adding canned pumpkin? When?

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srl135

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I am brewing a pumpkin ale and am roasting a pumpkin with pumpkin spices on it during its oven time and adding some spices to the boil as well; plan on adding the entire pumpkin during the boil but also have canned pumpkin that i am planning to add later. Question is:
1) when to add? Secondary?
2) Any concerns with adding it? Too much or no results likely? Infection (if added in secondary)?

Just want to soak up the pumpkin flavor as much as possible, looking for this to be a sweet dessert beer similar to the Screaming Pumpkin.

Any input is helpful and yes i have searched the forums.
 
I have had the best luck adding it to the mash. Last year I added to boil and secondary and it left the beer slightly starchy and slimy. You will probably get people all over the board who have had different experiences, both good and bad. The drawback of mashing is it gums up the mash tun (use lots of rice hulls) and by the end of fermentation, there is probably not a ton of true pumpkin flavor in your beer...but it still smells like pumpkin pie because of the spices. Adding to boil may give you a little more pumpkin flavor, but will probably leave more unfermentable starch.
 
In my opinion, pumpkin really doesn't have much flavor at all.

The pumpkin pie flavor you get from spices, not from pumpkin.
 
I agree, I just add a couple of cans of pumpkin to call it Pumpkin Beer, but the flavor of pumpkin is very subtle at best. The spices are what people notice as pumpkin and it smells awesome when you are boiling the wort! I wanted pumpkin flavor so bad last year that I cooked up some pumpkin pie filling with spices on a baking sheet and dry hopped with it.....and ruined my beer.
 
Good to hear some input. Thanks guys! I brewed yesterday and used a full pumpkin (quartered, spiced and roasted) and a can of pureed pumpkin in the boil along with a small grain bag with (whole) cinnamon sticks, allspice, and nutmeg.

Gotta admit.. got a little drunk since i had friends over during the process so its going to be a bit of a gamble on how this beer turns out. I didnt end up filtering out anything, just threw it all in the bucket with the yeast and wished it the best.

Here's to wishing I dont have my first bad beer...
 
I recently made a pumpkin ale with two large cans of pure pumpkin in the mash and then one large can of the spiced pie filling at 60. No baking, just straight from the can. I still added spice at the end of the boil. Came out real nice.
 
I'm going to be doing mine next week and adding 3 cans to mash. should I add this weight to my grain weight for calculating mash and sparge water quantities?
 
I toasted a pound and a half of canned pumpkin and added it to the mash with a healthy amount of hulls. No stuck sparge, actually one of the easiest I have ever had. I also did not want to add any spices as this was an Oktoberfest and I just wanted a hint of pumpkin and the orange color. Well, beer is pretty nice, but the pumpkin is unnoticeable.
 
I did not do a full mash on this, so adding any pumpkin to the mash stage was not an option. I had debated whether to keep the can of pumpkin for the secondary or to add during the boil and i defaulted to adding during the boil... probably cause i had too much homebrew at the time and thought "more must be better"

I will keep this updated as it ferments out.
 
Canned pumpkin is already extensively roasted. Re-roasting it yourself won't really do much other than waste energy. You can mash it if you want, but it has almost no starch to convert. Personally, I think its best use is in cheesecake, with a nice roasty stout on the side. But I've heard it makes a nice risotto as well.
 
UPDATE: 10.11.12

About a week ago I moved the beer over to the secondary fermenter and learned a valuable lesson... When i initially dumped my boil pot into the primary i did not strain out ANYTHING. (That has never been an issue for me since i brew mini-mashes with the steeping bag that is removed at the appropriate time) During the boil I added the pumpkin that I quartered and roasted, and then with about 15 min left in the boil i added the canned pumpkin hoping it would break down but not remove all the flavor. Soooo... jumping to the day I moved it to secondary. This was a train wreck. My siphon kept plugging up with the stringy pumpkin that had broken down through the boil but was now everywhere, some floated, some sank, and some suspended. I had to fight that battle at the same time as trying to figure out how best to get all that crap out without sacrificing sanitation. Lets keep going... Once i fought past the pumpkin and my siphon that wasnt working too well anymore, i had moved about 2.5 gallons into the fermenter (out of 5!!) when my siphon all together quit. After a good bit of cussing I came up with a plan to dump the whole damn bucket into my boil pot with a strainer over it to hopefully catch the rest of that pumpkin giving me issues. Upon doing so (and creating one hell of a mess) i realized that the siphon was plugging off because the remaining 2.5 gallons of my beer had turned into unusable trub (no doubt from that damn canned pumpkin). My secondary fermenter got 2.5-3 gallons of beer in it, i added water to top it off to 5 gallons but of course i have extremely watered down beer. Now i know i could have just left it alone at whatever volume came out but i was so pissed off at this point i didnt really care; i just want to try my watered down failed pumpkin attempt.

