Spicy Chocolate Pumpkin Biere de Garde

[italarican]

I want to try my first "pumpkin" beer for the fall but am not interested in a pumpkin pie spice beer. If you've had Wicked Weed Xibalba, I'm going for something like that: a drinkable but complex malty beer with some decent heat and a little cocoa to complement the pumpkin (I'll use butternut squash). I thought a biere de garde would be a nice base for something like that, and I'm using one from Mad Fermentationist as a foundation.

Input welcome, especially since I've never worked with peppers or pumpkin/squash.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Kolsch (WLP 029)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Projected OG: 1.068
Projected FG: 1.017
IBU: 23
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60

Mash
8.0 lbs Pilsner
3.0 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Biscuit
0.5 lbs CaraRed
0.25 lbs Cara 20 Malt
2 oz BlackPrinz

Hops
0.6 oz. Brewers Gold, 60 min
0.3 oz Brewers Gold, 20 min
0.1 oz Brewers Gold, 5 min

Primary Extras
2 butternut squash, roasted: placed in primary (cooled wort added after)

Primary Fermentation
2 weeks at 62F, 3 weeks lagered at 34F

Secondary Extras (7-ish days until spice is right-- up to 65F I think?)
8.0 oz cacao nibs
2 serrano peppers (de-seeded)
2 ancho peppers (de-seeded)

 

[italarican]

In case anyone's interested, the revamped version below came out incredible! Not really any squash flavor, but a delicious fall beer! Complex maltiness yet a dry body to balance it out with just the right amount of savory spice.

Only thing I'd consider tweaking in the malt profile is something for a little dark fruit/prune note; think that would add even more.

The base beer is clean, complex, and very solid. The treatment adds a whole other level!


Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Kolsch (WLP 029)
Batch Size (Gallons): 5 (2 gallons base, 3 gallons treated)
OG: 1.070 (76.05% efficiency)
FG: 1.010
IBU: 23
Boiling Time (Minutes): 90

Mash
8.5 lbs Pilsner
3.0 lbs Munich
0.5 lbs Biscuit
0.5 lbs CaraRed
0.25 lbs Cara 20 Malt
3 oz Carafa Special II

Hops
0.4 oz Galena, 60 min
0.2 oz Galena, 20 min
0.2 oz Galena, 5 min

Primary Extras
2 butternut squash (about 5.5 lbs of "meat", steamed & mashed: placed in primary (cooled wort added after))

Primary Fermentation
3 weeks at 60F, 3 weeks lagered at 34F

Bottled 2 Gallons of Base Beer at this stage

Secondary Extras-- Note this was for remaining 3 gallons
4.0 oz cacao nibs, 7 days
2 2-inch cinnamon sticks, 7 days
2 chocolate habanero peppers (de-seeded), 3 days

 

[italarican]

I'm planning this year's version to brew in August and have a question: would adding adjuncts during lagering work, just at a slower pace?

I want the whole batch to be the spicy version this time but will be replacing the nibs with a little cold brew coffee at kegging. Would adding the cinnamon sticks for the 3 weeks its lagering at 34F work, or do I need to keep in that extra week after lagering at 64F for the cinnamon?