Pumpkin Porter advice

[daafisch]

I haven't been brewing for too long and the guy I usually bounce ideas off of doesn't have much experience with porters. He makes some great beer (including a great pumpkin ale) but told me to post up here for some more advice.

I'm doing an extract brew and I use Mr. Beer kegs as my fermeter so my batch isn't the normal 5+ gallons, instead it's 2.1 gallons.

With that said I wanted to give a porter a try and considering by the time it's done it's going to be fall I wanted to give a Pumpkin Porter a try. Below is what I have so far and I'm looking for some advice to see if it looks good. There isn't too much information on this type of recipe so I've taken ideas from various places.


Batch: 2.1Gal
OG: 1.051
IBU: 25
SRM: 28

Steep @ 160 for 30 min:
2oz: Aromatic Malt
2oz: Black Patent
2oz: Crystal 30
2oz: Chocolate Malt
2oz: Special Roast

Boil 60 min:
1lb Pumpkin - roasted for 1 hr @ 350
.5lb Amber DME

Boil 20 min:
1.75lb Amber DME

Boil 5 min:
.8 TBsp Candied Ginger
.6 tsp Cinnamon stock
.2 tsp Allspice
.2 tsp Nutmeg
.2 tsp Clove

Hops:
.5oz Willamette @ 30min

Yeast: British Ale Yeast (WY #1098)

Bottling:
1oz Vanilla extract

 

[kingwood-kid]

Someone is bound to come alog and tell you that you have to mash your pumpkin with some base malt. You can, but it's not necessary. There's about as much starch in 1lb of pumpkin as there is is 1oz of barley. So don't worry about it. Pumpkin adds some mouthfeel, but very little flavor, so you can leave it out entirely if you want.

My only recipe advice is to aim towards the paler end of porter's range, so that the spices can be tasted. Maybe you could drop an ounce of either black patent or chocolate, or swap said ounce for an ounce of Extra Dark Crystal or Special B, which would give some raisin-type flavors that might go well here.