Dry "hopping" with fresh roasted pumpkin

[tippetsnapper]

I have a pumpkin ale going and its just about finished in primary. I used fresh roasted pumpkin in the boil and saved the unused pumpkin in a sanitized container. Has anyone ever dry pumpkin'd? Any advice either way? Thanks.

 

[demonrichie]

never done it nor heard of it done but its been done many times wit other fruit wit good results so ya it could be done sounds like itd be good tho

 

[munklunk]

never done it nor heard of it done but its been done many times wit other fruit wit good results so ya it could be done sounds like itd be good tho

Reading that hurt my brain.

 

[mlg5039]

I say go for it. 10,000 Years ago some tree bark fell in a stone fermenter, causing a bavarian tribesman to go ape****, and now we call that "oaking".


I think it will be good.

 

[killian]

I have heard of people fermenting in a pumpkin. I would split the batch, if you can then dry pumpkin half and compare.

 

[tippetsnapper]

I only have full size secondaries, so I just racked onto about 2.5 pounds of fresh roasted pumpkin (week old in a sanitized container). Fermentation is dropping about a point a day now. Plan is to let it sit on the fruit for three weeks, then force carb it in time to put a growler in the wagon while I'm taking the kids trick or treating!!! I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[tippetsnapper]

Update: about 12 hours later and there is renewed fermentation in the secondary. I didn't leave much room in the carboy (~3 inches) and the air lock is overflowing with foam. Switched to a blowoff, hopefully its from sugars in the pumpkin not wild and crazies.

 

[funkswing]

I hope you kept that week-old "fresh" pumpkin in the fridge!! Yeah, the new fermentation is from the pumpkin sugars.

Sounds like a great idea. I was going to suggest that you puree the pumpkin before dry hopping and putting it in a grain bag. Did you just load up the carboy and rack on top?

Was it a pain in the *** to stuff that carboy full of pumpkin?

If you don't mind....what was the recipe base? A pale ale? Dunkleweizen? What yeast are you using. I'm planning on doing this with my Oktoberfest yeast cake.

 

[tippetsnapper]

I hope you kept that week-old "fresh" pumpkin in the fridge!! Yeah, the new fermentation is from the pumpkin sugars.

Sounds like a great idea. I was going to suggest that you puree the pumpkin before dry hopping and putting it in a grain bag. Did you just load up the carboy and rack on top?

Was it a pain in the *** to stuff that carboy full of pumpkin?

If you don't mind....what was the recipe base? A pale ale? Dunkleweizen? What yeast are you using. I'm planning on doing this with my Oktoberfest yeast cake.

I got a fresh pumpkin, scooped out pulp, and cut it into strips that would through neck of carboy. Roasted at 350 for about an hour, meat side down on cookie sheet. Stored in fridge. This was an extract recipe as follows:

Grain Bill
1.25 lb 2-Row malt
1.25 lb Vienna malt
.5 lb Cara Munich malt
.5 lb Crystal 60L
3 lbs Extra Lt DME
1 lb Amber DME
4+ lbs fresh roasted pumpkin

Hop Bill
0.5 oz Kent Golding - 60 mins
0.5 oz Kent Golding - 15 minutes

Spices last 5 mins of boil

Yeast
Wyeast London Ale 1028

I wonder what the pumpkin flavors would do with the marzen style yeast?

 

[funkswing]

I wonder what the pumpkin flavors would do with the marzen style yeast?

I don't know, I'm pretty sure every pumpkin beer I've had was an ale. The oktoberfest yeast is just a blend of malty lager yeasts, so the resulting beer is malt dominated. To me, that sounds perfect for a pumpkin brew.

I'm thinking about doing the pumpkin this way:
Get pumpkin "meat" and dice into chunks that would fit into a carboy lid.
I would roast the pumpkin until tender all the way through, but I would cover the pumpkin in sugar and spices whilst roasting, to caramelize it all together.
I would "dry pumpkin" it, but I wouldn't wait until fermentation was complete to rack onto the pumpkin. I would rack after the krausen starts to fall back. This way the yeast isn't nearly finished when I add the pumpkin (which has fermentable sugars) and shock them yeasties.

I'm thinking I would use a Vienna lager recipe, or maybe a Munich SMaSH. What do y'all think?

 

[CenturyStanding]

I'd say go for it. I don't think you'll get much flavor from it, to be honest, but it's worth a try.

You could, however, always dry-hop with roasted pumpkin seeds.

