Pumpkin apple cider ideas
 

Its pumpkin season folks. I've seen a few attempts on this forum but no tasting notes or hard experience. What think you ciderites? Can pumpkin be added to our wondrous apple brew with success? how much of the mushy pumpkin goodness should one add to savor the sweetness of autumn?

My tentative plans:

2-3 cans pumpkin
5gal apple juice
Sugar to 1.06 or 1.07
Spices as one would spice pumpkin pie
Nottingham

Any thoughts? Too much/little pumpkin? Too high /low OG?

I've had a 6 pack of Ace pumpkin cider and it was delicious. I have no idea on how to go about making an apple pumpkin cider, but I have read somewhere that a lot of people use squash instead if pumpkin (in beer, anyway) because the flavor holds up better than pumpkin. If I remember the thread, ill post a link. But...cider is never boiled, so using pumpkin should be OK. Anyone else know more about using pumpkin?

That ACE stuff looks cool. I'll have to try it.

It is definitely the style of brew I'm looking to make, apple cider fused with pumpkin and apple pie spices.

Here's a description: http://greatpumpkinbeerreview.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/ace-hard-pumpkin-cider-california-cider-company/

I'm thinking I might throw in some malt extract too to fill out the body on this one. Maybe not, I'm not sure.

I'll probably use Libby's... Which, I believe, is largely made from butternut. I can't remember where that info came from, but it makes sense. They taste very similar, and squash has a better yield.

Well, I guess nobody has any ideas/recipes for the pumpkin apple cider. I'll give it a go.

INGREDIENTS:

16 liters Apple Juice (pasteurized, 100%, Vitamin C only)
4 cans (289 ml?) AJ concentrate
2 big cans (60 oz) canned pure pumpkin
1 kilogram light DME
2 cups brown sugar
2 liters water
.2 oz chinook (14%)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1 packet Nottingham ale yeast

PROCESS:

1) Bring Water to boil
2) add pumpkin and DME, set timer to 30 min
3) at 15 min, add hops
4) at 5 min, add spices and sugar.
5) cool wort/concoction to room temp
6) Add cooled wort/concoction to sanitized carboy
7) add Apple Juice and Concentrate
8) stir really well,
9) Check gravity (1.055 for moi)
10) pitch yeast with blow off tube (that pumpkin looked ominous)
11) post ingredients and process on HBT with pictures to encourage enlightening discussion

Wish me luck!

It will be interesting to see how this comes out. Are you planning on adding a clarifier to secondary?

What?! With that beautiful clarity? Just kidding. I've added bentonite with wines, but never with beer or cider. Do you have a reccomendation? I'll probably add more spices too, depending on taste, etc.

You may have done so already, but since you didn't list it, I'd add some pectin enzyme to primary. Once fermentation is complete. Move to secondary, give it a couple days, then move it to another container. Your primary is fine if you don't have another brew going. You might want to do that a couple of times depending on how much of the solids fall out of suspension. Once it looks pretty good, then add the bentonite slurry. Let it settle, then bottle.

With all the solids in the mix like that, I'm thinking that you'll need to decant the way I described. Otherwise I don't think it will clear at all, even with the bentonite. You would end up with the bentonite attracting some of the solids out of suspension, but with so many I think you would just overwhelm it.

That is my suggestion. I haven't made a pumpkin cider though.

I've got some raw frozen pumpkin in my freezer someone gave to me last year, I was curious about a pumpkin cider as well, but using raw pumpkin, might have to add to the experiment list

A couple of the pumpkin ale recipes in the vegetable beer section use raw pumpkin, but they cook it first. I don't see why you couldn't do it like a wine and purée it or dice it, then use it if you wanted to keep it raw.

Personally, I don't like the taste of raw pumpkin, but when it's cooked, even without spices, it tastes much better.

Just had a Howe Sound Pumpkineater imperial ale last night. They make it out to the island yet?

Pretty darn good, but I'm definitely going for a different flavor profile in my cider.

That seems like a good process... I think I'll do it. Thanks!


I'm thinking I might need to wrap my racking tube end cap in cheese cloth or something... It's some ooey gooey stuff down there