Thoughts on Autumn Butternut Squash Beer

[torilen]

I thought I'd go a little different way with the pumpkin beer - butternut squash. Similar flavor...but not quite. I'm planning on between 3/4lb to a full pound of squash.
I plan to put some pecan wood on the grill and cook the squash there...let it slow roast and get a little smoke on it. Then cut it into chunks. 1/2 of the squash will go into the boil, the other 1/2 will go into the fementor.
Planning on a 60 minute boil.
This is a 1 gallon batch and the est ABV is 5.81 right now, not counting any sugar from the squash. I'd like to up that just a little - get it 6.5% or 7%. Maybe some honey? More Brown sugar?

Maris Otter LME
4oz brown sugar

Steeping Grains
- 8oz Dark Munich
- 8oz Crystal 60L

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon at 50 minutes
1/2 tsp Ground Allspice at 50 minutes
1/2 tsp ground ginger at 50 minutes

.75 grams of simcoe at 60 minutes
.75 grams of simcoe at 50 minutes

 

[mjdonnelly68]

Good luck - I'm sure it'll be a great beer.

I brew a Sweet Potato porter every year and actually prefer it to pumpkin beers.

 

[brewing_clown]

Good luck - I'm sure it'll be a great beer.

I brew a Sweet Potato porter every year and actually prefer it to pumpkin beers.

Would you mind sharing your recipe? I'm looking to make a sweet potato brew.

 

[mjdonnelly68]

Would you mind sharing your recipe? I'm looking to make a sweet potato brew.

Sure thing.

I brew 6 gallon batches and normally use a minimum of 4lbs of sweet potato. I cut them in half and then put them on a cookie sheet guts up and roast them in the oven at 325 until the tops start to caramelize. Then I scoop out the roasted guts directly into the mash. Make sure you put a sh*t-ton of rice hulls in your mash tun - you can very easily get a stuck mash with this one.

One more caveat: I brew this beer because I love the color and like the taste. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin beers because I find most of them to be overly spiced. If you like pumpkin beers, you may want to juice up the spice additions - I'm purposely shooting low.

Good luck - let me know how it turns out.

6G - 90 Minute Boil
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.012
Est ABV: 6.0%
SRM: 6.5
IBUs - 31.3

4lbs Sweet Potatoes
86% 2-Row
8% Crystal 20
4% Crystal 75
2% Carapils
1oz Cascade Hops at 75 minutes
1.25oz Cascade Hops at 10 minutes
.5 tsp Nutmeg at 10 minutes
1oz Liberty Hops at 0 minutes
.5 tsp ground Clove at 0 minutes
4 Cinnamon sticks at 0 minutes
Mash at 150 for 60 minutes
Ferment with American Ale yeast (Wyeast 1056) at 65-68 degrees for 2 weeks

 

[brewing_clown]

Sure thing.

I brew 6 gallon batches and normally use a minimum of 4lbs of sweet potato. I cut them in half and then put them on a cookie sheet guts up and roast them in the oven at 325 until the tops start to caramelize. Then I scoop out the roasted guts directly into the mash. Make sure you put a sh*t-ton of rice hulls in your mash tun - you can very easily get a stuck mash with this one.

One more caveat: I brew this beer because I love the color and like the taste. I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin beers because I find most of them to be overly spiced. If you like pumpkin beers, you may want to juice up the spice additions - I'm purposely shooting low.

Good luck - let me know how it turns out.

6G - 90 Minute Boil
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.012
Est ABV: 6.0%
SRM: 6.5
IBUs - 31.3

4lbs Sweet Potatoes
86% 2-Row
8% Crystal 20
4% Crystal 75
2% Carapils
1oz Cascade Hops at 75 minutes
1.25oz Cascade Hops at 10 minutes
.5 tsp Nutmeg at 10 minutes
1oz Liberty Hops at 0 minutes
.5 tsp ground Clove at 0 minutes
4 Cinnamon sticks at 0 minutes
Mash at 150 for 60 minutes
Ferment with American Ale yeast (Wyeast 1056) at 65-68 degrees for 2 weeks

Many thanks. I'm with you on the spice point. Many pumpkin beers are way over-spiced.

 

[woo_pig]

Let me know when you want to brew this .I'll help you drink it .

 

[torilen]

That is one reason I am making my own - too heavy spices. I want to try and highlight the veggie in this brew. AND, I want to do something different than pumpkin...but keep in the whole harvest/fall gourd theme.

Don't get me wrong - I love the spices - Heavy Seas Greater Pumpkin is an excellent beer, heavy in the sweet spices. But, I would like this butternut squash beer to highlight that butternut squash...make you think, "Hmmm....butternut squash."

Hopefully I'm not planning on too much spice.

Sweet potato...that sounds good, I think. I don't know. I love sweet potato. I don't know about with beer, though.

 

[torilen]

mjdonnelly - that's almost a hopped sweet potato wine
you're making there, from what I can tell...no? I know you have
some grains in there...but you're getting 86% of your fermentation
from your potato, right? Am I reading that right?

Shoot - I may have to try something similar to this myself, if that works
the way you say it does. That must be interesting, to say the least.

 

[woo_pig]

That is one reason I am making my own - too heavy spices. I want to try and highlight the veggie in this brew. AND, I want to do something different than pumpkin...but keep in the whole harvest/fall gourd theme.

Don't get me wrong - I love the spices - Heavy Seas Greater Pumpkin is an excellent beer, heavy in the sweet spices. But, I would like this butternut squash beer to highlight that butternut squash...make you think, "Hmmm....butternut squash."

Hopefully I'm not planning on too much spice.

Sweet potato...that sounds good, I think. I don't know. I love sweet potato. I don't know about with beer, though.

I had a sweet potato beer before .It was amaze balls .

 

[mjdonnelly68]

mjdonnelly - that's almost a hopped sweet potato wine
you're making there, from what I can tell...no? I know you have
some grains in there...but you're getting 86% of your fermentation
from your potato, right? Am I reading that right?

Shoot - I may have to try something similar to this myself, if that works
the way you say it does. That must be interesting, to say the least.

No, I don't really count the Sweet Potatoes as part of the grain bill - I'm sure they add some fermentable sugars, but my experience has been that they add mostly color and a wee bit of flavor.

86% of my backbone is 2-row so this definitely comes out tasting like a beer first and a sweet potato beer second.

 

[torilen]

Ah, okay. Sorry. I must've misread something or missed part of your post.

 

[torilen]

Well, after letting this sit longer, it has turned out pretty good. The spices could be a touch strong...cinnamon, at least. But I'm not going to complain about that. I wanted the butternut squash to come out, and it has nicely. Good and strong. And the hops are just noticeable.

All in all, I think this recipe is a keep.

Out of a one gallon brew, I got 8 bottles out of it, plus one small coffee mug to give it a try while bottling.