Pumpkin Spiced Ale

[missjacki]

I wish I knew, my kids broke my hygrometer . It'll be kind of fun guessing the ABV when it's done though!

Ha Ha! Me too! In fact the whole reason I'm on this thread right now is I was brewing an easy extract ale on friday when my son broke my hydrometer.

Clearly, I needed a new one ASAP so I went to my LHBS and got one....but of course I couldn't buy JUST a hydrometer....so I got to thinking about those jack-o-lanterns being preserved on the front porch in the 40 degree weather and decided to go for it....hence....here I am

2 beers and 2 hydrometers in 1 weekend....

 

[McBainne]

I live in NY and like everyone else pumpkins are tough to get after Thanksgiving. To be safe, this year I bought 3 Sugar Pumpkins and spent the day roasting them with maple syrup and turning them into puree. After they cooled I bagged them and put them in the freezer. Just throwing it out there for other Pumpkin Ale lovers.

 

[mewithstewpid]

Ill just throw some of my experience in here too (which is not much)

i brewed a pumpkin last year, it was awful. No real pumpkin flavor or spice favor. I used 1 tsp of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and ginger, but put it in early in the boil. bottled with 2oz vanilla, no vanilla pulled through.

this year, i used this recipe:

steep 20 min .5lb biscuit
6lb Amber LME
1o East Kent Goldings 60 min
.5oz east kent goldings 10 min
4lb pumpkin pie filling, non-spiced, baked 45-60 minutes prior. 60 min

1 tsp irish moss 15 min

2tsp cinnamon 5 min
1 tsp nutmeg 5 min
1 tsp ginger 5 min

placed the 4lb pumpkin used for the 60 min boil (which was in a muslin bag) in the primary fermentor

4oz vanilla extract bottling

US-05

I will let you know in a couple weeks how it turns out. The hydrometer samples were good, so i have high hopes.

here is a picture of mine finished, with cinnamon-sugar ring of course!



notes for next year:
-dont put pumpkin in the primary, only use for boil
-dont forget to put the vanilla extract in!
-more (other?) hops, i dont get a lot of hop flavor/aroma, so i will put more in 20min+

other than that it is good, although i may also increase the spices, i dont taste much even with all that I put in

 

[SkipWankman]

I made a java stout in which i decided to add some pumpkin to. I added 60oz easy pumpkin pie mix to the last 15 min of boil. I tasted a little before it went into primary and man did it taste good. But after going through primary and secondary i cant even taste the pumpkin. Maybe because of the coffee? I don't know but I primed with brown sugar and you do get a hint of sweetness

 

[Dynachrome]

I made a java stout in which i decided to add some pumpkin to. I added 60oz easy pumpkin pie mix to the last 15 min of boil. I tasted a little before it went into primary and man did it taste good. But after going through primary and secondary i cant even taste the pumpkin. Maybe because of the coffee? I don't know but I primed with brown sugar and you do get a hint of sweetness

I've never done secondary. That said, I think secondary is also referred to as clearing or cleaning. The yeast cake collects the spices, It might take the pumpkin starches as well. They may precipitate down.

I added spices toward the end of the boil on my last pumpkin. I decanted to a different container to bottle. The yeast cake left over after I had decanted smelled really spicy - after - I started scooping it out to dispose of it.

 

[amaier48]

i bottled mine 1 1/2 weeks ago, i used the 2/3 cups brown sugar. i probably only got 3 1/2- 4 gals of beer. but after a week and a half it still is not carbonated... any suggestions?

 

[remman4]

Mine carbed up in two weeks, what temperature are you conditioning your bottles?

 

[amaier48]

65-70

 

[DanLaque]

I made the pumpkin from NB, I did the optional step of adding the real pumpkin, but I am having the same problem of it not carbing up after 2 weeks, but I just flipped the bottles and I am going to wait another 3 weeks before trying it again. My OG was 1.072. FG was 1.012. That is corrected for temp. I am dying to try it.

