Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

Just came home from Kroger and found the pumpkin and spices. Can't wait to brew this for the fall. Thanks for the recipe.

AndMan3030 said:

G dangit! I just made 10 gallons of this beer and followed the recipe to the T. FORGOT TO ADD THE SPICE COMPLETELY!?!?! I am about to pitch my yeast right now. WHO HAS DONE THIS?? is my beer ruined? can I add it to primary or secondary? Do I make a "spice tea" cool it and add it?? what should I do to save these 10 gallons of precious punkin' ale??

-OG 1.064

Please Help!

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I don't think there's any harm in adding it when pitching the yeast or even very early on in the primary

AndMan3030 said:

G dangit! I just made 10 gallons of this beer and followed the recipe to the T. FORGOT TO ADD THE SPICE COMPLETELY!?!?! I am about to pitch my yeast right now. WHO HAS DONE THIS?? is my beer ruined? can I add it to primary or secondary? Do I make a "spice tea" cool it and add it?? what should I do to save these 10 gallons of precious punkin' ale??

-OG 1.064

Please Help!

Click to expand...

I just did the same thing a few weeks ago. I just added the spices to a bit of boiling water, cooled it and dumped it in my primary. I added a touch less then called for and then make a vodka spice tincture. This way I can dial up the spice level to the exact level I want a kegging time.

ChrisL_ said:

I added a touch less then called for and then make a vodka spice tincture. This way I can dial up the spice level to the exact level I want a kegging time.

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That's usually what I suggest. Thanks!

Just tasted mine (brewed Sat Aug 17th) and it is lacking on the spice. I didn't have McCormick's, but used Fresh Market pumpkin spice.

Reno_envy, what's your suggestion? Vodka tincture into keg only, or should I do some sort of extraction earlier and add it to the primary? Either way, I know it's young, but I doubt the spice is really going to increase much with just a simple aging. It smells good, but then at taste, it's like a very lightly spiced blonde ale or something --- you know, that typical empty beer flavor that's too neutral to be acceptable.

Boy I tell ya....

Brewed this sat, thought 1/2# rice hulls would do it and had an agonizingly slow & stuck sparge. ended up having to dump and unclog 2x and by the time I was done, didn't have to time boil so the wort sat over night.

Poor efficiency, added some DME and were at 1.068 happily bubbling away, not holding my breath on this one

Thanks for the recipe. I've never tasted a pumpkin ale but some friends have been clamoring so I made it this past weekend. The wort is a lovely color and tasted like liquid apple pie. I'm excited to try the final product.

Has any one used marris otter for the base grain on this?

Soup4you2 said:

Just tried a sample using a 50-50 of Maris Otter and 2-Row split.

It does taste good, and will still be heavily enjoyed.. however i don't think MO compliments this one that well.. for those interested I would stick with the recipe and use all 2-row for your base.

But that/s just my 2c, take it for what it's worth.. YMMV.

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I have a 50/50 in the fermentor. I plan on trying it tonight, but did read the above post a few days ago.

DOUBLE G DANGIT!!

Not only did I forget the spice, (not a big deal as I am told adding a 6-8 oz spice "tea" will be fine) but I did not double the pumpkin puree for my ten gallon batch!?!?! I will definately have to RDWHAHB as I'm sure this will still be an awesome ale!

Gonna brew anther 10 gallons next weekend and really try to NAIL this one!

CHEERS!

AndMan3030 said:

DOUBLE G DANGIT!!

Not only did I forget the spice, (not a big deal as I am told adding a 6-8 oz spice "tea" will be fine) but I did not double the pumpkin puree for my ten gallon batch!?!?! I will definately have to RDWHAHB as I'm sure this will still be an awesome ale!

Gonna brew anther 10 gallons next weekend and really try to NAIL this one!

CHEERS!

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Did you forget anything else? Double the grains? How bout the hops? Water? I'm gonna guess you started enjoying beer just a little too soon before you started making beer. I've been there. Scared myself to death, but never had any major blunders.

choosybeggar said:

Thanks for the recipe. I've never tasted a pumpkin ale but some friends have been clamoring so I made it this past weekend. The wort is a lovely color and tasted like liquid apple pie. I'm excited to try the final product.

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Only change I made was to sub UK Golding for Hallertau. Hope it turns out.

choosybeggar said:

Thanks for the recipe. I've never tasted a pumpkin ale but some friends have been clamoring so I made it this past weekend. The wort is a lovely color and tasted like liquid apple pie. I'm excited to try the final product.

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The thing that worries me is that it tasted like apple pie and not pumpkin pie. We know what you mean though.

DrunkleJon said:

The thing that worries me is that it tasted like apple pie and not pumpkin pie. We know what you mean though.

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Teaches me to post from work on my phone!

Tastes like liquid pumpkin pie

2 gallons of this one in the fermentation tank as we speak. I did change my pumpkin amount, I had a 29oz can in my mash just for my volume alone.

Looks good, smells good, and we're only 2 days into the fermenting.

Bottled last night. Tasted great, subtle spices nothing too overpowering. Looking forward to trying this just sad that it won't be for like 2 months!

Thanks so much for the recipe Reno! Just got an early taste of this I did BIAB style...and it's spectacular! Definitely making a larger batch next time!

I primed some with dark brown sugar instead of corn sugar and it didn't hurt.

Has anyone brewed this without brown sugar? Seems to me that it was just the abv and dry it out more than need be - what am I missing?

It's great to hear so many stories of people trying this recipe. Good luck to all and thank you so much for the compliments. However, you all are the ones making great beer... I'm simply an organizer of ingredients.


To those of you thinking of brewing this for Halloween or Thanksgiving but are still contemplating:

You might want to start as soon as possible as this brew can take some time to hit its stride. And even if you don't choose my recipe, you'll be happy you got a head start when you're drinking and sharing a properly aged pumpkin ale for the fall holidays.

