My Attempt at a Pumpkin Ale :/

After reading quite a few threads on pumpkin ales and getting some feedback, I have laid out a rough draft attempt at a pumpkin ale. Amounts of spices/pumpkin/sweet potato need to be tweaked, so chime in!!

Batch Size: 3.5gal
Est Original Gravity: 1.057 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.2 %
Bitterness: 11.9 IBUs
Est Color: 16.0 SRM


6 lbs Pearl Pale Malt (2.8 SRM)
2 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)
1.00 tsp Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins)
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Crisp Light Crystal Malt (45.0 SRM)
0.25 tsp Cloves (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.25 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 mins)
0.25 tsp Ginger (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice
1.00 lb Pumpkin (Mash 60.0 mins)
0.50 lb Sweet Potato (Boil 20.0 mins)
4.0 oz Brown Sugar, Light [Boil for15 min](8.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Liberty [4.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [3.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)

Looking to brew this wknd and have it for the Thanksgiving/Halloween holidays!

I put 56 ounces of pumpkin in my last pumpkin ale. I think with your 1 pound of pumpkin, you are going to have a very subtle pumpkin flavor. If you want it to be subtle, you are on the right track. If you want it to taste like liquid pumpkin pie, like my recipe did, you may want to up the pumpkin.

FYI, I did the AHS pumpkin ale and added two 28 oz cans of Libby's Spiced Pumpkin in the mash along with the AHS spice kit in the boil. One of my best beers ever!

TopherM said:

I put 56 ounces of pumpkin in my last pumpkin ale. I think with your 1 pound of pumpkin, you are going to have a very subtle pumpkin flavor. If you want it to be subtle, you are on the right track. If you want it to taste like liquid pumpkin pie, like my recipe did, you may want to up the pumpkin.

FYI, I did the AHS pumpkin ale and added two 28 oz cans of Libby's Spiced Pumpkin in the mash along with the AHS spice kit in the boil. One of my best beers ever!

Click to expand...

I do want the pumpkin pie in a bottle taste, so I will up the pumpkin. I was unsure how much to add for a 3.5 gallon batch so I just started out with a base amount of 1lb

Any thoughts as to amounts for the spices and such??

I too used the AHS Pumpkin Smash kit, and I also added more spice. To the kit I added a big can of spiced pump meat(baked for 45 mins to caramalize) and one of those little (about 1 inch tall) jugs of McCormicks pumpkin pie spice mix, yes the whole thing. The label said this jug would do 3 pies so my thinking was --- 5 gallons to 3 pies, well add it all. Also @ 15 mins left I added 5 cinammon sticks. So after the cool down and just before adding the yeast I tasted it and it was pretty darn good. I thought with all that cinammon it might be bitter but it was not bad at all. This is my first PmpAle so I just hoping for the best. Oh and I used 2 lbs of brown sugar instead of the supplied fermentables. :rockin:

A question for the OP and anyone who has designed their own pumpkin ale recipe...what do you consider the ppg of pumpkin to be? How much additional strike water would you add to your mash tun for the addition of pumpkin?

cyraxx said:

A question for the OP and anyone who has designed their own pumpkin ale recipe...what do you consider the ppg of pumpkin to be? How much additional strike water would you add to your mash tun for the addition of pumpkin?

Click to expand...

Would like to know this as well!

Tweaked the recipe a bit and added appropriate amounts (I think!)

How does the timing look??

Est Original Gravity: 1.056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.0 %
Bitterness: 12.4 IBUs
Est Color: 16.7 SRM


6 lbs Pearl Pale Malt (2.8 SRM)
2 lbs Victory Malt (25.0 SRM)
2.00 tsp Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins)
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Crisp Light Crystal Malt (45.0 SRM)
1.00 tsp Cloves (Boil 5.0 mins)
1.00 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 mins)
29.00 oz Pumpkin (Mash 60.0 mins)
30.00 oz Sweet Potato (Mash 60.0 mins)
1.00 oz Liberty [4.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Mt. Hood [3.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056)
1.00 tsp Allspice (Boil 5.0 mins)
4.0 oz Maple Syrup (35.0 SRM)
2.00 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract (Boil 5.0 mins)

Thanks guys!

cyraxx said:

A question for the OP and anyone who has designed their own pumpkin ale recipe...what do you consider the ppg of pumpkin to be? How much additional strike water would you add to your mash tun for the addition of pumpkin?

Click to expand...

I added water to my mlt based on the total weight of what I was going to mash. I had ~30lbs of grains and 8lbs of pumpkin so my strike water was 13G and was based on 38lbs. As for my decision on how much pumpkin to use, most 5G recipes I referenced called for 3-4 lbs so I went with 8lbs for the 10G I did.

You might want to reel in the hops for that recipe because that much may distract from the spices

thisone said:

You might want to reel in the hops for that recipe because that much may distract from the spices

Click to expand...

I kinda thought it might, but my IBU's is very low...I can back them down to .5oz to see if it will even out better.

Just don't want to have next to no IBU's?!?

Does anyone know how the pumpkin will affect the color?

brentt03 said:

Does anyone know how the pumpkin will affect the color?

Click to expand...

It doesn't affect it by to much I added a little bit of chocolate malt to get the amber color I was looking for.

adurotec said:

It doesn't affect it by to much I added a little bit of chocolate malt to get the amber color I was looking for.

Click to expand...

Awesome! Appreciate all of your input!

Ok, in prep for Pumpkin Ale brew day on Saturday, I figured I would list out some stuff for the brew and see what you all thought:

From what I have read is that you will pour the pumpkin (libby's pumpkin in a can) into the mash. Strike temp will be 168 and hold the Mash for 60min @ 154. Would I also add the sweet potato to the mash as well??

Continue the brew as normal adding hops and then just pour the spices into the boil @ 5min. Chill/add yeast/ and throw in carboy.

Figured it would be good to let this one clear up for 3-4 weeks before bottling.