I was hoping to brew a spicy hard cider, a bit inspired by the Blake’s Hard Cider [mango habanero](https://www.blakeshardcider.com/products/core/elchavo/) hard cider. What I really want is something like that with less sweetness and more heat. The question is: How best do I add that habanero flavor and spice to my homebrew?
My first thought was raw peppers. Clean them really well, blend them up, and toss them in. But I need to sterilize them first somehow, and I’m worried that heating them up will kill all the flavors. My next thought was an extract, but those can be dicey. Third option was something like a powder or habanero flakes that I could toss in after the boil. I should be able to microwave those to sterilize them.
Anyone have any suggestions or powders/extracts/flakes they’ve used that have good flavor and heat? At some point I want to do a jalapeno beer, but I’m trying to keep it to one experimental brew at a time.