Who's planning a pumpkin brew this fall?

What style and will you use real, canned pumpkin, or none at all?

I'm planning on doing a Pumpking clone with a family member. Tried it last night for the first time it is pretty good! Going to use real pumpkin.

I'm doing NB's Smashing Pumpkin Ale via a mini mash with 60 oz of canned pumpkin. Hoping it's good!

I have one I designed and brewed last year using canned pumpkin.
Went on tap the 1st of October and sold out 3bbl in right at 3 weeks which is pretty good for us. I plan on brewing it again this year as well.

Dmlsys23 said:

I'm doing NB's Smashing Pumpkin Ale via a mini mash with 60 oz of canned pumpkin. Hoping it's good!

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I've brewed their recipe a couple years in a row now and everyone seems to like it. I've brewed it with real pumpkin and without. I was not able to tell a while lot of difference. Both were good.

I too have a partial mash recipe that I did last year that was a huge hit with friends. They liked it more than all of the store-bought pumpkin ales that I gave to them in a taste test (Sam Adams, O'Fallon, Blue Moon). I'm now doing all-grain but I was too scared to convert it this year and mess it up so I'm sticking with the partial mash for one more year! I used canned pumpkin and also a pound of brown sugar to add to the recipe.

I was thinking about this style and posted this question in the all grain forum:

I have a couple questions, first how are so many breweries selling pumpkin beers already when pumpkins are not in season? Are they not using pumpkins and going right for the canned stuff?

My next question is most say they have a crust flavor are they using some sort of extract or actual pie crust?

wells11 said:

I was thinking about this style and posted this question in the all grain forum:

I have a couple questions, first how are so many breweries selling pumpkin beers already when pumpkins are not in season? Are they not using pumpkins and going right for the canned stuff?

My next question is most say they have a crust flavor are they using some sort of extract or actual pie crust?

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Most pumpkin beers are brewed with spices familiar to pumpkin flavoring such as in pies rather than actual pumpkin, I am a fan of using actual pumpkin as it adds a silky smooth texture and a definite flavor that is unique unto itself.

Crust flavor could be an addition of a grain such as Biscuit in conjunction with using Marris Otter as the primary grain since they will both give off a "bready flavor".

I did mine last weekend. I wanted a smoked pumpkin stout, and based it off Yooper's Oatmeal Stout. I used 3 cans of pumpkin, some smoked malt, pumpkin pie spices and a package of graham crackers. I think this is going to be a project beer for a while to nail down the recipe.

My version started as a Samhain pumpkin recipe, but it has progressed to something a little different. Current recipe uses a bunch of honey malt, and a few drops of Mccormicks butter nut extract, and WLP028. I have made it with both fresh pumpkin and canned. This year's batch was brewed in May, and I will be drinking in December. Plenty of time to age and get happy.

I'm gonna try a Pumking clone I found on here. I must say I was not a fan of pumpkin beers until I tried this one.

As for the crust flavor, the "vanilla butter nut extract" seems interesting. I'm gonna grab some and put a dab into a pumpkin beer that has no crust flavor and see how it changes the flavor profile. My other idea is to mash a couple boxes of graham crackers with the grain and pumpkin.

I did one last year and it was awesome, but the pumpkin is just too much hassle for what you get out of it.

This year I converted my pumpkin recipe to sweet potato. It was still a pain, but at least I should get more fermentables out of it. There's a reason that distillers use potato based mashes and not pumpkin

I'm giving serious consideration to fermenting a mead in a pumpkin this fall.

I've heard negative things using actual grahm crackers.

I'm doing one this weekend. Was hoping to use fresh roasted pumpkins, but as of last weekend the farmers' markets in the Chicago area did not have any yet, seems the mid west crops are about 10 days behind traditional readiness times. If there aren't any there this Saturday morning, I will use canned.

Yeah, I don't see a reason to use graham crackers. They most likely contain preservatives and other things you don't want in your beer.

What you'd probably want to do is use some specialty malts (C60/Biscuit/Carabrown) along with some wheat (I think) and vanilla in secondary or at bottling.

And for the mead in a pumpkin. There were a bunch of people trying to make pumpkin wine last year (sugar + yeast in a hollow pumpkin), and I think all of them turned into a disgusting gooey mess before it was drinkable.

Brewed my fits pumpkin beer last week. I decided to make it an amber ale with all the pumkin spices but no actual pumkin. Hope it goes well.

If using canned pumpkin should it be roasted first?

m_stodd said:

Yeah, I don't see a reason to use graham crackers. They most likely contain preservatives and other things you don't want in your beer.

What you'd probably want to do is use some specialty malts (C60/Biscuit/Carabrown) along with some wheat (I think) and vanilla in secondary or at bottling.

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There is a bunch of stuff in graham crackers that could be not so good in a brew, but there is a recipe for Graham Cracker ale in the recipes section that from reading the thread came out fairly well.

here

But to keep the thread on track, over in the Pumking thread, they have tried graham cracker extract and it ended up having a chemical type taste. Others had tried the Hazelnut butter extract with better results.

wells11 said:

If using canned pumpkin should it be roasted first?

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Pretty pointless for canned pumpkin as it is already pasteurized and it adds no discernible flavor to the canned pumpkin.

Fresh pumpkin it does however add some flavor if done in a smoker and less so if done in an oven (but does add some), it also helps to kill any nasties but if you are adding it to mash it is redundant aside from the possible flavor addition.

Nightshade said:

Pretty pointless for canned pumpkin as it is already pasteurized and it adds no discernible flavor to the canned pumpkin.

Fresh pumpkin it does however add some flavor if done in a smoker and less so if done in an oven (but does add some), it also helps to kill any nasties but if you are adding it to mash it is redundant aside from the possible flavor addition.

