Another Brew Day: Pumpkin Ale

This is my third AG batch in the last week, and I saved the biggest one for last, my pumpkin ale. I just pulled the pumpkin from the oven (real pumpkin) and have the strike water heating up as we speak. There will be some pics to follow, but here's the receipe:

10# 2-row
2# Dark Munich
.5# Caramel 60
.5# Vienna
1 oz. Kent Goldings (60 min)
1 oz. Kent (15 min)
1 oz sweet orange peel (15 min)
1 tsp Irish Moss (15 min)
1 tsp ginger root (5 min)
1 tsp allspice (5 min)
1/2 tsp nutmeg (5 min)
1 whole cinnamon stick (5 min)
Wyeast London Ale Yeast

Before I baked the pumpkin, I cut the rind off and season both sides with cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg and baked until it was soft. I then smashed it up and it will go right into the mash for 60 mins at 154.

Figured I'd post a few pics while the wort is chilling
Here's the pumpkin fresh from the oven

The pumpkin smashed up and no stuck sparge!

The preboil sample that came in at 1.064

The boil

And the chiller going in

Is that really just 1oz each of crystal and vienna?

kanzimonson said:

Is that really just 1oz each of crystal and vienna?

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1/2 pound each

nice. i looked everywhere for "pie pumpkins" for mine. had to go ahead and used canned pumpkin last weekend. went into walmart yesterday and there they were. errrrrrrr!

I would only use the canned pumpkin if I was really in a bind, and even then it would be hard. I love using the fresh stuff because its so much easier to work with.

I'm all cleaned up now and its tucked away in the brew closet. I was expecting around 1.058 for the OG, but ended up w/ 1.065. I didn't think I was going to brew today, so I didn't make a starter I'm not going to dwell over it though as its going to turn out to be a pretty tasty beer. I actually came up w/ 7.5 gal preboil, so I did a 70 min boil to get down to 5.5 gal. It has a nice spice note, a little like pumpkin pie, but very mellow. I ended up throwing 2 cinnamon sticks in and dumped a little extra allspice and nutmeg as I figured the flavors will mellow out a little with time. Overall, I'm very satisfied w/ this beer and can't wait for it to be done

Mashing Pumpkins

golfguy819 said:

I would only use the canned pumpkin if I was really in a bind, and even then it would be hard. I love using the fresh stuff because its so much easier to work with.

I'm all cleaned up now and its tucked away in the brew closet. I was expecting around 1.058 for the OG, but ended up w/ 1.065. I didn't think I was going to brew today, so I didn't make a starter I'm not going to dwell over it though as its going to turn out to be a pretty tasty beer. I actually came up w/ 7.5 gal preboil, so I did a 70 min boil to get down to 5.5 gal. It has a nice spice note, a little like pumpkin pie, but very mellow. I ended up throwing 2 cinnamon sticks in and dumped a little extra allspice and nutmeg as I figured the flavors will mellow out a little with time. Overall, I'm very satisfied w/ this beer and can't wait for it to be done

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This looks great! I am thinking of making a pumpkin brew as well and I have a few questions.

How much pumpkin is in your recipe? (1 pumpkin, how many pounds?)
How many gravity points does the pumpkin add?
Does it have to be mashed at 154 for conversion, or is it possible to make a lighter bodied ale with a lower mash temp?

Thanks! I hope this turns out great for you. It looks really awesome.

Cheers!

de_ronde said:

This looks great! I am thinking of making a pumpkin brew as well and I have a few questions.

How much pumpkin is in your recipe? (1 pumpkin, how many pounds?)
How many gravity points does the pumpkin add?
Does it have to be mashed at 154 for conversion, or is it possible to make a lighter bodied ale with a lower mash temp?

Thanks! I hope this turns out great for you. It looks really awesome.

Cheers!

Click to expand...

Thanks, I really hope it turns out well too. I bought 2 small pie pumpkins that weighed in from 2.5-3 lbs each and cut the rind off. I think I got around 4-5 lbs out of it. I upped the grain bill a bit so I wouldn't have to get full conversion from the pumpkin, I just used it for more flavor than anything. In that case, the pumpkin probably didn't add many gravity points, if any. If you don't want to add the pumpkin to the mash, you can try adding it to the boil. I did a mini-mash last year and added chunked pumpkin in a mesh bag straight to the boil at 60 and 30 mins. After I was done, I removed the bag, put it in a strainer and took my spoon and mashed the pumpkin to get all the juices out of it. That was my best tasting beer to date. If you're not looking for full conversion from the pumpkin, I don't see why you can't go a little lower to around 152.