Adding squash to mash didn't work. Looking for future advice.

[bradleypariah]

I wanted to make an odd beer, something like a fall-friendly pale ale, but not a pumpkin or pumpkin spice beer. I just wanted the malt backbone a bit sweeter.

Recipe was:
84% Vienna malt
7% flaked barley
5% acidulated malt
4% 60L

Added to the mash:
1 tsp calcium chloride
1 tsp gypsum
1.5 lbs cooked butternut squash
Two large cooked sweet potatoes

Mash pH was 5.20.

1 ounce Cluster @ 60 minutes
2 ounces Sterling @ 2 minutes
2 ounces Willamette hop stand @ 175°F for 20 minutes

37 IBU.

Yeast is a culture I harvested from my back yard, and built up this past spring, which tastes like 34/70 with a hint of lemon.

All the articles I found online said that colonial Americans used squash and yams in beer, and that base malts would convert them, as long as I cooked them first, which I did.
I cooked them both till they were soft, then mashed them into a paste with a fork, and added them to my mash, and I did a 90-minute mash at 152°F, stirring every 15-20 minutes.
From what I could see, they mostly dissolved into the mash, making it a nice, orange color.

My OG was 1.044, which indicates I didn't get any sugars from those starches.

The beer is absolutely fine. I'm drinking it right now, and I like it, but I'm bummed the malt flavor doesn't have a hint of sweet potato.

Do any of you know why I didn't get any sugars or flavor from my squashes? Any advice if I were to try this again?

 

[McKnuckle]

Squash barely gives any flavor to food... so I would expect it to add nothing to beer. Even sweet potatoes are mostly sweet, and not too flavorful. Of course these are my opinions.

As for sugar content, it's hard to know how you'd confirm the amount of starch from the veggies that got converted. Maybe your efficiency with the malts was lower than you think, and the OG is due to all of the ingredients. How's the haze factor on your finished beer? If you don't have much or any, chances are you did better than you think.

 

[shoreman]

Ya squash and pumpkin don’t really have any flavor.

I used to julienne the pumpkin when I made a pumpkin beer and mash raw to convert. Will Meyers who arguably made the best pumkin beer at Cambridge brewing gave me that tip. Would help with color and boost the Sg.The flavor came from allspice + cinnamon

 

[bradleypariah]

Maybe your efficiency with the malts was lower than you think, and the OG is due to all of the ingredients. How's the haze factor on your finished beer? If you don't have much or any, chances are you did better than you think.

I've been hitting my numbers in Brewer'sFriend for so long, that I'm pretty positive. My OG is the exact same number as what the calculator says it would be if I never added the squashes.

Ya squash and pumpkin don’t really have any flavor.... the flavor came from allspice + cinnamon

Hmmmm.... I don't want a pumpkin beer, per se. I don't want cinnamon or nutmeg. You know that Thanksgiving dish, the one that's pretty much just sweet potatoes, brown sugar, and marshmallows?
How could I capture a bit of that as the malt backbone of a hoppy pale ale?
The brown sugar and potatoes caramelize a bit in the pan... I want that baked, golden brown, sugary sweet potato taste. Just a bit of it.

 

[McKnuckle]

Well, if you think about how plain cooked starchy veggies taste, it's pretty bland, ain't nothing caramel about it. I think the flavors you seek are best found in a combination of crystal malts and dark invert sugar (or treacle). The trick will be getting that into a pale ale. Definitely easier to achieve in a brown ale.

There are probably a number of combos that will produce something like what you seek. Look into Lyle's black treacle and golden syrup products for the sugar. And some flavorful crystal malt blends, with one being lighter in the 45-60 range, the other dark, 120-150. A high mash temp would be helpful. A base of pale ale and a bit of Munich malt should work.

 

[ba-brewer]

I wonder what an iodine test would show. Maybe add some cooked potatoes or squash to some hot water and see if the starches are released.

I have seen some recipes that call for roasting pumpkin, maybe roasting to get some char would bring some more flavor.

 

[Snuffy]

You guys are making me hungry.

 

[bleme]

I don't know about the squash, but sweet potato has enough amylase to self-convert (which is why it is sweet). I'm not sure why you didn't get a gravity bump.

I'll also recommend roasting the squash in the future. I've tried butternut cooked sous vide and it was very bland compared to roasted.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/sweet-potato-to-the-rescue-of-a-stuck-fermentation.656657/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/thread...and-a-lot-of-interesting-possibilites.210086/

 

[bleme]

Also there was the thread a few years ago about how to make your own syrup. That might give you the sweetness you are looking for as yam sugar will probably ferment pretty completely. The darker the syrup, the less fermentable it is but you would need to balance that with the flavor profile as well. Or you could just use caramel/crystal malts. Honey malt is my favorite go-to so I buy it 10lbs at a time.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/20-lb-of-sugar-and-a-jar-of-yeast-nutrient.114837/

 

[50calshooter]

Cut your squash up and bake it so it starts caramelizing on the cookie sheet. cool it down and put it in a blender, add some water and make a puree. pour it in the boil the last 15 minutes.