Pumpkin Ale recipe tips

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imisri

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Hi all,
I've been wanting to make a pumpkin ale with an extremely malty profile. Here is what I've thought of so far...

11# German vienna malt
1# Crystal 60
1# crystal 80
1# carapils
(maybe .5 lbs of victory malt)

.5 oz Hallertau @ 60
.5 oz Tettnang @ 30

I've got the spices figured out but my main questions are on the grain profile and yeast to be used. I've got ~80% of the grain bill as a base malt. Is that too little? Should I consider other specialty grains as well? For the yeast I'm debating between WY1056 and WLP011. I'm worried the 1056 is gonna come out too dry. I've heard that the 011 accentuates malt flavors but I've never used it before.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers
 
I would use munich instead of vienna if you want a really malty beer. Since munich will provide you some good caramel flavor you could make the grain bill a little more complex. Instead of crystal 60, maybe sub in some chocolate malt, victory malt, or darker crystal malt.
 
So you don't think that I'm using too much specialty malt? Based on other recipies I've seen it seems like tey're used in lesser quantities. I just don't want to overdo the sweetness
 
Def. use Victory if you have it, or biscuit, aromatic, etc. Mash higher to avoid drying out. 156 or so should do it.

Use the crystal malts to color. I'd leave Carapils out and mash higher.
 
so I brewed my recipie 10 days ago and I took a bit out to taste today.The pumpkin isn't noticeable at all. I added 5.5 pounds of Libby's canned pumpkin to the boil at 90 min. I caramelized the pumpkin for 1h at 350 beforehand, however I did notice that only the top of the pumpkin was caramelized.
I mashed at 157 for 60 min, boiled for 90 min and added 1 tsp of irish moss at 15 min and 1.5 TBSP of pumpkin pie spice at 10 min which is hardly noticeable as well. My OG was 1.068 and I pitched WLP011 yeast. I did not make a starter this time and let it ferment at 64 (ambient temp) for 10 days now.

Any thoughts as to why the pumpkin or the spices aren't coming through?
 
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