Autumn Seasonal Beer Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale (AG and Extract versions)

The one time I bottle conditioned this I used the standard 1oz/gallon and it came out great! No reason you can't use brown sugar either, id maybe go a little heavier (6.5oz/5gal) due to brown sugar having a higher moisture content than dextrose

Had my first taste of this tonight after 11 days conditioning in the bottle. This truly ONE IF THE BEST pumpkin ales Ive had this year. Ive tried everything else I could find and this is right on par with Schaflys pumpkin ale, liquid pumpkin pie in a glass! Thanks for the recipe!!

Slow_Day said:

I use a rectangular cooler with a slotted pvc manifold. Forgot about the rice hulls everyone recommends, but was surprised to have no issues. I added the pumpkin last, and even though I stir and batch sparge, most of it stayed in the upper half of the mash. I ended up opening the valve wide open after vorlauf just like normal. Maybe I was just lucky.

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Same setup, use 1/2 lb rice hulls, no problems

Kegged this about a week ago, force carbonated, and served some at our family's pre-Thanksgiving get together today along with dessert.

Got good reviews from the family! The nose was a strong pumpkin pie. Taste reduced the pumpkin pie spices, but brought in the brown ale flavors. Fairly clean finish.

I liked it, though if I make it again in the future, I'll probably reduce the spices by a third or half. I found it very drinkable without spices, and with the spices, it's a bit much for more than a ~8oz serving. However as the weeks go on, if the spices mellow a bit I might enjoy a larger amount.

+1 on going easy on the spice. Overdid mine and it detracts from the beer.

This truly is an amazing pumpkin oie ale recipe. And with a shot of whipped cream vodka, WOW!!!

johnpcook1 said:

This truly is an amazing pumpkin oie ale recipe. And with a shot of whipped cream vodka, WOW!!!

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Ooh, good idea! I still have ONE bomber left of the batch of this I brewed last fall. It'll be a Thanksgiving Day treat this year.

Although I feel like I am jumping on the bandwagon a bit I just brewed this and put into the primary today. Did the extract version, OG came out to 1.050. Pretty much followed exactly as written except the crystal malt I was able to get a hold of was 65L, not 60, and I used a WL Irish Ale Yeast that I harvested/washed from my first batch last month. Hoping that it turns out ok despite the yeast substitute I had the jars to use up so wanted to do that before going and buying a brand new strain. I'll tell you in 3 weeks whether that was a good idea or not.

Finally, just wanted to say thanks to Yuri in particular, but also to everyone who has posted on this. I've spent the last week or so reading through every last post taking little bits of info and getting more and more excited for today. Its pretty cool to be part of something where even the most accomplished expert will take time to answer hundreds (if not thousands!) of questions from people like myself who are still trying to figure out which end of the hygrometer is up! Now I am excited for the "clearing stage" when I get to add my spice tea. If all turns out well and I can be patient enough to age it, this should be really freaking good come Thanksgiving.

yyvjpv said:

Although I feel like I am jumping on the bandwagon a bit I just brewed this and put into the primary today. Did the extract version, OG came out to 1.050. Pretty much followed exactly as written except the crystal malt I was able to get a hold of was 65L, not 60, and I used a WL Irish Ale Yeast that I harvested/washed from my first batch last month. Hoping that it turns out ok despite the yeast substitute I had the jars to use up so wanted to do that before going and buying a brand new strain. I'll tell you in 3 weeks whether that was a good idea or not.

Finally, just wanted to say thanks to Yuri in particular, but also to everyone who has posted on this. I've spent the last week or so reading through every last post taking little bits of info and getting more and more excited for today. Its pretty cool to be part of something where even the most accomplished expert will take time to answer hundreds (if not thousands!) of questions from people like myself who are still trying to figure out which end of the hygrometer is up! Now I am excited for the "clearing stage" when I get to add my spice tea. If all turns out well and I can be patient enough to age it, this should be really freaking good come Thanksgiving.

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Yes, youre jumpin the bandwagon! But thats ok. I'll be surprised if this lasts til Thanksgiving. Better plan on brewing another batch in August lol


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

Anyone try yams in this instead of pumkin?


