Trying my hand at a capscimel for the first time. We’re also using Belgian ale yeast for the first time on this one. This exhausts the madrone honey we bought in Half Moon Bay early this month, too.

This recipe is based partly on recipes on pp. 82–84 and 90–91 of Mary Izett’s Speed Brewing: Techniques and Recipes for Fast-Fermenting Beers, Ciders, Meads, and More.

We're going to call this recipe Fireweed Capscimel.

Ingredients in this batch

2016-06-23_21_33_44_HDR
Batch 012 in primary fermentation on 23 June 2016.
  • 8 oz. madrone honey from Snyder's Honey.
  • 1 lb. fireweed honey from Flying Bee Ranch.
  • ½ pack White Labs WLP400 Belgian Wit Ale Yeast; pack was split with batch 013.
  • 1 tsp. Valley Brewers yeast nutrient.
  • 1 tsp. Valley Brewers yeast energizer.
  • 2 cup filtered tap water, boiled and then let cool to room temperature while the following chopped chili peppers steeped for fifteen minutes:
    • 4 dried guajillo chili peppers, seeded, total weight approx. 0.55 oz, from Penzeys Spices (approx 6000 Scoville units)
    • 2 dried dundicut chili peppers, seeded, total weight approx. 1⁄20 oz, from Penzeys Spices (approx 55,000 Scoville units)
    • 1 dried sanaam chili pepper, seeded, total weight less than 1⁄20 oz, from Penzeys Spices (approx 40,000 Scoville units)
  • filtered tap water to 1 gallon.
  • Another application of chili peppers, this time chopped and seeded before being put in a brewing sock to soak on 9 August 2016:
    • 0.55 oz. dried guajillo chilis from Penzey's Spices (approx. 6000 Scoville)
    • 0.25 oz. dried cascabel chilis from Penzey's Spices (approx. 2500 Scoville)
    • 0.05 oz. dried Sanaam chilis from Penzey's Spices (approx. 40,000 Scoville)
  • At bottling: added ½ tsp Arizona Peppers Chipotle Habanero Pepper Sauce to the batch.

Yield:

  • 9 x 12 oz. bottles
  • Total yield: 108 oz..
2016-08-09_21_08_01_HDR
Chopping peppers to add to the carboy for batch 012 in secondary fermentation on 9 August 2016.

Boiled 2 cups of water, then allowed the chili peppers to soak for fifteen minutes as the water cooled. In the meantime, rehydrated the WLP400 in warm filtered water at 104°F. Poured the honey into the carboy, rinsed everything with warm filtered tap water to extract the rest of the honey, and poured the chili pepper tea into the carboy. Agitated by shaking for five minutes, added filtered tap water to bring volume up to a gallon, and then agitated for five minutes ago, popping the lid off and on periodically to ensure air exchange.

Original gravity: 1.056.
Final gravity: ??
estimated ABV: ??
(Hydrometer was broken at time of bottling; we'll measure gravity when we crack a bottle open.)

Observations

  • 2016-06-24T10:15:00: There's foam in the carboy.
  • 2016-06-29T19:30:00: Fermentation activity has clearly slowed already, though there is still carbon dioxide being produced.
  • 2016-07-09T00:44:00: There's no longer any fermentation activity visible in the carboy.
  • 2016-07-30: Already quite clean-tasting. There's barely any taste of chili peppers, though it does leave a bit of a hot taste at the back of the throat. There's going to need to be more spice added later, I think. Soaking in a bag in secondary? Adding a few drops of an alcohol-based chili pepper extraction?
  • 2016-08-09: Even cleaner tasting. Added thin-sliced, de-seeded guaillo, Sanaam, and cascabel chili peppers in a brewing sock, as described above under ingredients.
  • 2016-09-11: Tasted; there's still hardly any warmth in there. Added a half-teaspon of chipotle habanero sauce to the batch at bottling.