Autumn Seasonal Beer Samhain Pumpkin Ale

My Samhain variant (with caramelized marshmallows) finished up and tastes awesome. They provided character and the nose of toasted marshmallows, but it's not pervasive and seems right at home in this beer. Can't wait until its carbed. Used WLP002 for its tight trub and clear finish.

Brewing this tomorrow (Friday), took off of work for a 4 day weekend, woohoo!

Brewing this now, 30min into boil. The 1st running was slow, but the sparge took about 30min even with rice hulls. No biggie, got more than enough for full 6.5gal boil.

Cheers
justin

I mentioned it a couple weeks ago but my plan for this year's version of Samhain Pumpkin Ale is going to get the imperial treatment. I'm also going to add a bit of vanilla butter and nut flavoring at kegging to get something along the lines of ST Pumking. The starter of WY1450 is spinning away on the stir plate right now and I bought a sack of golden promise todayso not only will I have enough for this beer, but for lots of sweet golden promise beers in the next couple months!

My version went in the gas today...now we wait. Thanks again for the recipe!

I just tapped my keg that I brewed last winter. It has been aging in my frig since I brewed it. So good! I love this beer!!! Perfect for football season and the fall!

Daryl said:

I just tapped my keg that I brewed last winter. It has been aging in my frig since I brewed it. So good! I love this beer!!! Perfect for football season and the fall!

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Wow, that's patience!

KingBrianI said:

Wow, that's patience!

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Yeah...thanks again for this recipe. Have you noticed how many pumpkin brews are showing up on the market lately? I'm excited to try them out and see if they hold a candle to yours! Cheers KingBrian!

KingBrianI said:

Wow, that's patience!

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I've been forced into patience with mine, since I broke instructions and overspiced it last year. The spices have just now faded to the point where it is good. It's more or less been lagering or about 9 months. It is gloriously clear

Daryl said:

Yeah...thanks again for this recipe. Have you noticed how many pumpkin brews are showing up on the market lately? I'm excited to try them out and see if they hold a candle to yours! Cheers KingBrian!

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Let me know how it stacks up!

bottlebomber said:

I've been forced into patience with mine, since I broke instructions and overspiced it last year. The spices have just now faded to the point where it is good. It's more or less been lagering or about 9 months. It is gloriously clear

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Lagered Samhain... You might be on to something!

So to make the original recipe a ten gallon batch do I just double everything? Sorry for the noob question I searched the thread and don't know personally!

milesvdustin said:

So to make the original recipe a ten gallon batch do I just double everything? Sorry for the noob question I searched the thread and don't know personally!

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The original recipe is for 5.5 gallons, so you can double it to make 11. If you double it and only make 10, you'll come in high on gravity and the IBUs will be off.

Yeah I meant 11, I always do 5.5 to account for equipment and trub losses. Ten gallons final.

Does one have to use fawcett brand stuff or will any brand of the right grain do?

milesvdustin said:

Yeah I meant 11, I always do 5.5 to account for equipment and trub losses. Ten gallons final.

Does one have to use fawcett brand stuff or will any brand of the right grain do?

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Any brand will do.

KingBrianI said:

I mentioned it a couple weeks ago but my plan for this year's version of Samhain Pumpkin Ale is going to get the imperial treatment. I'm also going to add a bit of vanilla butter and nut flavoring at kegging to get something along the lines of ST Pumking. The starter of WY1450 is spinning away on the stir plate right now and I bought a sack of golden promise todayso not only will I have enough for this beer, but for lots of sweet golden promise beers in the next couple months!

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What were you going to do to the spices for an imperial version? I was thinking of making this with an OG of 1.075 or so, and using WY1968, but I don't know if the alcohol and malt increase will dwarf the spices.

GearJammer said:

What were you going to do to the spices for an imperial version? I was thinking of making this with an OG of 1.075 or so, and using WY1968, but I don't know if the alcohol and malt increase will dwarf the spices.

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Leave the spicing the same if you want a subtle, well-balanced spice. If you want a more over-the-top spiciness, you can up the amounts, but I'm leaving it the same for my imperial samhain ale.

Picked up the ingredients for this today. One issue though... I got a lb of MO separate, but realized they crushed them when I asked for uncrushed. Should I toast them uncrushed or just roll with the MO as is. Thoughts?

Bamsdealer said:

Picked up the ingredients for this today. One issue though... I got a lb of MO separate, but realized they crushed them when I asked for uncrushed. Should I toast them uncrushed or just roll with the MO as is. Thoughts?

