Pumpkintastrophe

I think this is a brown ale base for a spicy pumpkin ale. I already ordered the grains, so I'm stuck with this recipe, comments would be cool though. I'm not sure when to add the spices, should I throw these in the end of the boil or in the primary?

Flannagan's Pumpkintastrophe
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%
Est SRM: 19.7
IBU: 32.3
ABV: 7.1
OG: 1.071
FG: 1.017
Pre-Boil: 5.72gal
Post-Boil 5.00gal

Mash:
9lb Pale 2 row
2lb German Wheat
1lb Vienna
.75 Crystal 120L
.5 Special B
2lb Cooked Pumpkin

.5oz Northern Brewer 60min
.5oz Norther Brewer 20min
.5oz hallertauer 60min

Spices:
1oz Cinnamon Stick
1oz Ginger Root
.75oz Sweet Orange Peel

1pkg Safale 56
7grams of Coopers yeast (recommended by LHBS guy)
1tsp Yeast Nutrient

seefresh said:

I'm not sure when to add the spices, should I throw these in the end of the boil or in the primary?

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Depends on what intensity you want. If you want to keep a lot of the aromatics, throw them in the secondary (you may not have considered this). Also consider making an infusion of the spices with some wort. Steep them. This way you know the concentration you are putting in vs. having to test your fermenting ale all the time and hoping it is ok. I like to put stuff into the last few minutes of the boil because it tends to mellow the flavors and blend them into the background (for many things, not all though).

Very cool, thanks zoebisch01. One last thing, I have no access to real pumpkins right now. I will have to use canned. Has anyone tried mashing with canned pumpkin before? Bad idea?

seefresh said:

Very cool, thanks zoebisch01. One last thing, I have no access to real pumpkins right now. I will have to use canned. Has anyone tried mashing with canned pumpkin before? Bad idea?

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I am pretty certain there are folks. You know most of the Pumpkins are very similar to many of the other types of squash out there. You may be able to find a reasonable fresh substitute. In fact commercially, many squash are used in the place of the traditional orange pumpkin because in terms of a food product they can be superior in many ways. I wouldn't limit myself to the textbook idea of a Pumpkin. Even Sweet Potatoes make great pie and I have heard of folks using them as well.

last year I put one can of 100% pumpkin in the mash and one can in the boil. it turned out fantastic


this year though, I think Im going to spread the pumpin on a cookie sheet and bake it for a bit before I add it

Does pumpkin "meat" contain fermentables?

Sweet potatoe sounds good. I hear ya about the other squash plants, but I've never had one that had the distinct pumpkin taste. That's what I"m after for sure. Having trouble finding canned pumpkin though (without preservatives). GOnna try the huge super market about 30 minutes away tonight, if I can't find it there I'm just gonna make either a spiced brown ale or a sweet potatoe brown ale (thanks for the idea!)

Chimone said:

last year I put one can of 100% pumpkin in the mash and one can in the boil. it turned out fantastic


this year though, I think Im going to spread the pumpin on a cookie sheet and bake it for a bit before I add it

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I didnt mash my pumpkin and did bake it for a bit first, turned out really nice. Gave me a bit more carmelized flavors and the pumpkin flavors and aromas were just about perfect.

One thing I didnt like though is the amount of crap left in the kettle. All that pumkin left about 1-2 gallons worth of shat in my kettle on top of my hop stopper . . . good news is the hopstopper never clogged it was just a PITA to clean up

seefresh said:

Sweet potatoe sounds good. I hear ya about the other squash plants, but I've never had one that had the distinct pumpkin taste. That's what I"m after for sure. Having trouble finding canned pumpkin though (without preservatives). GOnna try the huge super market about 30 minutes away tonight, if I can't find it there I'm just gonna make either a spiced brown ale or a sweet potatoe brown ale (thanks for the idea!)

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Look for Blue Hubbard. It is an improvement over the standard 'Pumpkin' flavor imo. There are other good examples, but that one is probably the easiest to find.

My sig has a recipe for a pumpkin that turned out pretty nice. I used canned pumpkin and some general pumpkin-pie spice, which was the key to perfect spicing.

From what I've read about pumpkin:
Use the canned. It can actually be better than fresh and it is more consistent. It's a lot less work as well.
There isn't much starch to convert in pumpkin so it doesn't need to me mashed.
Here's my recipe that everyone seems to like:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23489

RichBrewer said:

From what I've read about pumpkin:
Use the canned. It can actually be better than fresh and it is more consistent. It's a lot less work as well.
There isn't much starch to convert in pumpkin so it doesn't need to me mashed.
Here's my recipe that everyone seems to like:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=23489

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I still owe you a pumpkin ale......

You changing yours up any from last year or sticking with your this one?

Sounds good, gonna just put all the pumpkin into the boil then. Thanks RichBrewer. Found some cans of 100% pure pumpkin at the huge grocery store about in Ramstein.

This is, by far, the BEST smelling wort ever. I'm drooling. My wife who hates "the smell of brewing" love the smell of this beer. I haven't added pumpkin or the spices yes, I'm in the down-time of batch sparging. This beer is going to be good REAL good. And, I have no idea why... I'm totally experimenting with this recipe. I'm new to AG so I'm testing some new grains I haven't tried before.

I'll post pics in a bit, its a beautiful color too.

cool deal. Sometimes you just feel it is going to be good! I have that feeling about my current soured mash experiment. It better after all the pain it's caused

Turned out great! I've been sipping this one and the heads receded, but was a good 3/4 inch before I started on it. The orange peel was overwhelming in the samples but after a few weeks in the bottles its barely noticable.

I like the color of that one.