Decided to make a chilli beer, because I have a bunch of other beers already on the go at the moment...
Some of my favourite chilli sauces tend to lean towards a rich, fruity flavour (right before the capsaicin rips your face off). I've had a couple of other chilli beers now, and they tend to miss this flavour. I'm also of the impression that they're not exactly potent. To fix this, I turn to various degrees of holy-shit-that-burns chilli saucery, an arsenal of which I have in my kitchen cupboards. To my knowledge, capsaicin is not soluble in water, but is in alcohol - hence the higher percentage of this beer. The base beer is crafted to showcase the chilli flavour - I don't think it fits particularly well into any category.
This beer will be darker due to the carafa special, chosen for the cofee-chocolate overtones, which I think will meld with the heat beautifully.
13lbs 2-Row.
3lbs Wheat Malt.
1lb Caramunich-III.
2oz Carafa Special I.
2oz Carafa Special II.
2oz Carafa Special III.
2oz Roast Barley.
1oz Magnum @ 60
S-04 (Fruity esters in this would be a bonus).
1tsp Gypsum split between mash & sparge water 50:50.
Mash 4 gallons @ 156; sparge 5 gallons @ 168.
Mix in sauce-pan, boil, cool, add to beer in carboy (you do not want this hanging around on all your brew-gear):
1 cup water.
8tsp Green (Jalapeno) Tabasco.
4tsp Some Random Habanero Hot-Sauce My Mother In Law Found In Jamaica.
1tsp Giv-er hot-sauce.
1tsp Dave's 2008 Vintage Ghost (Naga Jolokia) Chilli Sauce.
All of these sauces were selected because they do not feature garlic, onion, etc - just chillis and fruit.
