Autumn Seasonal Beer Samhain Pumpkin Ale

By the way, if anyone is interested in how my imperial version came out, I'm drinking some right now. It's really nice. If you remember, I took the recipe and added enough golden promise to get the og to like 1.078 or something. I then added 1/8 teaspoon of McCormick Vanilla Butter and Nut extract at kegging. The result is a really decadent pumpkin ale along the lines of Southern Tier's Imperial Pumking, but with more malt complexity, more body, more pumpkin flavor and a slightly darker color. I'm entering it into a local comp to see what the judges think. I'm pretty sure it is going to blow their minds!

Wow - I am still 'aging' my original recipe. I just haven't gotten it into rotation in the 3 tap keezer yet and wanted to save enough for Halloween.... Hmmm. Maybe I should brew another batch this weekend.... King - what is your grain to glass time on this brew?

Great to hear about the imperial version! Thats a definite version of this brew I would try next year.

OCBrewin said:

Wow - I am still 'aging' my original recipe. I just haven't gotten it into rotation in the 3 tap keezer yet and wanted to save enough for Halloween.... Hmmm. Maybe I should brew another batch this weekend.... King - what is your grain to glass time on this brew?

Click to expand...

Haha, it's been 3 weeks and a couple days since I brewed this last batch and I'm drinking it right now. It's not completely carbed yet, but tastes great. I've found that when I pitch a proper amount of healthy yeast, and control fermentation temperatures with an iron fist, I can go from grain to glass in less than 3 weeks. My current fermentation schedule is typically 7 days at ferment temps (usually low 60s controlled by a temperature controller attached directly to the fermentation bucket in a chest freezer) then a crash cool to between 32 and 43 degrees for another 7 days. Then I keg it, and let it start to carbonate at serving pressure (or sometimes slightly higher if I'm impatient). I'll be drinking and enjoying it within a week in most cases.

OCBrewin said:

Wow - I am still 'aging' my original recipe. I just haven't gotten it into rotation in the 3 tap keezer yet and wanted to save enough for Halloween.... Hmmm. Maybe I should brew another batch this weekend.... King - what is your grain to glass time on this brew?

Click to expand...

If it makes a diff, my pumpkin ale recipe is very similar and I am drinking it right now 7 days later. It is one of the best beers I've tasted. I used about 1/3 of the spices and 1968 yeast. Fullers strain is fast.

KingBrianI said:

My current fermentation schedule is typically 7 days at ferment temps (usually low 60s controlled by a temperature controller attached directly to the fermentation bucket in a chest freezer) then a crash cool to between 32 and 43 degrees for another 7 days. Then I keg it, and let it start to carbonate at serving pressure (or sometimes slightly higher if I'm impatient). I'll be drinking and enjoying it within a week in most cases.

Click to expand...

Cool. I got my first dedicated fermentation freezer set up about a week ago. I used to unhook the kegs from the keezer, pull them out, reset the temp to fermentation temps and then reverse the process every time I wanted to serve. Controlling these temps (60-65) for most of my beers has really sped up my process too. I keep sneaking samples of the Samhain and its def. getting better and better. This is one that can really stand up to some mellowing and aging - even if it doesn't need it. I am thinking of dosing the keg with 1 tsp of homemade vanilla extract (bean steeped in vodka for 3 weeks) to really bring home the pumpkin pie flavor.

Looks like imperial is next.

I kegged 5 gal, and bottled the rest 4 days ago. I just cracked open a bottle to see how it is coming along and Wow! My friends and family are going to love me. Thanks! I don't know if this will last until Thanksgiving.

Just made some pumpkin beer floats with vanilla ice cream and this beer. So awesome! Talk about a SWMBO killer!

weesm said:

Just made some pumpkin beer floats with vanilla ice cream and this beer. So awesome! Talk about a SWMBO killer!

Click to expand...

Hows the clove flavor coming?

Laying here working on a bottle of Blue Moon pumpkin ale. Saw it and had to try it for the sake of comparison. Gotta say, mine is better!

KingBrianI said:

Hows the clove flavor coming?

Click to expand...

It's still a little rough. Maybe a couple of weeks out still but I'm be tracking its progress closely

Mmm

FYI-If you don't have allspice just make your own by mixing 1/2 t. cinnamon, 1/4 t. nutmeg, and a 1/4 t. cloves. Or you can use an equal amount of all 3 depending on your liking.

weesm said:

It's still a little rough. Maybe a couple of weeks out still but I'm be tracking its progress closely

Click to expand...

Fwiw I brew this in mid August as it allows all the spices and malt/ pumpkin to mingle together nicely. I also allow this to sit in primary for appx 6 weeks as well. After it hits that sweet spot weesm it will be one of the best pumpkin ales you will ever have.

I'm brewing another 5.5 gallons of this over the upcoming weekend. I can't seem to keep the keg full.....hmmm

I hollowed out a pumpkin, drilled a small hole, and shoved the tap from my 5 gallon cooler mash tun. Filled it up with this pumpkin beer and brought it to a party. I think people were excited it was a pumpkin keg and loved the beer!



Filling it up!





The final pumpkin keg

That's awesome!

That is pretty dang cool!

Weesm, pretty cool! How was the taste in the pumpkin? Was it any different than off your regular tap? (keg) Did the pumpkin tap leak at all?

GGGsPorter said:

Weesm, pretty cool! How was the taste in the pumpkin? Was it any different than off your regular tap? (keg) Did the pumpkin tap leak at all?

Click to expand...

Thanks! It tasted about the same in the pumpkin. It actually went flat pretty quick, so it tasted flat... When I drilled the hole for the tap I intentionally made it smaller and was able to screw the tap in. I tested it with water first and no leaks. It did absorb a ton of the water so that's something to think about. I'm not sure if it helped me by not absorbing a ton of beer instead. Or it made the beer watery...

