Cucumber in beer?

I used the search function, but couldn't find what i was looking for. I want to make a very light cucumber session beer this summer, around 3.5-4% and 20 or so IBUs. I was wondering if anyone had experimented with cucumber as an ingredient. I was thinking of juicing a bunch of cucumbers for about a gallon of juice and adding the juice right at turn off so that the juice is pasturized, but not boiled. I want to have a crisp refreshing cucumber flavor for the summer months, any feedback on my idea?

Never done it, but it sounds like an interesting idea.

I would probably skin them, as some cucumbers can be quite bitter.

Instead of juicing, I would try just cubing them and boiling them in a muslin bag. Perhaps trying to make some cucumber tea to see if you can extract the flavor with hot water is in order.

sounds cool,post a recipie?

This thread might have some info https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cucumber-passion-fruit-ale-72531/

Or the wine thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/cucumber-wine-138143/

Funny I googled to see if there was any commercial examples, and it brought me back to here.

I have no clue what this picture is...



the internet is odd....

But it looks to me that cucumbers and hefeweizens must go together, so you might want to aim for something like that.

Cucumber in Gin is excellent, I can imagine it working in the right kind of beer. How about dry cucumbering the final beer?

In addition to the traditional juniper infusion, Hendrick's uses a hint of Bulgarian Rose followed by a mash of cucumber. Hendrick's gin is bottled in a dark brown apothecary-style bottle.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone, I was planning on skinning the cucumbers, I like the idea of trying to make a cucumber tea, I think I'll try that first. I'll keep you guys posted I've got lots of time before summer to experiment with technique, so hopefully I can get a way to extract the flavor of the cucumber before trying it in an actual beer.

You might consider adding borage to the end of the boil, it has a nice cucumber flavor, or dry-herb with some.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borage

BARF. I would probably not boil the cucumbers. I tried that with some spare watermelon, which is a relative of the cucumber and much bigger and sweeter. It smelled fine as it was heating up but as soon as the water got to 150F or so (not even boiling) it started smelling like boiled squash or something. Not sweet or pleasant at all. It was weird, like as soon as the water got hot it totally destroyed the nice flavor of the melon and ripped out all the sweetness.

I would make about a gallon of juice and stabilise it with campden tablets, and then add it, that way the raw flavor and aromas will be preserved without risk of contamination.

ghpeel is definetly right about not heating the cucumbers, I tried it when I was considering a beer like this a couple years ago to see how the flavour would change if I added it to the boil... I never got around to making that beer, I think I'll finially get to that in the next couple months. I look forward to hearing about your brew and if I get around to actually brewing it this time I'll post my experience with it

I believe generally, if you typically eat something raw and want to impart that flavor into something else, you should use the raw product. There's much less telling how that cucumber will taste when it's steeped or boiled. It's a light flavor to begin with but would probably change or diminish from steeping/boiling. That said, if it were me, I'd toss it in the secondary as juice or puree.

Let us know if/how it goes!

My wife bought some cucumber soda the other day, and it was really good. It was a very delicate flavor, though, so I'm not sure how it would do competing with malt and yeast. Something like a cucumber pils might work. Maybe use alcohol to extract the cucumber flavor? Like an infused vodka?

I really like the idea of cucumber. My only concern would be the flavor not being prevalent enough to be as noticeable as you are looking for.

If I might offer a suggestion, I would recommend the infusion route that was previously mentioned. Basically a "cucumber tea", but upping the second part of the equation by using an actual cucumber green tea. I make a cucumber iced tea that picks up a lot of the cucumber flavor.

Basically, make a batch of green tea like you would prepare for iced tea. Allow it to cool completely, then add a lot of sliced cucumber. I leave the skin on, but I doubt it makes much of a difference either way. After about two days in the fridge, the cucumber notes really start to come through.

I've actually mixed this with Duvel, about three parts beer to one part tea, and it is a very nice flavor profile that it adds. If you go any sort of infusion route, you can always make the infusion, pick up a few brews that match what you are targeting and do some mixing to get a relative idea of the quantities and ratios you might need.

I am sure that it isn't a flavor for everyone, but it really has a "spring" quality to it that would make for a nice seasonal.

I'd do a lighter beer, a hefe or wit, maybe even a light lager, and add a ton of cucumber to secondary. Cukes have a fairly light flavor, so you'll probably need a fair few to get anything out of them. Definitely don't boil/cook them - I really think it would add more bitterness and a vegetal flavor.

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rockfish42 said:

You might consider adding borage to the end of the boil, it has a nice cucumber flavor, or dry-herb with some.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borage

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I second the Borage leaves idea. It definitely has a cucumber flavor to it. No special techniques would be needed. Just handle it like you would hops.

Thanks for all the ideas everyone! Since I still do a partial boil on my apt stovetop, I think I'll juice a bunch of cucumbers and add a gallon of juice as part of my top off water (for a 5 gallon batch) I was also thinking that since I'm planning on going low grav I might try my hand at BIAB with this one, but still undecided on that one. right now this is the recipe I've roughed out in my head:
5lb Pilsen LME
.5lb victory Malt
1oz cascade 60 minutes
1oz cascade at turn off
wyeast 1056
partial boil, use 1 gallon cucumber juice as part of top off water for 5 gallon batch
Expected stats:
3.7%abv
17IBUs
What do you guys think?

Sounds good!

I was chatting with the head brewer at a local BP and he did something similar, but added the cucumber in secondary. creates a real fresh clean crisp taste. He had tried adding it at flameout once before.... not so refreshing.

