Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

Williams 728
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Any secondary needed or do y'all just use caution not to pick up too much sediment?
 
Ariando said:
Any secondary needed or do y'all just use caution not to pick up too much sediment?
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Nope, came out super clear after 4 weeks in primary, but I also cold crashed and used gelatin. Even without gelatin it should be clear enough in the primary with cold crashing.
 
I'll probably do a Pumpkin beer next year. Decided to skip this year because it just seemed like there was pumpkin everything out. More than usual lol. However, this one was wonderful when I brewed it a couple years back. Cheers!

:drunk:
 
Wreck99 said:
I'll probably do a Pumpkin beer next year. Decided to skip this year because it just seemed like there was pumpkin everything out. More than usual lol. However, this one was wonderful when I brewed it a couple years back. Cheers!

:drunk:
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There's only going to be more pumpkin stuff next year!
 
jmpreiks said:
Bottled this last night after a 4 weeks in the primary. Cold crashed with gelatin and it came out really clear. That was my first time using gelatin and I am happy with it so far.

O.G. was 1.066 and F.G. was 1.015 so I hit the recipe pretty well dead on. The sample tasted good, but a bit too sweet for my tastes. It could just be the fact that it was not carb'd and a little bit warm, so I will reserve judgement for a few weeks.
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Opened my first two bottles last night, 12 days after bottling and 40 days since brewing. The flavor is very good, just the right amount of pumpkin spice coming through, not too intense. I shared with a few people and they all REALLY liked it.

Thanks for the great recipe! :mug:
 
This is my wife's favorite recipe. I brew her two batches every fall. This past weekend I had batch one in the fermenter and was brewing batch two. After I had cooled batch two to pitching temp, I racked batch one into the keg, then poured batch two into the fermenter on the yeast cake. Less work this year and batch two took off right away.

I usually wait two weeks after kegging for the carbonation to get to where it needs to be (set it and forget it), but that would mean that around the 17th it should be ready to begin drinking. This year I'm going to make her wait until the week of halloween before I tap the first keg...just because I'm a jerk like that. :D

She's been asking when it will be ready. I just smile and answer "in a couple of weeks".
 
Made a half batch of this yesterday for my DIL. She loves anything pumpkin and asked me to make her something.

I've only tried one pumpkin beer and it wasn't my cup of tea so to speak, don't remember what it was, so I thought this recipe looked good.

Came in slightly higher on OG at 1.073 but it had a great taste going into the fermentation chamber. I'll report back in a few weeks with results.
 
Brewed this yesterday, had a slow but not quite stuck sparge but other than that everything went well. First time using a new burner and boiled off more than planned (ended up with 18l @ 1.070, but I'm happy with that).

Here in the UK we really don't eat much pumpkin so a 'holiday' beer with pumpkin I don't think will really resonate here like it would in the states (with pumpkin pie etc around thanksgiving being more common as far as I can tell). Therefore I'm looking to use this as a Christmas beer, so want to bring something else into it to make it a little more festive to other people who try it without it all being a muddle or drowning out the other flavours? I'm thinking a little hint of orange or something, so I'm wondering if anyone has done similar (or something else) with success?
Thanks
 
I brewed this in August and it came out pretty bad. I mashed too low, no biggy but then my priming sugar didn't mix properly and it was very flat. I stashed some away and tried it last night, and it was great. Little under on carbonation but time definitely healed it.
 
Transferred this from the fermenting bucket to the keg tonite. The wife and I tasted it and didn't get any spice flavor. I ended up gently stirring in another 1/2tsp into the bucket before draining to the keg. I hope it will work out alright.

When I was rinsing out the fermenting bucket, I got a big wiff of the pumpkin pie spice. I wonder if mine all settled out into the trub at the bottom.
 
I recently came back from a trip to the in-laws', where I took a few homebrews to enjoy while I was there. I left one of these for my sister-in-law's husband, as they were going down there a few days after us. Got a text from him last night saying that they did a taste test between mine and Shipyard's Pumkinhead...

