Fall is here, and it’s time to brew a polarizing pumpkin beer! This beer is modeled after the ever popular Pumpkin Spice Latte. Time to throw on your favorite uggs and yoga pants, and check out my pumpkin coffee porter extract recipe!
For pumpkin beers, I like to add actual pumpkin flesh to the recipe vs just adding spices. I find that this adds a wholesome flavor and body to the beer, and it does not end up tasting artificial.
In this recipe, I will be adding coarsely ground coffee at the very end of the boil.
If you are interested in further details regarding different ways to add coffee to beer, please see this article.
Mashing with Pumpkin:
The consensus regarding adding pumpkin to a beer is that it is best added to the mash. Today’s recipe will be brewed with extract, but we will still perform a mini-mash to extract flavor and sugars from the pumpkin.
There are a couple options regarding which form of pumpkin to use.
The ideal option is to use a fresh pumpkin from the store or the farm. However, a problem I have run into with this is that during the time I am trying to prepare this beer for fall, pumpkins are not available yet.
The other options include using canned pumpkin (generally available year round) or to use a butternut squash.
It is generally recommended to roast the squash, whether fresh or canned, to caramelize some of the sugars and to avoid too many vegetal flavors coming through. If you are using fresh pumpkin or butternut squash, you will want to roast the flesh for close to an hour. For canned pumpkin, it generally takes less than 10 minutes.
My recommended procedure when using canned pumpkin will follow:
Preheat oven to 400F
Spread two cans (30oz) of canned pumpkin onto a baking sheet spread evenly.
Roast the pumpkin in oven for 8-9 minutes. Keep a close eye on the pumpkin while it is roasting. When your house starts smelling good is generally a sign that roasting is complete.
Remove roasted pumpkin from oven. Carefully scoop pumpkin into muslin bag.
Scooping pumpkin into muslin bag 
Pumpkin bagged, ready to be added to mash
Mini-mash procedure: Heat water to 152F. Add canned pumpkin (roasted) in a muslin bag. Add steeping grains in a separate grain bag(s). Hold water at 152F for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes have elapsed, remove bags of both pumpkin and grain and let them drain excess fluid into kettle.
The reason that 6-row malt is added to this mini-mash is that the specialty malts (chocolate, crystal, extra special malt) do not contain the enzymes needed to convert the complex sugars from the pumpkin into sugar. The 6-row (or 2-row) malt does contain these necessary enzymes.
Stats:
Volume: 5 gallons
Original Gravity: 1.062
Predicted Final Gravity: 1.016
Predicted SRM: 26.73
Predicted IBU: 31.1
ABV- 6.15%
Steeping Grain:
2lb Rahr 6-Row
12oz Chocolate Malt (350L)
8oz Crystal 60L
4oz Crystal 75L
4oz Carapils (1.5L)
4oz Extra Special Malt (130L)
Steep at 152F for 40 minutes
Extract:
3.3lb Sparkling Amber LME (60 minutes)
3.3lb Sparking Amber LME (20 minutes-late addition)
1lb Golden Light DME (60 minutes)
Hops:
0.5oz Galena (45 minutes)
0.25oz Galena (30 minutes)
Other Additions:
1/2 tsp Irish Moss (10 minutes)
5oz Local Firecreek Coffee (or similar medium roast coffee, such as this one) (coarsely crushed added to whirlpool in muslin bag)
30oz Organic Canned Pumpkin (mashed in with steeping grains) (Can use a fresh pumpkin or butternut squash instead)
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (0 minutes)
0.25 tsp Nutmeg (0 minutes)
0.25 tsp Cinnamon (0 minutes)
Water:
Local Flagstaff, AZ Tap Water
3 gallon steep, 3 gallon boil
Yeast:
Safale S-04 (1 packet)
Directions:
Follow pumpkin preparation procedure as noted above. Heat water to 152°F (°C). Add crushed specialty grain and canned pumpkin and steep for 40 minutes. Remove steeping grain and pumpkin. Heat to boiling. Remove pot from heat, add both dry and liquid malt extract. Return wort to boiling. Boil for 60 minutes, following the hop schedule. Add Irish moss at 10 minutes. At flameout (end of boil), add coarsely ground coffee and spices as noted above.
After the boil, chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 64°F. Aerate the wort and pitch the yeast. Ferment at 67°F (18°C) for 2-3 weeks, then cold crash the beer to 35°F. Bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.25 volumes of CO2.
Tips:
Coffee choice does make a difference. Darker roasts will generally give you a richer coffee flavor and aroma; however, these often decrease head retention due to increased oil. Lighter roasts will lend a more subtle aroma and flavor, but won’t affect head retention as much.
It is important to keep in mind that coffee (especially when boiled) will increase bitterness. You may want to decrease the overall hop bill while accounting for the increased bitterness from the coffee.
When adding spices to beer, more is generally not better. It is very easy to overdo the amount of spices added, especially when adding them to the boil.
In general, I do like to add spices to the boil due to the decreased concern over sanitization at this point. However, my advice for this would be to add less spices than you think you need into the boil, as you can always add more during secondary fermentation or packaging if needed.
Thank you very much for stopping by!
For information on how to brew using the extract method, please see my post here.
This beer was fermented in a keg, and then transferred using my no-oxygen method. If you are interested in learning about how to ferment in a keg, please see this article here.
If you are interested in learning how to transfer beer from keg to keg, please click here!
For additional information on brewing with coffee, click here.