These recipes are from a brew duel for a cream ale with cucumber. Don’t knock it til you try it, it’s a delicious, refreshing beer for hot days!
Kendall’s Recipe (winning recipe)
5 gallons – 4.1% – 13.6 IBU
I’m very happy with how this recipe turned out, the cucumber flavor is noticeable and balanced well. My only regret is that I wish I had my juicer and could have juiced the cucumbers, as some flecks of cucumber skin were present in the first draws of the keg. Alternatively, straining through a fine bag would have worked.
I washed the cucumbers well, pureed with skins and all and added into secondary.
- 4lb Pilsner Malt
- 2.5 lb 2-row Brewers Malt
- 1.125 lb Flaked Maize (Corn)
- 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh – 60 minute boil
- 1 oz Hallertau Mittelfruh – 5 minute boil
- WLP080 – Cream Ale Yeast Blend
- 3 lbs hothouse cucumber, pureed – secondary
Steps:
- Mash @ 149 F
- 60 Minute Boil according to above schedule
- Ferment @ 65 F
- Add cucumbers after primary is nearly finished
- Kegged and carbed
Abigail’s Recipe – Cucumbeer
Primary:
- 90g flaked corn
- 455g pilsner DME
- 135g bavarian wheat DME
- 4g liberty hops
- Water to 1gal
Steps:
- Steep corn in ~3L water for 30min @ 65C
- Remove corn, add pilsner dme & hops, boil for 30min
- Add wheat dme
- Cool & top up to 3.8L – SG 1.048
- Pitched 5g US-05 (without rehydrating or nutrient)
Fermented in a 2gal bucket full of water to try & stabilize temperature. FG 1.020, so ~3.7%
Secondary: Added two cucumbers (peeled & sliced), and kept in the fridge for three or four days.
Bottled in 340ml bottles with ¾tsp dextrose each, left to bottle carbonate for two weeks.
This was both my first straight beer and my first time bottle carbonating; despite the loss I’m pretty happy with it.
The base beer was nothing special (& Kendall thought it had oxidised slightly – given my setup I wouldn’t be surprised), but I was glad the bottle carb worked and very happy with how I handled the cucumber. It was very strong (both in smell and taste), but without adding much if any bitterness, which is what I was aiming for. If anything, kind of like the white part of a watermelon?