The Great Pumpkin - Imperial Pumpkin Ale

I'm planning to brew this in the next few weeks and will age it for a year as the author suggests. Curious if anyone else has tried this beer and what their results were.

For yeast I'm considering WLP007 but I've also read that Wyeast 1056 or 1272 might be good choices as well.

Recipe by Scott Jackson, Zymurgy (Sep/Oct 2013)

The Great Pumpkin - Imperial Pumpkin Ale
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Batch Size: 5.0 gal
Original gravity: 1.118
Final gravity: 1.020
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name
15 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row)
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
1 lbs Victory Malt
0.5 lbs Rice hulls
3 lbs Pumpkin (canned)
1 lbs Honey (wildflower)
1.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 90.0 min
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.00 Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.00 Tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (McCormick) (Flameout)
2 lbs Cane (Beet) Sugar
1 lbs Maple Syrup

Mash
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Protein rest 120.0 F 10 min
Saccharification 150.0 F 60 min
Mash Out 168.0 F 10 min

Author's notes:

Mix/dissolve pumpkin in water on the stovetop before adding to mash.

Add honey at the end of the boil. Recipe recommends wildflower honey.

Use whatever monster yeast you have a lot of. Ferment at 68F for two weeks, add more oxygen 24 hrs after pitching yeast.

Add maple syrup and more yeast nutrient on day 4 of primary fermentation. Add 1 lb beet sugar and additional yeast on day 6. Add 1 lb beet sugar on day 8.

Age as long as possible, at least a year.

I made the other beer in that article last week, scaled down to a MrB LBK-size batch with extract, I didn't want to mash for 2 gallons only. It came out great, is fermenting nicely, and I am excited to try it on Thanksgiving.

That beer looks good, pretty similar recipe, with more sugar/gravity. The wort tasted really great, like I could have drank it then. The spice and maple syrup with the pumpkin were really good. It obviously will not be so sweet after fermentation, but the wort was great!

I put the pumpkin in the specialty-grain steep (like I said, I did an extract brew) with some amylaze enzyme to help convert the starch. Like the article says, the mash was nice and orange.

I wonder how the mash will go with the pumpkin... let us know!

doing a variation of this one next weekend

subbed MO for the 6-row, Munich for the C60

pumpkin will be toasted for an hour stirring every 15 minutes and, instead of adding it to the mash or boil, will be steeping it with the strike water while that's heating

WLP007. big starter, saving some for the repitch

Geeze, I've made some big gravity beers but nothing with a fermentation schedule as complicated as that. Nor did I wait more than 2 months before drinking. I'm about to take on an imperial pumpkin myself. You'll have to let us know how this comes out. Even if it takes a year!

And so it begins... yeast starters are started! I'm using a blend of Wyeast 1056 and 1272 for this batch. I already had one pack of 1056 but the LHBS was out of 1056 so I picked up a pack of 1272 instead. Mrmalty.com says I need 411 billion cells for the initial pitch. Two separate 1.6L starters should cover it.

thought I had gotten horrible efficiency because I was about .020 low when I measured pre-boil gravity, so I threw in a 1/2 lb of DME. turns out my hydrometer was off and I was only .006 low. so my OG ended up being 1.125

I subbed Lyle's Golden Syrup for the day 6 sugar addition & cane sugar for the day 8

racked into secondary last week at an FG of 1.004. yep. 96% attenuation and 15.8% ABV. now it seems wrong to call it an imperial ale, it's really a pumpkin barleywine

pretty color, too

GrogNerd said:

racked into secondary last week at an FG of 1.004. yep. 96% attenuation and 15.8% ABV. now it seems wrong to call it an imperial ale, it's really a pumpkin barleywine

Click to expand...

Holy cow! Did you use WLP007? Also, did you re-oxygenate after the initial yeast pitch and did you need to pitch multiple times - as mentioned in the original recipe?

did use the 007 and it worked awesome

aerated, but did not oxygenate. I have a paint mixer attached to my power drill and whip the EFF out of it before pitching. not so aggressive when I re-aerated

thinking that I maybe used too much spice. only 1 tbsp, but it overpowers most of the other flavors. hoping that mellows out during aging. and you can't really tell that it's nearly 16%, it doesn't have a hot or solvent taste to it at all. ferment temps were kept cool, interior temp did not get above 67°

it's going to be difficult to wait for this to age

I think the spice level will diminish some over time. Glad to hear yours was a success. I'm planning to brew mine this coming weekend.

Brewing underway. It's 17*F outside and the snow is starting to fall...

Heating 3 lbs. pumpkin puree and 1 gallon of water. This will be added to mash just prior to dough in.

Brewing was a success. No major issues encountered besides missing my target OG by 4 points. Target OG was 1.096 but my post boil OG was 1.092. I quickly boiled some DME and added it to the fermenter to make up the difference.

Actual recipe OG is 1.118 but some fermentables will come later with the maple syrup and beet sugar additions. Either that or I completely misinterpreted the recipe...

Gravity after 4 days in fermenter is about 1.020. Added 1 pound maple syrup and more yeast nutrient today, per the instructions.

exactly how mine was

lookin' good so far

All of the post boil sugars were added to the fermenter according to the recipe and fermentation is now complete. I pulled a sample today - gravity is 1.015. ABV is 13%. The sample was fantastic... it had a really nice spice flavor which wasn't overpowering at all, subtle dark fruit flavors, and the alcohol is barely noticeable.

I will probably let it sit for another couple of weeks before bottling. Although I may keg half and bottle the other half.

One other note is the original recipe called for multiple yeast additions during primary fermentation. I didn't need to add any additional yeast besides the yeast pitched on brew day. The Wyeast 1056 + 1272 blend (each with a 1.6L starter) was enough to handle the initial primary fermentation as well as the 3 late sugar additions to the fermenter.

Gravity is now 1.013. I bottled it today in 22 oz. bottles with 2 carbonation drops each. Also added 1/2 pack of rehydrated S-04 to help with the bottle carbing. ABV is 13.3%. The hydrometer sample tasted awesome. It's not too heavy with the spicing, which is the way I like my holiday beers. Alcohol bite is barely noticeable.

Now begins the year long aging process. I will sample a bottle or two over the course of the year to see how it's coming along.