Review this Pumpkin Ale Please

I'm helping a friend concoct a wedding pumpkin beer for his big date in September. We would like to do a small batch this upcoming weekend so we can work on it so he has a great pumpkin beer to serve for his wedding. He put his recipe together and I tweaked it. This is what we came up. Please let us know all your good and bad comments so we can learn from it. I personally don't enjoy pumpkin beers so HBT will serve better than I can.

Cheers

est. OG 1.065
est. FG 1.015
est. ABV 6.55%


10 Gallon Batch

Yeast: safale 05

Grains:
20 lb US 2-row
2 lb Crystal 60
2 lb Real Pumpkin (not from can)
2 lb special roast
1 lb. brown sugar, light

Hops:
2.5 oz Hallertauer 60 min
1.0 oz Hallertauer 5 min
1.0 oz Hallertauer 1 min

Misc. Pumpkin Pie Spice (how much??)

Total IBU's 30.9

Single Infusion, medium bodied batch sparge. 60 Min Mash @ 154-155 for maltiness.

I'm not sure about the hop schedule. 30.9 IBU's may be a little high, so maybe tone it down to 1.75 oz for 60 min and get ball park 20 IBU's or so.

Again, I'm not big on pumpkin beers so your advice is better than mine. Needless to say, I've never brewed a pumpkin beer. We will caramelize the pumpkin and mash it. i understand it is debatable.

thanks!

 

Here is a pumpkin ale I made last year. The recipe is not mine but came from Mark Pasquinelli's Holiday Pumpkin Ale (Zymurgy, Vol31 No6 - Nov/Dec08). Turned out great!

Holiday Pumpkin Ale
Batch size 12 gallons
Boil size 15.3 gallons
Boil time 90 minutes

Grain weight 30.25 pounds
Efficiency 70%

Original gravity 1.066
Final gravity 1.022
Alcohol (by volume) 5.7%
Bitterness (IBU) 13
Color (SRM) 16.1°L
Yeast: White Labs WLP002 English Ale

Grains/Extracts/Sugars: 30.25 pounds

Maris Otter 38ppg, 4°L 16 pounds
Munich (Light) 34ppg, 10°L 8 pounds
Aromatic 36ppg, 35°L 4 pounds
CaraMunich 34ppg, 50°L 1.25 pounds
Dry Sugar - Brown 42ppg, 40°L 1 pounds

Hops: 2.5 ounces

Fuggles hops 4.6%, Pellet 2.5 ounces


Infusion Mash: 70 minutes

Strike Target 155°F 60 minutes (+0)
Infusion Target 168°F 10 minutes (+60)
Sparge 168°F

Boil
90 minutes

Fuggles hops 4.6%, Pellet 2.5 ounces
45 minutes (+45)

Ferment
21 days @ 65-68°F
Rack to secondary 14 days (+7)

Notes

90 minute boil. 10# prepared neck pumpkin @ 90 minutes. 1# brown sugar @ 60 minutes. 2.5 oz. Fuggle 4.6% pellet hops @ 45 minutes. 6 tsp Saigon cinnamon @ 5 minutes. 2 tsp nutmeg, fresh ground @ 5 minutes. 2 tbls ginger root, fresh ground @ 5 minutes. Spices are added with 5 minutes left in boil and allowed to steep for an additional 5 minutes. 8 tsp vanilla (4 tsp per 5 gal) in secondary.

Pumpkin is to be prepared the night prior: cube, sprinkle with brown sugar and roast @ 300 for 2-3 hours. Scoop out the flesh and store in the fridge. 3.5 oz. priming sugar per batch for lower carbonation levels.