IPA Pickles?!?

[davekippen]

How "fresh" do you guys start eating these? One week?

 

[Revvy]

I think the instructions say 4 or 5 days..

 

[mcstout]

I just made a batch with Founders IPA. On a side note I had forgotten how good that stuff was.

 

[davekippen]

Just tried mine tonight, wow. I had no idea something so good could be so simple! I may cut back on the hot pepper flakes next time, whew they made me sweat! Crazy good, and crazy easy!

 

[mcstout]

I can't wait until mine are ready to try.

 

[Revvy]

I must be druk, I thought I posted on here just now.

I just made 2, 4 quart batches. I did 4 with DFH 90, and 4 with Deviant Dale's by Oskar Blues.... Bought 10 pounds of pickling cukes for 9 bucks.....

And I added about 2 whole hop cones worth of hop leaves to each jar.

 

[JuanMoore]

Just made a couple jars of pickles and some escabeche (carrots, jalapenos, and onions) using some homebrew Amarillo IPA in the brine. Also threw a few cones of legacy hops in each jar. Smells delicious. Can hardly wait to taste them.

I'm a pickling noob, but like Annasdad said, there evidently is some enzyme inside the tip of cukes, that if not cut off will cause them to be flaccid. Having said that I followed that advice and mine are still soft. I figured I either didn't cut enough off or the age of the cuke made for soft pickles anyway. But to me they didn't matter, they're not mush, just soft. But still taste amazing anyway.

I usually just make refrigerator pickles without any processing, which stay nice and crisp. When I give them as gifts I like to process them since I can't guarantee they'll be eaten in a timely manner. For this I use a little alum and process for 20-30 min at 180°. Anything over 185° supposedly will cause the cukes to break down and become soft. Picking the right pickles is a big part of it too. You want the thinner bumpier ones for the best crunch. The fatter ones with fewer bumps are over ripe and starting to develop seeds, which can contribute to soggy texture. I always cut 1/4" off of the blossom end too (end opposite from the stem).

 

[mcstout]

I just opened mine and they are excellent. I'm going to be making more and trying whole leaf hops in them. Thanks Revvy.

 

[BandT]

These are so good! I put onions from my garden in there as well and I kind of think those are even better than the cukes. JuanMoore, that escabeche is a great idea.

I've had many friends try them, and they all make a funny face then say something like "That is...really interesting. And I love it!"

Started eating them at one week, but much more flavorful after 10-14 days

 

[Revvy]

Busy afternoon, 20 jars of fresh hopped ipa pickles and 3 jars of pickled asparagus. I used my french press coffee pot like a randal and soaked some of the beer with hops before adding it to the pickling mixture.

Sadly I kicked my keg of ipa making these.

Evidently the asparagus was picked on Friday.

 

[daveooph131]

I'm definitely making these again.

 

[fizgig]

My wife was going to the store and I asked her to pickup dill seed and cucumbers for pickling, she came back with full sized ones. It looks like those just make a mushy pickle from what I've read. She apparently has never heard of the small ones, I must have said "for pickling" half a dozen times.

 

[MTate37]

My wife was going to the store and I asked her to pickup dill seed and cucumbers for pickling, she came back with full sized ones. It looks like those just make a mushy pickle from what I've read. She apparently has never heard of the small ones, I must have said "for pickling" half a dozen times.

Those tiny women brains...what can you do?

 

[Revvy]

When I give them as gifts I like to process them since I can't guarantee they'll be eaten in a timely manner. For this I use a little alum and process for 20-30 min at 180°. Anything over 185° supposedly will cause the cukes to break down and become soft.

Hey Juan, I meant to tell you I did an entire flat of pickles (20 jars) and 3 jars of asparagus this way. And except for 3 jars of the pickles not forming a vacuum after (which I thorough into the fridge) what I've tasted so far have all been crisper than when I boil processed them in previous batches.

Thanks.

 

[fizgig]

I made some tonight with a few different adjuncts.

 

[Revvy]

I made some tonight with a few different adjuncts.

Adjuncts? Oh no, you made BMCpickles! :fro:

Seriously, what did you make, I'm really curious about the lime one.

Hey, has anyone who's done it with hop cones actually tried eating the pickled hops? I haven't had the guts to try them.

 

[fizgig]

Chili lime - 1 small lime, 1 jalapeño, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, I kinda wanted this one mild-medium

Herb carrot - 3 carrots, basil, oregano, thyme

Garlic onion - 1 small onion, 10 or so cloves fresh garlic, some dried minced garlic

Red Pepper - habenero - habenero hot sauce (1tbsp, it's really hot), 1 red bell pepper, I'll adjust up if needed and or buy some hot peppers

I have some slicing cucumbers in there mainly because my wife accidentally bought the wrong ones and to take up some space. I'll let you know how they turn out, the base recipe was a combo of the first 2 you posted based on what I had on hand.