 

[funkswing]

You could, however, always dry-hop with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Nothing like a burnt popcorn aroma in your beer.

 

[tippetsnapper]

The dry pumpkin'd beer was carb'd and tapped for the first time on Halloween. Pumpkin flavor was good, nothing phenomenal but present. Although that may have to do with the recipe and not having an overpowering spice presence. One slight negative is there is a faint hint of bitterness/pungency. I presume its due to leaving the rind on the pumpkin, and can't believe I didn't think to remove it at the time. Still tastes good though. I'm just happy that nothing sour or wild made its way into the batch in the secondary.

 

[telp]

Reviving this thread. Is baking the pumpkin at 350º for an hour enough to sterilize it before throwing it in secondary? And is it actually worth doing to get the best flavor? Or is there a better method?

 

[Saboral]

I've always used canned or otherwise mashed pumpkin in the mash. Three times now it's made a fantastic pumpkin ale.

Toolshed Carving Knife

Style: UnassignedOG: 1.059
Type: All Grain FG: 1.015
ABV: 5.75 %
Calories: 191.40IBU's: 24.56
Efficiency: 70.00 %Boil Size: 6.53 Gals
Color: 10.6 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gals
Preboil OG: 1.059Boil Time: 60 minutes

Grains & Adjuncts
AmountName TimeGravity
6.00 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger60 mins 1.037
2.00 lbs Munich Malt60 mins 1.037
2.00 lbs Vienna Malt60 mins 1.036
4.00 ozs Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L 60 mins 1.033
8.00 ozs Cara-Pils/Dextrine60 mins 1.033
12.00 ozs Victory Malt 60 mins 1.034
0.5 lbs Rice Hauls

Hops
AmountIBU'sNameTimeAA %
1.00 ozs 15.36Hallertauer 60 mins 4.80
1.00 ozs 8.58Styrian Goldings15 mins 5.40
1.00 ozs 0.62Spalter 1 mins 4.50

Yeasts
AmountNameLaboratory / ID
1 pkgsAmerican AleWyeast Labs 1056

Additions
3 cans of Libby's canned pumpkin in double layered cheesecloth at dough in and during mash
1.5 tsp of pumpkin pie spice to boil for 1 minute

Mash Profile
Profile Name: All Grain Profile 1

Grain Temp: 70.00 °FMash Tun Vol Loss: 1.00 Gals
Grain Absorption: 0.13 Gals/lbTun Temp Loss: 2.00 °F
Cooling Shrinkage: 4.00 %Kettle Trub Loss: 0.75 Gals
Hourly Boiloff: 9.00 %

Mash Steps:
Infusion60 [email protected]°F
Add 14.38 qts water @ 169.4°F

Mash Out10 [email protected]°F
Heat to 168.0°F over 2 mins

Fly Sparge
Sparge 21.72 qts water @ 170.00 °F


Water Profile
(none)

Fermentation Steps
NameDays / Temp
Primary7 days @ 68.0°F
Secondary14 days @ 72.0°F

Carbonation
Keg and force carbonate at 40 psi for 24 hours

www.iBrewMaster.comVersion: 1.1.3



Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[tippetsnapper]

Reviving this thread. Is baking the pumpkin at 350º for an hour enough to sterilize it before throwing it in secondary? And is it actually worth doing to get the best flavor? Or is there a better method?

I did roast the pumpkin first, and is worth doing as you can top it with brown sugar, honey or whatever to get that caramelized sugar flavor. Most people add it to the mash and not dry "hop" with it like I did. I left the pumpkin in the fridge for a week before I added to the fermenter post fermentation, there are many approaches you can take.

 

[telp]

I did roast the pumpkin first, and is worth doing as you can top it with brown sugar, honey or whatever to get that caramelized sugar flavor. Most people add it to the mash and not dry "hop" with it like I did. I left the pumpkin in the fridge for a week before I added to the fermenter post fermentation, there are many approaches you can take.

Thanks for the response. I will try caramelizing the pumpkin in the oven for an hour and letting cool before adding to the secondary. I'm excited to try this out. Perhaps you said already but what type of pumpkin (or other squash I suppose) did you use? I saw some winter kuri squash at the farmers market this week that were described as yam like. Perhaps I'll pick up a few of those to try.

 

[tippetsnapper]

I have used regular halloween pumpkins, but I believe you get better flavor from the elongated pinkish/tan butternut pumpkins.