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Edit: Accidental double post

At the end of last summer, I brewed up a 5 gallon extract batch of this. It was my first time using a starter, fruit or veggies, and my craigslist turkey fryer. I guess making a starter in a kitchen with live sourdough residing nearby allowed a lacto-bug to join the party. When we tasted it at clearing (secondary), there were some harsh / astringent flavors, but we added the spices and continued anyways, hoping they would clear up. By November, it was a full-blown sour ale, the lacto-bug eating most of the priming sugar and leaving the beer nearly flat. I still brought it to Thanksgiving, letting my family know that homebrew doesn't normally taste like this. Some loved it, most tried it out of courtesy but didn't care for it.

Fast-forward to mid-January, I brought a bottle to my local homebrew assn. (shout out to Rogue Brewers / Bear Creek Homebrew Assn.!) and nearly everyone was ecstatic about it, asking me my secret. I hesitantly told them that poor sanitation caused this happy accident. It sat for months in my shop, until my brewing partner encouraged me to enter it into the sour category in a local competition. I humored her, expecting to get a middling score at best. Imagine my surprise taking the ribbon in my first competition on an accidental sour! And against two Saisons!

So thank you to Yuri_Rage for publishing this recipe , and to Felicia for pushing me to enter Beerzilla !

This is one of my favorite brews. I have brewed 15 or 20 gallons of this and it is always a hit. In the past I have always had trouble getting it nice and clear, partially due to my habits. I recently built an eherms and decided to do a batch of this as my pilot brew. I am going to let it age and serve it either around college football kickoff or at a friendsgiving event. Friendsgiving being that get together after thanksgiving where everyone is in town and wants to get away from family. Don't get me wrong I love my family but after making rounds to inlaws, then my parents being split it turns into an all day event. Anyways back to the point of the post. I had the pleasure of running into a brewmaster and got to sit and chat with him and a high ranked beer judge for a few hours and mentioned this beer. The judge has had it and loves it. The brewmaster recommended that I try this but leave the pumpkin out of the boil and add it a few days after fermentation starts. I made the batch and I am about to transfer to secondary. I will post back once we tap it and let everyone know the difference if any. Lastly thanks for the great recipe yuri

Forgive me for not reading the hundreds of posts thus far, but is this recipe still current for the extract version? Have their been any updates?

Has anyone tried using some darker malts to get more of a pumpkin stout?

Yes still current, I am actually going to brew a batch this week.


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i just put my batch into the secondary and it smells great i will be barrel aging mine after it finishes in the secondary will let it sit till october aging then will keg it hope it turns out good

With Fall coming, this one's definitely on my radar! Has anyone added brown sugar to the boil? On page 10 of the thread, and it seems like it would be a good addition. If so, how much and when?

alby44 said:

With Fall coming, this one's definitely on my radar! Has anyone added brown sugar to the boil? On page 10 of the thread, and it seems like it would be a good addition. If so, how much and when?

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I've made this twice. Added brown sugar to the boil with my "spice tea" both times. I think I used a cup.

The 2nd time, I also primed with demerara sugar before bottling.

how prominent is the spice character if you add only 1tsp for a 6 gallon batch? I was adding almost 1/4 tsp to the gravity reading tastes and it was very subtle. I assume if you steep it in hot water and give it a week or two it will come out more, but how much? I'd like a fairly up front spice character. I'm also aiming to bottle mid august and let it condition until October before I crack into them and I understand spice fades with age.

alby44 said:

With Fall coming, this one's definitely on my radar! Has anyone added brown sugar to the boil? On page 10 of the thread, and it seems like it would be a good addition. If so, how much and when?

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When I bake the pumpkin, I spread a layer of brown sugar on top of the pumpkin for about the last ten minutes of the bake. I also sprinkle pumpkin spice on it as well.

So to answer your question, yes I do add brown sugar to the boil and I've been happy with the results every time...

I just brewed this in extract form. It looks and smells amazing!! I have a couple questions how long should i ferment in carboy? should i secondary rack it? & what is the best fo fermenting temp to get this at?

Sounds tasty!!

I legged mine last friday. Even flat this brew isn't bad.


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I fermented mine at 68 degrees and after a week I racked it into a secondary it turned out amazing

For the last two years, I added the pumpkin in the mash and it is a big pain to sparge this. How many people add the pumpkin to the boil?

