Autumn Seasonal Beer Samhain Pumpkin Ale

mbtech said:

Can someone enlighten me on where to find allspice?

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In the spice aisle of your local megamart...or just about anywhere they sell spices

mbtech said:

Can someone enlighten me on where to find allspice?

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the spice aisle of pretty much any and every supermarket is the answer.

munklunk said:

the spice aisle of pretty much any and every supermarket is the answer.

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K, thanks. I thought I remember looking at Walmart, but maybe I just overlooked it.

Brewed this today but i ended up with a OG of almost 1.080
Tasted great, we will see in a few weeks

edit I put almost double the molasses in so this one's gonna have some punch lol

I finally brewed this last Sunday, but with a few changes.

I followed the same grain bill, but toasted half of the Maris Otter wet and the other half dry (for the same amount of time and at the temp in the recipe).

I used Wyeast 1968 and mashed at 154 F in order to produce a nice, slightly sweet, malty product.

Fermentation kicked off excellently (I'm fermenting around 64-66 F - beer temp, not ambient), and the airlock smelled unbelievably good, SWMBO is pretty excited about this one.

I can't wait to start consuming this goodness. Thanks for the recipe!

I sampled a bottle of this last night - and OMG! this is a GREAT brew! the spices come thru real nicely, but don't overpower at all. Beautiful color as well. Needs about another week in the bottle (only been 17 days) and it'll be perfect.

Yeah, I did side by side comparisons with Dogfish Punkin and seem to prefer this over the Dogfish as did a few from my brewclub. Great recipe.

Going to give this one a whirl this weekend! Thanks!

MikeP said:

I sampled a bottle of this last night - and OMG! this is a GREAT brew! the spices come thru real nicely, but don't overpower at all. Beautiful color as well. Needs about another week in the bottle (only been 17 days) and it'll be perfect.

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Did you brew this according to the original recipe? Also, how long did it stay in the primary before going to the bottle?

I'm really glad everyone seems to be having great success with this recipe! With the weather cooling down here, and the air getting a bit crisper, this beer is really hitting the spot.

delusionalsociety said:

Brewed this today but i ended up with a OG of almost 1.080
Tasted great, we will see in a few weeks

edit I put almost double the molasses in so this one's gonna have some punch lol

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1.080?! What kind of pumpkins are you using!?

wedge421 said:

Going to give this one a whirl this weekend! Thanks!

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I've been watching your YT channel, and I really enjoy your reviews. Quick and to the point, you don't drag them out like most YT beer reviewers do. I noticed you didn't have any homebrew reviews on there but if you review this beer that would be awesome!

So how does this one hold up to Yuri's Thunderstruck?

I did a quick video on dry hooping and one on my equipment but I havent had a chance to do a full blown home brew session yet. I think Im gonna film one with this beer. Thanks again for watching the reviews though I really appreciate it!

after thinking about munklunk's post and my idea about the vanilla extract, i think after I keg this I am going to add in different combinations of hazelnut flavor and vanilla extract by the drop to a pint, one by one, to see what it does. i'm linking the idea of something extra. my fav pumpkin is o'fallons - tastes like graham crackers with a hint of gingerbread cookies. that flavor has to come from somewhere other than just the cinnamon, nutmeg and clove they list on their site.

Mine, with the vanilla and hazelnut, has been on gas for about a week now. I gave it a pull last night to see how things were progressing, and holy crap, this is going to be amazing. The spices are opening up a little more which balances well with the sweet nuttiness the hazelnut imparts. The vanilla makes it for me, personally. It is going to be like a toned down version of the pumking with a dash of punkin'. Awesome.

I know it's a little late in the season, but I'm going to give this recipe a go this weekend. Has anybody tried using fresh pumpkin rather than canned pumpkin? I like the idea of using fresh pumpkin from the local farmer's market. Any thoughts as to adding more or less pumpkin if I go with fresh? Do you think it would change the consistency of the mash in a way that would cause problems? Thanks in advance!

If you do use fresh pumpkin, make sure you're buying a baking pumpkin, not a jack-o-lantern pumpkin. There is a HUGE difference in taste.

Also, you're going to have to roast the pumpkin until soft, then mash it up and roast it again to get the same consistency as canned.

