Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

I may age a lot of bottles that long. Had one at 2 months and wasn't good. Almost had off flavors. Had another the other day at 6 months. Taste WAY better. At 2 months I almost dumped it all. So if 4 months makes a big difference I can't even imagine 3 years.

I usually only get mine aged for about a month before friends and family get tired of waiting. Brewed up a batch last month and have it kegged and ready for tapping the first of September. Going to brew again around July so we can have it through the holiday season.

Brewed mid-May and went with Maris Otter. Just moved to keg this afternoon. FG was a little low at 1.010. Tastes fantastic! Spice is perfect. I plan on keg conditioning at room temp for a couple months before I move to the kegerator in late September.

I brewed this yesterday, my first attempt at a pumpkin ale. I never have more than one or two pints a season, but my friends enjoy the style so I'm trying my hand at it.

Out of curiosity, I weighed my pumpkin after baking it: 33 oz, so that is down from the initial 58 oz out of the cans. Good to know in computing strike temp.

Pocket posted

Almost time to brew this again! Last year I brewed it and while it tasted amazing,I bottled it and didn't mix my priming sugar completely. This year I'l be kegging the batch hoping for better results!

Just bottled, after 6 months in secondary, 7 more weeks of bottle conditioning and be ready just in time for the season!

BrewSavage said:

I brewed this yesterday, my first attempt at a pumpkin ale. I never have more than one or two pints a season, but my friends enjoy the style so I'm trying my hand at it.

Out of curiosity, I weighed my pumpkin after baking it: 33 oz, so that is down from the initial 58 oz out of the cans. Good to know in computing strike temp.

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I just let mine cool to mash temp. Then I don't have to do any extra math.

Brewed last night. I was very nervous about gumming up my mash, so "thank you" to the poster who suggested muslin bags. I did 2-10 gallon batches - (kind of) which meant 8 cans of pumpkin. I baked them on 2 pans, then double wrapped them in cheesecloth and mashed as directed. Didn't use rice hulls at all. Mid-way through, I stirred and flipped the bags. Imparted good color and flavor. We will see!

I screwed up between sparging, though. Shut my pump off, but gravity continued to push my hot water through and I didn't notice I lost several gallons. It left me a tad short for Boil Kettle #2. Probably 1.5 gallons.

My OG was 1.06

I used Costco Pumpkin Pie spice, as it's what we had.

I pitched 24 oz of sluury I had harvested from the Nut Brown Ale recipe which I kegged on 6/15. It's rocking nicely.

I will be patient...I will be patient....

I'm planning to do this biab. If I steep the pumpkin in a separate grain bag prior to mash in should I completely remove the pumpkin prior to mash or just leave it in for the duration of the mash?

Also what type of water profile should I target for a pumpkin ale? I'll be using 8 gallons of ro water for a full volume mash

Bump

I don't know. I soaked mine in the mash the whole hour.

Not sure about the water profile. I left the pumpkin in for the duration of the mash.

I would leave the pumpkin in the mash as well.

makisupapolice14 said:

I'm planning to do this biab. If I steep the pumpkin in a separate grain bag prior to mash in should I completely remove the pumpkin prior to mash or just leave it in for the duration of the mash?



Also what type of water profile should I target for a pumpkin ale? I'll be using 8 gallons of ro water for a full volume mash

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When I did mine (BIAB), I put the roasted canned pumpkin (58 oz) into a paint strainer bag, which I added to the grains in my bag - basically bag-in-bag. I added the pumpkin at mash-in and left it in for the full 60 minutes.

I only have a 9-gallon pot, so I had to sparge with two gallons, but it worked out perfectly fine for me.

As for water profile, it's all about what you're hoping to get out of it, but I used brown balanced in Bru'n Water. I want a decent amount of maltiness in this kind of beer, so I probably could have gone for amber malty or brown malty. Either way, mine turned out great.

I have two bombers that I let age in my basement from last year, so I'll probably crack them on Halloween weekend. I'm really curious as to how they'll have changed over the last year-plus.

I've brewed this 3 times now and have great results each time. I mix the pumpkin right in with my grains at mash in. I use an ass load of rice hulls, 2pounds per 5 gal batch and have never had a stuck mash. Always a great beer for the fall months!!

I'm getting ready to do this pumpkin ale on the grainfather for the very first time. I have made it before in a mash tun cooler but I expect the best version of this yet using the grainfather. Cheers!

StoutNoDoubt said:

I'm getting ready to do this pumpkin ale on the grainfather for the very first time. I have made it before in a mash tun cooler but I expect the best version of this yet using the grainfather. Cheers!

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Brewing mine on the grainfather in a few weeks! Lots of rice hulls!

Brewing a RIS tomorrow, and 5 gallons of this on sunday!

Brewing this Sunday biab too. Excited. Any problems if I pre roast the pumpkin tomorrow and put it in the fridge overnight before letting it come to temp on Sunday?

