Partial Mash pumpkin pie ale

Looking for input on this recipe. I'm going for pumpkin pie in a glass. 5 gallons, partial mash.

4lb extra light DME
2lb 40L
1lb 2 row
1lb flaked maize
.5lb biscuit malt
.5lb lactose for mouth feel
1oz Saaz for 60 minutes
.5oz Tett for last 20 minutes
8oz canned pumpkin for 20 minutes
2 tsp nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger; 1 tsp allspice for 20 minutes
~4 oz vanilla extract at bottling
Whitbread yeast


Thoughts? Is 0.5lb of biscuit too much when going for the crust taste? Am I using too much spice? It's 2lb of 40L going to be sweet enough (considering 3lb)?

I would use more pumpkin, but be careful because it will add lots of simple sugars and leave you with a dry, very alcoholic beer. Go for at least 2-4 lbs. of canned pumpkin. I would also throw out the flaked maize. You don't want to lighten the color of this beer and the mashed pumpkin will give you plenty of simple sugars. Also, I would go with 3-4 tsp. of vanilla (4 oz. seems like way too much to me). Lastly, if you have the capacity to use a secondary you probably should. You will have LOTS of trub from the pumpkin. I do a pumpkin ale every year and I use a secondary and add the spices and vanilla in the secondary, then let it sit for 2 weeks.

Good luck!

Cheers!

Thanks for the input!

Here's my current questions in no particular order:

1. What if I substitute Victory Malt for the biscuit malt? I think the slight nuttiness along with the breadiness might be nice.

2. When do you add the pumpkin traditionally -the boil or the mash?

3. Does the amount of spices above seem good? I want the spicing to be evident, but not complete overkill.

Thanks!

bassballboy said:

1. What if I substitute Victory Malt for the biscuit malt? I think the slight nuttiness along with the breadiness might be nice.

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Victory and Biscuit are the same thing. I think Victory is just a trademarked version. I think the Victory/Biscuit would complement the spices. I've heard of some people using graham crackers in the mash to get a crust type taste.

bassballboy said:

2. When do you add the pumpkin traditionally -the boil or the mash?

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I've heard of people doing either, or both. I always add mine to the mash for the whole time, but I think I'll try just adding it to the last 15 mins of the mash next year. Actual flavor from the pumpkin is hard to get into the beer. Most of the flavor comes from the spices. There are lots of pumpkin beers out there that don't even use pumpkin.

bassballboy said:

3. Does the amount of spices above seem good? I want the spicing to be evident, but not complete overkill.

Click to expand...

I always use a pumpkin pie spice blend that you can buy in the stores. It is easier to measure out one thing, IMHO. It usually has nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, clove, and/or allspice in the right ratios. I use 4 tsp in the secondary for a 5 gallon batch.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the help!

Here's what I think I'm going with:

3lb extra light DME
3lb 40L
1lb 2 row
.5lb victory malt
.5lb lactose for mouth feel
1oz Saaz for 60 minutes
.5oz Tett for last 20 minutes
16oz canned pumpkin for 20 minutes
6 tsp pumpkin spice in secondary
2 oz vanilla extract at bottling
Whitbread yeast

if you use 6 tsp of spice it will be overwhelming, and take extra time to settle out. I use 2 tsp of spice in my pumpkin ale and it still takes a month for it to mellow.
I would check out the spice levels in some of the popular pumpkin recipes in the recipe forum..and copy

I would go with 2-3 tsp pumpkin pie spice when you transfer to secondary, then taste it after about a week. If you think it needs more, add more. You can do the same with the vanilla, because once you bottle it you can't change it.

Cheers!

I use a pound of victory in my version and it's not too much at all. Also go last light the spices...I use like 1.25 tsp total of spices and I think it's just right. And you will get a ton of trub from canned pumpkin so be prepared for that.

I ended up doing 1/2 a tsp each at the end of the boil, then tasted the beer when transferring it to the secondary and it wasn't quite where I wanted it so I added another 1/2 tsp of each. We'll see when it's read to bottle - I figure I can always add more but I can't get rid of any!