Pumpkin Ale for the holidays

So my next brew is going to be a pumpkin ale (ingredients may be modified if the current batch comes out poor)

Desired Recipe at the moment:

Malts:

6 lbs of Northern Brewer Amber Liquid Malt Extract (full boil for 60 minutes)
still to decide amount of 60L crytal steeped for 15 minutes (155-170 degrees)

Hops:

2 oz of willamette leaf (full boil for 50 minutes
2 oz of hallertau leaf (end of boil)

Yeast:

American Ale Activator Wyeast

Extras:

Pumpkin from a can : added to boil at 30 minutes
Tbsp of vanilla: added to boil at 55 minutes
Pumpkin Pie Spice: added to boil at 5 minutes

Should produce a fairly full beer with good (but not overpowering) hop taste (as neither of the varieties of hops i will be using are known for great bitterness)

Suggestions?

Approvals?

I'm formulating a recipe right now, too, but from everything I've read using pumpkin from a can is ill-advised. Best to use 3-4lbs of pie pumpkins (the 6-8" diameter ones). Cook the meat in the oven for 1hr at 325, then do a partial mash. I'm hoping to finalize my recipe be the end of the day today...I'll post it up here if you want.

That would be great!

I have been trying to decide between whole sugar pumpkins (pie) or can pumpkin. And since i don't plan on brewing this until say Nov., i'm just not sure if pie pumpkins with be readily available.

I look forward to seeing the recipe!

Pumpkin from a can is fine, as long as it has no preservatives added. Libby's is a popular choice, and is what I used in my (slightly modified) version of Old Pumpculiar that I brewed a couple of weekends ago. I drank my gravity sample at racking to secondary, and it's darn tasty. Nice pumpkin-y orange color, with a noticeable, but not overpowering, pumpkin flavor. 3 15oz cans in a 5 gallon batch seemed to work out well. You'll lose a fair amount in trub when you rack to secondary, so be forewarned.

I just brewed a pumpkin ale myself. I used two cans of pumpkin. E Lo is right that you will lose some beer as the pumpkin settles in the bottom of the fermenter and makes it hard to siphon. I like the looks of your recipe, but I would recommend that you try the pumpkin spice before you brew with it. I have read of some people using pumpkin spice and not being happy with the blend. Some blends have a bit more clove flavor than you might want. I ended up using 1 tbsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of nutmeg, and 1 tsp of allspice. It tasted pretty good when I bottled. 6 lbs of LME sounds about right. I used 6 lbs of DME and filled the fermenter up to about 5.5 gallons to make up for what I was going to lose when siphoning.

Good luck with the beer.

Since this is a holiday beer, i was going to put a little more LME in the wort to try to suck a little extra % alch out of it. I'm thinking of sticking with 6 lbs or so of the amber LME and adding another (maybe 3 lbs) of a lighter one to give the yeast a few extra things to snack on. Ive never known of anyone to complain about a stong beer around the holidays.

My last batch i primed with corn sugar (from the kit) and everything i have read since then tells me that this one i will be priming using DME. Any suggestions of what type to use? Should i stick with the amber?

I was worried about the spice and the taste it would impart upon the beer and i had contemplated going with just the nutmeg and the cinnamon but i will definately add an equal part allspice and see how i like it.

I dont think i will be using any lactose as that additive doesnt really appeal to me.

Has anyone ever used the LME from Breiss through Midwest?
Thats what i plan on using.

Does this sound good? Does it sound like too many hops?
I have a batch bottle conditioning right now that i used 1oz of willamette and 1 oz of hallertau for and i dont think its hoppy enough (its an oktoberfest) so i was going to double the hops, but once its done in the bottles, those numbers might change.

I'm also thinking of going with 12 oz of caramel 60L grains for the steeping.

My try at the Great Pumpkenweizen is now two weeks in bottles and so good I can drink it easily at room temperature.. in fact I prefer this brew warmish. I used 7lb of Wheat DME and 2x2lb cans of 100% pumpkin. UMMM GOOOD