Pumpkin beer

neildytham · 10-03-2009, 04:45 PM

Well Hallowe'en is just around the corner, and this novice beer maker would love to hear anyone's good recipe's for a nice pumpkin beer to celebrate.
I'm still mainly using extract, but can grainify if needs be.
A simple pumpkin beer or something more interesting? I'm open to offers!

Thanks

Neil

homebrewer_99 · 10-03-2009, 05:03 PM

A very basic Pumpkin beer would be a nice medium bodied amber with some pumpkin pie spices (no pumpkin).

Go light on the spices because the holiday is relatively right around the corner. If you add too many it won't be mellowed enough to serve come Turkey Day.

Here's one from my library:

Halloweenie Pumpkin Ale

This Homebrew Recipe belongs to Craig Ranshaw on September 20, 2002 (Please contact them if you have questions about the Recipe)

Brewing Method: Extract
Yeast: Dried (Edme or Muntons)
Yeast Starter: 1/2 cup dry malt boiled in 1 pint water
Batch Size: 5 gallons
Original Gravity: ?
Final Gravity: ?
Alcohol Content: ~4.5 %
Total Grains:
Color:
Extract Efficiency: %
Hop IBU's:
Boiling Time: 1 Hr
Primary Fermentation: ~3 days, 65-70 degrees
Secondary Fermentation: 7-9 days, 65-70 degrees
Additional Fermentation:

Grain Bill:
3 lbs dry light malt extract
3 lbs dry amber malt extract
+ ~ 2 cups dry light or amber malt extract for starter and priming

Hop Bill:
2 oz Hallertauer (boil)

Other:
2-3 lbs fresh pumpkin, peeled and cut into ~1" cubes
1 oz fresh grated ginger root
1 tbsp nutmeg
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
*1/2 oz coriander

Mash Schedule:

Brewers Notes:
Start boil w/ 2 1/2 gallons water (I use bottled spring water w/ 2 tsp gypsum added). Add dry malt extracts and hops; I prefer to bag the hops for this and avoid sparging. Boil 50-55 minutes, then add pumpkin, ginger, and spices. Note - I've just tried the coriander for the first time this year, so I'll have to get back to you in a month as to whether that was a good idea

Omitting the coriander will result in an excellent beer, though. Continue boiling until an hour total is reached - the pumpkin should be a darker orange, indicating it's been boiled long enough to be sterilized.

Chill wort and dump into 2 1/2 gallons water in plastic fermenter. Allow primary to run 3-4 days (once initial burst is over), then rack to carboy. Continue secondary until fermentation settles.

Bottling: Rack finished beer to plastic bucket containing 1 1/4 cups dry malt boiled in 1 pint water for five minutes. Bottle, let finish a minimum of two weeks (last year's batch finished about this long, and got raves).