Pumpkin Spice Beer not so Spiced....

[kegnation]

In late August I brewed an AG pumpkin ale (10 gal batch) with canned pumpkin in the mash, I then added 3 teaspoons of McCormicks pumpkin pie spice to the boil kettle at flameout. When I recently pulled a sample while I transferred into secondary I noticed there was very little spice noticeable.

My question is should I drop some cinnamon sticks/vanilla/clove or more McCormicks into the keg before I carb them up to get more a 'fall spice' taste? One keg has about 5 gallons and the other about 4. This beer is really lacking right now and want to kick it up a notch without overdoing it.

Thanks!

 

[soccerdad]

My recipe also calls for spice at flameout but I have always wondered if you would not get more spice flavor after initial fermentation is done ... i.e., spice falling out in fermenter rather than falling out with cold break ???

 

[chuckcomm]

I added more spice to my carbonation mixture and added to bottling bucket before transferring from fermenter...should be pretty much the same for kegging....my sample was noticeably spicer

 

[kegnation]

I thought the same with the flameout approach. Several times I've brewed the base beer and added the adjuncts later in secondary but the recipe called for it so I figured I would go for it.

I tried pulling off about 10oz of the beer when racking to see if I could get an amount of the McCormicks to add to the keg but it turned out horrible. It wouldn't really dissolve and tasted really bitter. I might try some vanilla sticks and a little of the pumpkin spice. Any ideas how I can get a 'baked' flavor at this point? I know I could've added some more biscuit malt to the grain bill but was wondering if anyone had an idea.

 

[Krieger]

Chuckcomm, I did the same as you this year (same as I did last year). More or less added it to the priming sugar solution. Sadly, in my test bottles I've noticed a complete lack of spice character. Now I mini-keg 3 gallons before I bottle. I hope that the kegs at least have some flavor. Otherwise this year's Pumpkin Ale might be a bust.

 

[chuckcomm]

Now I'm hoping my spicyness doesnt disappear during carbonation......hopefully not but I will drink it anyway and make changes for the next batch.

 

[Brettomomyces]

A small vodka based tincture might help to really get those flavors into the beer, especially if working from whole spices/vanilla beans.