I guess there has to be a 1st for all of us... this was hands down my first ultimate failure.

So of all my wrongs, I'd like some pointers.

1)Do you all strain out the boil as you pour into the primary to avoid dumping in things like pumpkin? If so, do you do so with a strainer or siphon or what?
2)If you left it in the primary did you get the same results as mine??? If not, wtf went wrong?
3)Anyone ever topped off that much water? (nearly another 2 gallons) How did the end result turn out? Oh and I really dont care about ABV at this point because my water is gonna throw it off so much.

I would like to try another pumpkin but clearly need to refine my plan (and probably refrain from drinking so much) before doing so.
 
srl135 said:
UPDATE: 10.11.12

About a week ago I moved the beer over to the secondary fermenter and learned a valuable lesson... When i initially dumped my boil pot into the primary i did not strain out ANYTHING. (That has never been an issue for me since i brew mini-mashes with the steeping bag that is removed at the appropriate time) During the boil I added the pumpkin that I quartered and roasted, and then with about 15 min left in the boil i added the canned pumpkin hoping it would break down but not remove all the flavor. Soooo... jumping to the day I moved it to secondary. This was a train wreck. My siphon kept plugging up with the stringy pumpkin that had broken down through the boil but was now everywhere, some floated, some sank, and some suspended. I had to fight that battle at the same time as trying to figure out how best to get all that crap out without sacrificing sanitation. Lets keep going... Once i fought past the pumpkin and my siphon that wasnt working too well anymore, i had moved about 2.5 gallons into the fermenter (out of 5!!) when my siphon all together quit. After a good bit of cussing I came up with a plan to dump the whole damn bucket into my boil pot with a strainer over it to hopefully catch the rest of that pumpkin giving me issues. Upon doing so (and creating one hell of a mess) i realized that the siphon was plugging off because the remaining 2.5 gallons of my beer had turned into unusable trub (no doubt from that damn canned pumpkin). My secondary fermenter got 2.5-3 gallons of beer in it, i added water to top it off to 5 gallons but of course i have extremely watered down beer. Now i know i could have just left it alone at whatever volume came out but i was so pissed off at this point i didnt really care; i just want to try my watered down failed pumpkin attempt.

I guess there has to be a 1st for all of us... this was hands down my first ultimate failure.

So of all my wrongs, I'd like some pointers.

1)Do you all strain out the boil as you pour into the primary to avoid dumping in things like pumpkin? If so, do you do so with a strainer or siphon or what?
2)If you left it in the primary did you get the same results as mine??? If not, wtf went wrong?
3)Anyone ever topped off that much water? (nearly another 2 gallons) How did the end result turn out? Oh and I really dont care about ABV at this point because my water is gonna throw it off so much.

I would like to try another pumpkin but clearly need to refine my plan (and probably refrain from drinking so much) before doing so.

1. I always use a strainer when dumping into the primary. To me it makes sense even if you do a partial mash and everything is in a bag that getting as much of the things that get into your beer out will make for a better beer.
2. I just made a pumpkin spiced beer last weekend. I put the pumpkin in the mash with some rice hulls and I wrapped my manifold with cheese cloth to prevent a stuck sparge... still got a stuck sparge but it was minor. I try not to put anything into the boil such as fruits because when you strain it into the primary it is just way more work to get everything out.
3. Sometimes I top off with a gallon of water if to much evaporated out of my boil. Ill take a gallon of water, boil it for 10 minutes and then add it to my wort. In the end I usually hit my targeted O.G. I then cool my wort to fermenting temps before I add the yeast.

So far I've enjoyed my pumpkin spiced beers. The only thing I would change about my process would add more rice hulls. When brewing a pumpkin ale you can never have to much rice hulls.
 
