pumpkin flavoring tips

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figgnewton

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I will be making my second pumpkin beer pretty soon and was wondering about getting the pumpkin flavor to come through. My idea is to put about 5 lbs of canned pumpkin into slow cooker for a couple hours and then add some of the pumpkin to the mash, some to end of boil, and then some to fermenter. I think read somewhere that adding the pumpkin to different stages can help bring out the pumpkin flavor more but read no where about slow cooking the pumpkin. Could slow cooking the pumpkin cause any negative effects?
 
I might get flak for this but in my opinion if you're going for the flavor most people associate with pumpkin it's really all about the spice and not about the pumpkin itself. The best pumpkin beer I made had no actual pumpkin, just spices added to taste at bottling.

Although if you're not trying to make your beer taste like pumpkin pie than that's a whole nother thing
 
Well I always put my canned pumpkin in near the end of the boil and have never had any problems. I would say to use caution when adding pumpkin pie type spices to your beer, as cinnamon and others can leave a bitter aftertaste if used to much.
 
I do love pumpkin spice but also was really hoping to get some of the pumpkin to come through. Avery rumpkin and southern tier pumking are 2 that I feel really has a good pumpkin flavor that comes through. I basically want my beer to be a combination of both of those beers
 
One of the best beers I make is my pumpkin ale. I take about 60 ounces of Libbie's pumpkin puree (un-spiced, you will add spices to the boil) or 2 of the large cans, open them and spread the pumpkin out in a thin layer over a baking sheet. cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees to really get a cooked pumpkin flavor. Then I add that to my mash and rest for 60 minutes like normal. Roasting the pumpkin in the oven is key to bringing out a lot of the flavor.

Next I add 1.5 tablespoons of McCormick pumpkin pie spice to the boil at 5 minutes left. The beers always end up with a rich pumpkin and spice flavor.

I am brewing this soon for fall and plan on using my friends homegrown pumpkins they grew especially for pies this year.
 
I think you'll get more pumpkin flavor from roasting the pumpkin and adding spices. And I'd suggest using sugar pumpkins instead of the large carving ones. Pumpkin doesn't really have all that much flavor to begin with (think squash) so roasting it will help to bring out any residual sugars in there and impart some pumpkin flavor. However, the most pumpkin is going to come from the spices you add.

In fact, I know of someone that actually uses yams (plus spices) for his pumpkin beer because he felt like he got more pumpkin-like flavor from yams than the actual pumpkin.
 
One of the best beers I make is my pumpkin ale. I take about 60 ounces of Libbie's pumpkin puree (un-spiced, you will add spices to the boil) or 2 of the large cans, open them and spread the pumpkin out in a thin layer over a baking sheet. cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees to really get a cooked pumpkin flavor. Then I add that to my mash and rest for 60 minutes like normal. Roasting the pumpkin in the oven is key to bringing out a lot of the flavor.

Next I add 1.5 tablespoons of McCormick pumpkin pie spice to the boil at 5 minutes left. The beers always end up with a rich pumpkin and spice flavor.

I am brewing this soon for fall and plan on using my friends homegrown pumpkins they grew especially for pies this year.

Similar to what I do. I use 75 oz (5 cans) and next time I'll add a few more cans. It took mine 90' to start caramelizing in a 350F (convection) oven. There's a lot of water that needs to evaporate first. I may have used the broiler first with the door ajar. In the end I had to scrape off and dissolve the caked on puree cake.

I wouldn't add the spices to the boil however, but after flameout at around 190F and let it steep a short while before chilling down to ferm temps. I use 1 Tbs. of spice mix, similar to McCormick's. It's definitely heavy on cinnamon, which I prefer over cloves standing out.
 
I want to try boiling canned pumpkin then chilling it to mashing temp of 150with added amylase, freezing it, then adding it to secondary. I think you would get the most out of the pumpkin like this
 
You'd need to add metric sh*t ton of pumpkin to get any sort of real pumpkin flavor in a beer. If you've got that much available, and you can fit it in our mash tun/kettle, then I say go for it.

Mash out might be a little tough for those of us that BIAB, though...
 
I will be just using canned pumkin and I am just going to seep the pumpkin but also thinking I will add some to end of boil and I may even try some in secondary. I got a great deal on some canned pumpkin so I will have 90 oz to work with if needed. Whats a good tray to use for roasting? Last year I tried and it just made a mess. Would I use a similar tray that I would use for brownies?
 
I might get flak for this but in my opinion if you're going for the flavor most people associate with pumpkin it's really all about the spice and not about the pumpkin itself. The best pumpkin beer I made had no actual pumpkin, just spices added to taste at bottling.

