Pepper Wine - Black Hungarian - I'm going for it!

[BigDaveK]

A few years back this pepper taught me that there are complex flavors out there and peppers can be more than "sweet" or "hot". One of my favorites! While growing the color is dark purple to black. It ripens to a beautiful burgundy color and that's when the magic happens. Bite into one and just as you finish thinking, "Wow, this is sweet!" the heat kicks you in the mouth. A bit hotter than the jalapeno, hitting up 20,000 scoville, I no longer grow jalapenos and use this instead.
Transferred this morning and any pepper-head would love this.
I used a half pound of peppers and I'm happy the Black Hungarian characteristics carried through - it's incredibly fruity at first and then the heat slowly builds. Yes, there is heat, but not enough to exclude this from being a sipping wine. It's wonderful and back sweetening will be the icing on the cake.
And then I thought this would make an interesting dessert wine and I almost made a huge mistake......






.....I was about to take the pulp to the compost pile and I thought, "OMG, what am I doing?!"
Prepped another half pound of peppers, added the pulp, increased the acid just a bit, sugar, etc, and started a dessert wine on the spot. Going to step feed and see where we can take this.
With the already active yeast in the pulp this baby was going like crazy in just a couple hours.

 

[winemaker81]

A suggestion -- be careful with that fermenter -- you may find that it is no longer safe for other wines.

 

[BigDaveK]

A suggestion -- be careful with that fermenter -- you may find that it is no longer safe for other wines.

Yup!
It's dedicated to pepper wines and labeled just in case.
I normally let it soak in a citric acid solution. Gets rid of the smell and most of the stain. Citric acid is great around the house and I buy it in 2# or 5# bags.
Also, just in case I'm working my way up the scoville scale with my peppers.

And worse case - I have about 15 2-gallon buckets I got from a bakery.

 

[balatonwine]

Always love to see people experiment and push the boundaries.

But... I hope you saved some of that wonderful Hungarian pepper for some winter Fish Soup, Goulash and Pörkölt...

Or even some Texas Chili...

https://stcoemgen.com/2013/02/14/te...an-porkolt-a-cultural-parallel-with-capsicum/

 

[vinny]

I've never tasted the pulp after fermentation because nothing I've made had an interesting enough flavor to tempt me, and the point was to flavor the wine. It was spent in mind. Your post got me thinking when you said you almost made a mistake and composted it.I suspect either too much flavor would be stripped, or it might taste too boozy, but I wonder if there is any other use for pepper wine pulp.

Sweet fermented hot pepper relish?

I'd have to taste the wine to know if the idea is completele lunacy, or if there was any reason to even consider the thought, but you got me wondering.

 

[vinny]

I keep citric acid on hand as well. What ratio do you use when mixing it up for cleaning?

 

[BigDaveK]

Always love to see people experiment and push the boundaries.

But... I hope you saved some of that wonderful Hungarian pepper for some winter Fish Soup, Goulash and Pörkölt...

Or even some Texas Chili...

https://stcoemgen.com/2013/02/14/te...an-porkolt-a-cultural-parallel-with-capsicum/

Oh yeah, goulash is scheduled this week as a matter of fact! You know, I've made it countless times over the years and it NEVER tastes as good as my mom's. And she didn't have a recipe, of course, just threw things into the pot.

And that was an interesting link, thanks! I have to say my chili is pretty darned good. Five or six different chili's from the garden gives me multiple flavor layers.

BTW, they no longer sell Zwack in Ohio. VERY disappointing. I have half a bottle that's precious to me and I don't share it.

 

[BigDaveK]

I've never tasted the pulp after fermentation because nothing I've made had an interesting enough flavor to tempt me, and the point was to flavor the wine. It was spent in mind. Your post got me thinking when you said you almost made a mistake and composted it.I suspect either too much flavor would be stripped, or it might taste too boozy, but I wonder if there is any other use for pepper wine pulp.

Sweet fermented hot pepper relish?

I'd have to taste the wine to know if the idea is completele lunacy, or if there was any reason to even consider the thought, but you got me wondering.

I taste everything. Fruit pulps could easily be used as a pie filling. The alcohol bakes off, of course, and sugar is needed. But there very definitely is flavor left over. The relish idea sounds interesting. I'll bet there's lot's of recipes that could use pulp. You know, I think the pulp is an under used and unappreciated culinary ingredient.

