A chili stout

[Mattypower]

Any suggestions of types of chilies, amounts to be added for 5 gallon batch and where to add them boil/fermenter
malt bill - base pale ale then equal ammounts crystal, roastd barley, chocolate
Bittering hops only either Northdown or goldings (or both)

Thanks in advance

[dave-o]

I think i'd be tempted to put them in the bottle actually, like a mezcal worm. That way you don't have to make a whole batch of it if you don't end up liking it.

Pasteurise some birds eye chillies and pop one in each bottle before filling. Give it a few weeks to marinate.

That's what i'd do anyway!

[Scotty]

I think i'd be tempted to put them in the bottle actually, like a mezcal worm. That way you don't have to make a whole batch of it if you don't end up liking it.

It might just be me dave-o after being on nightshift but wouldn't adding chilli's to individual bottles mean that potentially you would be doing the whole batch anyway? Unless you would do half with and half without?

I remember speaking to the lad who runs Allendale brewery about his chilli beer and I recall him saying they had to use a lot of chilli's. Even then there wasn't a strong chilli taste or aroma, just a pleasant 'something different'. I don't know what type and how much he used so I wouldn't dare to say

[Mattypower]

I half remember crown brewery Ring of fire, which had roughly 1kg of desseded moderate chili added to the boil for a 4bbl brew, so am thinking around the same level just want something a little different from a stout and if it works will scale it up and run it as a special!

You tried your malt yet scotty?

[schlafsack]

Try making some chili vodka with your chosen chilies, a week's steep should give you an idea of how hot they are. The vodka will extract the heat much quicker than brewing with them.

[TheMumbler]

You could always add vodka infused with chili at bottling. You could also test quantities this way by adding some to some stout you made earlier, be careful of the effect of acclimatisation though . If you do go for chilis in the bottle then I would think about trying few different varieties in different bottles and keep some without chili for reference. You could do the same sort of thing by making up infusions in of different types in vodka. Personally I would've thought that a touch of chili rather than a lot would be good in a stout but YMMV

[dave-o]

It might just be me dave-o after being on nightshift but wouldn't adding chilli's to individual bottles mean that potentially you would be doing the whole batch anyway?

Well no because i'd only make 10 bottles or so "chillified".

My thinking is that you can test the strength like this without potentially ruining a whole batch. Perhaps put the chilli stout on the back burner for now, and try putting a chilli in one bottle of your next beer to see what that adds.

[Blackaddler]

Any suggestions of types of chilies, amounts to be added for 5 gallon batch and where to add them boil/fermenter
malt bill - base pale ale then equal ammounts crystal, roastd barley, chocolate
Bittering hops only either Northdown or goldings (or both)

Thanks in advance

I brewed a 5.8% Old Peculiar-ish type ale a couple of weeks or so back. Come bottling time, I remembered that I had some small dried ornamental chillies lying around, so 8 bottles received one each.

Still warm conditioning at the moment, so too early to try one yet. Looking forward to it, though!

I've also been thinking of brewing a whole batch, with chillies in the boil.

[barl_fire]

I remember speaking to the lad who runs Allendale brewery about his chilli beer and I recall him saying they had to use a lot of chilli's. Even then there wasn't a strong chilli taste or aroma, just a pleasant 'something different'. I don't know what type and how much he used so I wouldn't dare to say

I've had that in his pub The Crown in Catton near Allendale on cask and in bottles bought from the brewery, could hardly detect them in the cask version but in bottles although you couldn't taste them there was a very pleasant warm tingling on the tongue in the aftertaste, worked really well for me given I was not too keen on the idea at first.

[Mattypower]

Thanks for the replies! not to sure about adding one the bottle but its worth a try, I think a load in the boil would be the way to go! let us know how the old peculiar turns out

[WishboneBrewery]

I've no idea how much, but i think we do the occasional special cask with dried chilly Flakes at work.

[Spud395]

I drank a homebrewed chilli stout, with 5 scotch bonnet chilis in the secondry (for a week I think he said)
For me that was to much chilli, grand in small quantities you wouldnt have more than a pnt of it for sure.

[dave-o]

5 scotch bonnet chilis in the secondry (for a week I think he said).

Ouch!

Birds Eyes might be a bit safer!