Pumpkin/ spice beers additions

I've never done a pumpkin/ spice beer, but got roped into it this year. I'm going to do an oatmeal stout as the base with about 10 lbs of pumpkin in the mash, but my question is about the spices...
I have a friend who has done well with adding the spices to the last 5 minutes of the boil, but I've also heard adding a tincture of rum and spice.
So I'm looking for some "best practice" advice, thoughts? Success stories? Horror stories? I really don't want to be stuck with 10 gallons of ****ty overly spicy pumpkin beer, but at the same time, if you're going to add spice to beer I want to be able to taste it. Any thoughts

I add spice at the end of the boil and after a few days in the fermenter. I don't do a stout, so you may want to just start with the boil addition and possibly add more if you feel you need it.

Obligatory:

Lol, @BrewerBrad82 I post this meme every year, and totally agree, but it's been 10 years of avoiding pumpkin beers. My time is up!

When I have doubts about the impact spices will have, I make a tincture. Maybe a couple of tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice in a cup or two of rum or bourbon. Sealed container, sit for a week or two and strain thru a coffee filter. Add a bit at a time until you get the right flavor notes.

FWIW....I did the pumpkin mash two years ago and said never again. I used fresh roasted pumpkin cubes and had a heck of a time getting the pulp out of the beer. I even had the cubes in muslin bags...made a mell of a hess.

Most pumpkin pie recipes call for clove. I use it in my pumpkin beer but one year had to throw out the batch because I used 1/2 TSP in the last few minutes of boil. Clove comes through strong and will be over powering so don't use more than 1/8 TSP for 5 gal. The other spices I use about a tsp each in the last 5 minutes of boil. If you reuse your yeast I would do it in the rum after fermentation so your yeast doesn't taste like spices.

I use 1 can of pumpkin in the mash and got stuck sparge even with 2 lb of rice hulls so I would recommend putting it in the boil unless you plan to use cubed pumpkin.

Pumpkin beer has it's place ad is a popular entry beer for the ladies so you all need to get over it.

BrewerBrad82 said:

Obligatory:

View attachment 413206

Click to expand...

Don't let 'em wear you down, Brad. Pumpkin beer has a place...in my case that "place" is in the trash.

In all seriousness, I don't think all that pumpkin flesh really has the kind of impact in the beer that makes it even worth using it. If you got to make pumpkin beer because you simply have to do it....spices will do the trick all by themselves.

I'll be brewing a holiday spice beer here soon, minus the pumpkin for reasons that have been covered. I remember reading a few articles on BYO where they suggested leaving out the pumpkin altogether (doesn't contribute much flavor, just mouthfeel and general feelings of frustration) and just using the spices that are associated with it e.g. cinnamon, clove, nutmeg. I would go with Morrey's recommendation for using a tincture, starting at a ratio of .25 tsp/ 5 gallons. Let us know how it goes, good luck!

I made a 1-gal batch last year.
Boil x 30 minutes: 1 cinnamon stick, 2 whole cloves
Also boiled 1 cup of canned pumpkin puree for 30 minutes.
Make sure the cinnamon and cloves do not go into the fermentation vessel.

Very easy and turned out great, although next time I would add nutmeg.

I love pumpkin beers. You guys are nuts.
As always only some of the commercial beers are good.

fragglerock said:

I'll be brewing a holiday spice beer here soon, minus the pumpkin for reasons that have been covered.

Click to expand...

I was discouraged with the amount of issues I had dealing with the fiber of the pumpkin flesh. I feel certain I introduced a large amount of O2 into the beer messing with trying to filter it out. Try as I may, I could not get a good taste of real pumpkin in my beer even after roasting fresh pie pumpkin cubes and bruising them with maple syrup to caramelize. Sounds wonderful but the taste simply did not come through. This left me believing a tincture of spices w/o real pumpkin (inc canned) will yield similar results.

RPh_Guy said:

I love pumpkin beers. You guys are nuts.
As always only some of the commercial beers are good.

Click to expand...

Truth is, with all kidding around aside,I enjoy a good pumpkin beer myself. I was making light of them largely based on the fact I have not done well with them in the past. As explained, I think I'll do a beer skipping the pumpkin addition, then dose it with a spice tincture to see how that turns out. I have read that many commercial operations do it this way so I'll be in good company. Totally agree.....some commercial pumpkin beers are fabulous while some are dumpers. Sort of a crap shoot when several dozen of them are lined up on shelves in your bottle shop. Fall is nearly here...enjoy!

Has anyone ever tried making a purée of pumpkin and then racking the beer on top of it during secondary? I'm almost positive Ballast Point does just that for their pumpkin beer, might get rid of a few headaches.

fragglerock said:

Has anyone ever tried making a purée of pumpkin and then racking the beer on top of it during secondary? I'm almost positive Ballast Point does just that for their pumpkin beer, might get rid of a few headaches.