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I toasted mine crushed(had no mill at the time). It worked great. If anything it probably enhances the flavor since the flour is toasted too and not just the husk.

I'd agree, I did toast my MO unmilled, but it should be fine crushed. Throw it in a brown paper bag and roll it up so no bugs can get in and keep the flavors in, it'll still breath. I can't wait to try this beer in 5 weeks.

Sounds good to me. Really wish I had bought something other than US-05. They didn't have the Denny's Favorite

KingBrianI said:

Leave the spicing the same if you want a subtle, well-balanced spice. If you want a more over-the-top spiciness, you can up the amounts, but I'm leaving it the same for my imperial samhain ale.

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Would you increase all the malt proportionately, or just the base malt? I'm going with Maris Otter, and for a 1.080 beer, 11 gallon batch @ 75%eff, I've got 27.5# of base malt! The color still seems to be close to what you have though.

I just had the Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin over the weekend, so I'm inspired to make a big pumpkin beer!

GearJammer said:

Would you increase all the malt proportionately, or just the base malt? I'm going with Maris Otter, and for a 1.080 beer, 11 gallon batch @ 75%eff, I've got 27.5# of base malt! The color still seems to be close to what you have though.

I just had the Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin over the weekend, so I'm inspired to make a big pumpkin beer!

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Just increase the base malt. That's what I did for my imperial batch, though it's still in primary.

GearJammer said:

Would you increase all the malt proportionately, or just the base malt? I'm going with Maris Otter, and for a 1.080 beer, 11 gallon batch @ 75%eff, I've got 27.5# of base malt! The color still seems to be close to what you have though.

I just had the Shipyard Smashed Pumpkin over the weekend, so I'm inspired to make a big pumpkin beer!

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I sure hope it was better than their Pumpkinhead. I had one a few years back and couldn't finish it. A Bud Ice, Bud and Bud Light mixed together would have been more tolerable.

Bamsdealer said:

I sure hope it was better than their Pumpkinhead. I had one a few years back and couldn't finish it. A Bud Ice, Bud and Bud Light mixed together would have been more tolerable.

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I'm pretty sure I've had that one as well, but the stronger version of these beers might be more tolerable because they are huge on malt and alcohol, and the pumpkin and spices are just lingering there in the background.

So.... seems I have a bit of a problem now...

My hydrometer broke on the brew before this one, so I only took OG values. I had some higher than expected efficiencies and ended up with an OG of 1.067. I had a 3 week primary, 2 week secondary, then cold-crashed and kegged. It has been in the keg at 9psi and about 35deg F for about a week now.

I finally got a new hydrometer so I took a sample, degassed it and let it warm up only to find a FG of 1.020!! I thought that it tasted pretty sweet, but this seems too high. Anything I can do now, or should I just leave it be? I took it out of the keezer to let it warm back up, but was also toying with the idea of pitching some Notty in there. Should I?

The recipe was posted previously and is listed below:

EDIT: Looking back, maybe it was the additional 2oz of Crystal 60L and 2oz of Honey Malt, but that seems like trivial amounts....

"So I brewed this yesterday and followed the recipe fairly well. I didn't have all of the grains on hand, but I did have Denny's 1450 and some Magnum. Followed all of the spice, molassas, and pumpkin (sprinkled with brown sugar before baking for some extra caramelly goodness). Here is my grain bill:

5# MO
3# US 2-row (ran out of MO....)
1# Toasted MO
1# Crystal 40L
4oz Vienna
4oz Munich
2oz Crystal 60L
20z Honey Malt

Basically added those small amounts of the last four malts to make up for any nutty/toasty/round flavors that I might have missed by subbing the 8# of GP with 5# MO and 3# 2-row."

You could thrown some new yeast in the keg, once it's warmed up, but it seems like too much of a hassle to drop a few more points. If it tastes good, roll with it.

I've got a RyePA that stalled out at 1.032...now there's a beer that needs to dry out. But I've made several beers in the 20-22 range, and they tasted great.

OCBrewin said:

.....

I finally got a new hydrometer so I took a sample, degassed it and let it warm up only to find a FG of 1.020!! I thought that it tasted pretty sweet, but this seems too high. Anything I can do now, or should I just leave it be? I took it out of the keezer to let it warm back up, but was also toying with the idea of pitching some Notty in there. Should I?
......

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Just an idea, but what about making a starter of sorts with a liter or two of the beer an the Notty to see if it does attenuate down farther. That way you would know if there are lots of unfermentables left or the Denny's just pooped out. I've never tried this before, just brainstorming....

