Best Beer for Pumpkin Spice (with German Twist)

I brew a pumpkin spice every year with Pale Malt and real pumpkin. I'm out of Pale Malt, and only have the following: German Pils, German Munich, and German Malted Wheat.

What beer style with those base malts or mixture would brew the best beer with Pumpkin and spices?

I was thinking perhaps a Light Maibock or Oktoberest with the pumpkin, but wasn't for sure which style to go with. Any help would be great. Thanks.

I would go with the pumpkin oktoberfest personally. I tried a sample of mine after a month lagering and it's really good. It still needs a bit more condition, but it's very promising.

nukebrewer said:

I would go with the pumpkin oktoberfest personally. I tried a sample of mine after a month lagering and it's really good. It still needs a bit more condition, but it's very promising.

Click to expand...

That's what I was leaning towards. I'm also thinking of giving it US-05 instead of a lager yeast in order to make sure it's done quicker. Ferment cold at say 60 for a clean finish and then cold crash to clear up. It's a pumpkin spice, so it doesn't need to be super clear anyways.

A pumpkin Hefewiezen on the wheaty side sounds pretty good. 4 lbs pilsner, 6lbs wheat, 1oz Hallertau or Saaz @ 60, Wyeast 3068.....a little lighter on the pumpkin and spice than you would go in an amber-based pumkin - 40ish oz pumpkin, 1 tbsp spices.

With what you've got on hand, the oktoberfest pumpkin type ale is probably your best bet. I was looking at pumpkin beer recipes the other day. It seems that most of them are base malt (2-row or pils), some munich and some medium colored caramel malt. There's usually a fairly neutral bittering hop. The IBU's are in the 20-30 range. Then add a neutral yeast like US-05 or Notty. Basically all you need is a little pumpkin pie spice and maybe 1lb of C60 or caramunich.

TopherM said:

A pumpkin Hefewiezen on the wheaty side sounds pretty good. 4 lbs pilsner, 6lbs wheat, 1oz Hallertau or Saaz @ 60, Wyeast 3068.....a little lighter on the pumpkin and spice than you would go in an amber-based pumkin - 40ish oz pumpkin, 1 tbsp spices.

Click to expand...

You could also add the munich to make it a dunkel. You might want to overpitch the 3068.

I like wheat beers so I would be tempted to do that. I also don't know why no one does a pumpkin pils. I think you would get maximum pumpkin taste in the beer.

Since pie crust is a biscuit, I think you might want to have some biscuit taste and maybe some toastiness. But toffee, chocolate and roast flavors don't come to mind when I think about how I enjoy pumpkin pie. You might be able to get away with a hint of it to give the impression of a piece of crust that had gone dark. Also, it seems like some diacetyl might be acceptable.