Mine won 3-1! :cross:
 
Closing in on 2 weeks in the bottles...gonna wait another day or two and throw a few in the fridge and see where they are at.

PunkinAle.jpg
 
Well I took mine out of the fermenter after three weeks. As mentioned above I had a ridiculous stuck mash, and really struggled to keep the recirculation going, therefore temp control. As it turns out, it was too cold after all, as my FG was 1.007. Pretty damn dry considering this should be much higher. I chilled the sample to minimize the alcohol heat (calculated ABV is 7.1%) and it tastes pretty good. Nice pumpkin and spice undertones. Definitely a fall beer. One I tap it,mi suppose I will have to do sugar rimmed glasses to make up for the missing sweetness/body that was planned!

- BD
 
heckofagator said:
Transferred this from the fermenting bucket to the keg tonite. The wife and I tasted it and didn't get any spice flavor. I ended up gently stirring in another 1/2tsp into the bucket before draining to the keg. I hope it will work out alright.

When I was rinsing out the fermenting bucket, I got a big wiff of the pumpkin pie spice. I wonder if mine all settled out into the trub at the bottom.
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I bottled mine then tasted and no spice otherwise seems to be OK. Wonder what happened.
 
If all else fails and yours is spiceless after carbonation, you can always make a tincture of the spice in vodka and add it to your glass when you pour the beer.
 
Just opened the first few bottles and tastes amazing like last round!!!
 
Brewed this a handful of weeks ago. 3 in primary, 1 in keg. Then added gelatin and carbed for about another week. I noted above the really stuck mash recirc and sparge, which made it impossible to hold a temperature. I only learned the outcome of that when I pulled a FG at 1.007, which is much drier than intended.

First few glasses impression: beautiful color, very clear after the initial gunk. Nice head and lacing. Can pick up the pumpkin spice on the pre-taste. Pumpkin flavor is faint through the mid-taste and the spice and alcohol kick in on the finish.

It's a good quality ale, though I am sure it would have been a good bit sweeter if the mash issues didn't occur. I will enjoy drinking this and making it again next year.

-BD
 
dkeller12 said:
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale

For context, I was sent to this thread when I was originally looking for a clone of Dogfish Head Punkin Ale.
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Ok, that explains a lot. haha. Maybe next time you should include that context. It seemed like you were talking about the original recipe, which would've seemed like a very ******-bag thing to say. I'm currently sippin on this recipe, only I went with white lab's irish ale yeast (not because I wanted to change the recipe, but because that was what was on hand). It's great!
 
joshesmusica said:
Ok, that explains a lot. haha. Maybe next time you should include that context. It seemed like you were talking about the original recipe, which would've seemed like a very ******-bag thing to say. I'm currently sippin on this recipe, only I went with white lab's irish ale yeast (not because I wanted to change the recipe, but because that was what was on hand). It's great!
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Yeah, totally glad you called it out as that is not what I intended. I use to love DGH version but this recipe exceeds that in my opinion. I will be brewing this every year. as for the yeast, yeah I was going to switch mine up but I only had US-05 on hand and I went with that. maybe next year.
 
I am going to try this again even though out of season. I never figured out where my McCormick's spice flavor went. I guess it was the angels share.
 
I've heard other people say that about the spices. I made this a few weeks ago for my DIL and I have to say the spices are quite pronounced.

You didn't use 1.5 teaspoons instead of tablespoons did you? That's the only thing I can think of.

Oh by the way excellent recipe. It still needs to age a while but I kegged it last week and it tastes great.
 
Another question or thing to keep in mind is the age of the spice mix. Spices, especially pre-ground ones, will lose potency over time.
 
