Needed something a little extra to bring to the Vermont Beer Advocate Meetup this weekend. This is quick and only takes about a half hour to bang out. I didn’t process the jars since they’re going to get eaten this weekend, but add that step if you plan on making these shelf stable. Check it out:
Ingredients
- 2 packages mini cukes
- 1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
- 1 bottle of beer (you can pretty much use anything here but unless you want it to look weird I’d keep it on the lighter side. I used Saranac White IPA)
- 2 tablespoons pickling salt
- 8 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 teaspoons dill seed
- 2 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon red chili flakes
- 2 quart mason jars
1. Cut off the ends of pickles and then into quarters, make sure they’re short enough to fit in the mason jars without sticking up too high.
2. Shove the pickles in the jars.
3. Split the garlic, peppercorns, dill seed, and crushed red between the two jars.
4. Combine the vinegar, beer, and salt together in a saucepan, heat until just boiled (it’s going to boil over due to the carbonation if you aren’t careful here).
5. Transfer the mixture to something with an easy to pour spout.
6. Pour the hot liquid over the pickles leaving about a 1/4 inch of headspace.
7. Screw the lid tops on.
8. Let the jars cool to room temp.
9. Shake ‘em up to mix the seasoning around.
10. Stick ‘em in the fridge for a few days
11. Enjoy the deliciousness.
Recipe was adapted from here. I basically replaced the water with beer.
matthew 'fuj' scher 
Can you use anything other than beer?
I’ve seen some recipes that use hard cider as well. Might need to tweak the ratios of sugar to cider depending on how sweet or dry the cider you use is!