Adjunct
Chilli
Fresh or dried chilli, adding capsaicin heat most often to dark and strong beers.
Capsaicin is not volatile, so chilli contributes almost nothing to aroma and everything to the finish. It is also not water-soluble in the way flavour compounds are, and it extracts into alcohol rather than wort — which is why the heat in a chilli beer builds over days in the fermenter and keeps building in package.
That delay is the practical problem. A beer dosed to taste right on the day it is added is usually too hot by the time it is sold, and the heat does not fade with age the way an aroma would.
What it is for
Spice. Aromatic, potent by weight, and usually added late so the volatile character survives into the glass.
- Adds capsaicin heat
Whether it ferments
| Fermentable | No — brewing yeast cannot take it, so whatever goes in stays in. It contributes flavour, and where it is a sugar, sweetness and body that survive into the glass. |
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Capsaicin is not a flavour but a trigeminal irritant, and alcohol amplifies its perceived intensity — a strong chilli beer burns more than the same chilli in a weak one.