Cucumber Saison w/Sorachi Ace

Hahaha, drunk research. I love how it went from using a medical syringe in precise increments to just dumping some in... Though I suppose you don't have a great idea of how much beer is in the keg to begin with. Thanks regardless.

 

Here is an update on this:

Brewed 6/18
Kegged 7/10

11 gallon batch

Mash @ 148
20 lb. Pilsen
2 lb. Pale Wheat

90 minute boil
.5 oz Sorachi Ace (60)
1.5 oz. Sorachi Ace (15)
2 oz. Sorachi Ace (flameout)

Wyeast French Saison pitched @ 68
Held at 70 for a couple days and raised to 75-76 over the course of the week.

1053 OG
1.004 FG <--- This was in one week. Lower than expected but not really lower than some report for this strain so no biggie.

Drinks well after 3 weeks, refreshing. Tart but not too much so, subtle fruit and lemon flavors, nice peppery note towards the backend. I went light handed with the Sorachi Ace and don't think I perceive anything that would make me say "blech" as billandsuz put it. Not sure if there is dill notes, maybe in the aftertaste as pickle did pop in my mind at some point after drinking the sample.

So in the end I just went with adding actual cucumber right to the keg (only doing one keg). Went with 3.25 lbs. (5 cucumbers). They were dropped in sanitizer, then peeled, deseeded, and chopped. At this point I said to myself, how the hell am I going to wrap these in cheesecloth in such a way I can get them back out...

So I rolled them up like a big sausage, tied both ends, then rolled the other way with another layer of cheesecloth to cover the seam. Finally I tied it up like a pork loin with dental floss in a crisscross manner. Dipped the whole thing in sanitizer and let it run off before lowering into the keg. Hoping it keeps it's shape and it will be easy to extract from the keg. Going to give it a taste tomorrow and daily throughout the week as I've read some have gotten enough cucumber flavor/aroma after 3-5 days. I leave for vacation for a week on Saturday anyway, so I'm going to have to pull it by then no matter what.

 

Oh, I totally agree and was iffy about doing it at all. I'm not really fond of additions like this. I suppose I have cold temps, co2 (or lack of o2 that is), and the santizer dip before putting in the keg on my side. Hopefully that cuts down the risk.

 

Actually gave it a try last night, after 24 hrs. It already has a prominent cucumber aroma as well as a subtle flavor. I'm really digging that initial waft of cuke you get in the nose.

The cucumber is a little subtle still in the flavor which probably isn't a bad thing and maybe in the after taste I may be picking up a borderline pickleness to it. Which I suppose is more or less what I was shooting for anyway as mentioned earlier in the thread (pepper, dill, lemon, etc). Of course it's still early so it will be interesting to see how the flavor might develop over time. Hopefully it doesn't fade over time.

I don't think it will need much longer really, will give it another try tonight. I suppose only so much cuke can be extracted anyway.

I think I might still make the cucumber tincture as well and test it on samples from the other non-cuked keg eventually.

 

Okay, 48 hours (or probably more like 52 or so) I pulled the cuke sausage out of the keg. No problems there and the flavor/aroma seems to be just where I want it. Only slightly more potent than the day before..

Side note - these saison-soaked cucumbers did not make good pickles. Yuk.

 

So it's been nearly a month since it was cuked, and I just wanted to note, for anyone that is curious, that the flavor and aroma haven't faded. Good stuff.