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Brain Strain vs Butch T

HPLC tests are often flawed when it comes to chiles, just look at the history of the hottest peppers and all the false/unreliable readings. It certainly isn't exact science.
Some people still calibrate HPLC equip. at 15 mil and some at 16 mil which I assume can make a huge difference
 
POTAWIE said:
HPLC tests are often flawed when it comes to chiles, just look at the history of the hottest peppers and all the false/unreliable readings. It certainly isn't exact science.
Some people still calibrate HPLC equip. at 15 mil and some at 16 mil which I assume can make a huge difference
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Why would they calibrate it at 15mil? I am not that familiar with the testing specifics, but it makes no sense to calibrate under the max possible reading...
 
Not long ago it was disputed whether pure cap measured 15 or 16 million SHU. These days most say pure is 16 but I believe what we get as pure crystal is estimated around 15 because of waxes and impurities
 
I could be wrong but I thought HPLC took a reading and then basically compared the result to an equivalent scoville rating. But if scoville is flawed or subjective, then the HPLC would be doing a side by side with a subjective system. I'm not an organic chemist so I don't claim to be an expert on HPLC, but it seems to me if you are trying to get an absolute, like "hottest", then you would need to get a reading for a specific amount of a given chemical (capsaicin). Then a comparison of one pod to another would give you an absolute.

But keep in mind...it's just chili peppers, people. All this animosity over the heat of peppers is just silly. I swear, the internet was invented to give people a reason to argue... :rolleyes:
 
Are the scorps obviously hotter than the bhuts? Yes, very much so. Just like with the bread trick I just read, when they fry the pepper slices for us, those slices don't have the same burn that fresh slices have. It knocks down all the searing, but doesn't take all the heat out. All the slices have had the same amount of heat reduction and has been a very good way to test the various peppers. You lose things like the fruity taste and the timing of the extension of the burn that you still get with the fresh slices, but you can certainly tell when you eat one of the scorps. The big numbers say that they are 40% hotter, or whatever that works out to be, and this way, you can tell. The fried yellow 7 pods are still everyone's favorites though.
 
I have always said the trinidad scorpion was the hottest I ever ate, but lately I'm Beginning to wonder if its the soil and growing
conditions in MS that is making them hotter, most of the reviewers say its way hotter than the other bt's out there, in any case
I'm going to grow Brainstrain next year and grow them side by side (sorta lol) to see if its the soil or if the BS is hotter!
 
Tigahb8 said:
I have always said the trinidad scorpion was the hottest I ever ate, but lately I'm Beginning to wonder if its the soil and growing
conditions in MS that is making them hotter, most of the reviewers say its way hotter than the other bt's out there, in any case
I'm going to grow Brainstrain next year and grow them side by side (sorta lol) to see if its the soil or if the BS is hotter!
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Butch I'm inclined to agree with you. Every Butch T pod that I've had has not been near the level of yours. I just reviewed a Butch T from Judy and while it reached the intensity of the pod from you, it didn't last NEAR as long as yours did. I think you grow a mean pod. I'd love to see what you can do with a BS. And if you are ever in need of somebody to review one of them for you, I'd be happy to do so ;)
 
I love this, This is exactly why it is so tough to pinpoint the full range of a pod. One says Canada, another says MS, some say Judy, etc.

If this isn't a testament to different results from different conditions, I don't know what is. I have some massive ButchTs that I grew from seeds I got out of a Judy pod. I haven't personally tried a Butch grown ButchT, but sent a pod over to someone who has. I can't wait to get his take on it.

I also wonder how much poor isolation and seed spreading has played into the varying heat levels.
 
Ya, there seems to be a good tasting Butch T variety going around now too, or maybe that also has to do with growing conditions/environment? What I can say is my mid summer and greenhouse grown plants seem to have much hotter pods than in the cooler seasons. Sometimes I actually prefer the milder ones in the fall
 
My Butch Ts (back from 2006 I believe) taste great. The brains from cappy also have a very good flavor. Its hard to tell which one is hotter in the mouth but the brain destroys my stomach. It gave me really trippy dreams too! To me the "super hots" aren't crazy hot in the mouth, but instead wreak havoc on my innards.
 
I must agree. My peppers are not half as hot in the winter months( you guys would call my winter months spring or fall) as compared to my early summer pods.
 
I often wonder about growing conditions/environment too. Although I have yet to grow and try some big names like the Brain Strain, TS Moruga, Douglah, etc, my Choc Bhuts have so far been the hottest I have had yet--definitely hotter than reg Red Bhuts and even what feels like that bit hotter than my TS ButchT's! (But don't get me wrong though.... my ButchT's still do absolutely wreck me too!). Both I source from the same place.... THSC.

My sun here can be extremely intense and I wonder if perhaps, being a darker colour, the Choc Bhut sucks it up more as it is ripening and boosts the heat somehow? Interesting though is my Choc Bhuts are light/bright green when immature so any sun boosting power (if it exists) could only happen in a matter days while the pod is ripening.

Any thoughts?

(Or maybe I am just imagining things.... :lol:)
 
For me, here in Florida, if I do everything right (which certainly didn't happen this year), I am getting 4 sets of flowers each season. The July and August peppers are obviously hotter than the spring and the late fall peppers. I always keep my powder made in August for myself each year. I have also made hotter peppers by watering just enough to keep the plants from even the slightest wilt, but also, not using a lot of water.(it's a fine line) The plants sitting right next to them that get plenty of water produce peppers that are less hot, on average, but not as an obvious amount as with comparing August and November peppers.
 
Tigahb8 said:
POTAWIE, wasn't your Scorpions grown out from the original seed distribution?
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I believe so. I think I originally got my ButchT scorpion seeds in the fall of 2006 from someone on the old MSN forum. I think it may have been Kato.
A little of topic but whatever happened to Kato. I remember his wife wasn't well last I heard. I hope all is well.
 
Kato's wife passed away, he is still around, I run into him online every now and then. I sent Kato the peppers he
got the seeds from in 2006, so yes you have the original strain! I also had a standing offer of free seeds on MSN
and of course C2C pepper co had em too!
 
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