The pepper pulp had lots of flavor left but I still decided to add more peppers, didn't want to take a chance. PLUS it had a boatload of happy yeast wanting to party. And they did - 1.080 to 1.060 in 24 hours. When I'm around 1.020 it'll get more sugar and a bit of nutrient...and then again later....and maybe even again.

 

[BigDaveK]

I keep citric acid on hand as well. What ratio do you use when mixing it up for cleaning?

I don't really have a set ratio. Maybe I should experiment!?

It's great for lime and rust, coffee makers, windows. OMG my toilets look brand new! I keep finding new uses for it. The only down side is that some things may need a couple hours for it to work. But, gee, I think we're familiar with patience. And the great thing is that I'm not using mysterious chemicals!

 

[BigDaveK]

After 3 feedings I transferred the Black Hungarian Dessert to secondary.
By my calculations it about 13.5% ABV and with luck should finish close to 20%.
I think any pepperhead would love this wine. The sweet pepper flavor of the Black Hungarian is still there but the heat comes a little faster than the regular Black Hungarian wine. And I taste no alcohol at all! I had a bit more than a glass left after transfer and drank it rather quickly because it was so darn good! It took a few minutes but I thought, "Whoa, yup there's alcohol!"



And then I decided I didn't want to wast the pulp - Black Hungarian Wine Jam.
1 cup pulp, almost 2 cups sugar, bit of lemon juice, cooked to boiling.
REALLY thick, REALLY good, perfect amount of heat for me.
Cream cheese and crackers first up. Might make a nice filling for palacsinta (a Hungarian crepe).

 

[BigDaveK]

Racked the Black Hungarian yesterday when the power came back on and the flavor has definitely changed.
It's still wonderfully fruity with a bit of spice. Like some of my other pepper wines it tastes like a fruit wine with added spice and I'm very happy. But the heat comes faster now, all at once rather than slowly building. Very interesting.
I don't know where it came from but I thought a banana flavor would put this over the top. I'll make it again next year and I made a note about the banana. We'll see if I have the same opinion in a couple months.

Had some left over after topping, sweetened it a bit, and the fruitiness popped, spice still there, heat was tamed just a little. I wish I'd started this months earlier - it's a fantastic winter wine.

 

[BigDaveK]

So I racked the Black Hungarian dessert wine yesterday.
Delicious!
It crapped out around 1.015 from the step feeding but doesn't taste overly sweet at all. ABV roughly 19.5%. Very fruity with great mouthfeel which I think has a lot to do with using 71B at the beginning. Spicy warmth but not hot and the affect is constant rather than cumulative. And the warmth can be felt in the chest. Definitely a wonderful cold weather wine. I luckily had almost a full glass left over after topping up and with the ABV - yeow! - it's a small glass wine for sure...you can get hammered fast.

If I had the money I'd go into the pepper wine business. It might be a niche wine and maybe just a fad, but I think millions of pepperheads would love this.

 

[vinny]

So I racked the Black Hungarian dessert wine yesterday.
Delicious!
It crapped out around 1.015 from the step feeding but doesn't taste overly sweet at all. ABV roughly 19.5%. Very fruity with great mouthfeel which I think has a lot to do with using 71B at the beginning. Spicy warmth but not hot and the affect is constant rather than cumulative. And the warmth can be felt in the chest. Definitely a wonderful cold weather wine. I luckily had almost a full glass left over after topping up and with the ABV - yeow! - it's a small glass wine for sure...you can get hammered fast.

If I had the money I'd go into the pepper wine business. It might be a niche wine and maybe just a fad, but I think millions of pepperheads would love this.

View attachment 97723

is it the camera, or is darker than the last racking?

 

[BigDaveK]

is it the camera, or is darker than the last racking?

Looks that way, doesn't it?
One possibility is that the first pic was with CFL lighting and no phone adjustment. Second one was LED lighting with light temperature adjustment.