I just did a pumpkin beer about a month and a half ago. Skipped putting the pumpkin in the mash after hearing all of the horror stories of stuck sparges. I added two big cans of pumpkin at the beginning of the boil and did not strain the wort after I boiled it. Did not get much pumpkin taste in the beer. Did talk to some others and tasted others that added the pumpkin in the last 15 min. More pumpkin flavor in those beers. Did have a ton of trub when I transferred to the secondary but a majority had settled and did not have any trouble with my auto siphon. I bottled this beer and still had quite a bit of trub at the bottom but not as much as others have reported. Next time I think I will add the pumpkin towards the end. Over all beer came out pretty good, was conservative with the spices which was a good thing, very subtle pumpkin spice but not too much. Some issues with carbonation, not sure if I need to let it sit in the bottle a little more of if it's a result from the pumpkin.
 
I would like to do something along these lines, but why add pumpkin and have all these problems? Could it be done with a concentrate? Of course I would not want to use some kind of artificial flavor but there must be a way to brew up a sort of tea with all the flavors intact and just pour into the secondary.
 
the issue with pumpkin and beers is that, as many have said, pumpkin itself isn't that distinct a flavor. choosing a good spice blend is key to nailing that perception of what people expect when they think of pumpkin, but you can improve on this by picking an appropriate yeast and messing around with a few pumpkin varieties.

on sunday when i made my pumpkin ale, i had three pie-type pumpkins baked for everyone to try. one was the runaway favorite as the sweetest, least savory one and i used 5lb for a 5gal batch. next year i will probably steep it in a cheesecloth bag!
 
Brooklyn Brew Shop has a 1 gallon pumpkin ale kit and they don't include the pumpkin. The recipe calls for adding a cup of cooked pumpkin 30 minutes into a 60 minute boil. I'm curious what they mean by 'cooked pumpkin'.. Like you make a pumpkin pie and then put a cup of it in the boil? That sounds dumb, so how do you cook a cup of that pumpkin from a libby's can?
 
Brooklyn Brew Shop has a 1 gallon pumpkin ale kit and they don't include the pumpkin. The recipe calls for adding a cup of cooked pumpkin 30 minutes into a 60 minute boil. I'm curious what they mean by 'cooked pumpkin'.. Like you make a pumpkin pie and then put a cup of it in the boil? That sounds dumb, so how do you cook a cup of that pumpkin from a libby's can?

Skip it entirely.
 
I buy a can of Libbys, but not the one with spices, I use the plain type, since I add my own spice blend during the boil. I spread the pumpkin around on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about an hour, edges will start to be turning brown. I do BIAB and add it during the mash rather than the boil, but that is how I cook the pumpkin.
 
I buy a can of Libbys, but not the one with spices, I use the plain type, since I add my own spice blend during the boil. I spread the pumpkin around on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for about an hour, edges will start to be turning brown. I do BIAB and add it during the mash rather than the boil, but that is how I cook the pumpkin.

I've only brewed one pumpkin ale, but I BIAB and this is pretty much how I did it. I used two large cans of Libby's plain pumpkin, which I roasted for a bit in the over to get rid of some of the liquid and to give it a slightly more roasted flavor. Instead of adding the pumpkin directly into the bag, I put it in a second bag, which I dropped into the main mash bag. I did this so I could remove the pumpkin prior to sparging.

Beer turned out really good. Whether that had anything to do with the pumpkin or not, I really don't know. But I do know that I didn't screw up the beer!
 
Brooklyn Brew Shop has a 1 gallon pumpkin ale kit and they don't include the pumpkin. The recipe calls for adding a cup of cooked pumpkin 30 minutes into a 60 minute boil. I'm curious what they mean by 'cooked pumpkin'.. Like you make a pumpkin pie and then put a cup of it in the boil? That sounds dumb, so how do you cook a cup of that pumpkin from a libby's can?

I made this from the kit (using Libby's) and it was excellent. Canned pumpkin is already cooked; just add one cup of it straight from the can.
WHEN I brew more pumpkin beers this is the method I will use.

I need to rant.
On every single pumpkin beer thread here people say they have major problems brewing with pumpkin and not to use pumpkin because it doesn't add flavor. They must be doing something wrong.

YES "pumpkin" has a specific flavor and YES it was very detectable in the beer. NO I did not have any problems siphoning even though this was maybe my second batch of beer ever.
I know how cinnamon tastes. I know how clove tastes. I've had commercial spiced beers without pumpkin and that is not what I want. I've also had commercial beers with pumpkin and no spices, and yes the pumpkin flavor is there.
Maybe you guys having issues are using the wrong type of "pumpkin" or you add it at the wrong time. Unless you have trouble tasting "pumpkin" I can't see any other explanation.