I ended up putting about 12 oz of rice hulls in mine so the mash didn't stick.

B

Absolutely, I plan on getting a pie pumpkin. I was going to roast it (maybe even throw it on my grill) until soft, try to caramelize the outside slightly, remove the rind, and then puree it. Do you know if canned pumpkin is concentrated? Should I use the same weight, or should I bump it up? I think the typical rule of thumb is one pound of fruit per gallon, so I was thinking about going with 5 pounds of fresh roasted pureed pie pumpkin. Does that sound reasonable?

I don't think canned pumpkin is concentrated.

The process you're describing is basically making canned pumpkin. You'll need to bake your puree another time to get the same results as the recipe.

I'd go 1:1 with the recipe. Shoot for about 4# of pumpkin before baking, and whatever you end up with after baking call it good.

B

anyone hear how the harvest was this year (pumpkin harvest). just wondering if i should store a few cans away for next year or not.

FWIW...here's a link to my pumpkin beer recipe and notes on the brew session. It's only a week and a half in the bottle, so no telling yet how the final product will be, but I am optimistic. Any success on this beer I owe in huge part to the folks here (both on HBT in general and this thread specifically)

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/blogs/jlem/645-feathertop-pumpkin-ale.html

KingBrianI said:

1.080?! What kind of pumpkins are you using!?

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Just Libby s canned and honestly i used a little extra cause they didn't have the big cans so i had to use 4 little one's making for a little more pumpkin, and when i poured them out 2 were different shades of orange which was interesting, maybe they had a little more sugar in them ?

any coffee drinkers have any input on if any of the flavor syrups are better than the others? munklunk? seems they are all around $7-$10 for a bottle.

I've been using the same bottle of Caribou Coffee flavored Hazelnut syrup for over a year now, and I have more than half left. I would go with any well known brand over some no name just for quality purposes. You're going to have the bottle for a while.

So, my first 5G was a smash hit...Kicked the keg this weekend. Holy crap! I wanted to have some around for Thanksgiving so guess what....I AM BREWING ANOTHER BATCH Wednesday.

Great recipe!

To all HBTers: BREW THIS BEER!!!!!

shroomzofdoom said:

So, my first 5G was a smash hit...Kicked the keg this weekend. Holy crap! I wanted to have some around for Thanksgiving so guess what....I AM BREWING ANOTHER BATCH Wednesday.

Great recipe!

To all HBTers: BREW THIS BEER!!!!!

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Nice! Glad you liked it!

shroomzofdoom said:

So, my first 5G was a smash hit...Kicked the keg this weekend. Holy crap! I wanted to have some around for Thanksgiving so guess what....I AM BREWING ANOTHER BATCH Wednesday.

Great recipe!

To all HBTers: BREW THIS BEER!!!!!

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How long did you let it go in the primary before kegging? And how long in the keg before drinking? I made this last saturday and can't wait to try it!

mbtech said:

How long did you let it go in the primary before kegging? And how long in the keg before drinking? I made this last saturday and can't wait to try it!

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I went 2 weeks in primary, 1 week in secondary and about 5 days on the gas before really drinking it.

My girl---who doesn't like beer---tried it and likes it. First time she ever poured a point, and this was it. I made a few variations that worked well like vanilla in secondary and subbing in some carapils for wheat. I also mashed a bit higher temp for dextrin formation.

I brewed up 12.5 gallons of a slightly modded recipe based on this one. I also got to use different yeasts.(Thanks to my LHBS only having only 1 pack of DF...) I used the Denny's, US-05, and some left over notty. I have not tasted the notty as there is only 1/2 gallon of it but I did sample the other 2...In a side by side comparison the Denny's is MUCH and I mean LOTS better! The Denny's actually seems to bring out the pumpkin flavors in the beer...

This is/was a fantastic beer all the way around, so no complaints, I am sure it will be one of the better brews I have made to date. The best part is I will drink the Denny's and share the US-05 w/ friends and family.

Note to self,
stock up on DF and canned pumpkin for next year!!!!



Note: I have not tasted this carbed and fully ready yet, this was my SG samples only, I am SUPER excited to get this one finished.

