Yeast for Pumpkin Ale?

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DarthGoose

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Hey guys,

I've been putting together a partial mash pumpkin ale recipe, here's what I'm planning so far.

6lbs Northern Brewer Pilsen LME
2lbs Rahr 2-row
1lb Caramel 60
1lb Victory
1lb brown sugar
2 cans unspiced pumkin
1oz Hallertau (60 min)
1oz Hallertau (10 min)
1.5 Tbs. Pumpkin Pie Spice (10 min)

Which I more or less lifted from a post on this board. I'm looking for a fairly sweet final beer to hold up the spices without being cloying. I'm also looking for a big, smooth mouthfeel. I'm currently split between Wyeast 1450 (Denny's Favorite) and WLP 011 European Ale, but I'm open to suggestions. Any advice?
 
I love WLP002 for many things, and it would work well for this I think. Quick, clears really quick, and seems to leave some sugars (but mash temp, and your bill will make up for a lot of that)
 
I got low attenuation (61-percent) with one of my pumpkin ales this year using Wyeast 1450. The beer still turned out very good but I would have liked a bit higher attenuation. That said, among the yeasts you've suggested here, I'd suggest trying the WLP011.
 
My vote is for WYEAST 1968, This is one great yeast in my opinion. I used it for my Oatmeal Stout recently and I loved it. I also used it on my Pumpkin Ale that I bottled last night, and it was clear and had a yeast cake so tight that when I emptied the bucket it came out as a pancake. Pitched 2-Liter starter for both beers! Fermentation was so violent I had to put a blow off tube on the bucket. It finished in 2-3 days. Of course I cannot take credit for this as I heard Jamil talking about this yeast on one of the podcasts.
 
I used Nottingham, I had some I was playing with and thought heck it will work and wow big mistake, that stuff is hungry and ate way too much sugar leaving my beer really dry. I was think around 1.018ish but it went to 1.010. Tastes really dry and a bit too much alcohol.

Clem
 
I love 1450. It's an amazing yeast.

As for attenuation concerns, I used this in my pumpkin beer last year (and this year) and my attenuation got me pretty low - started at 1.056, ended at 1.007 mashing at 151*.
 
I used Nottingham, I had some I was playing with and thought heck it will work and wow big mistake, that stuff is hungry and ate way too much sugar leaving my beer really dry. I was think around 1.018ish but it went to 1.010. Tastes really dry and a bit too much alcohol.

Clem

I've used Notty on mine, got 75% attenuation and FG of 1.013 from 1.052 with a 152F mash, although it was 6% crystal and 6% total of biscuit & aromatic.

Hopefully it's ok, Notty has been good to me in the past though, unlike S-04 which consistently gets above 80% (last time I tried to get the FG of a ESB higher and it still chomped it down to 1.007-8 iirc, had to oak it to smooth it out!)....hmmm, oaked pumpkin?
 
The pumpkin should get you smooth mouthfeel, but you could add some oatflakes if wanted, i used rye flakes to give it a little spice i also used t-58 to make it spice like and maybe more festive like. I also used lactose too. Just try to get something with medium attenuation.
 
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