Feedback needed on recipe

Hi all!
I have been brewing beer for about 7 months now and this is my first shot at making my own recipe. Please provide some feedback as to what you think of it. All suggestions/comments are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Recipe: The Great Ruffidge Pumpkin
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0) This is supposed to be a slightly sweet, full body beer, with a little spice.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.053 SG
Estimated Color: 11.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 70.00 %
2.00 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 20.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
1.25 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.9 IBU
0.75 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) Hops 7.3 IBU
0.10 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 cup Brown Sugar (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.50 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
6.00 lb Pumpkin (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs British Ale (White Labs #WLP005) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 12.50 qt of water at 170.5 F 158.0 F
10 min Mash Out Add 5.00 qt of water at 196.6 F 168.0 F


Notes:
------
Use cooking pumpkin for this recipe as opposed to the regular jack-o-lanterns. To prepare pumpkin, cut in half and take out all the goup and seeds. Cut into chunks and bake in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Mash at 158 degrees for 60 minutes.

That's the most crystal/caramel malts I've ever seen in a recipe. I know pumpkin ales are supposed to be sweet, but you may be going overboard here. I make a pretty sweet pumpkin ale that has 2# crystal 60* in a 6gal batch, with OG of 1.070 and IBU of 20. It should be noted that I have "bitterness" spice additions at 60 minutes and "flavor/aroma" additions at 10 minutes. I may be getting some extra bitterness perception from those early additions.

Also, I see you're adding a cup of brown sugar - you will barely get any flavor from this, but it will make the beer have a lower FG. And 1.5t of nutmeg is a lot. I wouldn't use more than 1t at the 10 minute mark, and maybe half that much.

I recently brewed this recipe:

Samhain Pumpkin Ale

and it turned out great. I think it uses 1/4 tsp of nutmeg (along with other spices). I don't generally like spiced beers, but I wanted to brew a pumpkin ale and everyone seems to really enjoy this one. So I agree with kanzi that 1.5 tsp of nutmeg would be a bit much. It would probably overwhelm the beer quite a bit.

Also, yeah, the crystal malts are more than I've ever used (you've got 3 pounds with the caravienne and the crystal 40).

Finally- BeerSmith does suggest mashing at 158 for a full bodied beer, but I haven't heard of many homebrewers actually mashing this high. It would make the wort less fermentable... although I've never actually mashed this high, so it could give you exactly the body and sweetness you're going for.

You definitely have the right idea with the pumpkin- it should be roasted pretty well to bring out the flavor.

Let us know how everything goes. Good luck, and keep making recipes! I'm sure you'll learn a lot about recipe formulation as you brew more... and the brewskies will just get tastier and tastier! :fro:

listen to kanzi on the crystal malts. use 1 lb of c40, and 1/2 of caravienne. that amount of pumpkin will add a little fermentables. i'd use 1 tsp nutmeg (in my recipe i used 3/4), too. finally, mash at 152-154 for that recipe

lumpher said:

listen to kanzi on the crystal malts. use 1 lb of c40, and 1/2 of caravienne. that amount of pumpkin will add a little fermentables. i'd use 1 tsp nutmeg (in my recipe i used 3/4), too. finally, mash at 152-154 for that recipe

Click to expand...

Yup, and maybe add another pound or three of base malt and perhaps a pound of Munich.

I just brewed a pumpkin with 3 grams each of nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground ginger and 4.4 grams of allspice. Same thing as last year and perfectly spiced.

I was about to ask, "What do you want out of your recipe?" but I see in the description you say "slightly sweet, full body beer, with a little spice."

Going from that, I definitely think you should eliminate the brown sugar. It will make the beer taste kinda thin. If you really want a little of the brown sugar flavor, you should use a tiny drip of molasses. Personally I hate molasses, but it's what gives brown sugar its flavor. Seriously, I wouldn't put more than .25C in my entire batch... that stuff is strong.

You should also probably up the OG to 1.060 or so. This will add more body and sweetness as well, by virtue of the fact that there will be more sugars left in the final beer.

Cut the crystal down by 33-50%... don't worry, it will still have some sweetness. Good choice on the yeast for some malty richness. Mashing is probably good.

Finally, consider not using any finishing hops, unless that's specifically a flavor you're going for. In pumpkin ales, I think that the spices function like the hops. But if you want to keep it in, it's probably fine.

Isn't recipe building fun?

Wow! Thanks for all your feedback. It was really helpful. I changed the recipe quite a bit and just bought all the stuff to make the beer tomorrow. I'll let you know how it comes out. I gotta go prepare those pumpkin for baking now

If you're interested in taking look, the new and improved recipe is below. I realize the OG is a bit high but hopefully this will give my beer the body and sweetness I'm going for. Thanks again. Happy brewing all!


Recipe: The Great Ruffidge Pumpkin
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0) This is supposed to be a slightly sweet, full body beer, with a little spice.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.72 gal
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 10.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 17.9 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
9.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 72.00 %
2.00 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 16.00 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
0.50 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
1.25 oz Tettnang [4.50 %] (60 min) Hops 17.9 IBU
0.10 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.25 tsp Allspice (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.25 tsp Whole Clove (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
6.00 lb Pumpkin (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) Yeast-Ale

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 10.50 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Full Body
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
45 min Mash In Add 13.13 qt of water at 164.8 F 158.0 F
15 min Mash Out Add 5.25 qt of water at 211.0 F 168.0 F


Notes:
------
Use cooking pumpkin for this recipe as opposed to the regular jack-o-lanterns. To prepare pumpkin, cut in half and take out all the goup and seeds. Cut into chunks and bake in the oven for 1 hour at 350 degrees. Mash at 153 degrees for 60 minutes.