FYI - DON'T buy your spices at Fresh Market . Thought I was doing a better thing by buying there vs a big box store, but I paid the price. Kegged 2 pumpkin brews the other day, one being this one (sub in .5# victory for 1# home toasted) and my spices are non-existent and I added at 1 minutes vs 5.

So I boiled up some water and split it between two tall tumbler glasses(~6oz H2O). In one, I put .5 tsp cinnamon, .25tsp nutmeg and .25 ground ginger from Fresh Market. The other had .5tsp of Penzy's pumpkin spice from last year. Well, guess which one had more flavor? Hint - it wasn't the Fresh Market glass. Now I'm gonna have to experiment to get it spiced correctly. F U Fresh Market!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Well I brewed up 5g of the original recipe and let me tell you...it is amazing. There is no way the keg will make it to Thanksgiving. I will be lucky if it lasts until Halloween.

Just brewed this tonight. Hit all my numbers spot on and it looks fantastic. Couldn't help but get a little bit of cloudy wort into the fermenter but I'm going to do some gelatin at kegging to clear it up.

The mash got really really slow there towards the end but never stuck completely thanks to the rice hulls. OH and please change that front page recipe to a 60 min hop addition I almost boiled for 90 minutes but luckily got to reading the first few pages.

Can't wait to try it!

I don't want to change your recipe at all but seeing all of these guys want to add some sweetness or more pie flavor to it here is an idea I used last year. Don't get offended as this is slightly foo-foo but crumple up some graham cracker, cinnamon, ginger snaps and some colored sugar into a nice powder then wet the rim of your glass and dip it in margarita style. You get the pumpkin pie beer then the sense of a graham cracker crust all at once and it was really really good. Just an idea you may like it or hate it.

Kegged this last night, and already it's delicious. Like I said in an earlier post, I used wyeast 1968 (ESB), which really left a delicious malty sweetness. FG is 1.013ish, and it's delightful.

The spices are just about right, although next time I would cut down on the ginger a bit and switch to using real ceylon cinnamon (for the first second of the first sips, there's a bit of puckering harshness). I'm very excited about this beer; I'm going to have trouble letting this age much. Thanks a lot for the recipe!

Has anyone had several pints of this beer before bed? If so, did you experience unusual dreams? Just curious as this beer gives me crazy dreams when consumed in largish quantities before bed.

KingBrianI said:

Has anyone had several pints of this beer before bed? If so, did you experience unusual dreams? Just curious as this beer gives me crazy dreams when consumed in largish quantities before bed.

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I have had several...er...way more than several, in the past 2 days. I can not say I have odd dreams but I can say that EVERY person that has tried it has liked it. I have had a few "samples" of other commercial pumpkin beers and they mostly fail in comparison. They are over sweet (like a dessert beer) or over spiced, especially on the cloves.

It really seems a shame that I only have 10 gallons-ish left...hahahahahaha!

Zamial said:

I have had several...er...way more than several, in the past 2 days. I can not say I have odd dreams but I can say that EVERY person that has tried it has liked it. I have had a few "samples" of other commercial pumpkin beers and they mostly fail in comparison. They are over sweet (like a dessert beer) or over spiced, especially on the cloves.

It really seems a shame that I only have 10 gallons-ish left...hahahahahaha!

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That's awesome. I'm really happy you are all enjoying it!

Just served a pumpkin ale using this spice ratio. It was great, definite pumpkin pie flavor, but you could still have a whole pint, or two... or three. Went over very well and very quickly!

muddylars said:

Just served a pumpkin ale using this spice ratio. It was great, definite pumpkin pie flavor, but you could still have a whole pint, or two... or three. Went over very well and very quickly!

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Just the spice ratio? You should have used the grain and hop ratio too! Just kidding, glad it worked for you!

PS. Happy Samhain everyone! Is anyone enjoying this beer to celebrate the occasion?

I sampled the first bottle from this batch last night. It was quite good despite the fact that I forgot to toast the Maris Otter and mash temps wrong due to a faulty thermometer. It was a bit young (3 weeks in the bottle) but the color was good. I blame the so-so head and lack of lacing on my mash troubles, but it is still very drinkable. I'll post a picture tonight after I go vote.