Pumpkin ale

[hop-a-long]

I want to try my hand at brewing the pumpkin ale from the Greg Hughes book.
It tells me to roast a pumkin, cut it up and add it to the mash.
What it doesn't tell me is what kind of pumpkin and which weight.

I was thinking of using butternut squash.

Suggestions anyone?

 

[strange-steve]

The recipe in brewing classic styles has 2.26kg of roasted pumpkin in it, also some rice hulls (220g or so) to stop the mash sticking.
He does say however that the pumpkin doesn't add much flavour so the type probably isn't too important.

 

[Dutto]

Check out a few of my own attempts in here ...

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/duttos-brew-day.67659/

I recommend waiting until after Halloween when pumpkins drop from £2 each to 20p each!

 

[hop-a-long]

Thanks Dutto, however there's not much of a pricedrop over here in Holland as there's not so much a Halloween culture over here. Besides I reckon that butternut squash isn't that much associated with Halloween.
I hope by roasting that the nutty flavour really comes through, as it does when cooking with them.

 

[Brewed_Force]

I've never used pumpkin or squash in a brew, but I eat them regularly.
The flavours are quite different, even between different types of squash. Butternut squash is quite sweet compared to say an onion squash.
I don't know how much of this flavour will get through to the finished beer, but that's half the fun of trying out new ingredients.

 

[ACBEV]

I've never brewed pumkin ale , but I drank a bottle once, not overly impressed!

One vegetable I've been meaning to brew with is spiced honey roasted parsnips. Crushed coriander seed, cumin seed and honey glaze.

 

[Clint]

Some in the US use canned pumpkin.

 

[Dutto]

........... there's not much of a pricedrop over here in Holland as there's not so much a Halloween culture over here. Besides I reckon that butternut squash isn't that much associated with Halloween.
I hope by roasting that the nutty flavour really comes through, as it does when cooking with them.

Halloween wasn't anything big in the UK either when I was a lad but nowadays it's yet another chance for Big Business to take money off everyone!

What I found most difficult was to separate the pulp from the juice of the Pumpkin.

Roasting the Butternut squash should give it a nuttier flavour and make it easier to handle but I think you may still need some serious squeezing to get the liquor (and sugars) out.

The next time I make some I will roast it, then boil it and use something like a sheet to squeeze out the liquor as the method I used last time wasn't as fine as it could have been and I'm sure that I left plenty of sugars behind!

Please keep us posted on progress!

 

[Dads_Ale]

I tried this one a couple of years ago, recipe was from the US.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/pumpkin-ale.66376/

 

[Cwrw666]

We frequently eat roast pumpkin / butternut squash. Roast them til they're well browned and they're full of flavour which should give quite a lot of flavour to a pumpkin ale.

 

[hop-a-long]

After looking at various recipes I decided on the following:
3,46 kg pale malt
1 kg Munich malt
0,5 kg wheat malt
0,25 kg rice flakes
0,1 kg Special B
Hops/flavourings/finings
2,5 kg butternut squash (before roasting) @ 70 mins
15,3 g Simcoe @ 70 mins
1 star anise @ 40 mins
0,5 kg maple syrup @ 20 mins
1 tsp irish moss @10 mins
0,5 vanillapod (split) @ 5 mins
2 cloves @ 5 mins
0,25 tsp nutmeg @ 5 mins
1 tsp ground ginger @ 5 mins
2 allspice berries (crushed) @ 5 mins
11,4 g Goldings @ 5 mins
Yeast: SafAle T-58

I cut the butternut squash in 5cm pieces and roasted them for 1 hour at 190°C.
After 40 mins I sprinkled them with a couple of tablespoons of demerera sugar.
When the pieces were cooled down, I put them in a plastic container with all the liquids that came out during roasting and put them in the fridge.
On brewday (3 days later) I took them out, cut them in 1-2 cm pieces and put them in a muslin cloth for the boil. After the boil I drained them in a coleander and added the drained off liquid to the wort.

I ended up with an SG of 1055

Had a taste from the testtube and it smelled and tasted brilliant. I could taste every flavour I put in it.
For additional flavouring I'm going to put the same spicemix in my FV 2 days before botteling.

 

[hop-a-long]

Bottled today. Ended up with an FG of 1014 which makes it 5,4% ABV.
So it should be a nice mild pint.
Drinking the testtube told me that, for now at least, the spices I dryhopped with are nicely present, without being overbearing.
Can hardly wait for it to finish conditioning for a real taste.

 

[NIGHTSKY BREWING]

My mums homegrown are a lot nicer then shop brought ones

 

[hop-a-long]

Took a 5L keg to a party the other day. It was a smashing success. One of the beerdrinkers actually prefered it over the Hertog Jan pilsner he had been drinking before. Between us we nearly finished off the keg within a few hours.