Butternut Squash Beer

So it is getting close to fall so it is fall beer time... (yes this is my first line in my first post. I am proud having such a good start).

So my friends and I are going to split 4 batches of pumpkin beers. Hopefully, 2 will be porters, 2 will be ales. What do you think about making one of the pumpkin ales into a pumpkin lager?

The first one is not a pumpkin beer at all but will be a Betternut Squash Beer since I can not find pumpkin. Even canned pumpkin.

So I am planning a version of the Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale but instead of pumpkins, I am using 6 Butternut Squashes. I have scaled the recipe to 6.5 gallons since I want at least 5 gallons when done.

Below are pictures of the squash cooking. I am steaming some and baking some in the oven. I will try to post as the batch progresses. Hopefully the images work.

I think that caned pumpkin is usually some kind of squash anyway (well, a squash that isn't a pumpkin). Should taste more or less the same? I actually like butternut better than I like pumpkin anyway, so I would be interested in trying this brew!

I've never seen a pumpkin lager, but hey, doesn't mean it can't be done. What kind of style would you be going for with it? Sort of bock-ish?

A pumpkin lager could be done similar to an Oktoberfest or a bockish beer

I think most any beer can be done as a lager instead of an ale as long as you choose a yeast that accepts your brew's alcohol.

I did a dopplebock back in the spring that was fantastic. Both the dopplebock and my Octoberfest that I did this year used the Wyeast 2206 (Bavarian Lager Yeast). I wonder how a pumpkin dopplebock would be... Maybe the pumpkin would get burried in the other flavors.

I think that a pumpkin octoberfest would be fantastic. For some reason I didn't even think of that!

Whatever you end up doing, be sure to let us know the results!

Well, my butternut ale is now in the boil stage 45 minutes to go.

One thing that I did a little bit different is do an extra 1.5 hour boil after the sparge. To eliminate the possibility of sparge issues I did my ale like a normal one. After sparging I added the squash to the liquid and boild it for an hour and a half. At this point, I ran it through a strainer and put it back on the stove and added the hops for the 60 minute boil.

I am not keen on wasting beer and I figured "strain it now or have it waste beer as trub later". Many people use their mash as a strainer. I did it in an in-between stage.

I am definately planning to do a lager. Maybe next weekend. I will post details.

Interesting, can't wait to hear how it turns out.

devilishprune said:

I think that caned pumpkin is usually some kind of squash anyway (well, a squash that isn't a pumpkin).

Click to expand...

Correct, it's Dickinson Field squash to be exact.