Cucumber and Coriander Wheat!

GrizBrew said:

I am thinking Citra will bring out some really nice qualities and still let the cukes shine through.

Click to expand...

personally i'd skip the citra or go very very lightly. it isn't a subtle hop. it'll likely take over your beer and hide the cuke. between flavor and aroma additions, i'd keep it under a third of an oz for 5 gallons. also, don't use citra for bittering. go with something cleaner.

as always: IMHO, YMMV, caveat is emperor, etc...

sweetcell said:

personally i'd skip the citra or go very very lightly. it isn't a subtle hop. it'll likely take over your beer and hide the cuke. between flavor and aroma additions, i'd keep it under a third of an oz for 5 gallons. also, don't use citra for bittering. go with something cleaner.

as always: IMHO, YMMV, caveat is emperor, etc...

Click to expand...

Maybe......I have an oz of Saaz too. That might be a better choice. I would like a little complexity though. I got some grains of paradise last night. I may incorporate that

sweetcell said:

personally i'd skip the citra or go very very lightly. it isn't a subtle hop. it'll likely take over your beer and hide the cuke. between flavor and aroma additions, i'd keep it under a third of an oz for 5 gallons. also, don't use citra for bittering. go with something cleaner.

as always: IMHO, YMMV, caveat is emperor, etc...

Click to expand...

Ya know though, when I plug this into Beersmith, I end up very low on the bitterness scale. I don't have it in front of me but it seems like I went with 1/2 oz Citra at 60 and 1/4 oz at 2 for aroma in a 5 gallon batch.Ya think with those low numbers it will still be overpowering? I think I have a 14% Alpha and it's been open for a month (which is why I am trying to use it up).

GrizBrew said:

Ya know though, when I plug this into Beersmith, I end up very low on the bitterness scale. I don't have it in front of me but it seems like I went with 1/2 oz Citra at 60 and 1/4 oz at 2 for aroma in a 5 gallon batch.Ya think with those low numbers it will still be overpowering? I think I have a 14% Alpha and it's been open for a month (which is why I am trying to use it up).

Click to expand...

Citra has a very strong flavor while cucumber has a very very delicate and mild flavor. It's not hard to cover up.

GrizBrew said:

Ya know though, when I plug this into Beersmith, I end up very low on the bitterness scale. I don't have it in front of me but it seems like I went with 1/2 oz Citra at 60 and 1/4 oz at 2 for aroma in a 5 gallon batch.Ya think with those low numbers it will still be overpowering? I think I have a 14% Alpha and it's been open for a month (which is why I am trying to use it up).

Click to expand...

it's not the bitterness that is overpowering, it's the citrus/fruitiness. using 1 oz in a 5 gal batch is perfect if you want strong citrus, passion fruit, pineapple, and whatever other strong flavors & aromas people describe citra as having. citra is a bully. it doesn't play well with others, it takes over (in a good way, IMHO).

cucumber is really subtle and would be bulldozed by the citra. i think saaz is definitely a better way to go. with a fruity (vegetably?) beer like this one, you won't want a lot of bitterness anyways. i'd keep it well under 15 IBUs if i were you.

FYI i got some citra about a month ago and it was 11% AA.

Didn't see a recipe posted. How much cucumber for 5 gallons? Thanks

I brewed my cucumber Saison this week. The wort sure tasted great! I will prolly give this 10 days or so in primary due to a slow start and an addition of candy sugar at high krausen. I cooled down to 60 or 65 before pitching which could have been the cause of the slow start.

I took the advice given here and used Saaz for bittering. I added .5oz of Citra @ 15. I plan to rack over 3lbs of Cukes next weekend. Now if it will get hot enough outside to appreciate this refreshing quaff...... Actually, this is the trial run for a hot August brew.

I cannot even begin to describe how good this smelled. The Saison that I am racking over the Cukes is fantastic on it's own. I expect this beer will be PHENOMENAL!!

Same. Saison racked onto cucumber today as well. Good luck!

I tasted mine yesterday after 6 days in secondary. As predicted, the Citra was up front and the Cukes were a bit in the background. Fabulous mix though. I decided to leave it for one more week to see if it would make a difference in getting more Cukes in the nose. Kinda doubting it with the strong Citra going on but.... Either way it will be fabulous. I almost racked it to keg yesterday, I liked it so much, I just thought I would experiment. This will absolutely be gorgeous for a sunny and hot June afternoon.