 

[remman4]

Give it more time to carb! Most people recommend 3 weeks minimum on this site

 

[remman4]

Let it carb longer probably 3 weeks

 

[SkipWankman]

Mine carbed for a good 3 weeks and it was still not very carbonated. I figured since I made a stout that it wasn't supposed to be. Still turned out good though

 

[BarronVonCharron]

So over Thanksgiving I took a bunch of my Pumpkin monster that I call "Trick or Treat" down to enjoy with the family....

My Aunt and Uncle are beer nerds like me, everybody else there falls into the "I'm happy with a Coors" crowd- to each their own... Anyway the beer is VERY strong and there is NO alcohol bite to it. I have a decent tolerance, as does my father and uncle but this thing had us all feeling silly after only 3 glasses (we did have a Sam Adams Cherry wheat also waiting for the Pumpkin to chill). It has a great pumpkin spice flavor to it, not too much but it totally masked the alcohol. Awesome.

The White Labs Super high gravity yeast definitely lived up to it's name. I don't know if I will use it again any time soon... It might be a good idea to slow me down on going through my home brew though...

Overall it came out great, it was just very surprising how strong it is. I really need to get a new hygrometer

 

[yancydc]

Guess I'm not the only person with a carbing problem. Mine's been in the bottle for almost 2 months now, and it's just not carbing. I didn't put enough sugar in when I bottled, but I also tried Cooper's tabs and it hasn't really helped.

I wonder if there's a reason why this would be so happening? I think I won't try brewing one again until I get a kegging setup.

 

[BarronVonCharron]

Guess I'm not the only person with a carbing problem. Mine's been in the bottle for almost 2 months now, and it's just not carbing. I didn't put enough sugar in when I bottled, but I also tried Cooper's tabs and it hasn't really helped.

I wonder if there's a reason why this would be so happening? I think I won't try brewing one again until I get a kegging setup.

Are you using the right sized tabs for your bottles, and what is your alcohol content like? I made a Russian Imperial that got too strong and killed off the yeast before it could carb. After two months if you don't have any carb I don't think it ever will but I have been wrong before.

How is the taste though? If the taste is good, just tell everybody you tried making a barley wine

 

[DrBergeron]

I opened one of mine up today, brewed around October 15th.

Followed the 1st revision of the recipe exactly except that i racked to secondary with 3 fresh cinnamon sticks and 2 whole vanilla beans, and i carbed with 1 Cup of brown sugar instead of the recommended 2/3 cup because I like my beer carbonated a bit higher than others. I also cold crashed this beer to really bring out the orange coloration in it and it looks fantastic.

2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks secondary, 20 days in the bottles so far and even these preliminary beers are great! Mine smell like vanilla and brown sugar with a hint of spices and pumpkin when drinking. I'm hoping for the vanilla to be subdued a little bit as it sits, but it's only in the smell, doesn't really taste like vanilla at all. This beer also has a great head and good lace with it so far. I'm expecting the lace to get even better after another week.

Thanks for this recipe, definitely one to hang on to.

 

[yancydc]

Are you using the right sized tabs for your bottles, and what is your alcohol content like? I made a Russian Imperial that got too strong and killed off the yeast before it could carb. After two months if you don't have any carb I don't think it ever will but I have been wrong before.

How is the taste though? If the taste is good, just tell everybody you tried making a barley wine

I'm using the right size tab for sure, and the alcohol content is about 5.5%. You may just be right about it never carbing, but I'm going to foolishly keep trying.

It does taste very good, but it's a little too sweet without the bubbles. It's not like I dump em the bottle after I test, after all, I'm just not as happy as I would be with a proper carb. Oh well, there are worse things than drinking a slightly disappointing homebrew.

 

[craig_reed]

Cheers! Glad you like it!

I opened one of mine up today, brewed around October 15th.