Here is my version pretty much straight on to the recipe. Beautiful and delicious beer, a huge success !

DBush20 said:

Here is my version pretty much straight on to the recipe. Beautiful and delicious beer, a huge success !

Click to expand...

Great clarity. Looks exactly like mine, I used Sparkelloid and got it to drop crystal clear. Did you use anything?

No picture of mine yet but this beer turned out very clear for me with just I.moss. its a good looking amber.

bottlebomber said:

Great clarity. Looks exactly like mine, I used Sparkelloid and got it to drop crystal clear. Did you use anything?

Click to expand...

Yeah, just gelatin

Looks exquisite!

Tapping my keg this weekend at a Halloween Party. Took a taste when I kegged it, had a bready mouthfeel with nice spice note. Will have been sitting on gas for 3 weeks now, hopefully it tastes even better!

I am making a ten gallon batch of this tomorrow. Four 29 oz cans of pumpkin!

The only molasses I could find was a 12 fluid ounce jar. How does that equate to the half pound of a double recipe? I think I am going to just dump it all in.

milesvdustin said:

I am making a ten gallon batch of this tomorrow. Four 29 oz cans of pumpkin!

The only molasses I could find was a 12 fluid ounce jar. How does that equate to the half pound of a double recipe? I think I am going to just dump it all in.

Click to expand...

I think you'll be fine half pound is 8oz, so you have almost what it calls for. If it were me (and I did this on my two batches...) Sprinkle about a half cup of Brown sugar on the pumpkin before baking. That'll make up for anything you lost in the missing 4oz of molasses IMO.

OCBrewin said:

I think you'll be fine half pound is 8oz, so you have almost what it calls for. If it were me (and I did this on my two batches...) Sprinkle about a half cup of Brown sugar on the pumpkin before baking. That'll make up for anything you lost in the missing 4oz of molasses IMO.

Click to expand...

Don't confuse fluid ounces with ounces. A fluid ounce of molasses will weigh much more than an ounce. Milesvdustin, just weigh out your desired amount of molasses into a pyrex measuring cup on a balance. Using the pyrex measuring cup allows you to dunk it in the boiling wort to wash out the thick molasses.

Yeah I know there is a big difference in fluid and weight ounces. I'll get the ole scale out. When I bake this much pumpkin, can I do it in casserole dishes?

milesvdustin said:

Yeah I know there is a big difference in fluid and weight ounces. I'll get the ole scale out. When I bake this much pumpkin, can I do it in casserole dishes?

Click to expand...

I use a baking pan you know like a cookie sheet and it worked great!! I really love this recipe a lot I'm brewing this again today for almost 20 gallons this year it's really more like 22.5. Only thing in doing different this time is adding gelatin at kegging as Denny wy1450 is low flocculant and takes a long time to clear not that it's the end of the world but I would like to try gelatin to see the results.

KingBrianI said:

Don't confuse fluid ounces with ounces. A fluid ounce of molasses will weigh much more than an ounce. Milesvdustin, just weigh out your desired amount of molasses into a pyrex measuring cup on a balance. Using the pyrex measuring cup allows you to dunk it in the boiling wort to wash out the thick molasses.

Click to expand...

Haha, wow. I just looked back and realized that the molasses was called out in lbs. I must have goofed when writing down my recipe and just put 4oz, assuming the recipe was calling for that... Hmm so it looks like I've been using much more molasses than called for, but oh well. It tastes great and ill be doing my third batch tomorrow for 15 gallons of the stuff this year. Maybe ill back off on the molasses this time a bit...

Are all the spices ground?

Edit: I ground it all.

A variation of this was a bit hit at a pumpkin carving party today. I used extra two row and modified it a bit for something in the 7% abv range. Definitely doing another one of these next year.

So I just got mine in the fermenter, and this was the biggest disaster ever. Stuck sparge, and for some reason I boiled off three gallons over an hour. If its chilly and really windy will that cause a lot more boil off? I still got barely ten gallons in my fermenters, and I came out a little high on og due to the extra boil off and I added a bit more molasses and some brown sugar on my pumpkin in the oven. Now to forget about it for a month!

Today I was prepping a few things so I can brew this on Tuesday. I burned the malt toasting it myself so I get to try that again tomorrow. I scaled the recipe up to 1.080 with all percentages the same but I kept the spice additions where they were. My goal is to have something like the weyerbacher pumpkin ale just not quite so... Pumpkin spicey.

Played around with the recipe and did a partial mash. Tastes great.

Just pitched the yeast on this one. My efficiency was horrible, I had a lot of uncrushed grains. Missed my OG by 10 points. But... Whatever. It should still work out at 1.070. Another reminder to have two things. A decent supply of DME for starters and times like this... And GET MY MILL PUT TOGETHER!

A few more days, and I rack this into bottles. But oh man, the samples are fantastic! Can't wait till this is ready. Here's a pic I may be using on my labels. Should go over great in a couple weeks with a slice of real pumpkin pie.

So it has been two weeks tomorrow that I brewed this. I used US-05 yeast. I controlled the fermentation temp in my bathtub at 65-67 degrees the whole time. All the yeast has dropped out of suspension and the beer is quite clear. I just took a gravity reading, and I seem to have stalled or stuck at 1.020. The sample didn't really taste that sweet, but it was also uncarbed. What should I do with it?

I used yeast that I had washed about 7 or 8 months before. I made a one liter starter at first, then bumped it up to 1.5 liters and split it between the two fermenters. Both fermenters kicked off with a bang within 8 hours, and fermentation was vigorous with lots of yeast rafts swirling around like gangbusters, and a nice 3-4 inch krausen on each batch. Both have dropped in to nice compact yeast cakes.