I am putting pumpkin in quotes because the taste from Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin is exactly what I want and it is not actually pumpkin, but rather a squash. Crack open a can and you will immediately detect the strong "pumpkin" aroma.
If some of you are using sugar pumpkin (the kind for carving), that is your problem right there. Using sugar pumpkin is akin to trying to make cider with Red Delicious apples; they lack the flavor to make a decent fermented beverage.
Try Libby's or if you want the hassle of using things you make yourself use neck pumpkin or butternut squash.

Adding it in the boil seems like it adds the most flavor (based on reports) and eliminates the huge mash problems people often experience.
We don't put hop cones in the mash and then expect the beer to have a great hop aroma/taste. Similarly not all pumpkin varieties are the same and it does matter when you add it.
 
UPDATE: 10.11.12

About a week ago I moved the beer over to the secondary fermenter and learned a valuable lesson... When i initially dumped my boil pot into the primary i did not strain out ANYTHING. (That has never been an issue for me since i brew mini-mashes with the steeping bag that is removed at the appropriate time) During the boil I added the pumpkin that I quartered and roasted, and then with about 15 min left in the boil i added the canned pumpkin hoping it would break down but not remove all the flavor. Soooo... jumping to the day I moved it to secondary. This was a train wreck. My siphon kept plugging up with the stringy pumpkin that had broken down through the boil but was now everywhere, some floated, some sank, and some suspended. I had to fight that battle at the same time as trying to figure out how best to get all that crap out without sacrificing sanitation. Lets keep going... Once i fought past the pumpkin and my siphon that wasnt working too well anymore, i had moved about 2.5 gallons into the fermenter (out of 5!!) when my siphon all together quit. After a good bit of cussing I came up with a plan to dump the whole damn bucket into my boil pot with a strainer over it to hopefully catch the rest of that pumpkin giving me issues. Upon doing so (and creating one hell of a mess) i realized that the siphon was plugging off because the remaining 2.5 gallons of my beer had turned into unusable trub (no doubt from that damn canned pumpkin). My secondary fermenter got 2.5-3 gallons of beer in it, i added water to top it off to 5 gallons but of course i have extremely watered down beer. Now i know i could have just left it alone at whatever volume came out but i was so pissed off at this point i didnt really care; i just want to try my watered down failed pumpkin attempt.

I guess there has to be a 1st for all of us... this was hands down my first ultimate failure.

So of all my wrongs, I'd like some pointers.

1)Do you all strain out the boil as you pour into the primary to avoid dumping in things like pumpkin? If so, do you do so with a strainer or siphon or what?
2)If you left it in the primary did you get the same results as mine??? If not, wtf went wrong?
3)Anyone ever topped off that much water? (nearly another 2 gallons) How did the end result turn out? Oh and I really dont care about ABV at this point because my water is gonna throw it off so much.

I would like to try another pumpkin but clearly need to refine my plan (and probably refrain from drinking so much) before doing so.

Let me say that I feel your pain and been there, seen that, done that.

I was all gung ho, cubed and roasted fresh pumpkin with a maple syrup glaze. Even put the cubes in muslin bags to contain some of the pulp. Did that work...NO!

All this work and around 3.75 of 5.5 G made it into keg after all the straining, clogging and did I mention tons of OXYGEN exposure while all of this fiasco was taking place?

After the beer was ready, I felt sure this would be one of my best beers ever...ready for the supreme taste test. HUMMMM, where is the pumpkin flavor? Really, all that work cubing, roasting, siphoning, losses.....and now I cant taste the pumpkin? And these were specialty "Sugar Pie" pumpkins grown for eating.

The next year I made a pumpkin pie spice bundle in a tincture with bourbon to draw the essences. Wow, this was much easier and actually quite better. All this effort to add real pumpkin?

EDIT: RPH_Guy, I just read your above post to say that the pumpkins I used (Sugar Pie) may be my problem. May I ask that you share your recipe and process as I am not too stubborn to try this again IF you'd share a way to make this beer exciting. If you need an email address, please shoot me a PM. Thanks!!
 
EDIT: RPH_Guy, I just read your above post to say that the pumpkins I used (Sugar Pie) may be my problem. May I ask that you share your recipe and process as I am not too stubborn to try this again IF you'd share a way to make this beer exciting. If you need an email address, please shoot me a PM. Thanks!!

