CCBC Pumpkin Spice Ale 2011
21-B Seasonal/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer
Author: ISUBrew79
Date: 10/23/11
Size: 6.0 gal
Efficiency: 77.0%
Attenuation: 76.0%
Calories: 296.34 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.091 (1.026 - 1.120)
Terminal Gravity: 1.024 (0.995 - 1.035)
Color: 18.21 (1.0 - 50.0)
Alcohol: 8.9% (2.5% - 14.5%)
Bitterness: 41.2 (0.0 - 100.0)
Ingredients:
14.0 lb Cargill Two-Row Pale
2.0 lb Munich TYPE I
0.5 lb Victory® Malt
1.0 lb Red Wheat Malt
1.0 lb Caramel Malt 40L
0.5 lb Caramel Malt 80L
4.0 oz Pale Chocolate Malt
2 ea Pumpkin (fresh) - added during mash
26 g Columbus (14.4%) - added during boil, boiled 60.0 min
2.2 g Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
12 oz Light Brown Sugar - added during boil, boiled 10.0 min
1 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 5.0 min
0.5 tsp Cassia Cinnamon (ground) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
0.5 tsp Ceylon Cinnamon (ground) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
0.5 tsp Nutmeg (ground) - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1 oz Fresh Grated Ginger root - added during boil, boiled 0.0 min
1 ea White Labs WLP007 Dry English Ale - yeast only from 4 L starter
1 ea Dark Rum Spice Extract - Added to keg
Mash at 152.0 °F for 90 minutes
Fly sparged to collect ~8 gallons of wort pre-boil
Pumpkin - I used two whole pie pumpkins - the small kind, not the Jack o' Lantern variety. I removed the tops, scooped out the seeds, and baked the pumpkins at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes until the flesh was very soft. I scooped out the cooked pumpkin flesh, broke it down with a potato masher, and added it to the mash with the grain bill. This yielded about 3 pounds of cooked pumpkin flesh.
Dark Rum Spice Extract - Added to keg to taste
6 oz Myers Jamaican Dark Rum
1 tsp fresh ground Ceylon (true) Cinnamon
1/4 tsp fresh ground Cassia (common) Cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1 Vanilla Bean - split, chopped, and scraped
3 tsp chopped fresh ginger root
I combined all ingredients in a clean Mason Jar. I prepared my spice extract a couple weeks in advance of brew day and let it steep for a good month or so until the beer was kegged. I filtered the rum mixture through a coffee filter to remove the spices and leave only the flavored liquid. I poured several measured samples of the beer and dosed them with various amounts of the spiced rum (measured 1/4 tsp at a time) until I got the right level of spicing. I then scaled the ideal dosage rate up to the full 5 gallon volume and added the rum to the keg. I added about 3 oz (90 mL) of the spiced rum to the keg.
Note - the spiced rum is VERY strongly flavored and way too spicy to drink by itself. I would cut it with regular rum if you want to make it drinkable on its own.
I bottled most of the beer from the keg using the BierMuncher bottle filler and have been aging the bottles at room temperature since December. The brew continues to improve. The aroma of this beer is wonderful - just like pumpkin pie.