- Recipe Type
- All Grain
- Yeast
- US-05
- Yeast Starter
- no
- Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
- no
- Batch Size (Gallons)
- 5
- Original Gravity
- 1.065
- Final Gravity
- 1.017
- Boiling Time (Minutes)
- 60
- IBU
- 19.3
- Color
- 12
- Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- 21
- Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
- 3
- Tasting Notes
- Just the right amount of residual sweetness to compliment the pumpkin pie spice
EDIT (8/23/14): Adding some information that can answer common questions.
- RICE HULLS! Use about a pound in the mash for a 5 gallon batch.
- A secondary isn't really necessary. Nor is the gelatin. Time is your friend.
- On the topic of time, I'd recommend giving the beer at least a month in primary, but I think two is better. Then, again, give it at the very least a month in bottle/room-temp-keg. Personally I give it about six months from brew day to drinking. It really becomes special around the 6-8 month mark.
- For extract brewers, the best technique for me when I did extract was to put the pumpkin in a muslin bag and steep it before adding anything else. I'd recommend doing it for 20-30 minutes at a higher temperature, maybe even boiling if you want. Then proceed as normal.
- PM brewers, you can either add the pumpkin to the mash as normal or steep it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This beer turned out great.
We've done pumpkin ales in the past but never this good. With a F.G. of 1.017 it has the perfect amount of sweetness to compliment the slight biscuit from the victory malt and the pie spices. Much to our delight (and surprise) it tastes awfully similar to Dogfish Head's Punkin' Ale. As expected with pumpkin ales, this was one hazy mother-effer! Gelatin was used in the very short secondary to clear it up before going in the keg.
Punkin' Ale
O.G. 1.065
F.G. 1.017
Efficiency: 70%
Color: 12 SRM
Bitter: 19.3 IBU
Grain bill
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 83.33 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
2 Large cans (29oz) Libby's pumpkin (no spices added) --- Bake at 350*F for 45-60 minutes (longer if you're at high elevation) let cool before adding to mash
Mash (batch sparge)
Single infusion, Medium body, No mash-out
24QT of 163*F water (step temp of 156)
Boil (60 minutes)
1.00 lb Brown Sugar (60 min)
1oz Hallertaur (4.8%) (60 min)
1.5 Tbs McCormicks Pumpkin Pie Spice (5 min)
1oz Hallertaur (4.8%) (5 min)
Yeast
2 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (Chico) (DCL Yeast #US-05)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Partial Mash and Extract Versions
I've decided to collaborate a couple posts for the ease of anybody looking for PM or extract.
It's really hard to imitate the flavor you get from Victory malt (which has to be mashed.) It provides aromatic/biscuit/nutty/toasted attributes to the beer that you can't get in extract. Your closet bet would be to use Special Roast... though BeerSmith says it needs to be mashed, HBT wiki says it doesn't. But here's the partial mash and an adjusted extract version; only the grain/extract is adjusted. You can keep the hops, pumpkin, sugar and spice additions the same.
Partial Mash
6# Pale LME
2# Pale 2-row
0.63# Crystal 60L
0.63# Victory Malt
Extract
8.25# Pale LME
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.25# Special Roast
For these adjusted recipes I'd recommend using S-04, which is known to have lower attenuation so you can get that fuller body and maltiness you get from mashing at higher temperatures. If you take the S-04 route, try to keep fermentation temperatures low, closer to 60*F so you get less esters and phenols that will cover up the delicious pumpkin pie flavors.
- RICE HULLS! Use about a pound in the mash for a 5 gallon batch.
- A secondary isn't really necessary. Nor is the gelatin. Time is your friend.
- On the topic of time, I'd recommend giving the beer at least a month in primary, but I think two is better. Then, again, give it at the very least a month in bottle/room-temp-keg. Personally I give it about six months from brew day to drinking. It really becomes special around the 6-8 month mark.
- For extract brewers, the best technique for me when I did extract was to put the pumpkin in a muslin bag and steep it before adding anything else. I'd recommend doing it for 20-30 minutes at a higher temperature, maybe even boiling if you want. Then proceed as normal.
- PM brewers, you can either add the pumpkin to the mash as normal or steep it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This beer turned out great.
We've done pumpkin ales in the past but never this good. With a F.G. of 1.017 it has the perfect amount of sweetness to compliment the slight biscuit from the victory malt and the pie spices. Much to our delight (and surprise) it tastes awfully similar to Dogfish Head's Punkin' Ale. As expected with pumpkin ales, this was one hazy mother-effer! Gelatin was used in the very short secondary to clear it up before going in the keg.
Punkin' Ale
O.G. 1.065
F.G. 1.017
Efficiency: 70%
Color: 12 SRM
Bitter: 19.3 IBU
Grain bill
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 83.33 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
1.00 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 8.33 %
2 Large cans (29oz) Libby's pumpkin (no spices added) --- Bake at 350*F for 45-60 minutes (longer if you're at high elevation) let cool before adding to mash
Mash (batch sparge)
Single infusion, Medium body, No mash-out
24QT of 163*F water (step temp of 156)
Boil (60 minutes)
1.00 lb Brown Sugar (60 min)
1oz Hallertaur (4.8%) (60 min)
1.5 Tbs McCormicks Pumpkin Pie Spice (5 min)
1oz Hallertaur (4.8%) (5 min)
Yeast
2 Pkgs SafAle American Ale (Chico) (DCL Yeast #US-05)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Partial Mash and Extract Versions
I've decided to collaborate a couple posts for the ease of anybody looking for PM or extract.
It's really hard to imitate the flavor you get from Victory malt (which has to be mashed.) It provides aromatic/biscuit/nutty/toasted attributes to the beer that you can't get in extract. Your closet bet would be to use Special Roast... though BeerSmith says it needs to be mashed, HBT wiki says it doesn't. But here's the partial mash and an adjusted extract version; only the grain/extract is adjusted. You can keep the hops, pumpkin, sugar and spice additions the same.
Partial Mash
6# Pale LME
2# Pale 2-row
0.63# Crystal 60L
0.63# Victory Malt
Extract
8.25# Pale LME
0.5# Crystal 60L
0.25# Special Roast
For these adjusted recipes I'd recommend using S-04, which is known to have lower attenuation so you can get that fuller body and maltiness you get from mashing at higher temperatures. If you take the S-04 route, try to keep fermentation temperatures low, closer to 60*F so you get less esters and phenols that will cover up the delicious pumpkin pie flavors.