Thanks for the info Bill, I used to brew my own years ago but stopped when the kids came along as I didn't want them to get into anything, but now they are older I may start again, I still have much of my equipment such as the glass carboys etc.

Well thank you Bill, that's mighty thoughtful of you. I need to thank you for keeping the torch lit here in the forum, and on the other boards, and everything else you do to keep all the wheels turning in the right direction.

Cheers,
FB

Congratulations on your new grandson Bill, glad to hear all are doing well.

Well congrats (again) Bill! I'm glad everything seems to be turning out all right, despite some tense moments. Neonatal technology is pretty amazing these days, I'm glad to say.

My first grandchild isn't due for another 6 months, but my wife is already hip deep in the "grandma" thing (and sinking fast!) between crochet and knitting, shopping for equipment and supplies, and now clothes (baby sized Crocs?? good grief)

I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation, at any rate. I always liked Florida, especially not having to live there through a hurricane.



Wow, that's just about the best retirement idea I've heard yet! Best of luck to all of you! It sounds like if it passes the regulation board it will be another great success.



Well, the capsaicin isn't soluble in water, so if you release them in the boil, they will likely adhere to oils in the grains, which may get filtered out. You would then only get some portion that are still "free" in the wort, and those other molecules that provide the "pepper flavor" which are water-soluble.

For the "freshest" flavor, pre-extraction would be my preferred method. You won't need the entire jalapeno, just the seeds and interior white portions of the pepper. First, blend with a bit of fresh lime juice until the result looks like a margarita gone bad. Let sit for 10-15 minutes in blender, then add a shot of grain alcohol, blend again, and let sit for another few minutes. Then, filter out the solids using several layers of cheesecloth. For extra punch, soak the cheesecloth with the solids inside again in another shot of grain alcohol.

The lime will add a counterpoint to the jalapeno in your beer, so this works best for lagers served cold.


The thought of that makes me want to brew... Hmm...

One warning: Make sure you soak the jalapeno long enough in the grain alcohol to kill any salmonella. You are going to be using fresh peppers, and the FDA has just found a warehouse with contaminated jalapenos in Texas.

Cheers,
FB

Thanks, Fred. They are both home now, and he (Sawyer) is gaining weight and doing well; my daughter still has a slight infection, but seems to be healing okay.

Congrats to you, too, Fred. Grandchildren are an absolute joy ... sometimes ... and my wife gets into this stuff a lot more than I do, especially since she likes to go shopping (you should see all the stuff she has bought already). I love to be around the kids (Pat and I have eight), but my older daughter babysat for my three older grandbrats ... errr, I mean grandsons ... and I don't think she wants to have children now. Seriously, they can be trying at times ... sometimes a LOT of times, but I love them all just the same. The nice thing about being grandparents is that you get just a small dose at a time, and you can usually send them home.

Well, they have the license, but the Mayor and Chief of Police voiced some concerns about the length of the bar and that they originally planned to have some pool tables, so they need to revise their plans and appear back before the Alchol Beverage Control Board in August; hopefully, the revisions will satisfy them, but this is going to cost them a month of some prime time business. I didn't mention it, but we live in a dry county; no alcohol except for private club licenses. My son and his partner's proposal is to put a pizza and hot-sandwich "club", serving beer and mixed drinks, right across the street from the corner of the UCA college campus where the football stadium and all of the dormitories are located. They will call it "Bear Den's Pizza" ... the UCA mascot is the 'Bears'. Can you hear the cash register?

Thanks for the advice, Fred. I just wish that I had waited before brewing, but if this last batch doesn't do well, I'll try your recommendations. I mashed a 13.5-gallon batch of pale ale and split it three ways (three separate boils) -- jalapeno, mushroom, and pumpkin.

The jalapeno is more appropriately a "pepper" beer because I'm including some other stuff; I removed all seeds and white pulp from 8 oz. of bell peppers (thinking I'll get more pepper flavor without intolerable "heat"), and 2 oz. of jalapenos; I then made a puree of them and dumped it into the boil for the last 10 minutes, then crash-cooled. Very little bittering hops (almost 24 IBU's) -- for all three varieties -- so that the bitterness doesn't hide anything. I figured I ought to add at least some jalapenos to the boil since most recipes I've seen call for that; hopefully it won't be too hot (and your comments make me think it won't), and then I'll make some adjustments with a tincture that I've already started, after trying some different proportions in some regular beer. The tinctures are soaking now in some cheap vodka (I don't keep pure grain alcohol on hand), and I have seeds soaking separately from peppers to see if there is a difference. The pepper tincture consists of bell, jalapeno, black, and red pepper. I also have a tincture in progress with my pumpkin spices; my last batch of pumpkin ale was a big success. I'm not using a tincture for my mushroom beer; I just made a puree of 12 oz. of white mushrooms dumped into the kettle for the last 10 minutes of the boil, then crash-cooled. It smelled great while cooking, so I hope it will turn out okay; my inspiration was reading about a commercial beer brewed with Chanterelle mushrooms, which I can't get here in Arkansas, so I thought I'd try the common white mushroom (I realize that they are probably worlds apart, but I love mushrooms so I thought I'd give it a try).

Thanks. The boiled part should be okay, and I hope that the tincture -- in alcohol -- will be okay, too. And then there is the alcohol and hops in the beer, too.

By the way, I just tasted my two wheat beers that I brewed recently using 6 pounds of grain and 5 pounds of regular white baking flour, and one of them is GREAT while the other is drinkable but a bit too bitter due to adding too much zest (lemon and orange). Hopefully it will improve with age. I have an IPA and an Oatmeal Stout that turned out pretty well, too.

One last word, for those on our team more interested in crunching; yesterday we posted the highest number of daily points that our team has ever attained (thanks mostly to Fred) -- darn it, I was going to post the number but 'stats' are being updated now. Anyway, thanks to each and every one of you on our team for your help and dedication; we ARE making a difference.

Cheers.

Bill Velek