Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Sea Hag Hopped Up Pickles (Spicy IPA Pickles)


Sea Hag Hopped Up Pickles
(Spicy IPA Pickles)

2 Pounds Small Cucumbers
1 1/2 Cups Apple Cider Vinegar
1 Can Sea Hag IPA (or any good IPA)
2 Tablespoons Pickling Salt OR
3 Tablespoons Kosher Salt
8 Garlic Cloves, Peeled
4 Teaspoons Dill Seed
2 Teaspoons Black Peppercorns
1 Teaspoon Red Chili Flakes

Cut off the ends of cucumbers.  This is important because there are enzymes in the ends that will soften the pickles . . . i.e. less crispy. 



Cut the cucumbers into quarters, make sure they’re short enough to fit in quart mason jars without sticking up too high.  Pack the cucumbers into the jars

Split the rest of the ingredients between the two jars.

Combine the vinegar, beer, and salt together in a saucepan, heat until just boiled.  Be careful because it will boil over.

Using a ladle, pour the hot liquid over the cucumbers leaving about a 1/4 inch of headspace.

Screw the lid tops on and allow the jars to cool on the countertop.




Shake the jars gently to mix the spices around.  Put them in the fridge and allow the pickles to absorb all the wonderful spices.

After about a week open the jar, take a bite and be completely impressed with your awesome pickling skills!

PS . . . I use New England Brewery Sea Hag cuz it's a rockin' good beer that make seriously rockin' good pickles!



4 comments:

  1. That's it. Is that really all there is to making pickles? I always thought you had to can/jar them by first heating in a pressure cookers or something like that, then seal the jars in some sort of vacuum sealer and then wait months for the pickles to be just right. Wow, I am amazed. So amazed, I may have to try that because I can think up a gazillion recipes for potentially great tasting (and probably some terrible tasting) pickles. Of course, if I do it, there will be no cutting off the end of the pickles for me. That would be almost sacrilegious, I think the best pickles always are whole.

    I may try it with green tomatoes too.

    Thanks for the recipe.

    All the best,
    Glenn B

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  2. These are refrigerator pickles . . . so they must stay cold. But canning pickles is pretty much just as easy with only a bit more time for the canning process.

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  3. I gotta check it out and a bit more and get on it with some green tomatoes and cucumbers. The recipe sounds great.

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  4. It's not really both ends of the pickle you need to cut-off, but the blossom end (opposite of the stem) because it contains enzymes that turn your cukes mushy faster.
    You only need to remove about 1/16th of an inch, I usually end-up going about 1/4" because I don't have mad slicing skills.
    Thanks Cher for a great recipe, I never would have though of using beer in a brine.
    I can't wait to try this one out this summer!

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