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Hmmm. Most pumpkin beer recipes I've read stated to spread the canned pumpkin in a cookie sheet and bake, usually 60 minutes @ 350*. Something about bringing out the flavor. No personal experience doing it vs not though.

ktblunden said:

I'm giving serious consideration to fermenting a mead in a pumpkin this fall.

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I did that last year, except I wanted to do a 5 gallon batch, so I just baked pumpkin and put it in with it. It was one of my first batches, and it isn't done yet. I know I messed some things up with it. We'll see how it turns out.

I brew a harvest ale every year that has hubbard squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and corn. Slightly spiced, but just slightly, and an addition of brown sugar. Easily the best beer I make (and I can say that honostly, because I've made some awful beers), but this one is always a HUGE hit with friends and family.

I really should post the recipe on hbt....

Oh, and with all those fresh veggies, I actually prefer canned pumpkin!

Yeah, a lot of people say to bake it in oven. It being pasteurized has nothing to do with the flavor. 350 is hot enough for the Maillard reaction to take place, and for some of the sugars to caramelize, adding to the flavor.

Canned pumpkin is really the way to go, mainly because it's not really pumpkin, it's a dickinson squash (IIRC).

Baking in the oven adds some great flavor, I always bake the vegetables.

Got my pumpkin in bottle now, I used canned and baked. I brewed it the end of June and I'm not super happy with it... Long story, I was in China for 3 weeks and the basement rose into the lower 70s ambient. I picked up some fruity esters.
Good news, I was able to justify a temp controller to SWMBO.

*tip- If a beer comes out subpar, don't fret. You can use it to justify better equipment to your better half.

The pumpkin flavor has really mellowed aging...

Just beersmithed out my proposed recipe two days ago. Next time I bottle I am going to the home brew store to get my ingredients for my pumpkin

I plan to, it's next on my list, but there are too many other priorities. Hopefully mid-September.

I'm thinking of making 6 gallons this year and splitting it with my brother.

I am planning to do one. I am looking to do a version of NB's Smashing Pumpkin with only fresh pumpkin meat and little or no spices.

A soon as I see pumpkins available.....

I brewed up an all grain version with cinnamon sticks, clove, whole nutmeg, and fresh ginger. I added 7 cans of pumpkin to the mash and had a TON of trub. I kegged it using with a natural carb method a couple of weeks ago, and will tap it the first of October...if I can hold out that long! I will say that if you do like me and add the whole mess into the carboy, add some additional water to make up for the trub loss....

If using canned make sure to not get the pre-spiced stuff.

erockdoc said:

I brew a harvest ale every year that has hubbard squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and corn. Slightly spiced, but just slightly, and an addition of brown sugar. Easily the best beer I make (and I can say that honostly, because I've made some awful beers), but this one is always a HUGE hit with friends and family.

I really should post the recipe on hbt....

Oh, and with all those fresh veggies, I actually prefer canned pumpkin!

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Yes please do that!

ktblunden said:

I'm giving serious consideration to fermenting a mead in a pumpkin this fall.

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I did this with my dfh punkin clone last year. It came out unique, a little sour. I have three bottles left that I'm going to crack on Halloween this year. Maybe the sourness has mellowed a little

Probably intensified, in all fairness. I'm assuming the sour was from some sort of wild yeast or bacteria, which means it might be significantly stronger this year.

Sour pumpkin ale? Sounds delicious.

Fun fact that most people don't know - when you purchase canned pumpkin, it often is a mix of sweet pie pumpkins (usually very small ones) and other squash that also have good flavor (butternut, acorn). Pumpkin, on it's own, doesn't usually have a very pumpkin-y flavor.

If you don't believe me, try making it from scratch with pumpkin pie from pie pumpkins, and then another pie using both pie pumpkins and additional varieties of squash. The second will taste more "like pumpkin" every time. Sort of how apple sauce is usually made with a variety of apple cultivars instead of just 1.

Atm I am planning on a 5gal batch of pumpkin and sweet potato saison for next autumn.

I really want to and Pumking by Southern Tier is absolutely my favorite. Being new and a bit intimidated by anything but an extract kit, I'm going to find one that is supposed to be decent and hope for the best. Unless I get cocky by the time I brew it. It is slated as my third brew because I really want to make an amber ale.

BudzAndSudz said:

Probably intensified, in all fairness. I'm assuming the sour was from some sort of wild yeast or bacteria, which means it might be significantly stronger this year.

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We'll see. Either way would be okay with me. I think it was more tart than like a sour. I sanitized the inside of the pumpkin with bleach. But who knows, I can't imagine fermenting in a pumpkin is an exact science

BudzAndSudz said:

Probably intensified, in all fairness. I'm assuming the sour was from some sort of wild yeast or bacteria, which means it might be significantly stronger this year.

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Sourness can go away to an extent at least. I had an amber that must have gotten infected and was really sour at bottling time. The sourness has faded over a few weeks so it's really just a touch sour now. I almost dumped it since everyone on here said sourness never goes away, but only gets worse. Now it's actually fairly good, just not at all what I was planning on. *disclaimer, I do like sours.

I just watched a video on youtube that southern tier posted titled Pumpking from start to finish. One of the captions was now off to the fermentor where our special blend of spices will be added. Do spices need to be soaked in alchohol or can they just be added straight in?

Already have my pumpkin on tap! I don't like to be drinking it into winter...

This year I broke from usual envys Punkin clone on here (fantastic btw) and tried the one from Moshers book. While I enjoy the addition of coriander to the spice mix, I would cut the recipe by half next time. It uses a lot and overpowers the other spices. Very tasty though even so and a nice change of pace.