Pumpkin beers: Discussion, developing recipes, tips tricks, and a good practices

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I saw in the new Zymurgy that the winning pumpkin beer in the AHC was fermented with a Saison yeast. I have some WLP568 Saison Blend saved and am wondering how that would work with a nice pumpkin ale. A couple of judges obviously liked it in the AHC, so it can't be too horrible.

Any thoughts or experiences with Saison yeast in a pumpkin type beer? I may try this in the next couple weeks unless someone has had absolutely awful experiences with this combo.
 
I like the choice of Mt. Hood, really think it will pair nice. That is, whatever comes through. Maybe throwing a late edition of .5 oz at 15 or 10 min would work out.

How are you going to handle your spice tea? What all goes into making that?
 
I am most likely going to use equal parts cinnamon and pre-prepared Pumpkin Pie Spice mix at 5 minutes left in the boil. I haven't decided on the exact quantity of the two yet.

I am also going to add some brown sugar with 15 minutes left and a touch of pure vanilla extract after flameout for some added flavor complexity.
 
So I read all of the posts in this thread and absorbed a lot of good info. I am really tempted to go with Jamil's recipe in BCS. One question I haven't seen answered, how much does mashed pumpkin add to the OG?

Has anyone calculated the difference between their calculated OG with grain alone, compared to the actual OG with the mashed pumpkin? Any estimates as to how many points 1 lb of pumpkin will add?

Thanks!
 
So I read all of the posts in this thread and absorbed a lot of good info. I am really tempted to go with Jamil's recipe in BCS. One question I haven't seen answered, how much does mashed pumpkin add to the OG?

Has anyone calculated the difference between their calculated OG with grain alone, compared to the actual OG with the mashed pumpkin? Any estimates as to how many points 1 lb of pumpkin will add?

Thanks!

In my recent batch, my predicted OG before pumpkin was 1.054 and my actual OG with pumkin was 1.054. So either it added nothing or I got lower than usual efficiency. I think it is the first. Don't expect much from the pumpkin.
 
Correct me if I am wrong (more than likely the case) but isn't pumpkin mainly startch? So that would effect the OG too much... Right???
 
In my recent batch, my predicted OG before pumpkin was 1.054 and my actual OG with pumkin was 1.054. So either it added nothing or I got lower than usual efficiency. I think it is the first. Don't expect much from the pumpkin.

Personally, I got lower efficiency.

I have read that pumpkin provides 3-4 points per pound. I think, due to the way it ran off, My efficiency sucked. I think the "gumminess" of the mash worked against the rinsing of the grains.

For reference, I used 30oz of Pumpkin Pie Filling and 1# of Rice Hulls.

Expected 1.043 (without brown sugar)
Actual 1.039 (without brown sugar)
 
Ditto, my anticipated OG was exactly what I got. I had hoped that mashing the pumpkin would give me a few extra points, but i guess it all comes out in the wash.
 
On Sunday I bottled my "pumpkin spice" beer (see post #18 in this thread) that included just spices and no pumpkin. I hopped my batch with a single 20-something IBU charge of Cascade at 60 minutes and added my spice blend at 1 minute. I believe the wort sat for about 15 minutes before it got access to a chiller. Safe to say that I observed no spice presence at all at bottling time, the fermentation probably having scrubbed it all away.

I added 3/4th of the following to a 2.75 gallon batch: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp nutmeg.

Anticipating this on brew day, I steeped another blend in 2oz of rum to add to taste at bottling. Ended up adding the full strained 2oz and can say that there's just enough presence and not overbearing. My original ground spices probably were not fresh enough to get that expected punch.

I picked up a sixer of Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale and found that too much spice/pumpkin for my tastes, enough so to put my mind off of making another "pumpkin" or spiced beer, methinks.
 
I picked up a sixer of Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale and found that too much spice/pumpkin for my tastes, enough so to put my mind off of making another "pumpkin" or spiced beer, methinks.

I've tasted some great microbrew and homebrew pumpkin beers. However, I didn't like Buffalo Bill's at all. I am planning to brew a batch in the next few weeks and I hope that it comes out like the good ones I've tasted and not like the Buffalo Bill's that I've had.

