"Tom" > wrote in message
nk.net...
> I made a gallon of Jalapeno Wine last season from the recipie on Jack
> Kellers website and it turned out great. It has an excellant taste and
> smells like fresh ripe peppers. I also made a Habanero wine buy
> substituting the peppers in the Jalapeno recipie.
> It is drinkable but not for the faint of heart because I used the full
> 16 Jalapeno peppers in one gallon. I have been using this wine mainly for
> steak marinades and cooking though it is quite a conversation piece when I
> have fellow homebrewers over to taste.

I made an Habanero wine a few years ago. IIRC, I used a lot more peppers
than you, and added some tomato juice to give it some body. It came out
pretty darn hot!

I gave a small bottle to a friend, warning her what it was. She stuck it in
the 'fridge and forgot all about it - that is until her _mother_ found it
and mistaking it for leftover white wine poured herself a glass and took a
swig! ¡Ay, caramba!

> My question is: When I use if for a marinade it does not add the
"spice"
> that I would like. I end up using additional peppers in the marinade to
> spice it up some. I'm growing peppers now for another batch this year and
I
> was wondering what the effect would be if I doubled it to 32 peppers per
> gallon!! Would this cause any problems with fermentation? Would it
really
> add more heat?

It'll add more heat, but I recall having a _very_ hard time getting that
fermentation to go to dryness.

> Also, I would like to increase the alcohol level. My last batch was
> around 12% but I would like to make one as high as possible without having
> any residual sugar.

Why? You're going to use it for marinade - not rocket fuel - aren't you?

Tom S