Been following this beer for some time now... I decided to make my own. Here's what I did last night for a recipe (note: mine is not a wheat beer as I had a bit of Munich malt left over that I wanted to get rid of and some Hallertauer hops too).

5 Gal batch - 45 minute, 3 gallon boil

1/2 lb carapils steeped for 30 minutes @ 164-166 degrees
- 45 minute mark added 1 lb Extra Light dry malt (Muntons) and 1 oz Cascade hops
- 25 Minute mark added 2.3 lbs Briess Liquid Munich Mark
- 10 Minute mark added 1 lb Extra Light dry malt (Muntons) and .5 oz crushed coriander seeds
- 4 minute mark .3 oz Hallertauer hops
- Flame out 8 oz of Tulepo Honey
- Pitched Muntons Premium Gold @ 66 degrees (LHBS only had Muntons yeast on hand)

OG was 1.040

This was a 45 minute boil because it is all extract and I am trying to avoid the 1.020 FG curse! Just something new. I plan on letting it primary for 2 weeks and then sit on 2 lbs of Cucumbers for about 4 or 5 days. I want the cucumber to be a light note in the background instead of right up front. My IBU was right around 21.5 - too high? I'm looking at 3.54% ABV.

Any thoughts? Should I have done anything different? Should I not bother with the cucumbers since it isn't a wheat beer? This is only my 4th brew so any feedback would be great! The wort smelled delicious!

Blackmuse said:

Should I have done anything different?

Click to expand...

nope. rock on. sounds like a wonderful summer beer to have on hand. let us know how it turns out!

The Lost Abbey/Port Brewing did a cucumber beer, it was amazing.

Nice to get some information because i was planning on doing a session cucumber wheat.

Racked off the cukes and into the keg today. As predicted, the Cucumbers are a little more in the front now. The Citra is still strong, but in a very good way. It should be great after carbonation. Next time I will likely pull them after only a week. I think the saison and citra character is a little nicer up front. All in all, pretty dang good though!!

What's the campden tablet for, and how are you using it exactly?

When I do a watermelon wheat I run the melon through my juicer and just add the juice. Any reason this wouldn't work with the cucumbers too?

GryphonBrew said:

When I do a watermelon wheat I run the melon through my juicer and just add the juice. Any reason this wouldn't work with the cucumbers too?

Click to expand...

I don't see why not:rockin:

GrizBrew said:

I don't see why not:rockin:

Click to expand...

Outstanding. Going to brew this for sure.

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?

TBaGZ said:

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?

Click to expand...

That doesn't even make sense.

bovineblitz said:

That doesn't even make sense.

Click to expand...

It makes sense if there is a second fermentation, I would say.

My Saison definitely had a distinct flavor but not a typical fresh cucumber flavor. I would not call it cabbage though. This years batch is set to go on cukes this weekend.Maybe I will add a few pears to the party. I think the flavors would mix well anyway. I will report back and see if there is a difference.

GrizBrew said:

It makes sense if there is a second fermentation, I would say.

My Saison definitely had a distinct flavor but not a typical fresh cucumber flavor. I would not call it cabbage though. This years batch is set to go on cukes this weekend.Maybe I will add a few pears to the party. I think the flavors would mix well anyway. I will report back and see if there is a difference.

Click to expand...

No it definitely doesn't make sense. Throwing sugar in with the cucumber won't "prevent the yeast from eating the cucumber", those buggers are relentless. They'll eat whatever is in there. Maybe the additional fruit can cover up any funky flavor from the cucumber but I'm not sure about that. It sounds to me like if there's any effect at all it'd be from acidity in the fruit. The idea of "sacrificial fruit" is really strange.

I felt the same bovineblitz. As far as the yeast are concerned food is food.

Wow - I don't get that at all! I'm about to head over to a neighbors house and drink one of my Cucumber Blondes... Definitely smells and tastes of Cucumbers!

Is there even sugar in cucumber to eat? They are literally like 90% water! I only get cucumbers with mine - and the coriander... do you all use coriander? That could be what you taste - to some cilantro and thus coriander seed tastes off - most say like soap.