 

[Bookworm]

Looks interesting. But some of the things people have mentioned are a little scary. If you have not canned before you should do some reading about it. If you are processing for shelf storage, not refrigerator pickles, you should do water bath processing to be safe.

Messing with canning recipes can also be dangerous. Particularly like one person mentioned doubling the beer. If you add things that lower the acidity of the solution it can be a big problem. Water bath processing, maintaining the correct acidity, and getting a good jar seal are what prevent botulism. Botulism kills people!

In some pickle recipes it calls for sprinkling pickling salt on the sliced cucumbers, letting it set for a couple of hours, then rinsing them. It draws out some of the water and helps with crispness and maintaining acidity. You could also buy some pickle crisp and follow the directions.

You can add as much sugar as you like to balance acidity. sugar will not change the acidity of the vinegar solution.

 

[Revvy]

Messing with canning recipes can also be dangerous. Particularly like one person mentioned doubling the beer. If you add things that lower the acidity of the solution it can be a big problem..

You are aware of the fact that beer IS ACIDIC aren't you? So doubling the beer would actually INCREASE, not decrease the acidity of the brine. That's one of the reasons the use of beer in pickles works so well.

 

[ong]

You are aware of the fact that beer IS ACIDIC aren't you? So doubling the beer would actually INCREASE, not decrease the acidity of the brine, NOT decrease it.

If you're adding the beer to vinegar, you're reducing the acidity of the solution by diluting it. You have more H+ ions after adding the beer, but bouncing around in a greater volume of water.

 

[Bookworm]

You are aware of the fact that beer IS ACIDIC aren't you? So doubling the beer would actually INCREASE, not decrease the acidity of the brine. That's one of the reasons the use of beer in pickles works so well.

I am aware that beer is acidic. I could do the molar calculations to back up what I am saying but I think ong gave a simple and understandable answer to the fault in your logic.

If you're adding the beer to vinegar, you're reducing the acidity of the solution by diluting it. You have more H+ ions after adding the beer, but bouncing around in a greater volume of water.

Another thing to consider is that all acids are not created equal. Vinegar is mostly acetic acid. Beer has small amounts of several acids such as iso-alpha from hops, and carbonic acid from dissolved CO2. They are not all equally effective at destroying various pathogens or equally palatable in concentrations high enough for pickling.

I have done a lot of canning and chemistry and am not just trying to make stuff up.

 

[Revvy]

Cool info!!!!

 

[fizgig]

I processed mine at 180 (but not under pressure) and they're all sealed. I didn't have much of a chance of getting crisp pickles anyway. After a week they'll probably go in the fridge anyway, I gotta try 'em all, but good advice.

If anyone decides to alter, they can check with pH strips. I have to imagine the large amount of salt plays a role as well in killing the nasties.

 

[fizgig]

Wow these are good. I only opened my garlic/onion one, both the slicing cucumber and Persian pickle cucumber are pretty crispy at the moment. I'm not getting much beer flavor or hops though, I used my pretty hoppy Citra/simcoe IPA recipe. I'm growing some at the moment, maybe when the cones are ready I'll throw some in. I might kick the vinegar up a notch next time and dial back the salt a touch, I used kosher salt and I think 3 tablespoons might be more than 2 of pickling salt. Does anyone have the salt measurement by weight?

 

[Revvy]

No matter how much beer I use or how many hops I add they just don't get distinctively beery/hoppy, probably because of all the vinegar and salt. I think the beer, and hops just provide a unique depth of flavor, something unidentifiable to most people, but not as "beery" as I would like. I don't know if we have to inundate the brine with hops, both in the boil, at flameout and in the jar, just like brewing or just enjoy them as is.

 

[terrapinj]

what about using Malt Vinegar?

 

[homebrewhaha]

what about using Malt Vinegar?

I did this last night. I'll update with results.

 

[fizgig]

Update on my variants, the extra garlic/onion were amazing, the herb one just didn't work, used fresh oregano, basil and thyme from our garden, tasted like I used old herbs not stored properly, I guess stick to dill. It also seemed to really knock out any vinegar taste, I dumped them after one pickle. Still haven't opened the other two.

 

[homebrewhaha]

This is my second time trying the Sea Hag recipe, and it's just...awful. Waaayyyyy too sour—the vinegar is overwhelmingly strong, I almost choked on this crap. I did a batch with apple cider vinegar and a batch with malt vinegar. I preferred the apple cider, but both batches were inedible. What a waste. Are most people using the Sea Hag recipe or the second version (which seems better b/c it has a lot of water added, which you need IMO)??

disclaimer: I've made lots of batches of pickles and they always come out great. I may have to abandon "IPA pickles" altogether.

 

[fizgig]

Second version for the base recipe for me.