Just finished up my attempt at a Habanero/Pineapple Wit that I will eventually dry hop with Citra. I seeded, deveined, and finely diced one habanero and added to the boil with 5 minutes remaining. It was not detectable in the hydrometer sample I took. I will taste again before dry hopping and decide if I should add some more post fermentation.
Sounds like one wasn’t enough. That’s good to know. Also, I’m starting to think that the “heat” fades quickly over a year’s time. And perhaps intensity/stability might come from adding to secondary instead?
Yeah my fear has always been going overboard. To be honest, I tasted a small piece of the hab about an hour prior to taking the sample. The heat may have still be lingering a bit so it is hard to say if it was really undetectable in the sample. I took one big drink at the end and thought it might be there but I am not sure. I will try to remember to update after tasting again and whether choosing to add more or not.
Or in a nylon bag in the keg ? It’s my favorite way of adding coffee beans, vanilla beans, etc… Blatz’s method of using teflon tape to tie to the bag is awesome - no worries about getting a seal like when using fishing line. I just like being able to sample and pull the flavoring when it gets exactly where I want it, flavor wise.
Soooo I still haven’t brewed this. But I don’t sanitize fruit when I add it to beer. I wash it well. Peel, pit, and cut to size, freeze, thaw, if I puree, I puree… Then add it to the secondary. You’re pretty safe once primary fermentation is complete.
I also saw that you started another thread about a similar beer. I’ve actually redesigned this recipe a bit about a month ago. It is on my line up to get brewed… Hopefully next, but I have a big project building a deck onto my house right now, so it still might be a month or so. Here’s the recipe…
Batch = 11
OG = 1.060
60 minute mash @ 150 Target pH of 5.4
Mash Water = 10.5
Gypsum – 7.4g
Calcium Chloride – 5.0g
Epsom Salt – 2.6g
Sparge Water = 6
Gypsum – 4.2g
Calcium Chloride – 2.9g
Epsom Salt – 1.5g
Total Water = 16.5
1 gallon of boil off and 1.5 gallons of mash/hop loss accounted for
85% Pale Two Row – 20 lb 8 oz
10% Munich – 2 lb 10 oz
5% Caramel/Crystal 60L – 1 lb 5 oz
60 minute – 1 oz Warrior
5 minute – 2 deveined and deseeded sliced habanero (bagged and allowed to steep through hop stand)
0 minute – 5 oz Citra (Chill to 175 and whirlpool for 30 minutes)
Dry Hop – 2.5 oz Citra in each keg
WLP 001 Cali Ale
Rack onto 7.5 pounds of cubed mangos (bag in paint strainer bag) for each secondary bucket.
Add habanero to keg to taste. Pull when desired heat is present.
I was worried about sanitizing the fruit and habanero before adding it to the secondary. What I plan to do then is cut up a habanero and let it sit in vodka for an hour. then put it in the secondary. With the mangoes, I was going to cube them up, put them in the freezer for at least a day. Then , using a juicer on the cubes to get the juice. Then add the juice to the secondary. rack the beer ontop of the juice. Then added the habanero 3 days or so before bottling
why not make your juice, boil for sanitation, then cool covered and add the juice to your secondary? Seems to me you are getting further from being sanitary while complicating your day. Not that your day matters much to me, but that’s not going to get you a sanitary juice in the end.
Boiling juice almost always changes its flavor, and not typically for the better. I’m not sure how much pectin is in mangoes, but it will set a pectin haze as well. I wouldn’t want to boil the juice, and I honestly don’t think there’s a need.
Pasteurization is the route to take
160F/6sec
165F/3sec
170F/2sec
175F/0.5sec
180F then immediately cool
or I think you can do something crazy like 135F/30mins which would save him A CRAP LOAD of time vs a day.
Although taking the cubed, frozen, juiced mangos pitched directly into the secondary is better than the negatives of caramelized flavors from his juice? He wasn’t proposing a sanitary process of putting mango juice in his hard earned product, why spoil it now, or take the risk? Nope lets worry about pectin haze… ? I don’t get it.
There’s really no need to sanitize the fruit when adding it to the secondary. Your pH is low enough and alcohol content is present that you don’t need to worry about bacterial growth. I’m pretty sure that pasteurizing fruit isn’t going to shorten a brew day at all. I toss the fruit into a paint strainer bag, tie it off, and call it a day. No need for all of that other extra non-sense. I freeze and thaw the fruit, not for sanitary reasons, but to break up the fruit membranes. If you’re going to juice it, I’m not sure that I’d even freeze and thaw. If you are to just add cubed fruit, make sure that you put it in some sort of strainer bag and save yourself a headache.
I’d be concerned about changing the flavor profile of the fruit too when heating it up. I’d be afraid that it would get caramelized to some extent.
Is this because fungi, mold, and bacteria have never spoiled a batch in a secondary?(**Edit like gushers) As long as you get the right pH and yeast creates ethanol you are not to worry, nothing will go wrong…