Quick Question : Pumpkin Ale

[njohnsoncs]

I'm going to make a Pumpkin Ale today. If I just use Pumpkin Pie spice, say 1/2-3/4 tap, is that enough or do I need other spices? I believe Pumpkin Pie spice is a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice.

 

[GiavaBear]

Hey there, I brewed a pumpkin spice ale about a month ago and I think it has come out really well after bottling from the secondary. It's still conditioning, but the flavors that I get, after from sneaking one earlier tonight, I think are fairly spot on except I would say I over did the cinnamon just a touch. I went with .25 teaspoon each of nutmeg, cloves, all spice, coriander, and orange zest. I decided to get Ceylon cinnamon and wanted that flavor to be prominent, so I went with .5 teaspoon. This was all added at 5 minutes. The cinnamon is a little over powering the other spices, and I'm ready to brew a 2nd batch but even every spice to .25 teaspoons. I went with individual spices since the ratio of the combo pumpkin spices isn't that accurate/repeatable.

I hope this helps you!
Cheers!

 

[njohnsoncs]

Sorry, first post was done in a hurry.

I made my pumpkin ale with 1/2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie spice at flameout for a 3 gallon batch. Will this give a noticable spice flavor? Should I add more spice after it's finished fermenting or to the bottling bucket at bottle time? If so, how much?

 

[Pintabone]

I'm brewing a pumpkin ale this weekend. 5 gallon batch and planned on using 5 tsp of Cinnamon based on all the articles I've found online. Seems like a big difference between 5 and .5.

5 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
.75 tsp Nutmeg
.5 tsp Cardamom

 

[njohnsoncs]

Sorry, first post was done in a hurry.

I made my pumpkin ale with 1/2 tsp of Pumpkin Pie spice at flameout for a 3 gallon batch. Will this give a noticable spice flavor? Should I add more spice after it's finished fermenting or to the bottling bucket at bottle time? If so, how much?

Still wondering about this. I'm afraid I did not add enough spice during the boil. I'm leaning towards adding another 1/2 tsp about 1 week before bottling. Thoughts?

 

[escalante88]

i typically do 1.5 tbsp of mccormick pumpkin spice with a few minutes left in the boil. it's possible you didn't add enough spice. one option is to make a tincture: 1 tbsp spice w/ 3oz vodka, let sit for a week, strain through coffee filter. when you decide to keg or bottle, take a measured sample and add tincture to taste, then scale up appropriately for your entire batch. this way, you're less likely to end up with a cinnamon bomb.

 

[njohnsoncs]

i typically do 1.5 tbsp of mccormick pumpkin spice with a few minutes left in the boil. it's possible you didn't add enough spice. one option is to make a tincture: 1 tbsp spice w/ 3oz vodka, let sit for a week, strain through coffee filter. when you decide to keg or bottle, take a measured sample and add tincture to taste, then scale up appropriately for your entire batch. this way, you're less likely to end up with a cinnamon bomb.

Why do I have to let it sit a week? I'm thinking of taking a sample today and adding another 1/2 tsp by adding Pumpkin Pie spice and boiling it in water for a few minutes. Would this work? I don't have vodka available right now.

 

[escalante88]

i don't see why it wouldn't work. it might not be as scaleable as doing a tincture, but you are essentially repeating what you did during the boil, except you're using only water w/o converted starches. let me know how it works man!

 

[njohnsoncs]

i don't see why it wouldn't work. it might not be as scaleable as doing a tincture, but you are essentially repeating what you did during the boil, except you're using only water w/o converted starches. let me know how it works man!

I added another 1/2 tsp (boiled for 5 minutes in 1 cup of water) to the primary fermenter. I tasted it before and didn't get a strong spice flavor. Tasting after I get more spice but not too strong so I think it was a good idea to add a bit more. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Why do I have to let it sit a week? I'm thinking of taking a sample today and adding another 1/2 tsp by adding Pumpkin Pie spice and boiling it in water for a few minutes. Would this work? I don't have vodka available right now.

Sorry if I missed this but, one did you taste your wort? Or, tasted a sample now? Two, how far along is your fermentation? If it is about done, you wasn't to be careful not to splash this new addition of spiced water. That would be another advantage of adding a tincture at packaging time.

 

[njohnsoncs]

Sorry if I missed this but, one did you taste your wort? Or, tasted a sample now? Two, how far along is your fermentation? If it is about done, you wasn't to be careful not to splash this new addition of spiced water. That would be another advantage of adding a tincture at packaging time.

Fermentation is (likely) finished with a FG of 1.012 - OG was 1.060. I did taste it, see my previous post. I did not splash when adding the spice though I do not see why it would be an "advantage" to add it at bottling. Either I add it to the fermenter now or the bottling bucket later. Either way I want to avoid splashing.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Fermentation is (likely) finished with a FG of 1.012 - OG was 1.060. I did taste it, see my previous post. I did not splash when adding the spice though I do not see why it would be an "advantage" to add it at bottling. Either I add it to the fermenter now or the bottling bucket later. Either way I want to avoid splashing.

The advantage of adding it to the bottling bucket is the tubing can be positioned to swirl your priming and spiced addition, as opposed to pouring it into your fermentor, which would agitate and airiate the beer to some degree. If you did that during active fermentation, the yeast would have a better chance of using it. Cheers.