Although if you're not trying to make your beer taste like pumpkin pie than that's a whole nother thing

Absolutely. The flavor of pumpkin beers is all from the spices, not from real pumpkin.
I do 1/2tsp cinnamon, 1/4tsp ground ginger, 1/8tsp each of all spice and nutmeg. Nice spice mix, added at 1 minute left in the boil.
 
In fact, I know of someone that actually uses yams (plus spices) for his pumpkin beer because he felt like he got more pumpkin-like flavor from yams than the actual pumpkin.

Yep, plain ol' pumpkin doesn't taste like what our taste buds think is "pumpkin".

I dare anyone to blind taste plain pumpkin and recognize it as pumpkin....
 
Most do have to do with the spices for sure but to me southern tier barely spices theirs and it comes more from a graham cracker pumpkin sweetness... I am pretty much trying to achieve that but with more added spices. Also the pumpkin I got is cheap, worst case it adds some a nice orangy color. I am also going to age on some oak cubes soaked in amaretto.
 
I want to try boiling canned pumpkin then chilling it to mashing temp of 150with added amylase, freezing it, then adding it to secondary. I think you would get the most out of the pumpkin like this

Interesting! Any take on why you think that will eek out most of the pumpkin and associated flavors?
 
Yep, plain ol' pumpkin doesn't taste like what our taste buds think is "pumpkin".

I dare anyone to blind taste plain pumpkin and recognize it as pumpkin....

I can agree with this. I received a Gold for an Old English Pumpkin Cream Ale in 2014. It tasted like a standard brown ale until the spices went it. The spices are what we think of when we have pumpkin pie. :rockin:
 
Here's a challenge...

Make two beers. Add pumpkin to one with no spices. Add spices to one with no pumpkin. Now tell us which one tastes like pumpkin.... :)
 
I will be just using canned pumkin and I am just going to seep the pumpkin but also thinking I will add some to end of boil and I may even try some in secondary. I got a great deal on some canned pumpkin so I will have 90 oz to work with if needed. Whats a good tray to use for roasting? Last year I tried and it just made a mess. Would I use a similar tray that I would use for brownies?


I wouldn't mess with putting it in secondary. You run the risk of infection with no added benefit. That's me though.

I use an 11"x9" Pyrex dish for mine. It keeps everything in place, and you only need to mix it around a bit a couple times to ensure that you get some evaporation and browning of the pumpkin.
 
Interesting! Any take on why you think that will eek out most of the pumpkin and associated flavors?

Im just looking at it from the perspective of other fruit additions. My train of thought is if I can convert the starches in to sugar then adding the pumpkin to the secondary should give the most flavor. Ive been trying to do research on this but there is not much out there. Adding it to the mash seems to be the preferred way but doesn't seem to give much in terms of pumpkin flavor. There is an experiment where they pit a beer with pumpkin added to mash against a spice only, non-pumpkin beer and tasters thought the non-pumpkin beer was the pumpkin beer.
 
I will be just using canned pumkin and I am just going to seep the pumpkin but also thinking I will add some to end of boil and I may even try some in secondary. I got a great deal on some canned pumpkin so I will have 90 oz to work with if needed. Whats a good tray to use for roasting? Last year I tried and it just made a mess. Would I use a similar tray that I would use for brownies?

I wouldn't mess with putting it in secondary. You run the risk of infection with no added benefit. That's me though.

I use an 11"x9" Pyrex dish for mine. It keeps everything in place, and you only need to mix it around a bit a couple times to ensure that you get some evaporation and browning of the pumpkin.

Alright makes sense thanks. I will just skip secondary addition. What about my slow cooking in crockpot idea? would that have any benifit at all?
 
I also have to take the side of just adding spices and craft a malt bill that lends a biscuity, caramel flavor with medium body.
I've done a "pumpkin" beer every year for 10 years now and my best have been with no actual pumpkin added. It creates a huge amount of trub and doesn't contribute much of anything to flavor IMO regardless of how I prepared it before adding.
The spice levels suggested above are about in line with my take on it.
Either way, have fun brewing it!
 
I also have to take the side of just adding spices and craft a malt bill that lends a biscuity, caramel flavor with medium body.
I've done a "pumpkin" beer every year for 10 years now and my best have been with no actual pumpkin added. It creates a huge amount of trub and doesn't contribute much of anything to flavor IMO regardless of how I prepared it before adding.
The spice levels suggested above are about in line with my take on it.
Either way, have fun brewing it!

alright well I have the extra pumpkin anyways, last year I would say the pumpkin didn't come through at all but I still want to give it one more try with roasted pumpkin and a lot extra. If all it doesn't come through again then maybe I will go the no pumpkin route for next years.
 
