Fast pumpkin ale?

My wife decided that she wants a pumpkin beer to drink when thanksgiving rolls around. I wish she would have giving me a better heads up, but she is not a beer drinker and I try to do whatever I can to get her to enjoy beer when I can. She is very picky on what she drinks and it more often than not is something other than beer.

So does anybody have a recipe to appeal to her taste that can be ready inside of 8 weeks. I was thinking it should finish some what sweet with a good pumpkin pie flavor. Something that can drink VERY easily with little bitterness and good flavor.

Thanks for any input. Normally I would not go through the trouble but I am SLOWLY bringing her around to drinking beer.

8 weeks for an ale seems pretty easy. Are you bottling or kegging?

kegging. I know some beers like pumpkin take some time to mellow out.

I just did a pumpkin ale at 6.6%. It's been about a month, just carbed and turned out really well. I will try to post recipe later today. You do all-grain?

Yes all-grain. I guess I could have stated all that first.

As long as you keep it the gravity reasonable you should have no problems at all. Even my imperial pumpkin was ready to drink 6 weeks after brew day. I also made a pumpkin braggot this year which was only 1.045 OG. If you and she like honey that wouldn't be a bad recipe to go with.

Whats the recipe on that one?

Here is the latest one we just kegged, my wife absolutely loves it. I split the batch into two kegs, one to drink now and one to age for a while, will be fun to see how much it changes or improves.

Title: Funkin Punkin\
Author: Noah Hurianek\
\
Brew Method: BIAB\
Style Name: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer\
Boil Time: 60 min\
Batch Size: 11 gallons (fermentor volume)\
Boil Size: 12.5 gallons\
Boil Gravity: 1.059\
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)\
\
STATS:\
Original Gravity: 1.067\
Final Gravity: 1.019\
ABV (standard): 6.37%\
IBU (tinseth): 22.65\
SRM (morey): 18.33\
\
FERMENTABLES:\
21 lb - American - Pale 2-Row
1 lb - American - Special Roast
2 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L
0.5 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 80L
0.125 lb - American - Black Malt
2 lb - Brown Sugar (7.7%)\
\
HOPS:\
1 oz - Domestic Hallertau, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.9, Use: Boil for 45 min, IBU: 5.69\
1 oz - East Kent Goldings, Type: Pellet, AA: 5, Use: Boil for 45 min, IBU: 7.29\
1 oz - Willamette, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 15 min, IBU: 3.55\
1 oz - Domestic Hallertau, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.9, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 1.24\
\
MASH GUIDELINES:\
1) Temperature, Temp: 154 F, Time: 90 min\
\
OTHER INGREDIENTS:\
3 tbsp - Pumpkin pie spice, Time: 15 min, Type: Spice, Use: Boil\
\
YEAST:\
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05\
Starter: yes
Attenuation (avg): 72%\
Flocculation: Medium\
Optimum Temp: 59 - 75 F\

How do you think this would go for a non beer drinker? How much does the black malt come through? Thanks.

I've seen a few threads like these in the past, and there are some important things to consider as a "sanity check" of sorts:

-Has she actually had pumpkin beer before?
___Yes: Good to go.
___No: Are you sure you want to make this?
-Do you like pumpkin beer?
___Yes: Good to go.
___No: Are you sure you want to make this?

On a side note, I like pumpkin beers and they're a lot of fun to make if you use real pumpkin. You can have some "family time" while incorporating brewing.

Yes she had one that she liked I just can't remember what it was. I have only tried a handful and didn't hate them.

thisisbeer said:

Yes she had one that she liked I just can't remember what it was. I have only tried a handful and didn't hate them.

Click to expand...

That's cool, I just wanted you to do a quick pause before jumping into it. In the past I've done things for other people, and sometimes I end up with something that I really didn't want because their enthusiasm didn't extend past a few pints.

how about something like this:

10 lbs. 2 row
1 lb. cara munich or crystal 40

1 oz. goldings 60
1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and 2 cloves
yeast S-05

Pale malt
Crystal 60

Julliened organic sugar pumpkin mashed in with grains

Galena or clean bittering hop at 60 & 30

1tsp cinnamon
1tsp allspice

English ale yeast

If kegging could be ready in 2.5 weeks.

I make it every year, simple and tasty - got the recipe from a pro brewer.

Thanks for the help guys

I bet you could make a nice pumpkin wheat. I would mash a large can of pumpkin and use rice hulls + 6 row as the basemalt so you do not end up with a stuck mash.

I would over pitch it and ferment it cool so the clove comes through and has less banana. It should play well with the nutmeg and cinnamon and give a nice end product.

I'm drinking this recipe right now: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/punkin-ale-145060/
I brewed it September 7th, so just under a month ago, and its great! I put it on tap a bit early about a week ago, and at first the pumpkin pie spice was pretty strong and clovey. I also only used 1 tablespoon of spice instead of the 1.5 in the recipe. After about 4 days conditioning in the kegerator it has improved greatly! The spice has fallen back in flavor and now the biscuity pumpkin bread notes have come through. The pumpkin flavor is there, but its balanced in the background with everything else. I just brewed this recipe last week again so I can have it on tap when the family is over on thanksgiving!

The black malt is very subtle but adds to the overall flavor profile. It does add to the color quite a bit. So far everyone that has tried it has enjoyed it.