I'm curious to know what you end up doing. I have a batch that start at 1.070 but I pitched 1056. About three days into primary and still going strong.

weesm said:

Just an idea, but what about making a starter of sorts with a liter or two of the beer an the Notty to see if it does attenuate down farther. That way you would know if there are lots of unfermentables left or the Denny's just pooped out. I've never tried this before, just brainstorming....

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That's a pretty good idea! I think I'll just leave it out in the warm for a week or so and see if it drops on its own.... I guess this is kinda a beer that 'slightly sweet' doesn't matter as much in.... Pumpkin pies are sweet afterall....

As a side note - the beer tasted fantastic!!! The spice level is right on and, for me, the pumpkin really comes through. I know a lot of people say that they can't taste it, but I (and SWMBO) really can!

OCBrewin said:

As a side note - the beer tasted fantastic!!! The spice level is right on and, for me, the pumpkin really comes through. I know a lot of people say that they can't taste it, but I (and SWMBO) really can!

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Yeah, I know. Everytime I hear someone say that pumpkin doesn't add anything to a beer I figure they either haven't tried it or have a really crappy palate. Either way, I've stopped wasting my time responding to them. I'm glad you like the beer, despite its high FG.

KingBrianI said:

Yeah, I know. Everytime I hear someone say that pumpkin doesn't add anything to a beer I figure they either haven't tried it or have a really crappy palate. Either way, I've stopped wasting my time responding to them. I'm glad you like the beer, despite its high FG.

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I second that! I've made 3 pumpkin brews all using pumpkin, and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Anyone use fresh pumpkin? I did a 10 gal batch on Saturday with 10 lbs of fresh pumpkin that my sister inlaw grew. I made a few other modifications and came out to 1.067 OG. I hope it turns out good. Thanks for the recipe.

Bottling this tonight, smells delicious!

Mountainlivin said:

Anyone use fresh pumpkin? I did a 10 gal batch on Saturday with 10 lbs of fresh pumpkin that my sister inlaw grew. I made a few other modifications and came out to 1.067 OG. I hope it turns out good. Thanks for the recipe.

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What kind of pumpkin? Any kind of Jack'o lantern pumpkin is going to have watery flesh and a very poor flavor. Only specific pumpkins are suitable for eating. Actually butternut squash does better than pumpkin in most recipes calling for the former. Hopefully it does turn out good being that you have 10 gallons of if.

It is a beautiful food specific pumpkin. The type that when you cut it open a wonderful aroma fills the room. The fermentation is complete. FG is 1.020 with a 6.7ish% abv. The sample is very cloudy even after cold crash. The spice is very prominent in its uncarbed state. I think it will be tasty with a little age and bubbles 

Brewed this up last week. Pulled a sample after 6 days. Looking pretty nice.

I really have to brew this again, knee problems have slowed me down and I'm behind schedule. This was easily one if the best beers I've brewed as well as being one of the few beers I stayed true to recipe. A year after brewing this it has still been on my mind. again great job KbrianI !!

I did this one up as my fourth ever all-grain batch. I have to say it has turned out to be my best so far! Just the right a amount of spicyness and a bitterness that doesn't linger for too long. Beautiful color!

I just racked my batch over to a keg, chilled, fined, and tasted a sample pint. Great biscuity malt flavor but it's really clovey right now. I hope the spice level drops a bit more in the next few weeks. I used a tbsp of premixed pumpkin spice that included clove, ginger, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this to and how long did it take to drop off. Also, is it better to age a beer at cellar temps? 50-55F? Maybe it would speed up the process or should I keep it colder?

weesm said:

I just racked my batch over to a keg, chilled, fined, and tasted a sample pint. Great biscuity malt flavor but it's really clovey right now. I hope the spice level drops a bit more in the next few weeks. I used a tbsp of premixed pumpkin spice that included clove, ginger, etc.

Has anyone else experienced this to and how long did it take to drop off. Also, is it better to age a beer at cellar temps? 50-55F? Maybe it would speed up the process or should I keep it colder?

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Aging should definitely reduce the spice level and a cooler aging may help speed the process. I don't recommend using those premixed spices for just this reason, you can't be sure what kind of ratios you're getting. But I can understand not wanting to buy 5 different bottles of spices just to brew a beer. Give it a couple weeks and I bet the clove will have dropped down some. Hopefully, it's enough to make the beer enjoyable.