 

[Shurt1073]

Was thinking of you and Vinny the other day when I was at a winery store in Florida. I came across this tomato wine with hot peppers. You are right .... lots of pepper heads out there and its cool how you are making so many different wines. I'm going back for a tasting in a couple of weeks and intend to buy some of the banana wine and tomato/pepper wine. It was just funny how I'm at this winery with my wife and started telling her about you & the WMT forum.

 

[vinny]

It was just funny how I'm at this winery with my wife and started telling her about you & the WMT forum.

Finally, my reputation precede's me!

 

[BigDaveK]

Well, @Shurt1073 , from the tone of your post my impression is you didn't include words like "wacko", "crazy", or "bizarro". Should I be grateful or disappointed? Personally I have an affinity for "peculiar" which I consider a couple steps above "eccentric"..

I checked out that winery on line. They have some interesting offerings! But I'll stick with my homemade wines at about 75 cents a bottle. I'm curious though - see if the label says something like "grape based" or "flavor added". I'm always disappointed when I see that.

 

[winemaker81]

Well, @Shurt1073 , from the tone of your post my impression is you didn't include words like "wacko", "crazy", or "bizarro". Should I be grateful or disappointed? Personally I have an affinity for "peculiar" which I consider a couple steps above "eccentric".

I cannot visualize making more than 5% or 10% of the wines you have made (and are likely to make). I'm not experimental in that direction, although I'd cheerfully volunteer for quality control duties if we lived near each other.

However, as I've said before, your efforts serve as an inspiration to others to ferment whutevathuheck they want. There is an astounding list of choices of things to ferment.

Something else that folks may not consciously consider is that you're having a blast! This is supposed to be fun!

 

[Shurt1073]

Well, @Shurt1073 , from the tone of your post my impression is you didn't include words like "wacko", "crazy", or "bizarro". Should I be grateful or disappointed? Personally I have an affinity for "peculiar" which I consider a couple steps above "eccentric"..

I checked out that winery on line. They have some interesting offerings! But I'll stick with my homemade wines at about 75 cents a bottle. I'm curious though - see if the label says something like "grape based" or "flavor added". I'm always disappointed when I see that.

You should be FLATTERED .. its all good stuff! lol. Its been an interesting few months for me on WMT and so much to still learn. With making new wines, I bet your ears (along with a few other members) are occasionally burning from the conversations I have with family and friends about you guys. We follow your progress.

Its funny you mentioned if the wines were "grape based" and the answer is a big NO. None of those wines are grape based for sale in the Florida store, and they told me several times .... no grape based in the whole building. The wines are $21.99 - $25.99 so I walked out without buying anything but we are going back in a couple weeks. I have issues buying wines when I like my own more than "store bought" plus my kit wines are much less expensive. Preaching to the choir huh? I have started making the FWK and Vintners Best base kits with the help of winemaker81.

I have taken a habanero pepper, tied a string onto it and dropped into a bottle of tequila for some peppery margaritas. A week is about right to leave it but guessing ten days would be to long.

 

[BigDaveK]

You should be FLATTERED .. its all good stuff! lol. Its been an interesting few months for me on WMT and so much to still learn. With making new wines, I bet your ears (along with a few other members) are occasionally burning from the conversations I have with family and friends about you guys. We follow your progress.

Its funny you mentioned if the wines were "grape based" and the answer is a big NO. None of those wines are grape based for sale in the Florida store, and they told me several times .... no grape based in the whole building. The wines are $21.99 - $25.99 so I walked out without buying anything but we are going back in a couple weeks. I have issues buying wines when I like my own more than "store bought" plus my kit wines are much less expensive. Preaching to the choir huh? I have started making the FWK and Vintners Best base kits with the help of winemaker81.

I have taken a habanero pepper, tied a string onto it and dropped into a bottle of tequila for some peppery margaritas. A week is about right to leave it but guessing ten days would be to long.

My local Kroger store is very small. I can walk from one end to the other in about 15 seconds and that's why I like it. But the wine section is very small and all the fruit wines are "grape based". I guess the big commercial wineries don't want to commit but still want a piece of the pie. I would love to try some. The barrel aged fruit wines sound interesting. ($59.99!!!!!!)

I started to make a comment about using one habenero but changed my mind. Hot peppers can be tricky - they'll go from wonderful to painful in the blink of an eye. Good luck!








(One habenero!!!! That's so cute!!! )