Pumpkin Ale yeast

Hi all,
I'm making a malty pumpkin ale next week and wanted to know your opinions on what yeast to use. I've had good experiences with wyeast 1056 American ale but I'm worried that that one might be a bit too dry for the style I'm going for. I also want most of the malt flavor to come directly from the specialty grains I'm using. Any suggestions???

I usually use 1056 or a chico equivalent with almost all of my pumpkin beers at about 68f with good results.

I've worked a lot with both wyeast American Ale II and Irish ale. They have a fruity characteristic. The Irish Ale is the fruitier of the two. They both throw some banana flavor for me, but I ferment at about 72 degrees. A little colder and it would probably be lessened. I used American II for my pumpkin ale, but as it is still in the fermenter, I could not tell you how that worked out. Good luck!

I'm debating between using 1056 or WLP011. Apparently the WLP is supposed to accentuate malt flavors and I'm making mine especially malty. Will the 1056 detract from the malt character. I've only used 1056 on more bitter ales and porters.

if you want to use dry yeast, us-05 is a good choice

I have a fantastic Pumpkin Ale recipe that uses WLP013. I basically use that because that's what the original recipe calls for, but I'm wondering if there's a better option out there. I really did love the beer though, so I'm worried about trying anything different.....

Denny Conn's Wyeast 1450 is PERFECT for the pumpkin brews. From their description: "It is unique in that it produces a big mouthfeel and accentuates the malt, caramel, or fruit character of a beer without being sweet or under-attenuated.. "

I have one in my keezer now that is fantastic!

I was actually looking at that one but have some doubts.

First, my recipe is an imperial pumpkin ale, with an OG of nearly 1.090, so accentuating the malts and sweetness sounds almost overwhelming and might make the beer cloyingly sweet.

Second (and this is honestly kind of dumb) I don't really like beers with low-flocculation. Speaking aesthetically I like clear beers, and since pumpkin beers are (IMO) better fresh, this one will have basically no chance to ever clear. Fining agents aren't going to work either because I don't want the spices to settle out, but I'm not fully sure if that'll happen or if I'm just making it up. I guess this one is really a non-issue, just a weird neurosis kind of thing.

What are your thoughts on that?

I used WY1469 Yorkshire in mine and am loving it. Really nice top-cropper and beautifully clear. Delicious. 1.084 to 1.020.

Have you tasted it yet?

I do like the thought of the "toasty flavors" that the yorkshire claims to create. Yumm! The attenuation is advertised as considerably lower than my the WLP013 that I usually use, but perhaps if I double pitch a vial of the Yorkshire and a vial of the WLP085 blend I'll get the attenuation and flocculation I desire with a very pleasing flavor profile.

would doing a starter be a good idea for WLP011? I've never made starters since I heard that liquid yeast packs don't usually need them but I've been getting conflicting information lately.

Sshamash said:

Hi all,
I'm making a malty pumpkin ale next week and wanted to know your opinions on what yeast to use. I've had good experiences with wyeast 1056 American ale but I'm worried that that one might be a bit too dry for the style I'm going for. I also want most of the malt flavor to come directly from the specialty grains I'm using. Any suggestions???

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Keep in mind that less flocculant strains will leave behind more malt character. 1056 flocculates medium to low so you might have a winner. Plus it has a pretty low ester profile when controlled which would really allow your malt and spices to shine.

imisri said:

would doing a starter be a good idea for WLP011? I've never made starters since I heard that liquid yeast packs don't usually need them but I've been getting conflicting information lately.

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Complicated question. You should be shooting for 6 million cells/ml of wort, assuming your OG is below 1.060. If it's above that, you should double it. Also depends on fermentation temps, pitch temps, beer style etc.