100% brett pumpkin

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kesslerr1

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I'm looking for some input on a 100% brett pumpkin beer. First off has anyone had one if so how did it turn out?

Next I thinking about going with something along the lines of

8 LB 2-row
2 Lb Dark munich
2 Lb Wheat
Maybe some Aromatic half an lb
3 lbs of canned pumpkin in the mash

1 oz MT hood at 60
maybe 0.5 oz MT hood at 10
Various pumpkins spices at flame out (I always wing it grab what I can never fails)

This is more or less my standard tried and true pumpkin recipe. I have brewed this twice each fall for the past few years. I usually use a clean yeast US-05 or 1728 I have also had great success with 1968 esb yeast. But this year I looking for something different. I have a culture of Brett trios that I can start or I can pick up any of the other brett strains (maybe brett C.?). Which brett strains do yall think will work best and how do yall think the brett will play with the pumpkin in a 100% addition. Should I modify the recipe to accommodate the brett in anyway? Maybe more adjunct?

:beard:
 
Your recipe sounds pretty tasty with the US-05!

Im not expert at all with any sour beers or Brett fermentations but i would be interested to know how the spice and pumpkin will be affected over time with brett.

How long do you plan to ferment this brew? and are you going to use a bucket / carboy or a barrel of sorts?

:)
 
I plan to ferment it in the primary until it is done. With brett I just follow my hydrometer and let it get down to 1005ish before kegging. Usually take a month. I use a plastic 7 gallon bucket for fermentation I haven't had any problems with contamination or oxidation doing it that way. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out and what the final recipe is. I probably brew in 2 weeks once I get a pay check ;)

Any other input on strains or grain bill I'm all ears

:beard:
 
I settled on Brett C. for the yeast. I have a half gallon starter going now and will post the final recipe after I brew it next weekend.

:beard:
 
Ok final recipe came out to
7 lbs marris otter
2 lbs dark munich
2 lbs malted wheat
3 lbs (3 16 oz cans) of canned pumpkin
mashed at 158
1 oz mt hood first wort
0.5 oz mt hood 60 mins
½ tps cinnamon 5 mins
½ tsp all spice 5 mins
¼ tsp pumpkin spice 5 mins
¼ tsp fresh ginger 5 mins

OG 1061
From the taste of the wort I should have used more pumpkin. Dont know how much will come through with the brett so maybe less is more.
Brett C. starter tasted pretty smokey when I add it to the beer Should be interesting. I will post an update once I keg it a month from now

:beard:
 
The brett should be able to eat through most of the saccharides. So I think it will get down to 1005 or so. I don't have that much Brett experience, but I love it and am excited to see how this one turns out... Woke up this morning to wort shooting out the air lock and had to set up a blow off tube. I was under the impression that brett didn't ferment that vigorously... Lesson learned...
 
I was under the impression that Brett takes months to ferment out, kinda impressed that it can finish quicker.
 
Ok so its been ~2 months since brewed and ~1 month since kegged and this beer is..... pretty good! it is different from most pumpkin beers and took me a few samples to figure out how I felt about it. it is is spicy but over all its great. I dont know how to compare it one made with a clean ale yeast like us-05 or 001 or 1056, but none the less I am happy with the results. Coming out of the primary I hated it, but after a month in the keg I love it. Over time the flavor has matured to be more pumpkiny and sweet which is great. I plan to keep this keg around for a few months to see how it develops. If I had to do it over I would make the grain bill a little maltier as in more munich maybe some melanoidin. I would also add a bit more pumpkin to it but thats just me. I think brett C did a good job with this one!
 
Interesting feedback on this. Besides the Pumpkin shining through, is there any other brett character coming through and if so, how is that playing with all the flavours? And when do you expect the beer in the keg to hit it's peak in terms of flavour?
 
There isnt a brett funk flavor as this is a 100% brett beer. as far when it will peek I have no clue. I wish I knew more about brett and could give a better answer than "pretty good" but to be honest this is an experiment and I step way out of my comfort zone every time I brew with brett. Right now there isnt any funk what so ever and it still a little spicy/alcohol flavor (not hot alcohols) it just taste spicy and big, but is rapidly mellowing and rapidly developing pumpkin flavor (which was nonexistent at the time of kegging). This beer sat for 3.5 weeks in a primary and it tasted hot coming out of it. I almost regretted the money I spent on brewing it, but it has rapidly turned around and cleaned up. It is different than any beer I know of but it is good. The imperfections I see right now are its needs a strong malt backbone in it the brett eat through everything (to be expected) and left a high alcohol spicy beer. Like I said earlier I would maybe adjust the grain bill (someone with more brett experience can hopefully help out) to be more malty... I will give it another week or or two in the keg and let some friends with better palettes than me taste it before I give the final thumbs up. but just as an update this experiment turned out better than I thought it would.
 
Did the 100% brett fermentation produce a fruity flavor that compliments the pumpkin and spices. I might have to try this brett recipe.


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