Autumn Seasonal Beer Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale (AG and Extract versions)

BLANK1911 said:

Oh August, I heard a blind taste test on basic brewing radio a while back on pumpkin ale's. One had actual pumpkin in it the other did not. The taster could not tell which had the pumpkin and which one did not.

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Very interesting!

Yuri: did you bottle or keg this? if you bottled, did you prime with dextrose or with brown sugar?

I've done both. I always prime with dextrose. I don't believe in using a priming agent to add flavor.

An HBT'er sent me a batch of this beer in which he didn't use pumpkin. I tasted it side by side with mine. His tasted a bit thin in comparison. I will always use pumpkin when making a pumpkin beer.

I am sorry if this was asked before but after reading a lot and realizing that there are well over 500 I'll just ask my question.

What is a spice tea? Do i just add my spices to a cup of water boil, cool, then mix (do the spices get dumped in as well) or do i make a tea bag for them to steep in.

My pumpkin ale is in the secondary right now. I was planning on adding some more spice to the keg at transfer and wanted some advise.

muse435 said:

I am sorry if this was asked before but after reading a lot and realizing that there are well over 500 I'll just ask my question.

What is a spice tea? Do i just add my spices to a cup of water boil, cool, then mix (do the spices get dumped in as well) or do i make a tea bag for them to steep in.

My pumpkin ale is in the secondary right now. I was planning on adding some more spice to the keg at transfer and wanted some advise.

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I just use a hotpot to boil 8 ozs of water. Pour it into a sanitized jar or glass measuring cup, scoop the desired amt of spices into the water with a sanitized spoon, cover with some sort of lid and let that "steep" for 15 mins or so. Then i just poured it into the keg when racking the beer. For the spices I used "pumpkin spice." McCormick makes it or, in my case, I bought the Kroger brand.

MJDore said:

I just use a hotpot to boil 8 ozs of water. Pour it into a sanitized jar or glass measuring cup, scoop the desired amt of spices into the water with a sanitized spoon, cover with some sort of lid and let that "steep" for 15 mins or so. Then i just poured it into the keg when racking the beer. For the spices I used "pumpkin spice." McCormick makes it or, in my case, I bought the Kroger brand.

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Thats what i thought. One more thing do you let the "tea" cool down or just after 15 min dump it in?

muse435 said:

Thats what i thought. One more thing do you let the "tea" cool down or just after 15 min dump it in?

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To quote the recipe on the very first page. . .

"During clearing stage, add a spice tea of 1-1/2 tsp "Pumpkin Pie Spice" or Pampered Chef "Cinnamon Plus." Steep spices in 1 cup hot water for 10-15 minutes, cool then add. Consider adding the spice tea a little at a time to achieve the desired flavor profile."

I plan on brewing a 5 gal extract batch for my wedding in Nov. I planned on starting it in early Sep to make sure everything goes well. SWMBO is "requesting" I make a practice batch now so she can see how it tastes. I would like to be able to keep about half this batch if all goes well until November. Has anyone kept this around for around 9 months and notice any big changes? Kinda worried that I would lose some of the spice. Thanks!

I'd get on it now. It took mine about 5-6 months to mellow and all the tastes to blend nicely. For a while it was pretty bad at first. Then some month later I was like what the heck, let's see if it's any better. Lo and behold it was like a different brew and you could finally taste the spices.

Strangebird said:

I'd get on it now. It took mine about 5-6 months to mellow and all the tastes to blend nicely and. . .you could finally taste the spices.

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Odd. Mine has been bottled for about 1 month and tastes delicious. I'm sure it will get better with time, but it already has a great pumpkin taste and the spice tea is present but not overpowering. Did you bottle, I assume? And if so, what temps were your bottles at?
Also, just curious: how much dextrose did you prime with?

When adding the spice tea, do you pour it into secondary and rack on top of it? Will the racking be enough to mix it well?

UnchartedBrews said:

When adding the spice tea, do you pour it into secondary and rack on top of it? Will the racking be enough to mix it well?

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Absolutely!

TheWeeb said:

Absolutely!

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Perfect, thanks!

