therealpedro
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2014
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I am an amateur gardener, and one of my ambitions is to brew beers using the vegetables I grow in my garden. I am currently trying to brew a cucumber flavored beer.
As a newcomer to to beer brewing I used a Brewers Best Kolsch kit as the base. I figured a kolsch is a light enough beer that even the delicate flavor of cucumber might not be masked.
Anyway, I brewed the beer as per the instructions, but also added between a pound and a half to two pounds of shredded borage leaves about the same time as the finishing hops.
I also intend to add cucumber chunks to the beer, but I did not add it to the boil as I figured the flavor would not survive being boiled very well. I also did not add it to the fermentation bucket, as I don't know any way to sterilize cucumbers that does not ruin their flavor. So I figured I would add the chunks to a glass carboy (I am thinking from 2-4 cucumbers worth) and then moving the beer to the carboy for secondary fermentation on top of the cucumber chunks.
My question is whether the amount of alcohol present in the beer at that point will be enough to retard any bacterial growth due to the introduction of a fairly large amount of unsterilized plant matter? Does anyone know or can offer suggestions?
I suppose I should have asked prior to starting the beer, but sometimes you have to seize the moment.
Thank you all.
As a newcomer to to beer brewing I used a Brewers Best Kolsch kit as the base. I figured a kolsch is a light enough beer that even the delicate flavor of cucumber might not be masked.
Anyway, I brewed the beer as per the instructions, but also added between a pound and a half to two pounds of shredded borage leaves about the same time as the finishing hops.
I also intend to add cucumber chunks to the beer, but I did not add it to the boil as I figured the flavor would not survive being boiled very well. I also did not add it to the fermentation bucket, as I don't know any way to sterilize cucumbers that does not ruin their flavor. So I figured I would add the chunks to a glass carboy (I am thinking from 2-4 cucumbers worth) and then moving the beer to the carboy for secondary fermentation on top of the cucumber chunks.
My question is whether the amount of alcohol present in the beer at that point will be enough to retard any bacterial growth due to the introduction of a fairly large amount of unsterilized plant matter? Does anyone know or can offer suggestions?
I suppose I should have asked prior to starting the beer, but sometimes you have to seize the moment.
Thank you all.