First Time Pumpkin Ale Recipe

[permo]

I am a seasoned brewer but not all that seasoned in pumpkin ales. My father in law has 10 acres of pumpkins this year so I am going to cube up 2 pounds and bake it for a pumpkin oatmeal porter-ish kind of ale. No spices.

Here is what I am thinking for a 12 gallon batch.


16 pounds two row
2 pounds oats
2 pounds roasted pumpkin
1 pound C40
1 pound brown sugar
3/4 pound chocolate
3/4 pound black
1/2 pound brown
1/2 pound C60
30 IBU columbus at 60
WLP001 at 65
Mash at 154
OG = 1.055 or so
FG = 1.015 or so

Any advice would be appreciated, I would hate to have 12 gallons of crappy beer! I am on the fence about spices but I am thinking no.

 

[BoundForBeer]

The regular "carving pumpkins" should not be used for these beers. Use pie pumpkins also seems alot of the flavors of the pumpkin ales come from the spices used during boil and secondery.

 

[permo]

The regular "carving pumpkins" should not be used for these beers. Use pie pumpkins also seems alot of the flavors of the pumpkin ales come from the spices used during boil and secondery.

They make special pumpkins for pies? I did not know that at all!

 

[KyleWolf]

From everything I have read, it takes a lot of pumpkin to really bring out the flavor. In a darker beer such as this, I think you will have to significantly up the pumpkin. But that is just from the few pumpkin beers my homebrew group has done and what I have read. no personal experience (I actually just posted my first pumpkin ale recipe too lol)

 

[VaBrewer]

I used an 8 lb baking pumpkin last year.
I cubed and roasted it in the oven @ 325 for 90 mins.

Half went in a muslin bag and in the boil for 60. The other half went in a zip lock bag and in the fridge. I put it in the secondary and racked the beer on that.

I also recommend you add your spices to the secondary. At the very least add 1/3 of the spice mix in at 2 mins left, then add the rest in the secondary. I also added 1 cup of Maple Syrup at bottling along with the priming sugar. It added another dimension and was great. The base beer was an American Amber, with less hops.

 

[wyoder]

I'm with the original poster, preferring my pumpkin ales to have no spices. That's the beauty of homebrewing, making something no one is making commercially and not having to adhere to any particular style. I mean if i wanted a pumpkin pie, i'd just eat a pumpkin pie.

My last pumpkin beer I made roughly a year ago (5 gallons). It was a bitter brown pumpkin ale. Instead of roasting the pumpkin, i just cubed up 6lbs of flesh and put it in the mash with all the seeds and other goodies and left it in through the boil. Hopped like usual. I've done this a few times and really enjoy the bitterness that comes from the unroasted pumpkin.

Let us know how it goes

 

[permo]

Looks like I am going to surely up the pumpkin in this recipe to around 5 pounds cubed and roasted. I know it could cause mash problems but I will likely "smush" it all up as well.

 

[BoundForBeer]

They make special pumpkins for pies? I did not know that at all!

I didn't till after I made my first pumpkin ale. Def taste a little "off" like vegetal. I just attributed it to it being the wrong kind of pumpkin.

 

[bnilguy]

They make special pumpkins for pies? I did not know that at all!

80 or 90% sold in the US are grown within 150 miles of Morton, IL (Peoria)..where the Libby's canning facility is located. I think it's a proprietary called Sweet Dickinson or something like that.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program..