Pumpkin Ale advice

[CaptPoopiepants]

Here's what I've put together, and was wondering how it looked, or how to improve it. I'm open to any suggestions.

Grain Bill
3.5 lbs American 2-row Pale
3 lbs Amber DME
2 lbs American Munich
1/2 lb Crystal 40L
1/4 lb American Chocolate

Boil
60 mins 1 oz East Kent Goldings
60 mins 60 oz canned pumpkin
15 min 1 Whirlfloc tablet

I plan on baking the pumpkin for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees F prior to adding them. I'm also adding a pumpkin spice tea in the secondary.

I'm fairly new to brewing, this is only my 3rd batch so I had a few questions. Do I need to steep or mash this? Is that enough chocolate malt to taste a hint of chocolate? Would it be a good idea if I used 4 or 5 lbs of 2-row? I have an extra 6 lbs. Thanks

 

[Suthrncomfrt1884]

Personally, I would get rid of the chocolate and replace it with a darker crystal malt (somewhere around 80L). Chocolate just seems out of place in a pumpkin ale. Also...between the extract and the chocolate, you're going to end up with a fairly dark beer for a pumpkin ale. It depends on what you're going for I suppose.

Do you have the ability to mash? You have a pretty big grain bill there, which should be mashed if you want to get the most out of it. If you decide to mash, I would throw the pumpkin in the mash.

 

[mountainbrewdude]

Not bad, I use chocolate in my pumpkin ale, 1/8 lb. and biscuit. I'm on the side that uses no actual pumpkin also, just spices.

 

[CaptPoopiepants]

Personally, I would get rid of the chocolate and replace it with a darker crystal malt (somewhere around 80L). Chocolate just seems out of place in a pumpkin ale. Also...between the extract and the chocolate, you're going to end up with a fairly dark beer for a pumpkin ale. It depends on what you're going for I suppose.

Do you have the ability to mash? You have a pretty big grain bill there, which should be mashed if you want to get the most out of it. If you decide to mash, I would throw the pumpkin in the mash.

I don't have the ability to mash. All i've done in the past is extracts, and I wanted to do a partial extract this time, and steep the specialty grains. I have 6 lbs of 2-row and 4 lbs of DME left over from a previous brew and wanted to steep a few good specialty malts to make a nice spicy pumpkin ale but am not sure how to go about putting together my recipe from here. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Aschecte]

I don't mean to sound like a wise a** but up top click on the recipes then search through the fruit beer ( I think ) section , you'll get tons of idea's there. Good luck.