If I remember correctly, Michelob made a pumpkin spice beer last year that I liked more than BB's. :eek:
 
I'm on your side Doog. BB's is worse than anything I've made or bought. I can't remember if I've had hometown Lakefront Brewery's Pumpkin Lager, but I bet that's 100x better than what I still have in the fridge.
 
My buddy and I just made a batch each of Pumpkin beer. His was a kit from LHBS and mine was Thunderstruck pumpkin ale (some where on this site). My wife, my buddy and I love the Pumpkin ale at our local micro brewery (Kuhnhenns in Warren MI.) and Michigan brewing Co.'s Screaming Pumpkin Spiced Ale.

I will actually wait to bottle this beer around mid October.
 
My pumpkin went down to 1.006 from 1.050 with California Ale yeast for some reason. As soon as I took the reading I threw the carboys in the fridge to stop fermentation.

My plan is to keep them cold and add some lactose to get the body and sweetness back where I want it. I'll put 8 ounces in each. My question is about boiling. I know priming sugars are typically boiled before adding for sanitation and to break them down into more readily fermentable sugars. Will boiling the lactose break it down into fermentables?

This issue will also help me wait until it's more seasonal so the yeast can do a little extra clean up. Otherwise I'd probably be kegging tonight, shake carbing, and plow through the 10 gallons (minus substantial trub losses) before All Hallows Eve even gets here.
 
I did one. It came out ok, think I put in too many spices but after 9-12 months aging it wasn't bad. I guess for all the extra fuss and slow, slow sparge I guess I don't really see the point much except a use for the extra pumpkins in the garden. I may do another but maybe not, I can't really taste anything that says "pumpkin" when I drink it except the spices but that is "pumpkin pie". I bet with just the spices you could pass off one as pumpkin beer and few would be able to tell there was no pumpkin in it. Am I wrong?
 
My plan is to keep them cold and add some lactose to get the body and sweetness back where I want it. I'll put 8 ounces in each.
I hope you have tasted or are going to taste it before you add any Lactose. I have read too many tales of un-drinkable batches due to liberal additions of Lactose. That stuff is powerful!

My question is about boiling. I know priming sugars are typically boiled before adding for sanitation and to break them down into more readily fermentable sugars. Will boiling the lactose break it down into fermentables?
No, boiling the lactose with a little water will not make it fermentable, and needs to be done in order to be sanitized.
 
I just started fooling around with beertools and tried to incorporate a lot of great recipes on here. I'm not sure how much spice I should add to this recipe and this is my first time building a recipe. Here it goes:

Pumpkin
14-C Imperial IPA

Size: 10.0 gal
Efficiency: 70.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%

Original Gravity: 1.083 (1.070 - 1.090)
Terminal Gravity: 1.021 (1.010 - 1.020)
Color: 18.11 (8.0 - 15.0)
Alcohol: 8.2% (7.5% - 10.0%)
Bitterness: 35.6 (60.0 - 120.0)

Ingredients:
22.0 lb American 2-row Pale
4.0 lb American 6-row Pale
2.0 lb Wheat Flaked
2.0 lb Victory® Malt
4.0 lb Caramel Malt 60L
135.0 oz Pumpkin (canned) - added during mash
1.0 oz Magnum (14.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.5 oz Sterling (7.5%) - added during boil, boiled 10 min
0.5 tsp Ginger (fresh) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
2.0 tsp Cinnamon (ground) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
2.0 tsp Nutmeg (ground) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
2.0 tsp Allspice - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
1.0 tsp Cloves (ground) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
2.0 ea White Labs WLP002 English Ale
 
cactusgarrett: I used Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager. Pitched it into 70F wort and put directly into lagerator prechilled to 44F. I'll try to find the recipe, my computer crashed a while back and may have lost some recipes.
 
Can anyone provide more specifics as to what flavors are contributed by mashing with pumpkin? To be specific, I'm thinking of making a split batch - brewing a brown ale that would be ready by mid-October, and then adding spices to half of it in the secondary for a pumpkin ale that would be ready around Thanksgiving. I can't decide whether I'd like to have mashed pumpkin in both beers or in neither. My instinct is that I'd like to be able to tell people the pumpkin beer has real pumpkin in it (for the coolness factor), but not if that would make the brown ale taste funky...
 