I'm still only about 8 months into homebrewing and am trying to cut the recipe down to a 3g batch and enter it into beersmith, but I can't seem to find the correct hops, is there another type that would be suitable or maybe I have the name wrong I will check again. But either way this looks and sounds great and definitely would love to get a batch going

I assume Hallertau and Hallertaur are the same hops, my LHBS had the one without the r.

According to http://www.brew365.com/hop_substitution_chart.php, try one of the following Liberty, Tettnanger, Mt. Hood, Vangaurd, or Tradition. Unless I am mistaken, you pretty much should be able to swap it out for any other German Noble hop variety

It's just a variation on spelling. For instance, the quote you posted has "Tettnanger" but I always leave off the "er"

Got a question before brewing this weekend. This is such a long thread and the pages I read through I didn't see this asked....

Has anyone added the spices at bottling instead of as a 5min addition?

daveooph131 said:

Got a question before brewing this weekend. This is such a long thread and the pages I read through I didn't see this asked....

Has anyone added the spices at bottling instead of as a 5min addition?

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If you prefer it, you could make a spice tincutre by adding the spices to a couple of ounces of vodka. Then you can add that to the bottling bucket. The advantage of this is that you can slowly add in the tincture and check out the taste to dial in the exact spice level you want.

I am in the middle of doing a variation on this idea where I put in about 3/4 of spices in the boil so the flavors can blend while sitting in my fermenter. But I also have a spice tincture ready should I want to dail up the taste a bit more.

Hope this helps.

apologies if this was already asked, but I recently bottled my first pumpkin ale (extract based) and my method of cooking the pumpkin was to bring it to a boil in some water then back off to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes, adding the pie spice during the simmer. Combined this mixture in the brewpot with the extract wort at the start of the boil.

Smelled very good into the fermenter, but wondering if I missed something by not roasting the pumpkin first?

At bottling, still smells nice and has that pumpkin essence to it, though I think I may have over hopped for this style... Hoping the hops will mute a little as it conditions...

Any opinions? Shall I pray to the Great Pumpkin?

ChrisL_ said:

If you prefer it, you could make a spice tincutre by adding the spices to a couple of ounces of vodka. Then you can add that to the bottling bucket. The advantage of this is that you can slowly add in the tincture and check out the taste to dial in the exact spice level you want.

I am in the middle of doing a variation on this idea where I put in about 3/4 of spices in the boil so the flavors can blend while sitting in my fermenter. But I also have a spice tincture ready should I want to dail up the taste a bit more.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks - I think all stick with the true recipe then and add at 5min to go in boil.

However if its lacking ill be ready at bottling with more to add via your method.

I think this will accomplish what I'm looking for.

daveooph131 said:

Thanks - I think all stick with the true recipe then and add at 5min to go in boil.

However if its lacking ill be ready at bottling with more to add via your method.

I think this will accomplish what I'm looking for.

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I added the 1.5 Tbls in boil last year and after fermenting/tasting I added another tsp.

The amount of spice in this recipe is pretty perfect as is. Is adds a little spice and is no way overpowering. I hate overdone beers and this one is great so far after 2 weeks in the fermenter!

Quick question. Are you keeping this in primary for the standard 3 weeks? I am 2 weeks in and not sure if an extra week is all I need before cold crashing for a week and then kegging to age?

D_Nyholm said:

Quick question. Are you keeping this in primary for the standard 3 weeks? I am 2 weeks in and not sure if an extra week is all I need before cold crashing for a week and then kegging to age?

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I did. 3 weeks primary 4 days secondary/cold crash 2 of which was with gelatin to drop of the yeast out.

jaydog2314 said:

I did. 3 weeks primary 4 days secondary/cold crash 2 of which was with gelatin to drop of the yeast out.

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Cool, sounds good. I'll give it another week and then cold crash it for a few before I keg. As long as it is ready by October I am good to go. Wish I could age it a little longer.

Can't stop taking gravity/taste samples though. Unfortunately mine got down to 1.012 and is almost 7%! Wish I had a little more sweetness in it.

Brew this beer this morning, OG spot on.

Brewing this today! A little worried with the sparge and the high gravity. Anyway here I go.

We just brewed a batch last night and I was told to put a can or so of pumpkin in the secondary. Kit came with spices. Thoughts?

throwing a can or two in secondary will displace a lot of beer. Just a thought.

I swapped out German hersbrucker hops cause the site I ordered from didn't have what the original recipe called for... Any thoughts on how the sub will work out?

Medevac_Chief said:

I swapped out German hersbrucker hops cause the site I ordered from didn't have what the original recipe called for... Any thoughts on how the sub will work out?

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Basically any noble hop will work. But as far as different strains of Hallertaur, either Hersbrucker or Mittlefreuh (sp?) will do just fine.

When I entered this into BeerSmith, my estimated OG came out at 1.074. Any reason for the almost 10 point discrepancy?

h22lude said:

When I entered this into BeerSmith, my estimated OG came out at 1.074. Any reason for the almost 10 point discrepancy?

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Ah, good catch! I award you 10 internets.

It's supposed to be for 5.5 gallons. Sadly, I can't edit the bolded listing of the brews attributes.

And any discrepancies from there are probably just differences in hardware, % efficiency, etc.

Reno_eNVy said:

Ah, good catch! I award you 10 internets.

It's supposed to be for 5.5 gallons. Sadly, I can't edit the bolded listing of the brews attributes.

And any discrepancies from there are probably just differences in hardware, % efficiency, etc.

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Sweet, now I have enough internets to buy myself a nice new domain name. Thanks lol

Yeah, when I change it to 5.5 gallons my OG is now only 2 points off. Works for me.