I'm also going to try this. Was thinking about break a 5 gallon batch up and trying a few different techniques to add the cucumber. I'm thinking sliced cucumber in secondary for one, juiced in secondary for another, and vodka extract in secondary for the last. The base beer will probably be a wheat. I'm thinking a pound or two of cucumber per gallon for beer. Thoughts?

Recommendations on a recipe for the base wheat beer? One issue is that I am still doing extract brewing(with specialty grains), so I'd like to keep the recipe in that style

How about just 50/50 wheat/2-row, easy on the hops (something crisp and complementary) as FWH, then a 2-3 cucumbers peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped in secondary. Low-ish gravity, maybe a little dryer than normal to help keep it cool and refreshing. American wheat or a clean-fermenting yeast (S-05). I'm sure someone could give you more specific guidance, but that's a good ballpark estimate.

EDIT: What's the extract equivalent of a 50/50 split of wheat and 2-row?

Liquid wheat malt extract is usually about 60/40 I believe. It's a good split and will finish pretty dry with a high attenuation yeast.

I think I'm going to use Northern Brewers American Wheat kit, but cut back on the hops a little. The kit is cheap and I'm ordering some stuff from them anyway.

Is there any reason I shouldn't add the cut cucumber right to the primary after a week or two of fermentation? Is moving to a secondary really needed? And lastly, how long should I leave it on the cucumber?

Thanks for the info so far guys. I'm hoping to get this started in about 2 weeks.

I think you want to go for a fresh flavor, and IMHO the best way to do that is just to use fresh cucumber. I would rack right on top of the peeled, cut, and seeded cucumber in the secondary. Here's a thread that may help.

I am going to use fresh cucumber, peeled and seeded. I will slice it thin and add it to the beer after fermentation. I did an experiment by adding cucumber to a bottle of tequila I had and the cucumber taste and aroma are coming out very nicely. I am going to use a simple wheat beer with a small amount of hops and a basic yeast. Since cucumber is so mild I don't want to over power it with other flavors.

I'd still like to know if there is any reason I DO NOT want to add the cucumber right to the primary once fermentation is complete? Do I really need to rack to a secondary for the fruit addition?

MDRex said:

I'd still like to know if there is any reason I DO NOT want to add the cucumber right to the primary once fermentation is complete? Do I really need to rack to a secondary for the fruit addition?

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Did you read the first page of the thread I linked? There are multiple answers to your question there.

JayAre said:

Did you read the first page of the thread I linked? There are multiple answers to your question there.

Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't even see the link. Will read that one now, thanks.

OK, read that thread and it did answer most of my questions. Thanks again.

The last question I have is about how long I should keep the beer on the cucumber? I was thinking 2 weeks and then bottle. Does that sound good, too long, too short?

Have you done this yet? How did it turn out?

I'm thinking of doing a cucumber ginger wheat beer.

Not yet, I'm thinking in a month or two I'll try it. (my birthday is next week, and I'm hoping the beer fairy will bring me a new shiny 10 gallon pot) If you do yours first let me know. Right now I'm thinking that Borage is the easiest bet, but it seems a bit deceptive to make a cucumber beer without any cucumber it it, so I don't know!

I'm interested in how this beer turns out. My brother suggested a cucumber IPA. After reading this and the posts that were linked to, I'm thinking we need to go with a much less hopped beer, possibly a wheat or a lightly hopped ale.

I'll be doing in the next few weeks. I'll be using real cucumber, sliced thin and seeded in the secondary. I am going to split a batch of wheat beer and also do jalapeno cilantro I think. Will post more once they are made.

For the people who suggested using borage as a dry herbing. How much would you use for 5 gal?

manortc said:

For the people who suggested using borage as a dry herbing. How much would you use for 5 gal?

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It depends on whether you're using dried or fresh, I'd stick with maybe a half oz of fresh at flameout up to 2 oz as a start. Another option would be to make a tincture with some cheapish vodka and see if you like the flavor. You'll get different compounds from flameout, tincture or dry herbing with the same herb.

One of my roommates makes cucumber water in the warm months. Just water and chopped cucumber in a pitcher in the fridge.
You could do the same thing with your mash water. If you have a big enough container, you could infuse all of your mash water with cucumbers for a day or two before brew day. Not sure what the heat of the mash and subsequent boil will do with the flavors though.

My new toy! Now I can do full boils as long as my stove can handle it. I'm gonna try and go all grain, then in may or june do the cucumber beer.

Cool new toy. My stove is a very cheap apartment model and it works fine with my 15 gallon brew pot. It just put it on two burners to increase the temp, then turn one off to hold the temps steady. I think we're going to shoot for our cucumber beer to be ready in July, so will be brewing about the same time.

This one's a 9 gallon. I did a 6 gallon test boil, and it can get up to a boil well enough , but when the lid comes off it drops and holds at exactly 211, its bubbling good, but no rolling boil for sure. the base is big enough to be on 1 1/2 burners, so I might try a test boil like that today. I'd like to brew in it next weekend, maybe do my first BIAB in 3 weeks, and if that works I might go all grain all the time!

This past weekend I brewed a sort of Hefe/Dunkelweizen (somewhere in between). Once it was fermenting fairly well I siphoned off a gallon into a separate fermentor containing a little more than a pound of peeled and mashed cucumbers and a half oz of grated ginger.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Definately! I'd love to know how that turns out.