Serrapale Ale 2.0

Ahh...there's just something so delightful about the perfect combination of a good Mexican dish and a refreshing beverage. The beverage, of course, is what we're specifically concerned with here. Last year, I brewed an American Pale Ale with Serrano peppers for Cinco de Mayo. It turned out incredibly well too, and is probably, to this day, my favorite batch. It's the first beer I had some of the members over at CFHB try last summer too (you'll recall that from an earlier post), which they all loved and said would have won a medal if I had entered it into the most recent competition at the time. Well, I did it again...and there's no "ooops" involved (get it? yeah, I crack myself up) - I'd been looking forward to doing so for quite some time.

The recipe was followed as closely as possible this second time around (which is an original recipe, might I add). I had to use a different brand of LME, though (Breiss), and I added two extra peppers (although, the addition isn't really noticeable). I also had a higher/healthier yeast pitch rate too. For those of you who weren't filled in on this last year, I hadn't made a starter, pitched from a 25-million cell Wyeast "smack pack," with a gravity around 1.060. It took almost 48 hours to really get going (in other words, I really lucked out in terms of escaping a potential contamination/infection). Fermentation kicked off within only a few hours this time (those of you following the posts on my Tumblr page can view a fairly crude video I shot of the activity about 18 hours in). I'm in the market for a chest freezer to convert, so I can control my fermentation temperatures better, especially as the summer is officially approaching...but I really need to get that immersion chiller I've been talking about for months now built. Ice baths are getting old. Here's a shot of me sparging the partial mash:

Okay, so here's the scoop:

Original Gravity: 1.061
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV: 6.3%
SRM: 15.5
Calories: 201

It's very tasty, just like last year; real smooth and silky, everything is perfectly balanced, with a strong pepper aroma (subtle taste, though). It pairs wonderfully with tacos (obviously), but we're thinking a couple of steaks with some sauteed peppers might do the trick as well. I, of course, already put some into a homebrew competition, which is actually taking place this weekend: Hogtown Brew-Off. I tossed some of the Apfelwein and Cran-Apple cider in as well. I'll see how it does, but I'll probably save some to at least toss into CFHB's Sunshine Challenge later this year too.

Well, I'm going to get one more batch in before the summer semester starts up next week. Tonight, I'll be brewing a basic hefeweizen with a little bit of clove added; I used a very small amount in my Holerin' Brown Ale, and it really came through. I'm thinking it will be a great complement to the already "clove-y" character of the yeast strain I'm using as well...we'll see. Either way, should be a nice, refreshing brew for the hot summer months ahead.

Okay...so, you all are probably wondering about the Berliner Weisse... Yeah, I was going to be brewing that next, but I really want to get that chest freezer, and want to make sure I have the proper time to dedicate to planning that recipe out and giving the fermentation the attention it'll need (the simpler recipe tonight is sort of a stand-in until the end of the summer semester, which will be in about six weeks). It's definitely still happening, though, and I can't wait!

I'll try to get something posted soon, regarding this next batch, and the results of the competition this weekend.

Peace and Love!