Yet another pumpkin post...It's a quickie, I promise

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Benny Blanco

Benny Blanco

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Tried a sample of my pumpkin ale while taking my final hydro reading and it's not very spicy/pumpkinny at all. Should have used more of the pumpkin spice.

I've heard of adding cinnamon sticks to the secondary. How well does this work and how much should I use? Is there anything else I can add to the secondary to help the flavor?

Cheers :)
 
You can soak the cinnamon sticks in vodka to sanatize them if you're worried about it. I've found nutmeg helps give it some good pumpkin flavor, fresh ground version works best.
 
What kind of spice did you add? You can add more to the secondary. Mix it with a little vodka, let that sit and extract the flavor, then pour a dosed amount of the vodka in. I did this with mine in the keg and it has perfect amount of spice.

Oh, the Professor beat me. Mine has a very distinct nutmeg flavor...it is very nice.
 
I have found that too much nutmeg is the ruin of many pumpkin beers. I would stick to cinnamon. I would roast the cinnamon sticks (cloves couldn't hurt either) and toss them into the secondary. Fasson makes a good pumpkin ale. You taste hardly any nutmeg in it.
 
I did 2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice in the boil and then another 1 tsp in the keg. This was for a batch that was a little short of 5 gallons. I like the Spice mix stuff since it is already mixed in the ratios that I know will be good for a pumpkin pie flavor.
 
Excellent. Though, it wasn't the boil I was talking about...it was the secondary :eek:

I like the pumpkin spice idea. Maybe I'll add a couple tablespoons to the secondary. I'm guessing there is no need to sanitize if you open a fresh container of pumpkin spice....right?
 
Would 3Tbsp pumpkin pie spice during the boil along with an additional 2tsp cinnamin and 1tsp cloves be over the top for a 5% beer? I'm thinking 2row only and a nice 2 and a half hour boil to get some scorching in. (just going to bitter hop to 25-30ibu's) and how many gravity points would 1lb 13oz of canned pumpkin add? How fermentable is it?
 
Benny Blanco said:
Excellent. Though, it wasn't the boil I was talking about...it was the secondary :eek:

I like the pumpkin spice idea. Maybe I'll add a couple tablespoons to the secondary. I'm guessing there is no need to sanitize if you open a fresh container of pumpkin spice....right?
Click to expand...

If you put it in the vodka then that will sanitize it. I would add it in small amounts, then taste, then add more if needed.

Grimsawyer said:
Would 3Tbsp pumpkin pie spice during the boil along with an additional 2tsp cinnamin and 1tsp cloves be over the top for a 5% beer? I'm thinking 2row only and a nice 2 and a half hour boil to get some scorching in. (just going to bitter hop to 25-30ibu's) and how many gravity points would 1lb 13oz of canned pumpkin add? How fermentable is it?
Click to expand...

I think 3tbsp would be too much...mine only ended up with 3 tsp and it was a smaller beer at 1.053. Canned pumpkin in the boil will add very few fermentables, so few that you can assume none.
 
Quick question. I've never dry hopped before. Should you add the spices/hops in the secondary before you rack the brew? Does it matter?
 
Benny Blanco said:
Quick question. I've never dry hopped before. Should you add the spices/hops in the secondary before you rack the brew? Does it matter?
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter. Some people like to rack onto hops (this is especially true if you are using fruit). I have just dumped them in after racking the beer. But, when you just dump it, you might give it a swirl to make sure it is mixed.
 

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