Followed the 1st revision of the recipe exactly except that i racked to secondary with 3 fresh cinnamon sticks and 2 whole vanilla beans, and i carbed with 1 Cup of brown sugar instead of the recommended 2/3 cup because I like my beer carbonated a bit higher than others. I also cold crashed this beer to really bring out the orange coloration in it and it looks fantastic.

2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks secondary, 20 days in the bottles so far and even these preliminary beers are great! Mine smell like vanilla and brown sugar with a hint of spices and pumpkin when drinking. I'm hoping for the vanilla to be subdued a little bit as it sits, but it's only in the smell, doesn't really taste like vanilla at all. This beer also has a great head and good lace with it so far. I'm expecting the lace to get even better after another week.

Thanks for this recipe, definitely one to hang on to.

 

[jdbright79]

I tried a recipe like this last year and found it to be lacking on flavor. It tasted like a pumpkin ale but was a little to bland for my liking.

I like what you guys have mentioned, Doubling up on spices and roasting the pumpkin prior to adding to the boil. I think this will add body and spice.

I do have one question....For guys like me that really like that "spice" flavor, can I add additional spices prior to kegging to kick it up a notch? Is it best to taste test and add directly to the keg before carbing / conditioning. Or better to do this while racking to my secondary?

Thanks in advance

 

[DanLaque]

Well an extra 2 weeks did the job, a good beer. That was a total of 4 weeks in the bottles.

 

[bluestang50]

Its about that time of year again! I brewed another 5 gallon batch of this yesterday so it will be ready for Oktoberfest. I can't find any pumpkins yet so I put two pounds of pumpkin puree in the boil in a steeping bag.

 

[BarronVonCharron]

Its about that time of year again! I brewed another 5 gallon batch of this yesterday so it will be ready for Oktoberfest. I can't find any pumpkins yet so I put two pounds of pumpkin puree in the boil in a steeping bag.

I don't know man, might not be enough pumpkin... I used a lot more, but I was going for a HIGH gravity and needed to hide the alcohol... (It worked out well by the way :cross

 

[bluestang50]

I brewed this recipe twice last year and it turned out really well. I actually did another 5 gallons last night so I have 10 gallons fermenting.

 

[SkipWankman]

I did a 5 gallon batch with a coffee stout and 2 large cans pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin didn't come through. Also I carbed with brown sugar and the. Eer came out a little flat :/. Still tasty though

 

[SkipWankman]

I did a 5 gallon batch with a coffee stout and 2 large cans pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin didn't come through. Also I carbed with brown sugar and the. Eer came out a little flat :/. Still tasty though

"the beer" not the eer

 

[sweaterman]

I am getting ready to brew this again this weekend and am very excited. I am going to basically use the same recipe as last year but cut the IBUs, increase the roasted pumpkin/squash (I think the squash gives more flavor), and increase the spices. I should plan on making two batches: one for the kegerator and one for bottling and bringing to people/gifting.

 

[sweaterman]

Here's another question on this. What kind of FG are you guys hitting? I want this beer to be a dessert beer, but I don't want the mouthfeel and sweetness to be cloying. My hopville recipe states the FG will be 1.018, but I feel like that will be pretty high. Also, SWMBO won't drink it if it is too sweet. Any advise?

http://hopville.com/recipe/1646994

 

[sweaterman]

Well, I feel silly being the person to post the last three responses . . .

Anyway, how long you guys letting this one condition? I left it in primary for 15 days, moved to secondary on Sept 27th for 24 days, and not in the keg since October 21st. I know patience is a virtue, but I wanna drink this puppy.

 

[remman4]

That seems like plenty of time... Do it!

 

[Skipper74]

Well, I feel silly being the person to post the last three responses . . .

Anyway, how long you guys letting this one condition? I left it in primary for 15 days, moved to secondary on Sept 27th for 24 days, and not in the keg since October 21st. I know patience is a virtue, but I wanna drink this puppy.

I think you will be fine. I primary, three weeks, no secondary, then begin drinking after 3 weeks in the bottle. I find it gets better (duh) after an extra month in the bottle, but is still good when young.