I have had a 5gallon batch in secondary for a month now. How would I go about adding some more Jalapenos to this safely.
Adding Jalpenos to secondary
- Thread starter Bugleman
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For my habanero mead, I cut the peppers in half and removed the seeds and the white part inside. This gives you more of the pepper flavor than just heat.
I'm hoping to make a capsicumel in the near future. How much did you add for a 5 gallon batch? Primary or secondary? I want some bite, but not so much heat to be undrinkable.
Much thanks!
I'm going to make some ghost pepper mead/hotsauce (the line will be BLURRY!) to shut up toughguys talking about how they like it hot!
I have to say though, the one chili mead I tried really just wasn't to my tastes, so I don't think it's something I'll make much of over the years.
I have to say though, the one chili mead I tried really just wasn't to my tastes, so I don't think it's something I'll make much of over the years.
Undrinkable? Purely a subjective decision. What may be undrinkable to you could be nirvana to others. ;D
You might want to gauge this by the level of heat you can tolerate. If jalapenos are not much different from ordinary green peppers, you can up the heat. Myself, I like to add about 50 jalapenos for a five gallon batch, but I could also eat a raw habanero at that time. YMMV.
Another pointer -- capiscumels are really not about the heat, they're all about the flavor. Heat is secondary. If you have no problems with the heat, you want to add sufficient chile pepper to balance with the honey.
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I am more worried about infecting this stable mead that is tasting good already. I love the flavor of pepper beer. I am going for a bite with the pepper flavor. I have added 2 whole peppers at about the 2/3rd break and they haven't really made a showing yet.
So should I cut in half and the boil for 5 min before adding to the secondary? I think I am going to add 5 - 10 Jalepenos.
So should I cut in half and the boil for 5 min before adding to the secondary? I think I am going to add 5 - 10 Jalepenos.
I like stuff hot, can eat a hab... but I WILL NOT be happy about having put that in my mouth! I think for me it's the chili flavour itself I'm not so fond of in mead, the one I tried has almost no heat.
My preferences for heat in food are higher than the norm. When at an Asian restaurant, I typically order a 7 or 8 on a heat scale of 1 to 10 for spicy food. I can tolerate more, but at that point I no longer find it enjoyable. I consider a jalapeno not a whole lot different than a pickle.
The flavor is really what I’m looking for. I want only a mild heat in my mead, as others will also be partaking of the finished product. I just need a good starting point since I have never made a capsicumel before and have no idea what to expect. With that starting point I can convert the Scoville Heat Units from one type of pepper to another.
Although subjective, do you consider 50 jalapenos for a five gallon batch to be moderately spicy? Do you add them to the primary, secondary, or a little of both?
Heh, my $.02 just for reference, I fermented two raw jalapenos without seeds in a gallon of wine, and there was no heat, just a vegetable-pepper flavour.
Probably moderate to moderately high. People who enjoy chile peppers liked it, the rest couldn't tolerate it. ;D
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For KissMe SpankMe Joe I sliced every hot pepper that came in my CSA box this summer, seeds and all and let them diffuse into My Honey Co Clover Honey for a month or so, then made a JAO style mead but took the peppers out of the honey before putting the honey in the must. At this point he's shaping up to be just the hot and sweet mead I had hoped for, but he's young still...time will tell.
I'm not sure if there is a general rule, as the level of heat can vary greatly. I grew the habaneros in my yard and they were pretty hot (and I'm not a complete light weight on peppers). I think started with 1 pepper/gallon in the secondary. A few weeks later, I took a sample and decided to add another pepper.
I am happy with the final results. The flavor if the habanero is present. The heat is there, but you don't pick it up right away. I think it is more noticeable on the lips than the tongue.
I apreciate the help with the heat but my question is how do I introduce the peppers without infecting the mead in secondary?
I put 3 dried habeneros in 350 ml of vodka for a few weeks and added half that to 3 gallons of mead. After 6 months it's still hot (spicy) to me.
A shot glass after winter fun would be perfect, but more than that is too much for me to be enjoyable...so YMMV.
To answer your question, soak them in vodka or grain spirits and add that to taste.
Or, plop them in the secondary. The alcohol will probably stave off any nasties.
A shot glass after winter fun would be perfect, but more than that is too much for me to be enjoyable...so YMMV.
To answer your question, soak them in vodka or grain spirits and add that to taste.
Or, plop them in the secondary. The alcohol will probably stave off any nasties.
If you're worried about it just dunk them in vodka or clean the outside of them and all your cutting equipment with safe no-rinse santizer.
But realistically you can just be reasonably sanitary when you're preparing them and you'll be fine. Nearly everyone on here uses fruit, veggies, spices etc without any method of sanitizing the equipment and there's almost never a problem.
Infecting mead is FAR more difficult to do than to not-infect mead. ;D
As everyone stated, you could soak them in a neutral spirit if you are really worried, but I just tossed them in without any problems.
Rinsing in hot water from the tap (the hot water tank will keep down the number of bacteria in the water) before a soak is a good idea. Fast running water by itself is very helpful in reducing nasties.
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Wow thanks for the help. I boiled the first 2 for about 10 min and then dumped the water and all into the primary. I think I will do the vodka dunk.
Probably because most of the heat in peppers is in the seeds and fibers. That's why stuffed jalapeno recipes tell you to scrape out the seeds and fibers, so that wussy people can eat them.
