (copy and paste straight from my brew notes)...
Everyone else loved it but the ginger was too strong to me. It dominated the other flavours. I had intended to use galangal which would have worked much better.
Everything except the chillies went in the boil for about 5 minutes, the chillies were in the fermenter.
The chillies were birds eye ones but didn't impart that much heat in the end.

I'd consider doing it again. I've used kaffir lime leaves a few times, always in the last few minutes of the boil.
I've bookmarked a recipe from a US site for a lemongrass and candied ginger belgian pale or summer ale that I plan to try at some point too...

I think bSaaz have nice lemony citrus aspect that could work here too...

 

[Katherine]

Katie...

Here are some suggestions:
Throw the Kafa lime leaves and chillie in the last 3mins of the boil.
The kafa Lime leaves work better with some heat.

You could go for Chinook as Bittering with a little Chinook & Some Amarillo for aroma/flavour.

You can add more chillie/kafa lime leaves in secondary if you need to.

A nice Saison yeast would go well ....
Hope this helps.

Yeah I might try throwing the leaves and chilli in the last 3 min of the boil. And maybe some fresh chilli into secondary.

Thanks guys...

 

[Interloper]

I've done ***** lime leaves in a corona kit before and it is very perfumy still even at 4 months.

I used a heap of them and they were very fragrant. Just chucked em in with the yeast. Probably too many!


I'm hoping they mellow out a bit as it is a bit too musk lolly sweet still. The girls liked it at the last taste test, but the blokes rubbish me for producing this watery "lolly juice" so I'm going to let it sit another month and revisit it then.

 

[Katherine]

've done ***** lime leaves in a corona kit before and it is very perfumy still even at 4 months.

I used a heap of them and they were very fragrant. Just chucked em in with the yeast. Probably too many!


I'm hoping they mellow out a bit as it is a bit too musk lolly sweet still. The girls liked it at the last taste test, but the blokes rubbish me for producing this watery "lolly juice" so I'm going to let it sit another month and revisit it then.

Ive being meaning to ask you about it..... you put to many in... Ive had big beefy men like my chilli and kaffir lime leaf beer ... In my original post I said 3 months it took. But apparently it only took 3 weeks to mellow out...

 

[Katherine]

I think bSaaz have nice lemony citrus aspect that could work here too...

yeah I have some bSaaz and considered it... so many hops...

 

[Interloper]

Ive being meaning to ask you about it..... you put to many in... Ive had big beefy men like my chilli and kaffir lime leaf beer ... In my original post I said 3 months it took. But apparently it only took 3 weeks to mellow out...

Hi Katie - yeah I used way too many. Very good quality ***** lime leaves from my fave Indian spice shop, so they were pretty strong. As a quaffer for the cricket I think they'll be fine - around January!! Lucky I have plenty of brew to see me through.
:chug:

If you're brave & in SA over the New Year Festive Period you're welcome to try one!

 

[Katherine]

If you're brave & in SA over the New Year Festive Period you're welcome to try one!

I would love to visit SA one day, seems like you have a great brewing community. But very unlikely in the New Year. Cheers

Katie

 

[Katherine]

I have this in the fermenter at the moment, I ended up going with my original thought (thanks Neville) and went with Mt Hood which I think has worked well. I had a taste of last night and it smells and tastes great. So I have the chilli and lime right so far, just a tingle in the back of the throat. The lime is a bit sherbery but that dies down after awhile. Im excited about this beer and have decided to brew another one on Sunday! It will be a great summer beer and Im sure the first batch will be gone before Summer really gets going.

 

[Katherine]

Okay this beer is going quite wild the krausen is actually blowing out of the airlock.

Anyhow tasted it out of the fermenter last night and not quite happy with the amount of chilli. Im wanting to add a little more without having to put individual chillis in the bottle. It still has a little to go with the yeasties. I've read a little bit about racking and I see there are some that do and some that dont. I don't. But in this case I was thinking of racking it into secondary and throwing in some more chillis. I will fill the fermenter with CO2.... When is the best time to rack to secondary when it's finished or is it safer while the yeast is still working?

:icon_cheers:

 

[KHB]

Katie...

Here are some suggestions:
Throw the Kafa lime leaves and chillie in the last 3mins of the boil.
The kafa Lime leaves work better with some heat.

You could go for Chinook as Bittering with a little Chinook & Some Amarillo for aroma/flavour.

You can add more chillie/kafa lime leaves in secondary if you need to.

A nice Saison yeast would go well ....
Hope this helps.

Sounds alot like the lime beer i made kenny!!! :lol:

 

[Katherine]

Just giving myself a bump....

as Im asking for some advice. (post before KHB) Wondering if its better to rack tonight or tommorow? I wont have a free fermenter next week to do as Im putting down two more brews on the weekend. Another full weekend of brewing.

 

[Interloper]

Just giving myself a bump....

as Im asking for some advice. (post before KHB) Wondering if its better to rack tonight or tommorow? I wont have a free fermenter next week to do as Im putting down two more brews on the weekend. Another full weekend of brewing.

I'd rack now. There's enough yeast to keep working and eating sugars up. Just let it sit for a while in secondary. Chuck yr chilli in and after that maybe some gelatine/finings/clearing agent etc about 24-48hrs before bottling.

You'll have a crystal clear beer by then.

 

[Goat]

I'm not sure that racking onto the chilli's as a secondary is really going to add much when you could just add them (sanitised) to the primary. Having said that, I'm not sure if there are any chemicals / oils that may have an affect on the yeast in the primary.

My understanding is that racking to secondary essentially gets the beer off the yeast cake and allows the beer to condition and clarify - but other wiser heads could probably add to that here. I don't secondary any more either.

 

[Interloper]

I only rack/secondary ferment for fruit beers or lagers that I want crystal clear.

My ales, stouts, porters etc I bottle straight from primary - and even then the ales come up pretty damn clear, hardly the murky muddy home brew of years gone by.

 

[Katherine]

Thanks Interloper.... :icon_cheers: I appreciate the reply.

I don't ask for advice often I usually read and I was wondering if someone would reply... mmmm I had done a search on racking to secondary but it didnt really give me a anwser.

I have some reading to do in regards to gelatine now.

 

[Interloper]

Thanks Interloper.... :icon_cheers: I appreciate the reply.

I don't ask for advice often I usually read and I was wondering if someone would reply... mmmm I had done a search on racking to secondary but it didnt really give me a anwser.

I have some reading to do in regards to gelatine now.

Or you can just buy cheap packet finings from the LHBS or even Brigalow finings from K-mart, which I have been knonwn to do when desperate!!
.

Gelatine does the same thing, just cheaper, but honestly finings cost bugga all. Good for pulling a bit more gunky heavy proteins out of your brew if you want the crystal clear effect. I think that's all racking does really, I haven't noticed a major difference in flavour on ales that I did rack and ales I didn't. hence the fact I don't bother doing it for ales etc... Only cerveza/lager/pilz etc.

 

[Katherine]

I don't rack either... I just want more chilli in the beer... Could I just pop the lid and throw more chillis in and dont rack????