Adding punkin

[Frige]

I brewed a blonde ale this weekend. I had wanted to make a punkin or spiced ale for the holidays but my lhbs did not have any partial mash recipes.
Question, can I add spices and or punkin flavor too the secondary? If so how much and what type.

 

[kingwood-kid]

You can go to the grocery store and buy pumpkin pie spice, or you can add any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves & allspice. Probably in that order. Ginger is used a lot in pie, but it doesn't sound like it would be good in the beer, although you can add it if you disagree. You can add to secondary or make a tea and at to taste at bottling. Some people add canned pumpkin; you can buy extract, or you can just use the spices. Most of the flavor in pie comes from the spices. When I made a batch with extract, I ended up with 50 bottles of a novelty beer I didn't really care for. Most commercial pumpkin beers are variations on an amber-to-brown, but I suppose a blonde could work.

 

[Frige]

Thanks for the reply,
I also have a fat tire clone in fermentation as well, but I hate to mess with that one as I love fat tire lol. I am leaning towards boiling down a pumpkin and straining the juice instead of just pouring in a bunch of pulp. Then add in my spices and pour it into the secondary.

 

[Frige]

After reading all the problems guys were having in using the pulp I am going with my idea of boiling down all the pumkiny goodness and pouring the liquid in rather than dealing with all the mess. I used 2 big cans of pure pumpkin and boiled it on the stove with a gallon of water. I am letting it cool and then I will strain it though a coffee filter. I might do a second boil to make sure I get all the flavor and then cook it down to concentrate it. Instead of messing up one of my beers already fermenting I have enough room in my cooler for a 3rd batch, so I am heading over to my lhbs for the fixings.
Wish me luck.

 

[Cacaman]

I made a pumpkin ale last night. I am typically an AG brewer, but I'm constructing my electric brewery and haven't brewed in months, so I just went with a partial mash. I baked 2 pumpkins and used about 6 pounds of pumpkin. I steeped my grains, then added extract and reached a boil. I used a strainer bag for the pumpkin, and boiled it for an hour. Here are some photos:

 

[Frige]

Kinda in the same vein as what I did. I picked up a english brown yesterday and used it as my base. I boiled the heck out of two big cans of libby pumpkin. Strained it and filled a gallon jug with the juice. The can had a pumpkin pie recipe so I used it for the amount of spices. Smells great almost want to drink as is. I did my boil and used the pumpkin juice to raise the level up to the 5 gal mark. Ended up with 1.050 og. A little lower than what I was shooting for but still better than miller light.

 

[kenlock]

You can go to the grocery store and buy pumpkin pie spice, or you can add any combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves & allspice. Probably in that order. Ginger is used a lot in pie, but it doesn't sound like it would be good in the beer, although you can add it if you disagree. You can add to secondary or make a tea and at to taste at bottling. Some people add canned pumpkin; you can buy extract, or you can just use the spices. Most of the flavor in pie comes from the spices. When I made a batch with extract, I ended up with 50 bottles of a novelty beer I didn't really care for. Most commercial pumpkin beers are variations on an amber-to-brown, but I suppose a blonde could work.

+1. No need for pumpkin in a pumpkin beer. The spices are all you need, though pumpkin does give some colour and a good story behind the beer. A bit of malt behind the flavours, such as in an amber or brown (my preference), is needed imho.