When making the spice tea, do you just add the spice directly to the hot water or do you need to make a tea bag of sorts?

If you're using ground spices, just add them directly to the water. If you're using whole spices, tie them up in some cheesecloth or bundle them with some cotton string.

Single infusion mash at 158° F for 45-60 mins
Mash out at 168°F
Sparge with 178°F water to collect 17.5g of wort
Boil 60 mins


When you say mash out what exactly do you mean? Is this for a all grain set up with three containers for boiling the wort? I guess I should ask what sparge means as well. I'm only familiar with kits using LME and specialty grains that require only to boil the wort and cool. Thanks for any info.

You are reading the all grain recipe. Look at the very first post in this thread for the extract recipe.

I don't want to turn this thread into an all grain brewing primer - that information is available via this forum, its wiki, www.howtobrew.com, and many other sources.

Also, you are likely a new AG brewer and I would dissuade anyone from using this recipe as your first AG. Not a difficult recipe, but certainly not a beginner recipe either. The Extract version of this recipe makes a Fantastic beer.

Hi Yuri Rage! I compared the extract version with the all-grain version and they are quite different. You edited the extract version and added a note saying the recipe has been improved. It seems like you didn't edit the all-grain version to reflect such improvements, right?

I seems the modified grain bill should be:

10 lb 4 oz American Two-row Pale
1 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
8 oz Biscuit Malt
4 oz Flaked Wheat

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks!

My last iteration of the grain bill for a 6 gallon AG batch was:

9.6 lbs 2 row
2.3 lbs C60
1.1 lbs Biscuit
0.5 lbs Flaked Wheat
72 oz Canned Pumpkin

70% efficiency

Thanks a lot. This is going to be my next brew.

I just brewed this one last night, but made a few substitutions...

I make 7 gallon batches because my fermenter (Got with the Cooper's starter kit) holds in excess of 8 gallons. Swapped the airlock for a blow off hose into a bucket of sanitizer. Then the 6.5gal carboys I have really hold almost 8, so a filtered 7 fits perfect with minimal headspace to reduce oxidation.

Anyways, so my recipe was 7 gallons, and here's how I did it:

10.9 lbs Light LME
1.4 lb Caramel Malt
11.2 oz Biscuit Malt
5.6 oz Flaked Wheat
6 15 oz cans of 'Farmer's Market' Organic Pumpkin Puree
1 oz Goldings for the full boil
1 tsp Irish Moss with :15 left
1 pkg Fermentis Safale S-04

1. Pumpkin went in a 9x13 pyrex dish in the oven at 350 for 40 mins (longer, because there was more, and it was thicker than a cookie sheet would have been). I put it in before it was preheated, then timed :40, then shut it off and let it sit in the warm oven during the steeping.

2. Grains steeped 40 mins at 150 degrees. (I've had success with higher OG and better malt flavor with the extra 10 minutes).

3. Crank to high, added pumpkin.

4. Boil started, added Goldings.

5. Made 2 spice teas, each around 1 cup. 1.5tsp in each cup. (secret family pumpkin pie ratios.. makes incredible pie). The first cup was spread out evenly across the boil, the second was at flameout.

6. Added the LME at flameout. (I used to add it into the boil, but I was told all this does is darken the beer and does little else to the final product).

7. Chill, transfer, cold water filled to 7 gallons, rested, pitched.

1.070 OG

It smelled incredible in my kitchen, between the pumpkin in the oven, the spice tea, and the awesome grain selection. However my girlfriend still can't appreciate the "beer stink".

Pictures:

I'm loving the look of this recipe, but I have been thinking:

I've had several pumpkin ales and in each case my major complaint is that they don't have the body I envision. I always figured a pumpkin ale would be really heavy and chewy, like a porter or stout, or... you know... a pie

Looking at some of the pictures, the FG and ingredients, I'm thinking I might want to make this, but somewhat heavier. Would I be crazy to add some oatmeal or just malto-dextrine? I might like to darken it up somewhat too. I'd love to brew a pumpkin ale that is really reminiscent of a pie.

