# Black Pepper



## CowboyPhil (Jan 13, 2013)

I did a search, but found nothing. Has anyone tried adding cracked black pepper to wine. Any reason you couldn't? It would add a peppery flavor I am thinking


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## pjd (Jan 13, 2013)

CowboyPhil, I knew you had to be from Texas to ask that question! Actually I have thought about it. Heck if you dont like drinking it you can always cook with it.


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## Julie (Jan 13, 2013)

I have done a test on black pepper and concord, I really liked it. What wine are you thinking of adding it to?


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## oldwhiskers (Jan 13, 2013)

The wine making book I started with, The Joy of Home Winemaking, used cracked peppercorns in a lot of the recipes.


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## fivebk (Jan 13, 2013)

I have a recipe for what I call a cherry zin that has crushed peppercorns in it. It does add a peppery taste to the wine.


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 13, 2013)

I am trying something new, frozen grape concentrate, with duch cocoa and thinking of peppercorns and toasted french oak. Dry of course.


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 13, 2013)

One the recipes you have seen how much wine are they making and how much of the peppercorns


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## fivebk (Jan 14, 2013)

My recipe is for 6 gal and it uses 1 tablespoon of slightly crushed peppercorns. I think it will come down to a trial & error type thing for everyone has different tastes. (What is too much for one is not enough for another).

BOB


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 14, 2013)

I think I am going to try adding 1 tsp to a gallon, along with the toasted french oak. This should be some interesting wine.


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## oldwhiskers (Jan 14, 2013)

In the recipes in The Joy of Home Winemaking they pretty much used 10 peppercorns per gallon in the recipes. Here is what they said about peppercorns in general:



> Ten bruised peppercorns do not so much add flavor as lend a warmth. I frequently leave them in
> the straining bag when making beet or carrot wine. I've read that pepper was used by moonshiners
> to warm up their product and make people think it was higher in alcohol than it actually was. If this
> is true, it probably also helped to mask the off flavors from bad distilling and no aging.


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 14, 2013)

Best help ever! Thank you that is just what I needed and just what I am trying to do to this wine add warmth.



oldwhiskers said:


> In the recipes in The Joy of Home Winemaking they pretty much used 10 peppercorns per gallon in the recipes. Here is what they said about peppercorns in general:


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## the_rayway (Jan 14, 2013)

Hey there Oldwhiskers!
I added peppercorns to my spiced apple wine - idea courtesy of Terry Garey  It does add a warmth to it. So far so good, but the wine isn't ready yet!


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## oldwhiskers (Jan 14, 2013)

I haven't tried the peppercorns yet, but that does sound good adding warmth to a spiced apple wine in the winter.


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 15, 2013)

I added the peppercorns and the yeast yesterday to my Chocolate Concord Wine. I think it is going to taste great, but It will be a long time before I know for sure. I added 15 peppercorns, I know it said 10 per gal, but I thought what the heck 5 extra for fun. 

When the SG drops and I move it to the secondary I will add the Toasted French Oak. I am looking forward to this wine. . . next year.


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## deboard (Jan 15, 2013)

I added peppercorns to one of my wines once, but I added way too many. The wine was a little thin anyways, and I think if it had better body it would have been ok though.


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 15, 2013)

deboard said:


> I added peppercorns to one of my wines once, but I added way too many. The wine was a little thin anyways, and I think if it had better body it would have been ok though.



How much did you add and how much wine? and what kinds of wine, I want to learn from your uh-ohs


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## deboard (Jan 15, 2013)

I know it was a 3 gallon batch. I'm also positive I didn't really measure, but I'm sure it was more than 30.


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## ejr (Jan 15, 2013)

Place some peppercorns in turnip wine this thanksgiving like you i want to see how it turns out


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## winemanden (Jan 18, 2013)

*Pepper etc.*

Reading this jogged my memory and I realise this may give my age away. I've just re-read Peggy Hutchinson's Home made Wine Secrets published 1976. 
Here is what she says.
*'Seasoned wine drinkers like to feel a tingling heat in their fingers and toes. You can get a whisky-like quality in heat by adding whole cloves, whole ginger, peppercorns or mustard seeds. You must wash them before adding. For a time you have the clove, ginger, pepper or mustard flavour; but it goes as it is kept, leaving only the tingling heat in the brew.'* 

I'm still not saying how old I am, but I made my first gallon of Beetroot wine 19 years before that book was published. They say you always remember your first time! What I remember is that we drank the first 5 bottles far too soon. No.6 I gave to my Father in law who hid it at the back of his cool larder. 12 months later it was Elixir of the Gods. Lesson learned, give your wine time to age. You won't regret it.

Regards to all and a Happy Wine-making New Year.

Winemanden.


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## CowboyPhil (Jan 28, 2013)

@Winemanden Thank you, this is just what I was talking about that tingling the Chocolate/Merlot (w/Peppercorns) is done fermenting and is now being oaked. Then off to bulk age. I tasted it and even at this extremely 'new' state it is very yummy. I cannot wait until 1 yr from now to taste the final product.


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## winemanden (Jan 30, 2013)

*Aging*

Cowboy, here's another little tip for you. 
After aging, when you get round to bottling, try and bottle 2 or 3 half bottles. That way, when you're tempted to open a bottle to try, you can try a half instead and not drink your wine too soon. It's a bit of a downer when come to get a bottle of your good stuff and you realise you've drunk most of it just by seeing how it's progressing.
Regards, Winemanden.


