Avoiding a Pumpkin Beer & Austin Brewing Supply

"Someone" thought they would be nice and order me a full recipe set from Austin Brewing. They went with Pumpkin Beer assuming I would want to make that for Thanksgiving.

Now, I look forward to a decent Pumpkin beer. They come out in Mid September here. By Late Sept, I am ready to yak it up and can't smell it by Mid October. For me to make 5 gallons of this now is quite daunting to say the least.

So anyway... this is coming in soon. I haven't seen the ingredients, but my question is (since I've never dealt with Austin) will they ship me all individual ingredients (hops all separate, Malt Separate, 'spices" separate) so i can just skip the obnoxious pumpkin spicing..
AND - if I skip the spicing will my beer suck. Any suggestions on what I can do with the remaining ingredients? Here is what I have coming in.
Austin Homebrew Supply
Thanks!

A favorite in the fall season, this amber ale features seasonal spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and Sweet Orange Peel. It also features Crystal 60L, Cara Munich, and Vienna grains. The required spices are included in a spice pack. O.G. = 1.055. Approximately 5.5% ABV.

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Basically a Pale with a little extra maltiness. Should be just fine without the spices.

david_42 said:

Basically a Pale with a little extra maltiness. Should be just fine without the spices.

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Right on. Thats what I figured.
Now... anything stupid/ridiculous anyone recommends for me to have some fun with it?

The spice packs are indeed seperate. I purchased their Special Holiday Ale and the spice pack was seperate in that. All the grains were bagged together however.

The good news is that you get to try a AHS kit for free. Too bad it's not up your alley but I think after you make Austin Homebrew Supply kit you won't be avoiding them for long.

Nurmey said:

The good news is that you get to try a AHS kit for free. Too bad it's not up your alley but I think after you make Austin Homebrew Supply kit you won't be avoiding them for long.

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Hrmm.. so are you maybe saying I should just GO for it, and shoot the pumpkin spices in it? Or do you think the beer will be perfectly acceptable if I skip the whole spicepack?

hell, make it a REAL pumpkin ale and put some pumpkin in it too!

Or, put together your own blend of spices and make it your own.

I know my pumpkin ale (based on yuri's recipe) tastes nothing like store-bought pumpkin ales, and received wide acclaim at the LHBS for its subtle spices. I can assume that the AHS kit will probably taste different than anything else out there too.

For me... 1 tsp pie spice, 1 tsp of cinnamon @ 5 mins. Give it a month and it's delicious.

kahunaman said:

Hrmm.. so are you maybe saying I should just GO for it, and shoot the pumpkin spices in it? Or do you think the beer will be perfectly acceptable if I skip the whole spicepack?

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Sorry, I wasn't clear. Don't put the spices in if you don't like pumpkin ale. I think it will be a very nice beer without the spices. You're title indicated you were avoiding pumpkin ale as well as AHS. I wanted to point out that once you make one of their very nice kits, you might want to make more of their very nice kits.

excellent feedback from all. thank you greatly.

Pumpkin itself doesn't add a lot of flavor. The spices are what makes it one of our most popular beer kits. It will take about a month in the bottles or keg for the spices to blend well and be more subtle. If you think the spices are too strong you haven't aged it enough.

Forrest

Maybe you could use half the spices and then later if you want more, steep the rest of the spices in hot water and add this "spice tea" to your secondary or at bottling.