Brewed this last night. Smells amazing. Used safale 04 as the lhbs did not have 05. I did have one question though. I am up here in Canada and I think our food inspection laws are a little stricter. Even small minute amounts of ingredients must be listed. The McCormicks pumpkin pie spice contains sulphites. Then I realized all ginger contains it's. I am assuming the boil would boil this all off and it's very small amounts so hoping it doesn't affect fermentation.
 
Izzie1701 said:
Brewed this last night. Smells amazing. Used safale 04 as the lhbs did not have 05. I did have one question though. I am up here in Canada and I think our food inspection laws are a little stricter. Even small minute amounts of ingredients must be listed. The McCormicks pumpkin pie spice contains sulphites. Then I realized all ginger contains it's. I am assuming the boil would boil this all off and it's very small amounts so hoping it doesn't affect fermentation.
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Won't have any affect what so ever. I've brewed this beer several times using the same recipe as you're using, except for the yeast, and never have a problem. The yeast won't mind. :)
 
Just an update. Less then 12 hours after pitching the yeast it was going crazy. 24 hours later it has about 4" of krausen in the fermenting bucket so clearly no effect from the sulphites
 
How long is everyone letting this age for the best brew. Brewed yesterday hoping for xmas to be drinkable

Update: wow this stuff ferments fast. I used safale 04 as the LHBS was sold out of 05. Pitched Saturday night at 1.063. Already down to 1.020 this morning. Smells fantastic. Not as spicy smell as I thought but has a banana/fruity smell. I did use butternut squash rather then pumpkin. I can't wait to taste it. The airlock is still bubbling like mad. Contemplating moving from primary to secondary and batch aging for a couple weeks in there before bottle conditioning. Hoping for it to be ready by Xmas.
 
This turned out awesome. Finished really high (10.22) which gave it a great sweetness.

I threw a 1/4 tbs of nutmeg and allspice, half a cinnamon stick, and an oz of vanilla extract into secondary.

Only thing I might change next time is add some rolled oats for a bit more body.

This is going to be my base recipe from here on out! Thanks!
 
castillo556 said:
This turned out awesome. Finished really high (10.22) which gave it a great sweetness.



I threw a 1/4 tbs of nutmeg and allspice, half a cinnamon stick, and an oz of vanilla extract into secondary.



Only thing I might change next time is add some rolled oats for a bit more body.



This is going to be my base recipe from here on out! Thanks!
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Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?
 
Izzie1701 said:
Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?
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It might be chilling speed. Around this time of year our ground water is really cold so it takes no time. Plus the high altitude messes with the boil.
 
Izzie1701 said:
Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?
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Obviously it depends on your own taste. I like a strong pumpkin pie spice flavor. "dry spicing", if you will, is going to give you more pumpkin pie flavor and aroma since nothing is getting boiled off or fermented out. If you aren't getting any spice aroma than I would think about adding some to secondary. I am very happy with it.

My vanilla extract is home made. I take a bunch of vanilla beans, slice em and scrap out the seeds and throw em in a bottle of vodka.
 
Izzie1701 said:
Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?
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Ended up adding 1/2 tbs more pumpkin pie spice and 1tbs of vanilla extract and half a vanilla bean from the home made extract. Tried it and was lacking aroma and flavour of the spice. I suspect that I boiled the aroma and flavour off. Hopefully adding this to secondary will help out. Had a very nice banana smell to it though much like a wheat ale.
 
Had my first bottle of this tonight to see how it's coming along, only had 2 weeks in the bottle so far and was in primary for a month before that. Really happy with it! Nice sweetness over any real hop flavour which is to be expected, & the spice level is bang on. I had a new burner so boiled off a bit more than planned and ended up about 8% abv, but there not an overpowering alcohol flavour either so another month or so in the bottles and it should be a blinder.
 
Was going to get this started for an early brew to make sure it was completely finished by October. Any advice for BIAB brewers? I already planned on upping my grain bill by 25% all around and instead of using rice hulls was going to use 3 lbs of minute rice.
 

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