I had company over last Monday evening to show them how to brew. Or better yet, how I brew. Somewhere in the middle of the process Randy said 'My wife would never let me do that in her kitchen'. Then Walt replied 'My wife would never let me bring that bucket in the house, let alone into her kitchen'.
The interesting thing about showing people about brewing is that it is all a big controlled accident. And, you can do what ever you want, like add jalapeños.
Saturday When I saw how many pepper varieties the market had it was very difficult to decide if I wanted to stick to the original plan. So on the spot, I decided to stick with the primary plan but veer slightly off course when bottling. The little dried chili peppers will be quartered and bottled. I will probably roast them for sanitary purposes.
Wifey suggested I use parchment paper to roast the jalapeños on, so I did, at 350 deg F for ~25min. I usually set the stove timer as a reminder for hop additions. So the peppers roasted between stops. Because I didn't want to boil away any pepper flavor, I added them to the boil at T minus 5 min.
I used the wort chiller to get the temperature down to about 90 deg and because it was so late, I pitched in the morning. I needed a new method to get all the yeast in the carboy so I have started to use a piece of white paper rolled into a tight funnel to get the yeast all the way in. Grab the paper out of the center of the ream in order to be sure no one has touched it.
The usual trub rinse is the next step and I don't want to keep the peppers in there any longer so I had to figure out how to fish those babies out. Simple enough, turn the carboy on its side after adding the rinse water and they floated right over to be scooped out.
Early indications: I hit the pepper target I was looking for. Will keep you posted.
Update: This brew wakes you up and then lights you up. You either love it or hate it. Needless to say, it is gone. Next round is seeds only. Leave out the pulpy madness.
