Winter Warmer Recipe

Well, my father in law grows pumpkins, so I have to use some of those. In brainstorming with a few of my brewing friends, we came up with a fairly complex, shoot for the moon, type of recipe for a spiced holiday ale. Please take a look and give any advice. Thanks!


16 pounds pale malt
5 pounds roasted pumpkin
4 pounds brown sugar
2 pounds rolled oats
1 pound c40
¾ pound chocolate malt
¾ pound black malt
½ pound brown malt
½ pound C60
12 ounces molasses
1 whole nutmeg (ground)
3 cinnamon sticks (added to hop spider)
1 tsp powdered ginger (fresh reminds me of asian food)
1 tsp fresh ground allspice
1 tsp fresh ground cloves
40 IBU Columbus at 60
All Spices added at end of boil
Roughly 1.080 OG
Roughly 1.016 OG
WLP001 (California ale yeast)
Mash at 155 ( we want it malty with some sweetness…)

You've obviously brewed much more than I have, but 4lbs of brown sugar? I'm not sure I see why that would be a good addition. The spices and pumpkin seem to take it pretty close to the moon as is, but wouldn't 4lbs of brown sugar leave it too thin and cider-y?

jeburgdo said:

You've obviously brewed much more than I have, but 4lbs of brown sugar? I'm not sure I see why that would be a good addition. The spices and pumpkin seem to take it pretty close to the moon as is, but wouldn't 4lbs of brown sugar leave it too thin and cider-y?

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What I am shooting for is some kettle carmelization by adding the brown sugar at the beginning of the boil. I know it sounds like a lot, maybe I will knock it back to two pounds or even one, but I just have a feeling that it will be tasty with all four pounds and a very high mash temp.

also pie pumpkins (ones used for baking) and carving pumpkins are going to give you diffrent taste. I didnt know that last year when I did my first pumpkin ale and got a strong vegital taste in it.

I have already backed and froze 3 small pie pumpkins. I just weighed the bags and I have 8 pounds, so it's all going in.

What can one expect as far as contribution to the fermentables from pumpkin? I have it set at %10 potential, which really isn't adding more than a few points.

permo said:

What I am shooting for is some kettle carmelization by adding the brown sugar at the beginning of the boil. I know it sounds like a lot, maybe I will knock it back to two pounds or even one, but I just have a feeling that it will be tasty with all four pounds and a very high mash temp.

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If you're looking for caramelization, maybe you could do a Wee Heavy technique and boil a few quarts of water (or wort) with a pound or so of brown sugar. Boil that down to a pint or two. That may be a less risky way to get brown sugar in there with some caramelizing going on too. Just a thought. Good luck with the brew!

jeburgdo said:

If you're looking for caramelization, maybe you could do a Wee Heavy technique and boil a few quarts of water (or wort) with a pound or so of brown sugar. Boil that down to a pint or two. That may be a less risky way to get brown sugar in there with some caramelizing going on too. Just a thought. Good luck with the brew!

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That is a great idea, a really good idea. I could pull off some of the first runnings, add a pound of sugar and boil the crap out of it!

Way too much molasses and brown sugar. Brown sugar is essentially refined white sugar with molasses added to it. 4lbs of sugar is probably going to dry this this out more than you'd like. Also, molasses is a very potent in its flavoring contributions and gets quite nasty in high portions.

wonderbread23 said:

Way too much molasses and brown sugar. Brown sugar is essentially refined white sugar with molasses added to it. 4lbs of sugar is probably going to dry this this out more than you'd like. Also, molasses is a very potent in its flavoring contributions and gets quite nasty in high portions.

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cut her down to two pounds brown sugar and completely ditch the molasses? Is the brown sugar just a bad idea in general? I also just weighed my pumkin and I have 8 pounds 4 ounces.

I forgot to mention that this is a 12 gallon batch.

permo said:

cut her down to two pounds brown sugar and completely ditch the molasses? Is the brown sugar just a bad idea in general? I also just weighed my pumkin and I have 8 pounds 4 ounces.

I forgot to mention that this is a 12 gallon batch.

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12 gallon batch --- that changes things a bit. I'd maybe use 4-6 oz. of molasses and cut the brown sugar down to 1.5 lb. A beer like Lagunitas Brown Shugga uses about .6 lbs per 5 gallons. I'm not sure if you've had that beer, but it has a pronounced brown sugar taste with that amount added. Will 16lbs of base malt really produce a 1.080 beer at 12 gallons volume?

wonderbread23 said:

Will 16lbs of base malt really produce a 1.080 beer at 12 gallons volume?

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No , but I was accounting for 2 pounds of oats, 8 pounds of pumpkin and four pounds of sugar.

Now I think I am going with 6 oz molasses and 2.0 pounds brown sugar.

I have never brewed with pumpkin before, but I would assume that 8 pounds in a mash should yield some fermentables. If I hit 1.065 to 1.070 I will be perfectly happy with it.

permo said:

No , but I was accounting for 2 pounds of oats, 8 pounds of pumpkin and four pounds of sugar.

Now I think I am going with 6 oz molasses and 2.0 pounds brown sugar.

I have never brewed with pumpkin before, but I would assume that 8 pounds in a mash should yield some fermentables. If I hit 1.065 to 1.070 I will be perfectly happy with it.

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I would error on the side of caution when considering the fermentables the pumpkin will give. They have lots of starch, but no enzymes to convert them. You'll be relying on the diastatic power of the malt to convert the malt starches and the pumpkin starches. Also note, that if you want sugar from the pumpkin, you'll need to gelatinize their starches to make them accessible to enzymes for conversion. I don't know the temperature this occurs in pumpkin starches, but it may require some pre-cooking to get it to work.

wonderbread23 said:

I would error on the side of caution when considering the fermentables the pumpkin will give. They have lots of starch, but no enzymes to convert them. You'll be relying on the diastatic power of the malt to convert the malt starches and the pumpkin starches. Also note, that if you want sugar from the pumpkin, you'll need to gelatinize their starches to make them accessible to enzymes for conversion. I don't know the temperature this occurs in pumpkin starches, but it may require some pre-cooking to get it to work.

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I roasted three pie pumkins at 350 degrees for two hours. I then cooled them and removed the meat. I placed the meat in ziplock backs in the freezer and will unthaw them before brewday. I am assuming that this extended cooking time should have adequately gelatenized the starches. I weighed the bags of pumpkin prior to freezing and I have 8 pounds and 4 ounces of fully cooked pumpkin ready to go.

Looking back I should have thrown a few pounds of six row in the grist, but oh well.