Jalapeno Wine

Started the jalapino a week or so ago. Just making a gal. Anyway not wanting to contaminate any of my good equiptment decided to put the peppers in a ferment bag of their own. Got Kathy to whip up a small bag out of unbleached muslim. Chopped the peppers a bit and threw them in. Started with a gal. of apple juice and got it fermentin good. Then a couple of days in threw the peppers in. It was rollin and boilin and the peppers hit and it pretty much quit. Must of taken the yeast a bit to get used to the peppers, but a couple of hours later they were munchin contentedly on them. Checked on it today and the bag the peppers are in was floating, no suprise. It was also inflated like a balloon. Took a stick and squeezed it against the side of the bucket, deflated and let it go. Not too much later blown up again. Guess I'm gettin some ferment out of the peppers, also found up I need to use a much looser weave material for a ferment bag. One time use,tho, so guess I'm gonna live with it. 5 peppers in a gal. smells pretty strong will let ya know how it is when the ferment stops. Arne.

I use to add my hot peppers at the very beginning but had an issue with it fermenting one time, so now I add once fermentation is complete. It works out much better. What kind of hot peppers did you use?

I am intersted in this. Please keep updating and tell if it stays hot. I would like to cook with it.

wolf197 said:

I am intersted in this. Please keep updating and tell if it stays hot. I would like to cook with it.

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It does stay hot. Well, at least for a year that is about as long as I have been able to keep it in stock. And it is great to deglaze chicken with.

I made it after talking to Julie and used about 10 Jalapeno peppers per gallon. I used a paint strainer bag from Home Depot. I did not have any issue getting a six gallon batch to ferment with the peppers in it. Yes it stays hot longer than a year. Ensure you clean your fermentation pail and carboy real good after using them or the heat will pass on to the next batch of wine...OHHH how I know about this!

Those paint strainer bags work very well.

I used jalapeno peppers. Bought one plant this spring just for this. Came from Walmart or Menards, don't remember if the tag said anything except jalapeno. It fermented down quickly. I started the gal. of apple juice, then a couple days later stuck the bag of jalapeno in. Seemed to stop the ferment for a couple of hours, then really took off again. Got it in a gallon jug with airlock now. Will taste it one of these days and let you know how hot. This is more of a request from some other people, I really don't go for the really hot foods. Mite have to find somebody else to taste it. Anyway, it is working good. Question, does it take a long time to clear? Got some pear that is done fermenting, it doesn't look like it has cleared at all, but racked it off a bunch of lees so it has to be clearing some. Anyway will let it sit and see what happens. Arne.

Dan, what did you use to get the hot out of your glass secondaries? Figure I would just take the primary and mark on it with a sharpie, if I want to do this again will use it again otherwise just pitch it. Was thinking oxyclean to clean the secondaries, then tripple rinse. Will that be enough to clean them out? Thanks,Arne.

Couple rinses with Oxy-clean, and then a two day soak.

Arne said:

Dan, what did you use to get the hot out of your glass secondaries? Figure I would just take the primary and mark on it with a sharpie, if I want to do this again will use it again otherwise just pitch it. Was thinking oxyclean to clean the secondaries, then tripple rinse. Will that be enough to clean them out? Thanks,Arne.

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Arne, you really shouldn't have an issue with the glass. I just add a little Dawn and that seems to work. The issue is the primary and again I wash it out with Dawn and the tubing, just rinse immediately and you should be fine. Also, a one gallon batch doesn't cause as much of an issue as a bigger batch like Dan did

Julie said:

Arne, you really shouldn't have an issue with the glass. I just add a little Dawn and that seems to work. The issue is the primary and again I wash it out with Dawn and the tubing, just rinse immediately and you should be fine. Also, a one gallon batch doesn't cause as much of an issue as a bigger batch like Dan did

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Agree...glass is easier to clean then plastic.

You know Dan, I still remember the issues you had with the aftermath of the hot pepper wine. And it is still funny especially since it happened to you and not me



Sorry!!!!!!

Yup and I don't mind sharing that experience. An expensive Washington Valley Riesling with a jalapeño after burner.

Thanks, both Dan and Julie. The glass is all I am worried about, the plastic bucket is outside, gonna be a garden bucket or something. And now I wait. Will let you know how things come out. Will be a while tho, I am in no hurry and the basement is getting colder every day. Things slow down a lot here in the winter. Arne.

Like Frank used to say on Raymond, Holy Crap. This stuff is hot. Still sitting and clearing, but had to try it. Now wondering what I am going to do with it when it is done. Mite make another gal. of apple and see if I can tone it down a bit. Still deciding. Arne.

Arne said:

Dan, what did you use to get the hot out of your glass secondaries? Figure I would just take the primary and mark on it with a sharpie, if I want to do this again will use it again otherwise just pitch it. Was thinking oxyclean to clean the secondaries, then tripple rinse. Will that be enough to clean them out? Thanks,Arne.

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You won't have problems cleaning the chili flavor out of the glass with oxyclean, the real problem is the plastic carboy which keeps the smell forever, what I did to get rid of the smell was to clean it and then leave it outside under direct sun all day, and that was it...

Julie said:

I use to add my hot peppers at the very beginning but had an issue with it fermenting one time, so now I add once fermentation is complete. It works out much better. What kind of hot peppers did you use?

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I did 3 hot pepper wines of varying degrees of 'hotness'. The tamest of the bunch was a 3gal apple/pineapple blend that I put toasted; 1 habanero, 1 jalapeno and 1 chili, in to soak for 3 days after the wine was in the secondary. Gave it a nice little zing with a definit 'smokiness' to the nose. I think it is gonna turn out to be unique complex little wine
The other two are 1 gal wines that consist of 5-7 different kinds of hot peppers in batches 15 and 40, fermented in the primary. just racked em today. The two hotter wines (and I do mean HOT) actually have a great taste if you can take the heat. These will be for cooking,
although they are drinkable in small (shot-glass) quantities if so inclined
..

Had a little test of this over the weekend. Not as hot as it was, still a big burn to it, tho. Has not totally cleared yet, my cellar gets pretty cold over the winter and things slow way down. Another month or so and the magic starts happening as it warms up a bit. Will be time to finish cleaning out the freezer then. Arne.

It is still hot. Finally added a little sparkaloid to it. Clearing nicely now. Doesn't have as much burn to the nose as it had but still just a slow sipper. Arne.

Started my 4 th batch this morning. Used 80 dried jalapeños from 2010 parents garden. Tasted this morning before adding the yeast and it has a nice little burn to it. I'm curious to see how dried works. First time with dried peppers

Did one batch in 2010
2 batches last summer and I will do 2 or 3 this summer. Won fist place at the local competition in the country wines category last September with my 2010 batch. I did not want to enter it thought they would laugh. Wife insisted. So she entered the jalapeño got first I entered a pear and got last.