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## Polarhug (Feb 4, 2013)

I've been musing on adding *Pink Peppercorns* to a white like Chardonnay. Pink pepper is not related to black pepper. It is not even a peppercorn. Pink pepper is native to Brazil. The aroma is aromatic compared to black peppers but the taste of this berry is sweet and mild and only slightly peppery. I wonder if it would slightly color the wine?


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## the_rayway (Feb 4, 2013)

One of my favourite family recipes is steak with strawberries and pink peppercorns. MMMMmmm!


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## Polarhug (Feb 5, 2013)

I started a small 1 cup cracked pink peppercorn infusion with vodka last night. Giving it a week to see how it tastes!

*EDIT* 2 days later the infusion is already pink, very sweet and slightly peppery with a nice floral aroma. I think I'm going to go for this project!! I just need to find a white base that these spicy pink note would compliment? Pinot blanc or Gewurtraminer?


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## ScottWolfertz (Sep 1, 2016)

Has anyone tried or any thoughts on adding black pepper essential oil to 5 gallons of Grenache Syrah?


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## TCPT18 (Sep 2, 2016)

I did a Shiraz and a carmenere with 1 tablespoon in with my oak and it was plenty of background flavor in a five gallon carboy. It is really nice now about 15 months out.


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## roger80465 (Sep 2, 2016)

I've done this on a syrah and a couple tempranillos. Works well. Like with oak, the flavor fades in time so wait until the flavor is too much, then remove the peppercorns. In a year or so it will fade to perfect.


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## BlueStimulator (Sep 2, 2016)

Sounds yummy, may have to try when I get more experience


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## DaveMcC (Oct 30, 2021)

Hey, was just following up threads and discussions about peppercorns. Any further thoughts, some 8 years further along? Thoughts on dumping a standard supermarket spice bottle of mixed color peppercorns into at 24 gallon barrel of Tempranillo must, currently fermenting. My main concern would be the addition of capsicum oils (the "heat" in pepper) vs. the flavoring of the peppercorns. I wonder if you could soak out the peppercorns first, rinse and repeat a few times, and then add to the must.


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## joeswine (Oct 30, 2021)

Interesting.


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## DaveMcC (Oct 30, 2021)

Or maybe soaking peppercorns in vodka to remove the capsicum oils, then adding to the must. That might allow the other pepper organic compounds to macerate while reducing the bite of the pepper. Just a thought.

I also would like to try using a half spiral of "Spanish cedar" (actually a type of mahogany), used in beer brewing, to add some spice. Of course, this is heresy and out of code for commercial wineries, but us garagistes have greater latitude. I used a Spanish cedar spiral in some Malbec, half a stick in 6 gallon carboy. It was a bit much, mellowed now a year later but still very present. Lesson was a little bit of that goes a long way. Calculating a try of half spiral stick to the 14 gallons of wine in the secondary after MLF.


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## Rembee (Oct 30, 2021)

I do add whole crushed peppercorns (red, green and black) to my muscadine and blueberry wine. I lightly crush them up in a paper towel, just until they split open. I then add 1 tsp per gallon. I add it to the secondary bulk aging stage when I add my oak cubes. It does give the wine a peppery bite. Over the years I have experimented with a tsp up to a tbsp. We like it at the 1 tsp amount per gallon. I leave them in the wine up to 3 months (to the taste I'm looking for) and then rack off of them.


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## DaveMcC (Oct 30, 2021)

Those are some good observations. Thanks.


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## winemaker81 (Oct 31, 2021)

Rembee said:


> I leave them in the wine up to 3 months (to the taste I'm looking for) and then rack off of them.


Have you tried putting the peppercorns in a hops bag? That will allow you to pull it out instead of racking.


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## Rice_Guy (Oct 31, 2021)

on the company recipe there was black, white and red. The white has been soaked in water and gives a fast taste with fast decline from the taste buds, similar to your end note. Red gives a slower response and grabs the tast buds so the effect builds with time. Black is in between.
I am a big fan of going to the bench and breaking a 3 liter Bota box down with several levels of ingredient, NOT dumping a jar in. The test lab standard is age a wet sample a week to extract the flavors you are going to get, then evaluate. ,,,,, patience have a good idea what your ideal answer is before you start.
Our grocery store goal is an early hint of pepper with enough long flavor notes (red pepper) that the food becomes memorable.


DaveMcC said:


> Hey, was just following up threads and discussions about peppercorns. Any further thoughts, some 8 years further along? Thoughts on dumping a standard supermarket spice bottle of mixed color peppercorns into at 24 gallon barrel of Tempranillo must, currently fermenting. My main concern would be the addition of capsicum oils (the "heat" in pepper) vs. the flavoring of the peppercorns. I wonder if you could soak out the peppercorns first, rinse and repeat a few times, and then add to the must.


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## Rembee (Oct 31, 2021)

winemaker81 said:


> Have you tried putting the peppercorns in a hops bag? That will allow you to pull it out instead of racking.


No I have not tried using a hops bag. I do have empty tea bags that I could try next time. Normally I just leave the peppercorns in until I'm ready to rack off of the oak cubes. That is usually my second and finial rack in secondary until bottling time.


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## Sailor323 (Nov 1, 2021)

Just an observation--green, black and white peppercorns do not contain capsaicin, they contain piperine which is soluble in alcohol. Red peppercorns are not available in dried form. Another plant (common pink peppercorns from the Brazillian pepper tree) is often confused with red pepper; this is the one found in the supermarket. Common pink peppercorns are not related to the other peppercorns and do not contain piperine. I don't know if any of this makes any difference in winemaking, it's just a bit of trivia that I find interesting.


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