I snuck a couple of oz of my pumpkin ale out of the fermenter the other night, just to see how it's coming along. It tastes great! Just like a glass of pumpkin pie. I'm really impressed with how much pumpkin flavor is present, and the spices are right on. It still looks pretty cloudy though, so I'm gonna let it sit another 3-4 weeks before kegging.
Next time I'll prob add a touch more vanilla, and maybe cut the bittering hops back a tad more (although it's really too early to tell), but I think this will turn out very good.
 
I was wondering about the water solubility of cinnamon. I boiled 1/2 tsp in 1 cup of water, strained through a coffee filter, then chilled. It did darken the water to a medium red/brown color. However, there was only a very faint taste of cinnamon.

So, for those that have brewed with cinnamon, were you able to taste it?

I think I'll repeat this simple experiment with nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. I wonder if it would be possible to better extract the spices if I soaked in alcohol first.
 
I was wondering about the water solubility of cinnamon. I boiled 1/2 tsp in 1 cup of water, strained through a coffee filter, then chilled. It did darken the water to a medium red/brown color. However, there was only a very faint taste of cinnamon.

So, for those that have brewed with cinnamon, were you able to taste it?

I think I'll repeat this simple experiment with nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. I wonder if it would be possible to better extract the spices if I soaked in alcohol first.

For this experiment to be more accurate you will need to do it for a week or two (mimicking the fermentation). The cinnamon isn't really all that soluble, but the flavour itself will transfer.
 
Just brewed this one up last week:

9 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row)
2 lbs Pumpkin (5.0 SRM) ( I used canned pumpkin, baked for 30 minutes at 350F)
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 75L
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L
8.0 oz Barley, Flaked
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt
14.00 gm Magnum
.50 lb Rice Hulls
1 Pkgs London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) Yeast-Ale

I used 1/2 tsp cin, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp of ginger. Mixed it together and added about 80% at the end of the boil.

Mashed at 152F.
 
I was planning my pumpkin beer, but I had planned on using canned pumpkin in the primary. I'm not concerned with getting OG from the pumpkin, I'll do that with grain. I want pumpkin flavor, and I don't just mean spices. I'll deal with the spices in the kettle.

I was planning on a 10 gallon batch and fermenting in a demijohn, so I have room for trub. I was also thinking I could get by with less pumpkin this way, but I'm not concerned with how much I use.

I know there may be an increased chance of clarity problems, but honestly I don't mind a little haze in a pumpkin beer.

Has anyone used pumpkin in the primary and if so, what are you thoughts?
 
Only downside here is probably the loss of fermenter space, which you seem to have taken care of.

Frankly, I am wondering if pumpkin is useful at all. So many brewers claim little utilization from it. I might go sweet potato instead.
 
I just racked mine to secondary this afternoon and was amazed at the clarity coming from the primary. Crystal clear after two weeks in primary plus only slightly more trub than normal due to the pumpkin in the mash instead of the kettle. Decent pumpkin undertone to it but I added some spice to get more of the pie taste to it.
 
Frankly, I am wondering if pumpkin is useful at all. So many brewers claim little utilization from it. I might go sweet potato instead.

I was expecting 1.054 based on the grain bill. I added 58 oz. of canned pumpkin but still got 1.054. It did add a nice orange color though. Sweet potato might be a nice alternative.
 
I was expecting 1.054 based on the grain bill. I added 58 oz. of canned pumpkin but still got 1.054. It did add a nice orange color though. Sweet potato might be a nice alternative.

Sweet potato might be no better. Ugh. I'll probably just pitch the pumpkin into the mash so I don't feel slimey when I call it a pumpkin beer. I'll probably bake the pumpkin.
 
I was expecting 1.054 based on the grain bill. I added 58 oz. of canned pumpkin but still got 1.054. It did add a nice orange color though. Sweet potato might be a nice alternative.

Same exact thing happened to me. I was expecting some boost to the gravity, not much, but some.

Would sweet potato do much different than pumpkin though?
 
I was expecting 1.054 based on the grain bill. I added 58 oz. of canned pumpkin but still got 1.054. It did add a nice orange color though. Sweet potato might be a nice alternative.