Click to expand...

My guess is the puree you mentioned is similar to canned pumpkin. If it is similar it may be easier to rack off of, but likely you'll lose quite a bit of beer with that puree on the bottom. Getting too close to the puree would suck up fibers and trub. Worth a try, however.

For years I stayed away from these beers, but a challenge is hard to refuse. Then I helped a friend peel 100LB of roasted pumpkin for a 7BBL batch of Seasonal Ale. That was one hell of slow Lauter.

I have not added Squashes during or after fermentation, But mashing with roasted pumpkin was hell, Putting it in the end of Boil worked better as it settled out with the rest of the trub before transferring (individual results may differ), as did using other types of Roasted Squash to get more actual flavor.

But honestly the only one I really liked had no Pumpkin (Squashed Coffee Milk Stout - Sounds Atrocious), only long neck, acorn, butternut squash then cold crash with Death Wish Pumpkin Spice aged whole Coffee beans (expensive But I had a Pound as a gift and I wasn't going to drink it), the spices turned out just right.

DemonsRun said:

For years I stayed away from these beers, but a challenge is hard to refuse. Then I helped a friend peel 100LB of roasted pumpkin for a 7BBL batch of Seasonal Ale. That was one hell of slow Lauter.

I have not added Squashes during or after fermentation, But mashing with roasted pumpkin was hell, Putting it in the end of Boil worked better as it settled out with the rest of the trub before transferring (individual results may differ), as did using other types of Roasted Squash to get more actual flavor.

But honestly the only one I really liked had no Pumpkin (Squashed Coffee Milk Stout - Sounds Atrocious), only long neck, acorn, butternut squash then cold crash with Death Wish Pumpkin Spice aged whole Coffee beans (expensive But I had a Pound as a gift and I wasn't going to drink it), the spices turned out just right.

Click to expand...

There you have it from a pro brewer.....real pumpkin is a royal PITA. As you just heard, spices rule this beer.

Why would you add pumpkin to the mash instead of the boil or secondary? Seems like asking for trouble.

Sam Adams Harvest Hefe was out recently. I tasted a lot of nutmeg, some cinnamon, and slight clove. I have a hard time imagining how one would capture pumpkin flavor without pumpkin/squash... Maybe with some select pairing of malt and yeast? Ginger?
We'd all love to hear if someone figured it out.

I do BIAB and throw the pumpkin in a paint strainer bag.

enkamania said:

I do BIAB and throw the pumpkin in a paint strainer bag.

Click to expand...

I did the same for my first attempt at a pumpkin beer, worked out well. Put in spices near end of boil. I was very happy with the result and got lots of compliments from friends who tried it. Will be making it again soon.

Morrey said:

There you have it from a pro brewer.....real pumpkin is a royal PITA. As you just heard, spices rule this beer.

Click to expand...

I'm not a Pro yet...just a helpful friend, who has had the benefit of brewing some batches on a large system.

RPh_Guy said:

Why would you add pumpkin to the mash instead of the boil or secondary?....

Click to expand...

Yes, but we were following the approved Rock Bottom Recipe. Other stuff they let the Local Brewers create and experiment quite a bit, But there were some the head brewer followed Corporate.

I use 5 cans of pure pumpkin. Roast it in the oven with brown sugar for an hour and a half or so at 375 or until it starts to brown on top with some crispy edges. I then put it in the mash inside a muslin bag. Before sparge I let it strain out to get all the color and flavor I can. Sparge comes out with a beautiful orange hue and you can pick up the pumpkin flavor. I used just the regular store brand stuff the first time and didn't work so well. Usually has other gourds in it beside pumpkin. Then found some cans or organic 100% pumpkin and it worked much better.

As for the spices I have done it three ways. Added to the last few minutes of the boil, at flame out and with a tincture. Really did not notice enough of a taste difference to pick one way over the other.

"Pumpkin" on food labels may be pumpkin and/or other squash.
Libby's "100% pure pumpkin" for example is squash. This is what I used and it was perfect.

My feeling after making 2 pumpkin beers, one a few years ago and one last year, SKIP THE PUMPKIN. The pumpkin basically adds to the mouthfeel but that can be achieved with mash temps or adding oats, rye, or both. The pumpkin taste all comes from the spices. Technically now it becomes a Pumpkin Spiced beer and not a Pumpkin beer, but to each there own on that front.

I personally liked the beer I did with oats and rye more, even though it ended up not full attenuating in the fermenter and i ended up with a high FG and gushing bottles. I was able to pour really slowly out of the bottle to handle the gushing problem, but it was a tad sweeter than I would have liked. If I had raised my ferm temp to let it fully ferment it would have been great. This was a stout by the way.

In one I added spices at 5 min, the other I added at bottling with my priming sugar. At 5 min it was a more subtle taste. At bottling it was more like a pumpkin pie level of spicing, which is what I was looking for.