Sorry I ninja'd you there, but your post reinforces the points I was trying to make ;)

this guy knows what he's taking about and uses his own pumpkin, explaining everything in detail. his recipe looks reasonable.

My beer was made with 1 cup Libby's (straight out of the can), 1 cinnamon stick, and one whole clove per gallon, added with 30 minutes left on the boil.
No straining needed but I did leave the cinnamon, clove, and as much pumpkin as I could in the kettle. Yeast: US-05.
As you can see, nothing really fancy and very simple process but it was one of the best beers I've made and better than most commercial pumpkin beers imo (but a lot of them taste like pumpkin seeds, which I don't want).
 
Sorry I ninja'd you there, but your post reinforces the points I was trying to make ;)

this guy knows what he's taking about and uses his own pumpkin, explaining everything in detail. his recipe looks reasonable.

My beer was made with 1 cup Libby's (straight out of the can), 1 cinnamon stick, and one whole clove per gallon, added with 30 minutes left on the boil.
No straining needed but I did leave the cinnamon, clove, and as much pumpkin as I could in the kettle. Yeast: US-05.
As you can see, nothing really fancy and very simple process but it was one of the best beers I've made and better than most commercial pumpkin beers imo (but a lot of them taste like pumpkin seeds, which I don't want).

I am not above giving this another try! I suppose the pumpkin fiber from the one cup you add will settle out with the yeast?

Did your recipe (other than Libby pumpkin) including your grain and hop bill follow his recipe you linked?
 
I am not above giving this another try! I suppose the pumpkin fiber from the one cup you add will settle out with the yeast?

Did your recipe (other than Libby pumpkin) including your grain and hop bill follow his recipe you linked?

Yes, the pumpkin settled out with the rest of the trub in my fermenter. It was a fair amount (maybe 30% more trub than usual)... not huge like what the OP describes here.

Unfortunately I do not know the grain bill I used, as Brooklyn Brew Shop doesn't publish their (all grain) kit ingredients.
I linked to that other recipe by Mark Pasquinelli because that's probably the grain bill I will use next time. It looks good enough to me... my mouth is already watering.
I wasn't taking good notes back then but I think the hops were magnum, added at the start of the 60-minute boil.
Regardless, the "pumpkin" flavor was excellent and easy to do and so I recommend that process for adding flavor to whatever style of beer you want tasting like pumpkin!
 
Skip it entirely.

X2 on the skip it suggestion.
This year is the first year I have not been able to find the right pumpkins (candy roasters) that I normally use for this brew but still made a pumpkin ale with just the spices.

Not sure I will ever use pumpkin again as the beer was just as good without the actual pumpkin in the mash which meant a hell of alot better of a brewday with less mess.

:mug:
 
Yes, the pumpkin settled out with the rest of the trub in my fermenter. It was a fair amount (maybe 30% more trub than usual)... not huge like what the OP describes here.

Unfortunately I do not know the grain bill I used, as Brooklyn Brew Shop doesn't publish their (all grain) kit ingredients.
I linked to that other recipe by Mark Pasquinelli because that's probably the grain bill I will use next time. It looks good enough to me... my mouth is already watering.
I wasn't taking good notes back then but I think the hops were magnum, added at the start of the 60-minute boil.
Regardless, the "pumpkin" flavor was excellent and easy to do and so I recommend that process for adding flavor to whatever style of beer you want tasting like pumpkin!


I'll look at the linked recipe you sent and play around with that. Probably some Marris Otter or Golden Promise as a base with some C-Malts thrown in for some residual sweetness to compliment the pumpkin. A hint of honey malts?

If anyone has a base recipe to share, it will be appreciated.
 
X2 on the skip it suggestion.
This year is the first year I have not been able to find the right pumpkins (candy roasters) that I normally use for this brew but still made a pumpkin ale with just the spices.

Not sure I will ever use pumpkin again as the beer was just as good without the actual pumpkin in the mash which meant a hell of alot better of a brewday with less mess.

:mug:


Part of my struggle exactly as you posted. I am waffling back and forth wanting to use some canned pumpkin...or not and stick with a spice tincture.
 
Part of my struggle exactly as you posted. I am waffling back and forth wanting to use some canned pumpkin...or not and stick with a spice tincture.

I think once you add some pumpkin spice you may as well skip the pumpkin puree. As has been said before most people associate pumpkin with the spice used in pumpkin pie. The pumpkin itself has a very subtle flavor.

