Your thoughts on a recipe?

[PDevlin75]

Hey folks! How's it going?

I'm currently beginning to work on devising my own recipes. Thus far, I've brewed a Pale Ale that I intend to bottle sometime this week. So far, so good, I think! The numbers were pretty much spot on, so I was happy with that.

Now I'm looking to put together a recipe for an Amber ale that I intend to use as the base for a pumpkin ale.

With the Pale Ale, I figured: "What the hell, I'll just make it, see what becomes of it. Learn along the way!" This time around, I'm thinking I'll put my WIP recipe out there, and see if I can get a little feedback on it before I just dive in; Learn from other people for this 2nd go around. I've looked up some techniques for brewing pumpkin ales, but have avoided looking at other people's recipes... I kinda want to be able to figure it out on my own, but I also know that feedback is an important tool in any creative area. With that in mind...

Here's where I'm at so far:
9 lb - 6 Row
1 lb - Victory (for a bready / biscuit flavor)
1 lb - Crystal 80 (for color and body)
.5 lb - Wheat Malt (for head retention)
.5 n - Honey malt (for, well, honey flavor) *too much?
1 lb - Rice Hulls (For the sparge)
4-5 lb Pumpkin (Or rather, a mix of roasted butternut and acorn squash)

Mash with the Pumpkin at 156 at 1.25/qt:lb... I've read the mash/boil pumpkin debates here in the forums, and have opted to avoid the major trub loss from boiling.

1 oz - Centennial @ 60 min

And a blend of spices @ 5 min
1 - Cinnamon stick
1 oz - Ginger
.5 oz - Clove
.5 oz - Nutmeg
.5 oz - Allspice

Make a starter from WLP008 East Coast Ale

Looking at OG: 1.057 FG: 1.018
Want to keep the IBUs low - no higher than 30

* I thought about adding honey, just for a hint of flavor. But reading up a bit on the forums, I've seen quite a few people recommend using Honey Malt instead, as that provides more of the flavor I'm looking for, over actual honey itself. So I figured I'd throw a half of a pound in.... Is that too much? I just want a noticeable hint, without detracting from the pumpkin and spices

What thoughts, recommendations, suggestions, tips, or DO's & DON'Ts might you have for a novice, such as myself?

Thanks!
-Pete

 

[m00ps]

Honey malt is pretty potent. I'd cut it to 6 or 4 ounces since youve already got a large amount of specialty malts in there. I always design my recipes by a rule fo thumb to never exceed 20% specialty malts. IME past that point, things get muddled or cloying. (This doesnt include adjuncts like rye wheat oats simple sugars, etc).

Side note: when i do use actual honey, I add it to the fermentor 2-3 days in to preserve its delicate aromatics. Works well for IPAs and Belgians that I want to dry out with simple sugars but retain some of that character

I think that may be a lot of some of those spices. Clove for instance is like at least 4x more potent per weight than something like nutmeg. Also, 1 cinnamon stick will be barely noticeable. I've used 3 at flameout then 2 more in primary for a mexican hot chocolate stout. Ive also done a pumpkin ale before and I used like 2 tsp of premixed pie spice at flameout, and added more to the primary to taste. Always err on the lighter side

 

[chickypad]

Agree with m00ps that looks like a crap ton of spice (except the cinnamon). Were you meaning those units to be teaspoons and not oz? Checking on a chef's site looks like there are between 11-14 tsp per oz for those spices. For reference I use 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp ech of clove, nutmeg, and ginger per 5 gal and that is plenty for me. I've seen recipes ranging from total spice of 1 tsp to a couple Tbsp, but nowhere near the the range you've got there.

I've not used honey malt but I've also heard to use it sparingly. I'd probably cut the c-80 in half if you are going to include it. Otherwise it looks not unlike the grainbill I typically use for this - 7% C-60, 7% victory, 4% flaked barley or wheat and a touch of chocolate for color.

Good luck with it.

 

[PDevlin75]

Right on! Glad I put this up here for feedback before forging ahead!

m00ps: I've added the honey to the primary once before for a Belgian tripel. And yes, you're right. That IS a good way to go... Actually, I'm going to try said tripel for the first time this weekend! I set aside a bottle to try at the 2 mo. mark. When I sampled it during the bottling, there was a great honey flavor. But my intent at the time was to make a honey tripel. I only want a hint this time around. Also, having never used honey malt before, I at least want to try working with it. From what I've read here, people DO say to go easy with it. I wasn't sure if half of a pound would be too much or not, so thanks for tip... I'll definitely scale that down to a quarter of a pound.

To m00ps and chickypad: Yeah, my bad... I really wasn't thinking when I wrote that out! By measuring the spices in ounces, that really is an absurd amount! I really ought to have typed teaspoons, instead... Even still, that is a lot for some of those spices. I'll certainly scale that down as well. And on 2nd thought, I may just steep them in vodka for a week or two and add that to taste before bottling... Might be a safer bet that way. Thanks for catching that!

I'll likely also scale back on the Victory and C80... I initially aimed for 80% base malt, like m00ps mentioned, but I went over on my specialty malts. Figured what the hell, and just ran with it. I briefly pondered going with C120 for more color... Although I like chickypad's idea of adding a small bit of chocolate malt instead. I may give that a shot after scaling back the Victory and Crystal 80.

Thanks!