Also is the original recipe for 5
Or 5.5 gallons? I'm doing 5.5.
Will 1.5 tablespoons of the pumpkin spice still be adequate. Don't want it to be under spiced but I certainly don't want to overdo it either

Brewed this last night. First batch brewed on my new induction top and kettle. Can't wait. SWMBO said it smelled like pumpkin bread in the basement....

TorMag said:

Brewed this last night. First batch brewed on my new induction top and kettle. Can't wait. SWMBO said it smelled like pumpkin bread in the basement....

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Awesome!!!

TorMag said:

Brewed this last night. First batch brewed on my new induction top and kettle. Can't wait. SWMBO said it smelled like pumpkin bread in the basement....

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Sounds awesome! What's your induction / kettle combo set up? I've been looking to go induction recently

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1472187327.166003.jpg
Turned out fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.

armenianbrewer said:

Sounds awesome! What's your induction / kettle combo set up? I've been looking to go induction recently

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Sorry I missed this question. I got the Avantco 3500 and a Bayou Classic 15g Tri-Ply bottom kettle.

rbach2 said:

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Turned out fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.

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Looks fantastic. Can't wait for mine to be ready...

Brewing this tonight. I'l let it sit in primary a month and then keg it.

Brewing this over the weekend...wanted to check with everyone on a tweak...
A local brewery brews a pumpkin ale.
It tastes pretty much like pumpkin pie WITH whipped cream on top.
How do they get the sweet creamy flavor in there do you think? Possibly lactose?

So I went to a few different stores (brewing this tomorrow AM) and walked out without pumpkin... couldn't find it anywhere. Even giant eagle and walmart. Ended up leaving walmart with a 3.93# butternut squash. How much should I use compared to the pumpkin? Thinking about just cutting it in half, scooping it and baking it like I would pumpkin.

Not sure where you live, I had the same problem. It's "out of season ". It's not out of season at Heath food stores. Whole Foods and Sprouts carry pumpkin year round

TorMag said:

Not sure where you live, I had the same problem. It's "out of season ". It's not out of season at Heath food stores. Whole Foods and Sprouts carry pumpkin year round

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Yeah we have a whole foods a half hour away but I won't have time to go there. I cut up half I the squash and baked it and that will hopefully work!

EDIT: seemed to work just fine. Beautiful orange color and no stuck sparge.

treacheroustexan said:

So I went to a few different stores (brewing this tomorrow AM) and walked out without pumpkin... couldn't find it anywhere. Even giant eagle and walmart. Ended up leaving walmart with a 3.93# butternut squash. How much should I use compared to the pumpkin? Thinking about just cutting it in half, scooping it and baking it like I would pumpkin.

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I bought a few cans at my local Giant. It was in the spice isle closer to the baking supplies, on the bottom shelf. Yes, all stores are different, but it may be in a similar spot. Hope this helps.

Brewed this up this past weekend and brewday was a nightmare (due mostly to my lack of preparation). I got the king of all stuck mashes by a) crushing the grain too fine, b) not adding enough rice hulls to the bottom of the MLT, c) having a piss poor manifold (pex pipe with mesh bag tied around it, and c)mixing the pumpkin in at the bottom of the MLT.

All of that could have been completely avoided if I just had my head on straight that morning. I ended up having to scoop nearly the entire mash out into another bucket, filling the manifold ‘bag’ with about a gallon of rice hulls, scooping mash back in, and draining.

Oh, and one of my chugger pumps decided to die on me mid sparge.

I think all the rice hull affected the efficiency, as I ended up around 1.055 OG.

Then my last mistake was dumping hop pellets right into the kettle (I use a plate chiller-doh)

But I didn’t forget the pumpkin spice so the beer will be a hit with the family.

Brewing this recipe this weekend. Wanted to make sure everything checks out. I am new to beersmith, but am using it for this recipe. Things seem a little off, but I am sure that's just due to my little knowledge/experience with the software.

Anyway, I plan on brewing a 5 gal batch, with 5.5 gals in the fermenter.

Let me know if I am correct with my process:

-mash in with 5 gals and let sit for 60 mins at 156*F
- heat another 4 gals to 163*F for sparging

bump. Brewing as we speak

I seen most have done this with US-05 and some with WLP001. I end up using WLP002 with the hopes of retaining a little higher FG. After 2 weeks @ ~68, I'm at 1.010. Has anyone else used an English strain for this beer?

I got up this morning with a hangover and not knowing what to do for the day. I had kinda been thinking about brewing this, but I didn't have all the ingredients. So I went to the small local grocery store and they were out of the pumpkin filling, so I got sweet potato filling. I had German magnum for the hops, a half pound of victory, spices and the sugar. Also I had just gotten a new sack of two row a few weeks ago. Gravity is 1.062 and everything went well. I did a full mash for Biab.

Brewed this over the weekend.
Everything went well except for a slow sparge, minor stuck sparge, and my OG only came in at 1.051. Not sure what happened there. I tested the mash for conversion it appeared to be OK.
Anyway, fermentation is going crazy with 5.5gals in the fermenter. Check out the pic.

Ahh I can't wait to keg this.