Ditto. I got seemingly zero gravity points from 2lbs of Pumpkin.

I certainly don't think it makes 'no difference'. But we would need a side by side comparison, and I don't plan on making another until next year.

I think I've gotten some colour from it and some mouthfeel. It's not done yet though.

However, I am not sure sweet potato would do much more?
 
Here's my overly-complex Imperial Pumpkin Ale I hope to brew soon. I know there is too much in there. I'll probably chop out the maple extract. I'll probably also reduce the spices, make a tea of them with a little vodka, and add at bottling. I usually add all the possible ingredients, then simplify it just before brewday.

It's 9.5% ABV.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.27 gal
Estimated OG: 1.097 SG
Estimated Color: 18.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.50 lb SB Rice Hulls - 50# (1.8 SRM) Adjunct 7.32 %
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 39.02 %
4.00 lb SB White Wheat Malt (2.5 SRM) Grain 19.51 %
3.00 lb SB Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 14.63 %
2.00 lb SB Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
1.00 lb SB Melanoiden Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
1.00 lb SB Victory Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
0.50 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (90 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (30 min) Hops 9.3 IBU
2.00 oz Allspice (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.00 oz Clove Spice (powder) (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.00 oz Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
3.00 oz Maple Extract (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
3.50 lb Pumpkin Fruit (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
4.00 oz Cinnamon Spice (powder) (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [Starter Yeast-Ale


Total Grain Weight: 20.50 lb
----------------------------
 
Here's my overly-complex Imperial Pumpkin Ale I hope to brew soon. I know there is too much in there. I'll probably chop out the maple extract. I'll probably also reduce the spices, make a tea of them with a little vodka, and add at bottling. I usually add all the possible ingredients, then simplify it just before brewday.

It's 9.5% ABV.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.27 gal
Estimated OG: 1.097 SG
Estimated Color: 18.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.7 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.50 lb SB Rice Hulls - 50# (1.8 SRM) Adjunct 7.32 %
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 39.02 %
4.00 lb SB White Wheat Malt (2.5 SRM) Grain 19.51 %
3.00 lb SB Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 14.63 %
2.00 lb SB Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 9.76 %
1.00 lb SB Melanoiden Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
1.00 lb SB Victory Malt (28.0 SRM) Grain 4.88 %
0.50 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (90 min) Hops 6.4 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.80 %] (30 min) Hops 9.3 IBU
2.00 oz Allspice (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.00 oz Clove Spice (powder) (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
2.00 oz Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
3.00 oz Maple Extract (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
3.50 lb Pumpkin Fruit (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
4.00 oz Cinnamon Spice (powder) (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [Starter Yeast-Ale


Total Grain Weight: 20.50 lb
----------------------------



Sounds great.

I don't mean to discourage you, but I don't imagine this will be quite ready by halloween or even thanksgiving this year. It's a pretty big beer, with lots going on!

Still brew it though!
 
Sounds great.

I don't mean to discourage you, but I don't imagine this will be quite ready by halloween or even thanksgiving this year. It's a pretty big beer, with lots going on!

Still brew it though!

Right on. I am hoping to have it for Christmas. I have a lot of family coming down to the warmer south. I also have a crazy blueberry wheat I will make at the same time. Funny thing, I don't much like the fruity beers, but 'tis the season!
 
Ok, I brewed Yuri's Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale last year and it i liked it.

I brewed it identical to his specifications except for the "spice tea" added to the secondary or at bottling.

My goal this year for a pumpkin ale is to acheive a good spice flavor AND aroma.

My only concern is how much? which probably depends on the size of the base beer.

How beneficial or irrelevant do you guys think it would be to create 6 or 8 different "blends" of pumpkin pie spices steeped in water to sample before brewing? Your obviously not going to have the base beer flavor there so would it be useless?

Right now im thinking off adding pumpkin pie spice around the 30 min. mark, flame-out, and secondary.

As far as color goes, i want to achieve the Dogfish Head Punkin beer color; a nice clear, light-bronze orange color.

I've heard that munich and vienna grains give you that orange. Should i sub the 2-row in Yuri's recipe for munich or vienna?

Btw, I plan on brewing 2 separate batches of this recipe on with and one without pumpkin! :ban:
 
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