I add a can in the mash and a can at the end of the boil. I really think though it is the pumpkin pie spice from McCormicks that makes all the difference, otherwise it is just another squash. I would think even acorn squash would work as a substitute if one could not find pumpkin pie squash.
 
alright well I have the extra pumpkin anyways, last year I would say the pumpkin didn't come through at all but I still want to give it one more try with roasted pumpkin and a lot extra. If all it doesn't come through again then maybe I will go the no pumpkin route for next years.

You may be onto something though by adding pumpkin to a secondary to get more flavor out of the fruit. In that case, adding roasted pumpkin should have a lot of advantage since it's drier (less water) and toasted to some degree, it will have more concentrated flavor.

As long as you can cleanly transfer your beer to a secondary without oxidizing it and picking up an infection, the toasted pumpkin puree should be about sterile, cover with plastic wrap while cooling down.

The only side effect is the added pumpkin pulp will rehydrate and soak up valuable beer. When packaging, maybe strain the pulp through a fine mesh bag to recover the good beer it contains. No splashing and try to keep aeration to an absolute minimum. Oxidized beer is worse than flavorless beer.
 
You may be onto something though by adding pumpkin to a secondary to get more flavor out of the fruit. In that case, adding roasted pumpkin should have a lot of advantage since it's drier (less water) and toasted to some degree, it will have more concentrated flavor.

As long as you can cleanly transfer your beer to a secondary without oxidizing it and picking up an infection, the toasted pumpkin puree should be about sterile, cover with plastic wrap while cooling down.

The only side effect is the added pumpkin pulp will rehydrate and soak up valuable beer. When packaging, maybe strain the pulp through a fine mesh bag to recover the good beer it contains. No splashing and try to keep aeration to an absolute minimum. Oxidized beer is worse than flavorless beer.

hmm maybe I should try one lb of roasted pumpkin to the secondary and I could just seep in some water to try to extract the flavor that way and then just add the water?
 
hmm maybe I should try one lb of roasted pumpkin to the secondary and I could just seep in some water to try to extract the flavor that way and then just add the water?

Don't steep the roasted pumpkin in water and add that to your beer, that defies the purpose of concentrating it. I'd roast 3 pounds at least for a 5 gallon batch. While toasting in the oven, you'll need to turn it over a few times so it doesn't burn. You want it to caramelize all the way through. It gets really thick and gooey.

Your secondary vessel should have a very small headspace left over once all the pulp and beer is in it. The less headspace the better.
 
Don't steep the roasted pumpkin in water and that to your beer, that defies the purpose of concentrating it. I'd roast 3 pounds at least for a 5 gallon batch. While toasting in the oven, you'll need to turn it over a few times so it doesn't burn. You want it to caramelize all the way through. It gets really thick and gooey.

Your secondary vessel should have a very small headspace left over once all the pulp and beer is in it. The less headspace the better.

Is my idea of putting the pumpkin in crockpot pointless? I am thinking I will do lbs of pumpkin total
 
Is my idea of putting the pumpkin in crockpot pointless? I am thinking I will do lbs of pumpkin total

What is slow cooking pumpkin going to change or add? I've never done it, so I don't know.

I've made pumpkin ice cream by cutting one up into large wedges and slowly cooking/roasting in the oven for a few hours, then scrape the pulp from the shells, puree, and incorporate into an ice cream base. It was very subtle and quite delicious. Only added a smidgen of spice, mostly cinnamon. Half the basketball size pumpkin went into the ice cream. The other half became pie filling.
 
What is slow cooking pumpkin going to change or add? I've never done it, so I don't know.

I've made pumpkin ice cream by cutting one up into large wedges and slowly cooking/roasting in the oven for a few hours, then scrape the pulp from the shells, puree, and incorporate into an ice cream base. It was very subtle and quite delicious. Only added a smidgen of spice, mostly cinnamon. Half the basketball size pumpkin went into the ice cream. The other half became pie filling.

The only reason I want to try it in a crockpot is because I can add alot and will be much easier to mix around if needed I just don't know if this will roast it.
 
The only reason I want to try it in a crockpot is because I can add alot and will be much easier to mix around if needed I just don't know if this will roast it.

Your crockpot won't roast it. If you leave it on long enough with the lid off or ajar, you may evaporate most of the liquid, concentrating the pulp and hence the flavor. It may get hot enough to caramelize the sugars when it finally runs dry. Try it, what can you lose?
 
I have always just pitched a dry yeast, about 9 batches in now without any problem at all.
 
Pumpkin coffee always gives me the most pumpkin flavor. Year after year i've tried everything & the best result was pumpkin coffee. Who'd've thought? Graham Crackers in the mash are a nice subtle addition too.
 
Pumpkin coffee always gives me the most pumpkin flavor. Year after year i've tried everything & the best result was pumpkin coffee. Who'd've thought? Graham Crackers in the mash are a nice subtle addition too.


How do you add it, how much do you use
 
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