The esters have toned down a whole lot. They are barely noticeable at all in the both the aroma and the taste. I popped one yesterday, and it has become so good.
Does anyone have an all-grain grain bill for this? Or a saison recipe they've tried it will. I love a good experiment and this could be great.
That said, most people are racking a saison onto the cukes, some people used a blonde. Thoughts?
Here's my recipe for the Cucumber Citra Saison
Enjoy!!
5 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) US
1 lbs Munich Malt
1 lbs Wheat Malt, US
3 lbs Extra Light DME
1.00 oz Saaz [4.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
0.50 oz Citra [13.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins)
0.25 oz Citra [13.70 %] - Aroma Steep 2.0 min
1.0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711)
I added a cup of light candi sugar at high krausen as well
Here's an update for everyone on my Cucumber Blonde... I racked onto two peeled, deseeded and chunked cucumbers (.75 - .8 lb after peeled and deseeded) and let sit @ 60-65 degrees for 3 days. Then I put it in my freezer and dropped the temp to 38 degrees and let sit another 4 days.
2 days before bottling I decided to add some orange zest.... I zested 3 oranges and came up with .75 oz of zest (perfect I thought)... Soaked the zest in some vodka overnight and poured it all in the secondary the next morning.
So, when I went to bottle this past Saturday the beer smelled like HI-C!!! Seriously, like some cool-aid or something. Dang... Took a taste test and it was actually pretty good though the orange zest had just about taken over.... I think next time I will use less zest and just add the zested vodka to the beer rather than vodka AND zest!
I still have the "backseat" cucumber taste I was looking for but unfortunately, the orange has taken the front.
I have a good feeling it will all mellow out with a month in the bottle so I'll be sure to keep you posted! Hell, I'll even try one around Mother's Day and let you all know what it tastes like carbed up.
Damn Orange zest....
captained said:that sounds great, but if you don't mind me asking, when and how do you add the cucumber? i'm curious because i finished a batch of ahs saison with 12 oz of grapefruit juice when i kegged and it was an outstanding hot weather beer. being a fan of hendricks gin and tonic with a cucumber slice during the summer, i think i would like to brew a cucumber saison soon. thanks!
There is a discussion in my homebrew club going on about doing cucumber beers. One guy seems to think:
"if you try adding just cucumber the yeast will eat at it strongly and leave you with a cabbage taste so to battle the yeast from doing that you use sacrificial fruits like red apples or pears and your yeast will eat that first and leave you with a refreshing cucumber zest"
Has anyone had any issues with the yeast fermenting out the cucumber taste, or problems bottle conditioning it?
This time around I used 3711 at 68 degrees and it attenuated fully down to 1.01. It is a pretty clean Saison yeast really, but a little bit if that character. I also use candy sugar, so it ended up nice and dry. Instead of letting it sit on the cukes for two weeks this year, I peeled them fairly roughly (left a bit of the green peel) and then juiced them in a juicer. I bet a blender would work as well. I used 3 lbs in 5 gallons and just put it all right in the keg. It turned out phenomenally delicious! Better than last year for sure. Huge fresh cucumber taste. The first couple of pints poured cloudy but after that it is a nice clear beer as well. I used Citra last year and chose Sorachi Ace this year as my hops. Neither of them overtook the cucumber or the yeast flavors. It all plays very well together.
5 Gallons
3.3lb Briess Wheat LME
1lb Light DME
8oz Honey
1oz Cascade @ 60mins
I'll probably just use Notty yeast because that's what I have on hand. Primary ferment for about a week and then rack onto ~5 pounds of peeled, and chopped cukes (with a Campden tab) for about 2 weeks.
QUOTE]
For shauntraxler recipe I am just wondering what the boil schedule would be? Should the LME and DME be added in the beginning of the boil or split? Unsure of the addition of the honey. I would think it would be towards the end like the last 10mins or so. Just looking for some input probably going to brew this weekend.
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