Help me add flavor to a pumpkin spice ale!

I am attempting my first fall season brew! I bought the ingredients for a pumpkin spice ale. But I want to add something to make it different! Please tell me what you guys have done or think would go well!

Thoughts Ive had: Vanilla bean, Cinnamon, this one is a little far out but i have peppers in the garden.

Looking forward to your responses!

Think of everything that makes fall flavors. a favorite of mine had pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, brown sugar, and some vanilla.

I have wondered what it would taste like if I added some of Starbucks pumpkin spice syrup in the last 5 minutes of my boil.... But that's just silly.

I think the pumpkin pie spice or all-spice and cinnamon are definites, and the vanilla or vanilla bean and brown sugar sound great. Your pepper might add a nice back-flavor to it.

My pumpkin ale, now 8 weeks in the bottle, had canned pumpkin in the boil, as well as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and brown sugar. The nutmeg is a little prevalent, but that's me being super picky because overall the beer is seriously awesome. Best pumpkin beer I've tried, hands down. I think it has to do with the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon more than anything, so those would be my suggestions. If you add it, go light on nutmeg. If you're really interested I could try to find the exact amounts I used.

bds3 said:

My pumpkin ale, now 8 weeks in the bottle, had canned pumpkin in the boil, as well as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and brown sugar. The nutmeg is a little prevalent, but that's me being super picky because overall the beer is seriously awesome. Best pumpkin beer I've tried, hands down. I think it has to do with the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon more than anything, so those would be my suggestions. If you add it, go light on nutmeg. If you're really interested I could try to find the exact amounts I used.

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Was this a kit or a recipe, or did you just make it up as you went?

bds3 said:

My pumpkin ale, now 8 weeks in the bottle, had canned pumpkin in the boil, as well as pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and brown sugar. The nutmeg is a little prevalent, but that's me being super picky because overall the beer is seriously awesome. Best pumpkin beer I've tried, hands down. I think it has to do with the pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon more than anything, so those would be my suggestions. If you add it, go light on nutmeg. If you're really interested I could try to find the exact amounts I used.

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#IamInterested

My standard spice mix for a pumpkin ale is cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sometimes vanilla bean, and cardamom pods.

SouthernCross said:

Was this a kit or a recipe, or did you just make it up as you went?

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SouthernCross said:

#IamInterested

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A little of both. I did this as an extract. A friend of mine made the AHS Pumpkin Ale, so I basically took his instruction sheet and bought all the same grains/extract from my local store. I made some changes though, including adding an extra pound of extract. Regarding the "spice pack" that came with his kit, I did not use any orange peel, and I used double the nutmeg and cinnamon for my recipe, as well as adding pumpkin pie spice. I added the same amount of pumpkin pie spice as the amount of nutmeg I used. I can't find the recipe, so I apologize I can't be that much help, but if anyone on here knows how much the AHS pumpkin ale calls for spice-wise, you can go off that.

Most importantly (probably for color more than flavor, but who knows), I put a 30-oz can of pumpkin in with the steeping grains, and another 30-oz in toward the end of the boil. It didn't really create all that much trub compared to a normal brew for me either.

I wish I could help you out more with the amounts of spice, I think the nutmeg and PPS were around 2 tsps, the cinnamon around 1, but I could be totally off so don't trust that. Good luck - if I manage to find the recipe I'll update ya.

This is the first brew of mine that I don't want to share with friends, if that tells you how good it is...

bds3 said:

This is the first brew of mine that I don't want to share with friends, if that tells you how good it is...

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Nice I steeped 60 oz of pumpkin pie mix with my grains I hope it turns out as well as yours.

Chuckabrewski said:

Nice I steeped 60 oz of pumpkin pie mix with my grains I hope it turns out as well as yours.

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I think the big difference between pumpkin pie mix and canned pumpkin (which is what I used), is that the pie mix already has spices already added. Let us know how if turns out.

I know peppers aren't a fall flavor but i still have a ton in the garden and think it would add a new kick to the regular pumpkin ale. When do you think I should add the peppers and how much in a 5 gallon?

This will be my first time really experimenting with a fruit/vegetable

Add Asparagus. That'll make it memorable.....

All kidding aside, with it being your 1st seasonal, what's wrong with just making the recipe and tweaking it next year? Find a good base and tweak the spice from there.

That being said, go with fall spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, etc... and 'dry spice' the beer for aeromatics.

My suggestion for something different that still complements the beer would be star anise. It works!

My current go-to pumpkin pie recipe (which actually uses butternut squash) has a tiny amount of cayenne pepper in it. It's strange how natural it tastes in the mix of squash and spice. When I forget it, I miss it. When I add too much, it ruins the pie.

Lesson: chili peppers could provide a fascinating element to this brew, but "je nais se quoi" is your goal, not sledgehammer.

Another option would be to look east for inspiration. Some lemongrass or galanga steeped and added to secondary could turn it into something really exotic. I make Thai pumpkin curry in the fall...the flavors get along really well.