Midwest Pumpkin Ale

[CaptainCaveman]

I'm planning on brewing this kit tomorrow, but wanted to confirm a few things first since there seems to be a lot of debate with pumpkin ales. The kit I ordered is:http://www.midwestsupplies.com/pumpkin-ale.html

The ingredients include:
6 lb. Gold liquid malt extract
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz. Caramel 10L specialty grains
1 oz. Mt. Hood
1 oz. Cascade
1 cup brown sugar
tsp. cinnamon, tsp. nutmeg, yeast, priming sugar and a grain bag.

Their instructions indicate to 'use a 15 oz. can for a subtle pumpkin flavor, or try a 30 oz can for a more pronounced pumpkin taste.' I've read a lot of people doubled the amount as stated and the pumpkin flavor was still very subtle, so, I went ahead and bought 90 ounces of Libby's 100% pure pumpkin as I want a good pumpkin flavor to come through.

Now, I'm not particularly a fan of sweet pumpkin ales, but do enjoy a hint of the pumpkin pie spices. To achieve this, I'm wondering if I can just use the 90 ounces I bought and just use the spices that came with the kit to give a hint of pumpkin pie. Or do you think it'd be wise to up some of the spices a bit? To be clear, I do plan on roasting the pumpkin in the oven first to caramelize it.

Also, I have one more question regarding this recipe. Should I add the pumpkin directly to the boil or should I put it in with the grain bag?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Peterock]

I wouldn't add any of the spices untill you can taste your brew at secondary (if you use 2ndary) or bottling. Taste your brew and if you feel it's lacking that pumpkin pie taste. Simply make up a simple tea with the spices and add to taste. You can always add more, not take it out. I've heard a teaspoon to a 5 gal batch makes a world of difference

I've heard of people using bags for the pumpkin, but it's usually followed by them saying it was a waste of time.
good luck,
Pete

 

[TromboneGuy]

YEah, Libby's is pretty well pureed, I doubt a bag will help contain it.

 

[jonmohno]

Im fiinding while "resarching" pumpkin ales right now that if the more they are spiced the more of a cola like taste they get, you generally can use more pumpkin and get away with it. With spice, people say you dont even need pumpkin, but i like real pumpkin, i think there is a differnece, although with real pumpkin i notice a kinda unplesent aftertaste from it unless its something like shipyards smashed pumpkin.Although maybe its a spice aftertaste??
I have about 2 inches of trub from pumpkin only strained from a single mesh strainer which basicly only strained out my hops// I would account for all that pumpkin if you dont get it out, as far as bottle volume. I would assume at least 1/2 inch per15 0z can if you didnt rack your beer to secondary.

 

[asterix404]

when I did a pumpkin porter I used 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Basically, the exact same spices I use when I make a pie, it came through quite well. Also you can get whole fresh cooking pumpkins and either bake/broil them for a while to get the roast pumpkin flavor. There isn't much that comes through to be honest, pumpkin is a lot of water and fermentables so I wouldn't expect it to taste like a pumpkin pie.

Not to be too disgruntled about this but I haven't had a beer which used honey or fruit which actually tasted like there was honey or fruit in it. I had a blackberry stout which was very meek on the blackberry and sort of tasted out of place and a few strawberry wheat beers which did use strawberries but also used the flavorings... basically, the sugar ferments and it either tastes like rotten fruit or the hint of what you were going for.

The only caveat to this is anything that is very oily like zest of fruits which contain quite a lot of flavor and the oil will not ferment. I do not recommend using pumpkin skin for this beer.