Autumn Seasonal Beer Richard's Pumpkin Ale
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senfo
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I'm thinking about substituting the maple syrup with 2 pounds of honey and 1/2 pound of honey malt. Any thoughts on that?
OP
OP
Sounds like a good plan. The honey will ferment out and not add much flavor but it is cheaper than the maple syrup which didn't add anything to my finished beer anyway. I have never used honey malt so I'm not sure what it would add as far as flavor. I'm sure it would be fine though.
BannyBrewer
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Rich, first congrats on a thread that has been rolling for years! I love a pumpkin ale in the fall and just brewed two batches a couple of weeks ago. One AG batch that varies a bit from yours and one MWS extract. I got alot of good info from this thread but did want to point out one thing I learned concerning maple syrup. While I can not yet speak to finished product, I did realize there are different grades of maple syrup and I chose to use grade B. The grade B is a darker, richer flavored maple syrup so i am hoping the flavor is prevalent. Stay tuned and i will update 6 weeks or so when i hope to be njoying the first glass! Just wanted to pass a learning along since there seem to be a lot of questions concerning subs for maple syrup. The extract kit from MWS utilized brown sugar, no syrup. I also utilized a hop spyder for pumpkin addition which kept alot of the "crud" out of my fermentors.
OP
OP
Man! I haven't brewed in a long time so I am a bit out of touch. Six weeks is going to produce a good drinkable beer but be sure to put some away to have later. It will get better.
atli126
Well-Known Member
this sounds awesome!
I brewed this beer on 8/30/2014 as my first ever pumpkin beer, and I have to say, I was very happy with it. I did a 10 gallon batch, and split the fermentation in half with 2 different yeasts. I like doing this to see what differences the yeast make. I used Wyeast 1098 and 1056 (British and American Ale respectively). Both FG ended up at 1.012.
I kegged both of these after 1 week in primary and 2 weeks in secondary. (9/20/2014) I tapped the American Ale after 1 week under pressure in the keezer. The British Ale version I let sit in the keg at basement temp (65 degrees) for 4 weeks, then tapped it. (10/18/2014)
American Ale version: You could REALLY taste the pumpkin, in a good way. The spices started out a little strong, but over the next few weeks it mellowed out. It was a darker pumpkin beer than most people were expecting, so it was hit and miss among the inexperienced drinker. I had people love it, and people that hated it. If I do it again, I may cut back on the nutmeg. It left a bitter after-taste, and I think I could easily half or quarter the amount and still be fine.
British Ale version: This one was harsh coming out of the secondary, so I decided to let it sit in the keg at fermentation temps until I finished the American Ale version. The 5 weeks of waiting worked! It tasted better, in my opinion, than the American Ale version. It was a thicker beer. After awhile, it started losing its pumpkin flavor and started taking on more of a ginger bread flavor. Still fine for a cool fall day though. I took it to my local garage brewer's club, and the common feedback I got was "Too much of some spice." If I mention nutmeg, I got "YES!" back. So, again, too much nutmeg I think.
I'll probably brew this again next year, but I'm going to half the cinnamon and allspice, and probably use 1/4th the nutmeg.
Great beer! Thanks for the recipe!
I kegged both of these after 1 week in primary and 2 weeks in secondary. (9/20/2014) I tapped the American Ale after 1 week under pressure in the keezer. The British Ale version I let sit in the keg at basement temp (65 degrees) for 4 weeks, then tapped it. (10/18/2014)
American Ale version: You could REALLY taste the pumpkin, in a good way. The spices started out a little strong, but over the next few weeks it mellowed out. It was a darker pumpkin beer than most people were expecting, so it was hit and miss among the inexperienced drinker. I had people love it, and people that hated it. If I do it again, I may cut back on the nutmeg. It left a bitter after-taste, and I think I could easily half or quarter the amount and still be fine.
British Ale version: This one was harsh coming out of the secondary, so I decided to let it sit in the keg at fermentation temps until I finished the American Ale version. The 5 weeks of waiting worked! It tasted better, in my opinion, than the American Ale version. It was a thicker beer. After awhile, it started losing its pumpkin flavor and started taking on more of a ginger bread flavor. Still fine for a cool fall day though. I took it to my local garage brewer's club, and the common feedback I got was "Too much of some spice." If I mention nutmeg, I got "YES!" back. So, again, too much nutmeg I think.
I'll probably brew this again next year, but I'm going to half the cinnamon and allspice, and probably use 1/4th the nutmeg.
Great beer! Thanks for the recipe!
Just Brewed this yesterday, dropped the maple syrup and upped the 2-row by 2 lbs. Ended up roasting the two cans of pumpkin in the oven and then adding it to the mash, ended up with a nice orange tinted wort. Added just a dash of dried ginger to the spice list and am fermenting with S-05. The Hydrometer sample tasted quite good, all the spices came through and I think will mend together nicely. Had an Elysian Night Owl pumpkin beer while mashing, no problems with stuck mash.
billmiller007
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I made this October 9th using wyeast ale II. 1L starter. I boiled the pumpkin in a nylon bag. 6# light DME. Mashed 2# Munich for 1hour @153. Finished with 5.5 gallons with a SG of 1.073 more info to follow. She is chugging away at 68f. Blow off tube in place as this took off and is rocketing away. I am really excited to see how this goes
billmiller007
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View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1445034168.018958.jpg first gravity reading after one week. 1.0100 going to let her sit for anouther week to settle. Really amazing tasting right off the start. Good floral aroma helps with the pumpkin. Great color
I'm going to brew this Sunday.
Here is a good article on brewing sugars:
https://byo.com/bock/item/1441-sweetness-brewing-sugars-how-to-use-them
"Maple sap typically contains about 2% sucrose. Maple syrup is standardized at a minimum of 66° Brix, and is typically 95% sucrose or more. Grade B syrup can contain 6% invert sugar, while Grade A Light Amber will contain less than 1%. You will get more maple flavor from the Grade B syrup. The characteristic maple flavors tend to be lost during primary fermentation, so adding the syrup after primary fermentation is over is recommended to retain as much flavor as possible. This practice will also help the beer to ferment more completely because it will not trigger the maltose inhibition discussed earlier. For a noticeable maple flavor, 1 gallon (3.8 L) of Grade B syrup is recommended per 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer."
I may try adding some maple syrup after primary. Not a gallon though....
Thoughts?
Here is a good article on brewing sugars:
https://byo.com/bock/item/1441-sweetness-brewing-sugars-how-to-use-them
"Maple sap typically contains about 2% sucrose. Maple syrup is standardized at a minimum of 66° Brix, and is typically 95% sucrose or more. Grade B syrup can contain 6% invert sugar, while Grade A Light Amber will contain less than 1%. You will get more maple flavor from the Grade B syrup. The characteristic maple flavors tend to be lost during primary fermentation, so adding the syrup after primary fermentation is over is recommended to retain as much flavor as possible. This practice will also help the beer to ferment more completely because it will not trigger the maltose inhibition discussed earlier. For a noticeable maple flavor, 1 gallon (3.8 L) of Grade B syrup is recommended per 5-gallon (19-L) batch of beer."
I may try adding some maple syrup after primary. Not a gallon though....
Thoughts?