Thanks!

I added pumkin to boil.

millie said:

I just brewed this in extract form. It looks and smells amazing!! I have a couple questions how long should i ferment in carboy? should i secondary rack it? & what is the best fo fermenting temp to get this at?

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I've done this one twice now. Both times I fermented at 68F and only did a primary. This will be my first year kegging this brew and I'm really looking forward to it. For time, I usually keg my ales when the SG gets to around 1.018, give or take a bit. I hate it when they get too dry.

scottvin said:

For the last two years, I added the pumpkin in the mash and it is a big pain to sparge this. How many people add the pumpkin to the boil?

Thanks!

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Try cutting up a real pumpkin instead of using the canned stuff. I do an extract batch, but use real pumpkin. After cutting the pumpkin (skins on, for color) I put on pumpkin pie spices and put it in the oven or a waterless pan to bake until soft. Then it goes into a large grain back to float around in the pot during the boil. About every 10 min I go out and dunk the pumpkin or pull out the back and put it back in to make sure wort is moving through the bag and getting all the flavor out. When done, just pull the bags out of the boil and toss 'em. The left overs actually make a good milkshake with vanilla ice cream and milk.

millie said:

I added pumkin to boil.

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Me too...

I'm gearing up to brew this recipe within the next 1-2 weeks. I can't buy fresh pumpkin around my area yet, so the canned stuff will have to do.

scottvin said:

For the last two years, I added the pumpkin in the mash and it is a big pain to sparge this. How many people add the pumpkin to the boil?



Thanks!

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I add the pumpkin to the mash, with 1/2 lb of rice hulls. No problems yet.


"Sometimes Im right half of the time..."

cant wait to brew this one this weekend...

Thanks for the recipe, and for all of the input.
I plan to brew it this year, maybe soon.

Quick question...I brewed this weekend and am thinking of getting another batch going right away. Could I do another batch and pitch right on to the yeast cake...any issues with the 60 oz of pumpkin trub or should i just consider doing a fresh batch?

alby44 said:

Quick question...I brewed this weekend and am thinking of getting another batch going right away. Could I do another batch and pitch right on to the yeast cake...any issues with the 60 oz of pumpkin trub or should i just consider doing a fresh batch?

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If you're worried about the trub, just wash the yeast. It's easy and effective.

alby44 said:

Quick question...I brewed this weekend and am thinking of getting another batch going right away. Could I do another batch and pitch right on to the yeast cake...any issues with the 60 oz of pumpkin trub or should i just consider doing a fresh batch?

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yes, pitch it right on the cake...to avoid a super huge trub, this time, put the pumpkin in the mash...this way you'll have a great experiment on the difference between pumpkin in the boil and pumpkin in the mash too. The yeast will be fine.

kirbcheck said:

If you're worried about the trub, just wash the yeast. It's easy and effective.

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Yeah, will probably end up doing that, but was wondering if I could just dump the new wort on top. Seems like the better option

70ls1nova said:

yes, pitch it right on the cake...to avoid a super huge trub, this time, put the pumpkin in the mash...this way you'll have a great experiment on the difference between pumpkin in the boil and pumpkin in the mash too. The yeast will be fine.

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Hmmm...hadn't thought of that. Excuse the ignorance here, but what would adding the pumpkin to the mash do? Is the add'l 30 minutes that much of a factor and would I add directly in with grain? I use a paint strainer so I'm guessing the strainer would help there.

I think he's suggesting adding to the mash will strain out the pumpkin solids, leaving less new trub on your yeast cake. Makes sense to me. Also, you don't need the whole yeast cake. If you want more fermenter space, pour off 3/4 of the yeast cake. Use a yeast calculator if you want more precision.

CraigKing said:

I'm gearing up to brew this recipe within the next 1-2 weeks. I can't buy fresh pumpkin around my area yet, so the canned stuff will have to do.

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Pumpkin isn't really available around me until mid September either. But this is actually enough to make it ready by late October. Truth be told, I start drinking it when its pretty green, about a week old. It definitely gets better with age though. This year since I'll have a 3rd keg I'll be able to afford to wait for it to get "ripe".