Wicked Pickle - Cucumber Pale Ale

[irideCB750]

So... My girlfriend, after attending a fruit & veg brewfest, wanted me to brew a cucumber kolsch. Because of my lack of a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, I'm limited to mostly ales at the moment. I decided to make a cucumber pale ale. Here's what I came up with.
Cucumber Pale

Style: American Pale Ale OG: 1.059
Type: All Grain FG: 1.014
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 5.90 %
Calories: 193 IBU's: 50.24
Efficiency: 80 % Boil Size: 5.83 Gal
Color: 6.4 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Preboil OG: 1.056 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 11 days @ 68.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
9.50 lbs 86.36 % Briess 2-Row Pale Ale Malt 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 9.09 % Vienna Malt 60 mins 1.036
0.50 lbs 4.55 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L 60 mins 1.035

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.75 ozs 20.46 Cascade 60 mins 8.30
0.50 ozs 12.52 Cascade 45 mins 8.30
0.50 ozs 10.48 Cascade 30 mins 8.30
0.50 ozs 6.77 Cascade 15 mins 8.30
1.75 ozs Cascade 14 days 8.30

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg California Ale White Labs 0001

Additions
After 11 days in the primary, beer was racked atop 5 lbs of organic cucumbers that had been thoroughly rinsed and sanitized, peeled, cored and chopped.

Mash Profile
Light Body Infusion In 75 min @ 150.0°F
Add 13.75 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 167.3°F
Light Body Infusion Out 10 min @ 168.0°F
Add 8.25 qt ( 0.75 qt/lb ) water @ 200.0°F

Bottle carbonation after 5 days on the cucumbers.

This beer turned out really well. Everybody that tried it, loved it. Definitely gonna brew this one again as a summer quencher.
Notes

www.iBrewMaster.com Version: 2.834



Sent from my iPhone

 

[DrBuzz]

Did the cucumber lend alot of flavour to the beer overtop of the grain bill and cascade hops?

 

[heathcom]

I made a cuke beer this summer, I also used fresh picked cukes. I found that over time the cukiness would start turning bad like a cuke does when left out in the open. The first few days tasted great with a nice sharp crisp hint of cuke. Maybe cuke extract would work better as organic vegies tend to lose something over time.

 

[Shred]

Sounds interesting but cucumber is such a mild flavor. How well does it cut through all the cascade?

 

[irideCB750]

The beer came out really well! We were very pleased. Definitely going to brew it again next summer. The cucumber came through intensely, initially. After about three weeks in the bottle, the cucumber flavor mellowed, making for a great mix with the Cascade.

 

[Shred]

Nice. Maybe a future experiment!