Sam Adams Harvest Pumpkin Clone

Plan on trying a SA Harvest Pumpkin clone this weekend. This is what I've come up with as a first stab after reading the recipe components from their site... and drinking a few.

Grain:
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 58.33 %
4.00 lb Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 29.17 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4.17 %

Hops:
1.00 oz Fuggles [5.1 %] (90 min) Hops 16.0 IBU
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [7.1 %] (45 min) Hops 7.6 IBU

Adjuncts:
4 cans of Libby's 100% Pumpkin
0.25 tsp Allspice (Primary 2.0 days) Misc
0.25 tsp Cinnamon (Primary 2.0 days) Misc
0.25 tsp Ginger (Primary 2.0 days) Misc
0.25 tsp Nutmeg (Primary 2.0 days) Misc

Yeast:
WLP060 American Ale Yeast Blend

Fermentation:
14 days at 68F

what would you do with the adjuncts? what's the process?

I just tried this beer last weekend. Never thought much of pumpkin beers but this has my attention. May be time to revisit acouple other brands too. Let us know how this comes out!

what would you do with the adjuncts? what's the process?

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The SA site says they put the pumpkin in the mash so that's what I'll do.

It doesn't say how they spice it, but I'm going to add the spices to the fermenter after primary fermentation is done. The ginger seems more pronounced to me than any of the other spices, so I'm going to experiment a little ahead of time by spicing some bottles of OktoberFAST to try and get the ratios right. JZ says in Brewing Classic Styles that it's best to just dump the spices in the fermenter and let them settle out. Don't bag them or anything.

I just tried this beer last weekend. Never thought much of pumpkin beers but this has my attention. May be time to revisit acouple other brands too. Let us know how this comes out!

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Sure thing. I'll post the results in a couple of weeks.

Brewed this yesterday. The color is exactly right, comparing a glass of Harvest Pumpkin with what's in the test tube. The OG listed on the SA site is 15 Plato(1.061). Mine came in at 1.057 so I adjusted up to 1.060 with some LDME. I'll post back later after fermentation is done.

Bottled this yesterday. This beer turned out way to smoky flavored. It's still going to be a nice beer, but it's not a good clone. I'm going to cut the smoked malt down from 4 pounds to 2 pounds and bump up the pale malt to 9 pounds to compensate. The spices aren't strong enough either. Next round I'll put half in the boil and half in the fermenter.

Yeah, I was going to say... I've never heard of anyone putting THAT much smoked malt in anything but a heavily "smoked" beer... meaning where it is in the smoked beer category. Even then, 4# would be at the high end of anything I've seen. I think you'd be fine with a pound, max. I just had a few of these, the smoked character is very subtle... if there's one thing smoked malt is NOT, that's subtle.

I based the amount on the rauch recipes in Brewing Classic Styles since I didn't have any experience with smoked malt before. Hopefully it will still be a good beer.

Thanks for the advice. On the next try I'll drop the smoked down to 1 pound.

Well, if you're using "rauch" malt, then it's not as big a deal... sorry, for some reason I read that as peat-smoked malt. Make sure you're actually getting Rauch Malt and not peat-smoked malt by mistake... if you have a good LHBS or you're ordering online it's likely not an issue, but that sounds like the kind of mistake a so-so LHBS might pull... you asking for "smoked malt" and them giving you peated instead of Rauch.

Anyway... the Rauch recipe in BCS is for a Rauch beer... if you've never had one before, you may be surprised at the amount of smoke flavor in a "classic" example. Yours might not be far off... of course, that doesn't mean it's not way too much for a Pumpkin. You may have made a very good Rauchbier with a hint of pumpkin...

That's good to know. I got it from AHB. It's definitely rauch, so maybe it'll turn out real good. It tasted good in the sample tube at least.

Ok, after aging the intensity off for a couple of months this is actually a really good beer. I can't say that I know what a true Rauch is supposed to taste like, but this is really good. The first one I opened up was just over the top smokey. Now that it's aged for 2 months it's very good. The smoke has mellowed out quite a bit and isn't as harsh. Yum.

I guess i need to change the title of the thread since this is nowhere near a clone of Harvest Pumpkin.

Have you brewed this again? Any changes?

I went to a pumpkin beer sampling yesterday and preferred the same harvest pumpkin over the rest.

wheatgerm said:

Ok, after aging the intensity off for a couple of months this is actually a really good beer. I can't say that I know what a true Rauch is supposed to taste like, but this is really good. The first one I opened up was just over the top smokey. Now that it's aged for 2 months it's very good. The smoke has mellowed out quite a bit and isn't as harsh. Yum.

I guess i need to change the title of the thread since this is nowhere near a clone of Harvest Pumpkin.

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I always look for a SA Harvest pumpkin clone to compare with but never find anything. Here is what I think may work but have not brewed it yet.

The SA site says it is 33 SRM, that would be black. I think they mean 33 EBC which is 17 SRM

Recipe: Harvest Pumpkin TYPE: All Grain
Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
SRM: 16.1 SRM SRM RANGE: 5.0-50.0 SRM
IBU: 15.5 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 0.0-70.0 IBUs
OG: 1.063 SG OG RANGE: 1.030-1.110 SG
FG: 1.021 SG FG RANGE: 1.005-1.025 SG
BU:GU: 0.244 Calories: 0.0 kcal/12oz Est ABV: 5.6 %
EE%: 72.00 % Batch: 5.28 gal Boil: 6.74 gal BT: 80 Mins


Total Grain Weight: 13 lbs Total Hops: 1.00 oz oz.
---MASH/STEEP PROCESS------MASH PH:5.40 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.8 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 11.5 %
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.8 %
6.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4 2.9 %
2.0 oz Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.0 %
16.00 oz Pumpkin, Canned (Mash 60.0 mins) Other 6 -

---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.053 SG Est OG: 1.063 SG
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.50 oz Fuggle [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 7.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 8 8.1 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 9 -
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 mins) Other 10 -
0.50 tsp Cinnamon (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 11 -
0.50 tsp Ginger (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 12 -
0.25 tsp Allspice (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 13 -
0.25 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 14 -

East Coast Ale (White Labs #WLP008) [35.00 ml] - Starter or 2 vials

Please keep us updated of your results..