Pumpkin Stout?

OblivionsGate · 11-04-2008, 03:32 PM

I could not find a recipe for this, so I'm basically taking my stout recipe and my pumpkin ale recipe and putting the relevant pieces together...

Question is: will this work?

6 2/3 lbs. Dark Malt Extract
2 lbs. Dark Dry Malt Extract
1 lb. Crystal Malt
1/2 lb. Roasted Barley
1/2 lb. Black Patent Malt
1 1/2 oz. Cascade Hops
1/2 oz. Hallertauer Hops
2 Teaspoons Gypsum
1 pkg. Irish Ale Yeast
8lbs. Whole Pumpkin
Pumpkin Pie spice
Cinnamon Sticks
Nutmeg
Allspice

Everything basically runs like a normal brew, except the cooked, cubed, mashed pumpkin and spices are boiled in cheese cloth bags for the duration of the boil.

Doing this for my Pumpkin Ale yields my best homebrew, I'm just wondering if adding that step into a stout would make an excellent Pumpkin Stout?

Oh, and thoughts on having the primary, secondary, bottling last nearly a year, opening the first bottle Oct. 1, 2009?

Parker36 · 11-04-2008, 05:06 PM

I've never done a pumpkin stout (or pumpkin ale for that matter), so this is just me talking here, but I have two thoughts:
1) You may have to up the amount of pumpkin/spices from you standard pumpkin ale since stouts have a little bit of a stronger flavor profile
2) After a year you may start to lose some of the pumpkin/spice flavor. This could be either really good, or not so good. Definitely bottle and try one every few weeks to find out when it peaks.

Happy brewing and let me know how this turns out, sounds really good.

PS: I would use light extracts rather than dark. Your specialty grains should give your beer plenty of the dark color you are looking for

OblivionsGate · 11-05-2008, 03:54 PM

Well, i double the recipe suggestions for spices in my pumpkin ale, so hopefully that will make a mellow pumpkin flavor in the stout.

I didn't think of flavor loss... do you think it would amount to a significant amount over a year? I just want to do that because the best beer i've made so far went 8 months from brew to drink, so i've taken to super-aging my beers and drinking a pumpkin beer in Oct & Nov is hard when pumpkins aren't in season until the last week or so of Sept...