Mango habanero IIPA

How much habanero is too much? Ballast point set their sculpin on fire for my palette. I used 1/2 habanero pepper by mixing it with homemade mango puree and tasting it until I was happy. Obviously these flavors will fade as fermentation occurs which makes me wonder what mango to habanero ratio I should use in secondary.

I've made a couple of habanero beers and the amount of habanero to use is very subjective. What I've done is puree the habaneros and secondary with them. My first batch I used 1/2 a habanero for each bottle and it was like drinking napalm. On the second try I used 1 habanero per gallon and it was very interesting. When you drank it you got beer taste first and blast of pepper second. My goal was to make a hotter beer than anyone can buy.

Wow. It sounds like you accomplished that. That tells me exactly what I should not do for my brew. I'd like a little most pepper flavor than taste bud melting experience from my beer. something tells me your heat tolerance is higher than most people. iIf you went for 1 habenero per gallon I'll start off with 1/4 pepper per gallon and see where that gets me.

Thanks for the frame of reference!

habaneros are tricky little buggers... the heat varies incredibly from pepper to pepper.  good luck, sounds fun!

Try removing the pith (white stuff) and the seeds. That's where most of the oil is, and it's the oil that carries the capsaicin (the heat).

What's left is the flesh, and that's where the flavor is. That's not to say the flesh doesn't contain any oil, but most of it is in the pith and the seeds.

Do that and you will substantially reduce the heat that you add to whatever you are adding the peppers to. That's what I do when I'm serving salsa or chili to people who don't like too much heat. Should work with beer as well.

I just brewed My Mango Habanero 5 gal fruit beer batch and use 3 peppers in a 5 gal batch. I remove the innards and stems. Use 3 lbs of frozen mango. I puree the mango in a blender and add the peppers. Simmer them at 170 for 15 min.  Add mixture of hot water and 2.5 tsp potassium sorbate to fermentor/secondary. Rack base beer onto mixture in secondary,  Keep at room temp for 3 days, add mixture of hot water and gelatin to tirchary fermentor, Rack ale to tirchary fermentor, Cold crash for 5 days then keg and carbonate. I have the full recipe on beersmith 2. I brew this for all beer events we contribute in.

Happy Brewing!

Add mixture of hot water and 2.5 tsp potassium sorbate to fermentor/secondary.

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I assume you're kegging, because potassium sorbate stops the yeast from reproducing. If you were bottling then I doubt they would condition. I would use Campden tablets instead.

Warden008 said:

Use 3 lbs of frozen mango. I puree the mango in a blender and add the peppers. Simmer them at 170 for 15 min.  Add mixture of hot water and 2.5 tsp potassium sorbate to fermentor/secondary. Rack base beer onto mixture in secondary,  Keep at room temp for 3 days, add mixture of hot water and gelatin to tirchary fermentor, Rack ale to tirchary fermentor, Cold crash for 5 days then keg and carbonate

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Thanks for the tips! I have a few questions:
1. What is the purpose of heating the mixture at 170? I ended up just dropping the raw mangos and habaneros into a hop sack.
2. The hot water and 2.5 tsp potassium sorbate are added to secondary but not the mangos/habaneros?
3. You rack into secondary for only 3 days before moving to a 3rd fermenter? Why is this necessary and why can't all the work be done in secondary?

Thanks for the tips!