Unfermentable sugars

[grohr]

About a month ago I brewed some pumpkin ale for the first time, The beer turned out pretty good but I was expecting a sweeter taste, I know the pumpkin does not create a lot of fermentable sugars, I was wondering what on fermentable sugars could be added to sweeten the beer? The beer also seemed to lack body, was thinking adding more pumpkin to my next batch to correct the lack of body issue unless somebody else has a different idea?

 

[unionrdr]

The simple thing would be to add some maltodextrin,as it's only 5% fermentable,tops. It adds body.

 

[grohr]

Thank you, about how much for a 5 gal. Batch, I also read that you can add Splenda with the priming sugar and Splenda is non-fermentable, I do not like the taste of Splenda but I am sure it will taste different if added to beer? Oh and when would I had the sugar? To the boil?

 

[duboman]

You can also use lactose at bottling or in the process to add some body and sweetness. I like to start with 2- 4oz per 5 gallon batch.

 

[grohr]

So when would I add the maltose dextran and how much, as for the lactose do you add that at priming or in the boil?

 

[grohr]

I really love the taste of the beer when I went to bottle it, I could have drink it warm and flat, i'm thinking I seriously need to go to a keg system because I believe I lost the flavors and body I was looking for when I bottled

 

[Yooper]

So when would I add the maltose dextran and how much, as for the lactose do you add that at priming or in the boil?

I don't know about malto-dextrine as I've never used it in beer, but lactose can be added at any time as it's unfermentable. A pound of it would add about 7 gravity points (.007) to a 5 gallon batch. It can be dissolved in a little boiling water and then cooled and added whenever you'd like. Many people do it at bottling, but it can be done on brewday or at any time.

Pumpkin should be pretty fermentable and not leave sweetness behind in the beer, so maybe that is why the beer is drier than you thought. Adding body building/nonfermentable sweeteners would be a way to get the sweetness and body into the beer.

 

[grohr]

Cool, lactose seems like the way to go thank you

 

[grohr]

One more question, some recipes call for A protein rest for 20 minutes around 120°, others say to Steve the grains with the pumpkin for 90 minutes either way has suggested to do this to ensure removing all fermentable sugars from the pumpkin, any thoughts on that?

 

[dstranger99]

I did a pumpkin last month too, I used 64 ounces of pumpkin puree, didn't rack to secondary, just left it in primary for a month, I ended up with just 4 gallons, but the pumpkin taste is clearly there.

 

[grohr]

I can definitely taste the pumpkin, it's a little starchy but no body, I was afraid to add too much brown sugar to the boil along with other spices, I have all the ingredients to do this again and used sugar pumpkins last time, this time I'm going to stick with the sugar pumpkins and add more spices to the boil along with the lactose, this time I'm going to add the spices and lactose to the secondary, I did a winter ale plenty of flavor but it also lacks body, want to try the winter ale again and had lactose to create a more body texture