Cucumber beer

[BeerRust]

Has anyone attempted this? How was it? Any recipe ideas?

[jivex5k]

Haven't made it but have had it many times.
Cigar City Cucumber Saison...it's pretty awesome.
It's light and balanced, yet the cucumber hits just right...of course I love cucumbers haha.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17981/73070

No idea about brewing it though.

[BeerRust]

Anyone with any ideas/recipes for it?

[jivex5k]

I found one on brewtoad:
http://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/cucumber-saison

What brewing setup do you have? Extract, or all grain?

If I had to do it, I would get a saison kit from Northern Brewer (it's pretty damn tasty) and I would just rack it onto some cucumbers (boiled).
Of course, that's not an option if you don't have a secondary.
Another post I read mentioned extracting the cuke flavor with vodka, and adding it to the beer post fermentation. I'd assume bottling would be the best time to add this extract.

[BeerRust]

I use Mr beer. Extracts and additional, hops, DME, lme, other ingredients for flavoring. I have 2 fermenters , 1 empty, and 1 with pilnsner ready to bottled Thursday this week. So I am looking for another couple recipes. Cucumber vodka in beer does not sound that good to me.

[jivex5k]

Ok,
Well I'd recommend trying it with this seasonal refill:
http://www.mrbeer.com/product-exec/product_id/1301

After the beer ferments for a week, throw in the boiled cucumber for about a week. Maybe 1 and a half cukes.
Of course, I've never tried this myself, just going off this other recipe and my experience with a cuke saison tasting awesome.

But hey, worth a shot, might turn out great.

[BeerRust]

Might give that a shot. What do you think on adding some hops to it also?

[jivex5k]

I wouldn't bother adding hops to it, the kit comes with Hopped Malt Extract so it should be already balanced.
I've never made the Mr. B saison kit so I can't say how it would taste, but my thinking was I like Cigar City's Cucumber Saison, so why not just make a Saison and let it sit on some cucumbers for a couple weeks.

[BeerRust]

Was the Saison lighter in body? I feel like that might go best with the cucumbers taste.

[jivex5k]

Yup, the CCB one at least.
Not sure about the Mr. B one, but the CCB Saison has a light and dry finish that went well with the cukes.
Saisons can vary in lightness, Mr. B's looks a bit darker, but the flavor of a saison is essentially dry and a bit spicy/peppery.
Not like hot, but like....it's hard to describe but it tastes alive.

If you want a straight up cucumber beer maybe go with a standard pale ale or pilsner instead of a saison?
I just know a saison with cucumbers that exists is freaking delicious, so that's why I recommended a saison as a base.

[BeerRust]

Interesting .....I am seriously considering it. I have cucs in my garden that I my use for. Home brew with my own cucumbers just makes me feel good about the whole process.

[jivex5k]

I'd say go for it man, but I'm also interested in the results lol.
You can taste the beer throughout the "dry cucumbering" phase to see how much flavor it imparts.

But as a disclaimer, I've never attempted this so...YMMV

[BeerRust]

I'd say go for it man, but I'm also interested in the results lol.
You can taste the beer throughout the "dry cucumbering" phase to see how much flavor it imparts.

But as a disclaimer, I've never attempted this so...YMMV

So what I did last night was make up some cucumber water and let it sit over night. It has a good flavor this morning. So I think I might go with cucumber water boiled and a lighter dryer HME. Any suggestions ?

[Yankeedag]

interesting

[BeerRust]

I may have to wait a few more weeks to get some more out of the garden, but they taste a lot better than the store bought ones.