THE pumpkin beer thread

OK, so I know it's still early, but I talked to some people at a farmer's market and they said they'd have pie pumpkins starting in mid August. I'm getting excited for this year's pumpkin ale since it's one of my favorite beers to drink. So, I was just wondering how everybody here does their pumpkin beer (if you brew one of course). I've heard a couple things from the brewers at a local micro:

use a lot of maris otter

use pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon, nutmeg, coriander separately-in fact they said they knew a brewer who brewed pumpkin ale without hardly any pumpkin but just used pie spice and it tasted great

mash real pumpkin

So, what do you guys do? pumpkin in the mash, boil, fermenter, all three? Real or canned pumpkin? malts? you get the picture. Let's all combine forces to create the ultimate pumpkin recipe.

Mod edit : This is recipe formulation, I'm moved it to the correct forum.

Here is my pumpkin beer.

Check out this thread.

I am really a fan of the ginger in the pumpkin beers (sparingly). I think it adds a different note to the flavor profile.

So what do you think about this??


70% Eff

OG: 1.057


7.00 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 63.64 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
1.00 lb Munich Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
1.00 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 9.09 %

Mash at 154 with 6 lbs. roasted pumpkin

Boil 60 minutes with:
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.8 IBU
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (15 min) Hops 4.0 IBU
1TBSP pumpkin pie spice at 15 min left in boil
any use in putting in a can of canned pumpkin at 15 min. left in boil too?

Ferment with:
1 Pkgs British Ale (Wyeast Labs #1098) Yeast-Ale at 68 degrees

Secondary for two weeks with:
cinnamon stick, nutmeg possibly????

Thanks for the help

I think that looks pretty good.

You will want to have plenty of rice hulls on hand and I would not add the pumpkin to the boil, but that is up to you. Also, I would extend the secondary fermentation time as the pumpkin takes a while to settle out.

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

I have made the kit from Austinhomebrew 2 times so far. First time I used 4 lbs of canned pumpkins in the mash, next time I used 4.5 & it tured out even better. Both beers were excellent, though slightly overcarbed. I'd back it down to 4 oz priming sugar next time. Everybody else must like it too, because 10 gallons have disappeared pretty fast.

zac

Is it prudent to rack over the canned pumpkin in secondary rather than have it as part of the mash? Or would having it as part of the boil yield more pumpkin character?

I am planning on brewing Yuri's Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale either this weekend or next.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=26699

It's not too early! This is the time of year to start thinking ahead so your beer is ready for the fall!

The one I did last year was a roasted pumpkin seed ale. No pumpkin, just roasted seeds and a little burnt cinnamon in a basic pale ale recipe.

Ididn't add the seeds until secondary.

1/2 ounce of bullion hops only (the burnt cinnamon adds bitterness).

I will be doing this again, it was a big hit.

i just transfered mine to the secondary and could barley taste any pumpkin or spices when i tried some. Do you recommend adding another tablespoon of PP Spice at bottling?

You can make an extract by soaking pumpkin pie spice in vodka for a couple of weeks. Then add a little at a time to the keg until you get the right taste.

illinibrew04 said:

So what do you think about this??

Mash at 154 with 6 lbs. roasted pumpkin

Thanks for the help

Click to expand...

If you are going to mash use some rice hulls. check out yuris thunderstruck pumpkin in the recipe database. I happen to be doing it Thursday.

I'll hopefully be brewing mine in mid-August. Recipe is linked above or in my drop-down list. Be sure to read most of the thread. The first iteration of the recipe was overhopped. After a minor adjustment, it was EXCELLENT.

Yuri I am brewing your version on Friday.

In Yuri_Rage We Trust

I hate WalMart. went there today to get some of the items for Yuri's pumpkin, couldn't believe that they didn't have any canned pumpkin, or fresh ginger or any of the other spices that were less than a year old. at least the had Oxyclean.

I took a cue from Lakefront Brewery and made a pumkin lager.

beerthirty said:

I hate WalMart.

Click to expand...

Need you say more... for spices, try a local spice shop or farmer's market. Remember, brew local!

Walmart=Walmarx=evil corporation

I'm planning a recipe with munich, vienna, yuri's thunderstruck spice bill, and maple syrup. We shall see.

fy... I think yuri's spice bill calls for fresh ginger, but he said he used spiced mix. the ginger amount would be way too much if using ground ginger, just be cautious

pickles said:

fy... I think yuri's spice bill calls for fresh ginger, but he said he used spiced mix. the ginger amount would be way too much if using ground ginger, just be cautious

Click to expand...

1 tsp ground = 1tbls fresh according to the Mcormick jar

pickles said:

fy... I think yuri's spice bill calls for fresh ginger, but he said he used spiced mix. the ginger amount would be way too much if using ground ginger, just be cautious

Click to expand...

Noted. Thanks.

It's a little too late to have a pumpkin ale ready for T-giving (or H-ween for that matter). So, I was thinking of brewing a strong/old ale with pumpkin and spices, let it age for about a year and enjoy next Fall.

Are there any inherent problems with this idea? Is there anything I should be concerned with in trying this like using vegetables in a beer that will age for a very long time? I assume that I should not use as much hops as a regular strong/old ale.

I'm not an expert by any means, but one of the guys in our local homebrew club (and my coworker) brewed a pumpkin ale last year that was about 7% ABV. His beer took best specialty in the state fair and almost took best of show. That had been in the keg for almost a year.

Based on that single data point, I don't think you would have a problem with making a strong pumpkin ale and letting it age...

HopEd said:

It's a little too late to have a pumpkin ale ready for T-giving (or H-ween for that matter). So, I was thinking of brewing a strong/old ale with pumpkin and spices, let it age for about a year and enjoy next Fall.

Are there any inherent problems with this idea? Is there anything I should be concerned with in trying this like using vegetables in a beer that will age for a very long time? I assume that I should not use as much hops as a regular strong/old ale.

Click to expand...

Look at my Partygile pumpkin ale thread...I just posted an update a couple days ago. But the first runnings had a serious amount of character similar to Bell's Old Ale, I was shocked.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/lets-partyyyy-gyle-pumpkin-porter-ale-one-mash-74927/

I ended up brewing a pumpkin porter right before Christmas. I blogged about my rationale if you care to read my inane ramblings.

The thing about it is that I left it in the primary for 4 - 5 weeks. Lack of bottles ... lack of time .... I primed with a cup of DME, and the first draw from the bottling bucket tasted quite sour with hardly any spice. The remnants in the bucket, however, were much better with less sour and more spice. Unfortunately, when I went to dump the trub the smell made me want to barf.

I'm not going to worry about it too much. I don't plan on drinking this until Oct 2010 anyways, but what do you all think about the long sit and the bad taste/smell?