Thoughts on vanilla pumpkin stout

[Lmanning507]

Brewing this Sunday and I plan to brew an imperial stout flavored with pumpkin and vanilla. In the boil I play to use cinnamon (1 stick) nutmeg (1 teaspoon) and allspice (1 teaspoon) 15 mins left in boil. I was thinking of using half a vanilla bean with some pumpkin meat soaking in a mason jar with some light roast cold brewed coffee; but a very small amount of coffee. All the coffee soaked vanilla and pumpkin meat will then be thrown into a secondary for 5 days. Any ideas on a better way to infuse the pumpkin and vanilla flavors?

 

[bigbeergeek]

All grain or extract? I'd leave the coffee out; a vanilla coffee pumpkin stout sounds like too much to me. I like to roast canned pumpkin in a casserole dish to cut some of the raw pumpkin flavor before I add it to the mash. If I added it to a secondary fermentor I'd bag it up in a couple of hours bags to contain the sludge. Split/scraped vanilla beans can be soaked in a little vodka for a few days, then dump the whole mess onto your secondary. I like two beans in a 5 gallon batch. Don't boil your spices for 15 minutes, a lot of aroma will boil off and you'll extract unwanted bitterness. Better to add them at flameout and cool right away. Lastly, pumpkin is basically unfermentable and has little flavor to it. I like using roasted yams/sweet potatoes in my "pumpkin" beers now.

 

[Lmanning507]

All grain, thanks for your thoughts. Cheers!