Hovercar said:

I'm loving the look of this recipe, but I have been thinking:

I've had several pumpkin ales and in each case my major complaint is that they don't have the body I envision. I always figured a pumpkin ale would be really heavy and chewy, like a porter or stout, or... you know... a pie

Looking at some of the pictures, the FG and ingredients, I'm thinking I might want to make this, but somewhat heavier. Would I be crazy to add some oatmeal or just malto-dextrine? I might like to darken it up somewhat too. I'd love to brew a pumpkin ale that is really reminiscent of a pie.

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Go buy a bottle of Imperial Pumking from Southern Tier. 9%. Tasted like a pie, heavy sicky sweet mouthfeel too.

lextasy23 said:

Go buy a bottle of Imperial Pumking from Southern Tier. 9%. Tasted like a pie, heavy sicky sweet mouthfeel too.

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Based on that description, that's exactly the beer I'd like to brew. I've had their Creme Brulee so I have an idea of what they're capable of.

High-gravity, heavy mouthfeel, thick and chewy. Any ideas what I might add to the recipe to achieve it? I'm still pretty new to this, so I'd be guessing at what grains to add/increase in quantity. Oatmeal for mouthfeel, some darker grains? I don't want to butcher Yuri's recipe, just heavy it up

I actually just had one as I was brewing my Pumpkin Ale. (Brew pot on the right there )

BakerStreetBeers said:

+1 to this. Thanks, Yuri and the rest of the contributors. Going to do my first pumpkin beer in a couple of weeks and it will owe almost everything to this thread (reserving a modicum of credit for the brewer).

Oh, and I'm thinking about going Saison with it.

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Did you ever "go Saison" with this? I'm thinking about it, and wondering if you tried it?

Question on this beer...I'm trying to find a good time to brew. On many pumpkin beers, people say that the flavor (specifically the spices) tend to disappear after awhile in the bottle.

Curious if anyone has any experience on how long this one should last, and what may be the sweet spot in terms of when its best to drink after bottling?

This beer is definitely best fresh. I usually serve it within a month of brewing. It always drops clear fairly early for me. After a few months, the flavor will definitely change. It's not bad, but the pumpkin fades REALLY fast, and the spices become muted shortly thereafter.

Good to know, appreciate it!

This will be the first brew on my new 50L three tier brewery which is getting its final touches today.

Yuri , your recipe is being brewed in Johannesburg, South Africa tomorrow!

Yuri is (as usual) completely right.
Drink this beer early and often!!
I made the mistake of putting these away in the cellar to condition, then totally forgot about them.
The pumpkin and spices fall out very quickly. =(

lextasy23 said:

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Where did you find these? There's a local kosher store that carries a wide variety of craft beers, but I've never seen that Pumking beer.
Typically pumpkin beers are seasonal and aren't around except for fall/thanksgiving, with the rare exception of a great store. Thanks

My local beer store has the most incredible selection of beers from around the world. hundreds if not in the thousands of selections...

Colonial Spirits, Acton MA

I have been seeing a lot of people using grain bags to put the pumpkin in so it doesn't get as messy when when going into the carboy. Are you all adding the pumpkin to your mash and putting it in a grain bag? Or are you boiling it in your grain bag? I'm going to do the extract version soon so I didn't know if the grain bag technique was only good for those doing a mash with the pumpkin? Or if it would be a good idea to do my 60 min with the pumpkin in the grain bag or just freely dumped into the pot?

I used a bag for mine and didn't run into any issues.

I threw my pumpkin straight in, and didn't have any problems (other than a lot of pumpkin in the bottom of my kettle, which just rinsed right out, so no problems). No bag.

I used canned organic pumpkin puree, baked in a casserole dish, then added straight to the kettle. No bag. I figure with the puree, a bag probably would have been messier anyways. All the trub settled out in the primary, then i autosiphoned off the top of it into secondary for more settling. It's pretty crystal clear right now. I'll be making another spice tea when i bottle, and will prime it with a spiced dextrose concoction.

When are people going to start brewing their pumpkin beers?

I just bottled mine last week.

Diesel48 said:

When are people going to start brewing their pumpkin beers?

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My pumpkin porter will be brewed in about 4 weeks or so.