For a 5 gallon batch I used 5 cans (75 oz) of puree, oven toasted for an hour and a half with turning, until slightly brownish. Nice aroma! It takes forever to evaporate all that water before it starts toasting. Added it to the mash from the start, with 10 oz of rice hulls and the resulting wort was beautiful orange, with an ever so slight pumpkin flavor.

Boiled, added some hops. At flameout I added 1 Tbsp of pumpkin spice mix from the Amish market. That was waaay too much! All I could taste in the resulting beer was that darn spice. It took a year of conditioning in a keg, stored in my utility room at ambient temps ~70-75F, to become drinkable, at least for me. By the time the keg kicked, ~6 months later, it started to taste really good, most of the spice had faded, nicely blended in, and surprisingly the pumpkin flavor had returned, however so subtle. The color and mouthfeel were beautiful!

Notes for next time:
Use more pumpkin, use way less spice mix, maybe 1/2 a tsp, you can always add more if needed, and count on aging for 6-12 months.

The only commercial Pumpkin ale I've had that I liked was from New Belgium, a few years ago. It had a subtle spice flavor and I would bet I could taste the pumpkin. They must use some sort of flavor concentrate, as I would doubt they mash a metric ton of pumpkin puree.

:mug:
 
I've also been thinking to add pumpkin puree at the end of the fermentation, like you would add fruit. That way it won't get boiled, and may lean some more flavor to the beer, not losing that when boiled for an hour. There will be a lot of fluffy trub on the bottom, that can possibly be filtered out with a "NEIPA mesh racking filter."

Another possibility would be to add amylase to the pumpkin puree before adding to the fermentor, to convert the starches first.
 
I still have trouble finding that pumpkin flavor in pumpkin beers after going to all that trouble.

I tried New Belgium's "Atomic Pumpkin" and it was interesting. Has a pretty nice back burn with some mild heat, plus cinnamon kicks it up a notch.

After talking in detail with Sweetwater and NB brewers, the general consensus is the use of high quality concentrates in most of their standard or what I call 6 pack beers. The barrel aged beers or sours are obviously different as they are racked on real fruit, but the $15 dollar per bottle cost justifies that.

I think I'll look around and see if any companies like Monin make a high quality natural pumpkin concentrate.
 
I think once you add some pumpkin spice you may as well skip the pumpkin puree. As has been said before most people associate pumpkin with the spice used in pumpkin pie. The pumpkin itself has a very subtle flavor.

For a 5 gallon batch I used 5 cans (75 oz) of puree, oven toasted for an hour and a half with turning, until slightly brownish. Nice aroma! It takes forever to evaporate all that water before it starts toasting. Added it to the mash from the start, with 10 oz of rice hulls and the resulting wort was beautiful orange, with an ever so slight pumpkin flavor.

Boiled, added some hops. At flameout I added 1 Tbsp of pumpkin spice mix from the Amish market. That was waaay too much! All I could taste in the resulting beer was that darn spice. It took a year of conditioning in a keg, stored in my utility room at ambient temps ~70-75F, to become drinkable, at least for me. By the time the keg kicked, ~6 months later, it started to taste really good, most of the spice had faded, nicely blended in, and surprisingly the pumpkin flavor had returned, however so subtle. The color and mouthfeel were beautiful!

Notes for next time:
Use more pumpkin, use way less spice mix, maybe 1/2 a tsp, you can always add more if needed, and count on aging for 6-12 months.

The only commercial Pumpkin ale I've had that I liked was from New Belgium, a few years ago. It had a subtle spice flavor and I would bet I could taste the pumpkin. They must use some sort of flavor concentrate, as I would doubt they mash a metric ton of pumpkin puree.

:mug:



Have you had Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale...
Hands down the best I've had.
 
Have you had Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale...
Hands down the best I've had.

No, I don't recall I have. I'll look for it, 'tis the season.

I find Southern Tier's Pumpking OK, has a nice mouthfeel, but still not something I would drink a lot. Maybe once a year when sitting outside with a bucket of candy...

While we're on spiced beers, Southern Tier's 2xMas is the most vile beer I've ever tasted, extremely medicinal. Much worse than cough syrup. Now Great Lakes' Christmas Ale is quite appetizing, but seems to fluctuate quite a bit from year to year. Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale is not nearly as good, although from what I've heard they've got the original Great Lakes head brewer and recipe.
 

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