Midnight On The Pumpkin Patch

[bolus14]

This recipe is from http://www.ltdsupply.ca/ so all credit goes to them.


Midnight in the Pumpkin Patch (Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.067
Final Gravity (FG): 1.014
Alcohol (ABV): 6.9%
Colour (SRM): 53
Bitterness (IBU): 35

9lbs 65.45% Maris Otter Malt
2lbs 14.55% Chocolate
1lbs 7.27% Brown Sugar, Light
1lbs 7.27% Carahell
.5lb 3.64% Roasted Barley
.25lb 1.82% Melanoidin

1 oz Styrian Golding (5.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
.2 oz Citra (12% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 oz/Gal Styrian Golding (5.2% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil)
0.5 oz/Gal Citra (12% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)

58oz (2lg cans) Pumpkin @ 5 Minutes (Mash)

Single step Infusion at 154°F for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Start Fermentation at 65°F with WLP566 - Belgian Saison II

 

[bolus14]

I currently have this in the fermenter, possibly going to bottle next week some time, that'll be 4.5 - 5 weeks since brew day.

I changed the Citra to Simcoe @ 60 min and Amarillo @ 10 min because I had them in the freezer and didn't have any other plans for them. The original recipe also used WLP670(Famrhouse Blend) and I used WLP566(Saison II).

I did BIAB and even though many people have said they've had no problem with Pumpkin using BIAB I had a horrible time getting the wort to strain through, just wanted to mention this for others, I now have a good idea of what a stuck sparge can be to deal with.

Going into he fermenter this had a pretty harsh roasty and bitter taste. After about 2.5 weeks a hydro sample had a very pleasant and smooth coffee flavor to it. At 4 weeks it had more of the Saison "funk" taste going on with coffee and chocolate in the background. At this point I really don't pick up any pumpkin at all except maybe some of the earthiness that you taste when you try some right out of the can, but not "pumpkin pie."

I'm planning to make a tea with pumpkin pie spice and add at bottling or a week before bottling, not sure yet. I'm going to add whole vanilla beans, likely 2 of them, in addition to the spices. I'm going to start with an ounce and see what that tastes like before bottling. If the "pie" flavor isn't there then I'll make another small tea with .5oz to 1oz depending on what the initial taste is like. I might also just draw a small amount of beer out of the fermenter and add some spice tea to a couple samples then scale up.

 

[bolus14]

Added the pumpkin spice and vanilla into the primary last Thursday, 4 days ago, and had a hydro sample today.

Up front was good pumpkin flavor. That quickly got taken over by some bitter/funk taste. Still think the saison funkiness is taking its time to mellow out. Going to give it another day or two and then have another sample. Once the funky taste mellows it'll be time to bottle and give 2-3 weeks for it to carb and flavors to settle in.

 

[bolus14]

Intended to bottle this past weekend, but ran out of time. Tested the hydro one last time and it's down to 1.004, about 10 points lower than I wanted/expected, but at 90% attenuation which I have repeatedly seen with WLP566.

Anyway, I got a hydro sample and it has come together pretty nicely. The only pitfall is to me it's still too bitter, like coffee/roasted malt bitter. I'm just not sure where it's coming from because the amounts of grains seems pretty normal, unless the Saison yeast is accentuating the bitterness more. Either way I will be bottling this weekend, then 2 week wait, the start rolling through these for Pumpkin beer season.

 

[katmeefer]

Im excited to see how this turns out. Did you make any kind of yeast starter? Can you go into more detail about this funkiness you've been tasting?

 

[bolus14]

Up until the last sample I pulled it was the traditional barnyard/saison traditional funk with the dark malt bitterness. That has mellowed and is hardly even noticeable now. Now the main thing I'm hoping mellows is the dark malt bitterness, of you like coffee bitterness it might be OK, but I need creamer in my coffee so it's stronger than I'd like. At this point it needs more pumpkin spice too, I'm thinking .5 oz at bottling.

No yeast starter on this one. I used some washed 3rd gen yeast and many will say that to get the Saison character its good to stress the yeast a little bit.

 

[bolus14]

Bottled this up over the weekend, got 2 cases on the nose. Going to give it at least 2 weeks before i put one in the fridge, hopefully I can have the patience to do this. At bottling I added another .25oz Pumpkin Pie spice in with my priming sugar and when tasting some of what was left in the bucket after bottling it seemed to have a better rounded out, true pumpkin flavor. The chocolate malt bitterness is still more prevalent than I'd like, but I think "black coffee" fans would like where it's at.

More to come in a couple weeks once the first bottle is carbonated and cold.