Pumpkin Ale - Personal Favorite

One of my favorite beers is Pumking by Southern Tier. I want to brew my first pumpkin ale for the Fall. I LOVE Halloween time and almost anything pumpkin flavored. Ok, I saw the recipe in Papazians companion book. Anyone try that? Anyone even brew this style much? Is it a pain in the butt? I read about cooking pumpkin and not cooking it. Canned and whole. In mash or in boil. Id probably bake the canned pumpkin and add to boil not mash. Any enlightenment on this style?

mine was can. 3 cans in the mash. it was a mess but came out friggn great.

I think it was 9% so it needed all that pie spice. will do one this fall too.

I used a whole pumpkin, cooked it and added it to the mash. It was widely considered delicious

I used cooked pumpkin cubes in both the mash and the boil. I had heard both arguments and couldn't decide so... I didn't

When I do my next pumpkin for Halloween, I'll be brewing in early August so I won't have access to real pumpkin. Canned it is! However, I'll only put it in the mash this time.

I bought a couple small sugar pumpkins, cut them into quarters and roasted them in the over for a bit until they were nice and soft. Then scooped out the flesh and put it in the mash. I used .5 lb rice hulls in there also to avoid a stuck sparge, but I didn't have any problems, think I could have gotten by without just fine. (If you use canned I don't think it is optional)

I would watch out for the spices. I made some pumpkin pie spice and added it to the boil. When I transferred to secondary I couldn't really taste any so I added some more...and over did it. It is not bad, but I wish the spice was not so pronounced. So just a word of warning, add a little spice at a time and do taste tastes before adding more.

steelerguy said:

I would watch out for the spices. I made some pumpkin pie spice and added it to the boil. When I transferred to secondary I couldn't really taste any so I added some more...and over did it. It is not bad, but I wish the spice was not so pronounced. So just a word of warning, add a little spice at a time and do taste tastes before adding more.

Click to expand...

How much was too much?

buzzkill said:

mine was can. 3 cans in the mash. it was a mess but came out friggn great.

I think it was 9% so it needed all that pie spice. will do one this fall too.

Click to expand...

Was that a recipe similar to the "Pumking" beer? I'd love to make a pumpkin beer come out around 9%. Anybody like to share a recipe? (If I wasn't a big n00b I'd make my own)

Never mind! Im half blind and havent discovered all the recipes on the home page until now!

So you found one around 9%? I know there are a couple on here but not many responses and one guy says "do not make my recipe, its not good". Id still love a 9% pumpkin recipe all grain.

Yuri's Thunderstruck Pumpkin ale has received good reviews.

I made a pumpkin brew last fall and it was ok. I added the canned pumkin to the boil since I was still doing all extract at that point. I know that adding it to the mash gave me a massive amount of trub. I think I ended up with around 4 gallons when all was said and done.

Adding it to the mash sounds like a better idea to me and I might try that this year. Plus I didn't go crazy with the spices. I don't remember how much i used and I think the notes for that recipe are in my first book that I lost...

I think I used 3 cans though and some brown sugar too.

Yeah? ill check out Yuris now... dont think ive seen it before.

I've done a pumpkin ale twice now. I cut and cubed 4 baking pumpkins and bake them in the oven for an hour or so on 350. Then I did a mini mash with about 4lbs pale malt in my oven - I don't think that's really necessary though. Then I add that mixture to my mash and do everything else as normal.

I use 1/2lb of belgian chocolate malt in my recipe. It makes for a really nice sweet beer that compliments the pumpkin flavor and pie spices well. I'll second the person who said be careful with the spice - if you overdo the spices they will condition out over time, but it can take awhile.. Unfortunately I don't have the list here with me, I can post it when I get home tonight though.