Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[brewmore71]

Looking forward to brewing this soon, and want to go with original recipe.
To those who have brewed with brown sugar, light or dark and are you boiling for 60 min or adding late?
Thank you

 

[leftcontact]

Looking forward to brewing this soon, and want to go with original recipe.
To those who have brewed with brown sugar, light or dark and are you boiling for 60 min or adding late?
Thank you

I go light and 60 min boil. And yes, 2 packs of S-04 does me right on target. Last batch (brewed June 3, currently in bottles in a cool dark place) og’d at 1.064 and I pulled it at 1.018ish.

 

[brewmore71]

Brewed this three weeks ago I used 3 cans baked natural pumpkin in mash, 1lb light brown sugar and cut spices to two tsp. Fermentation seemed healthy used two packs rehydrated us05 at 64 deg for 7 days then rose to 70 where it's been sitting two weeks still in primary and is at 1.019. (mashed a little higher with different thermometer because i was getting consistant low fg).
I was excited to try sample but wow was i dissapointed. The taste is not malty or spicy but more like green and sourish.
I have quite a few batches under my belt and would like to think i can rule out poor sanitation.
Anyone else have a similar experience and had to leave in primary longer to improve or any other ideas what might have happened?
Thank you

 

[shortyz]

brewed this 3 years now. this year im leaving out the pumpkin bcs its a giant pain in the rear. and i think the spices are what actually make it.

 

[leftcontact]

@shortyz right, I think - we don’t actually like pumpkin. We like the spices/flavors traditionally used in pie - sugar, cinnamon, clove, allspice, etc. and the pumpkin is just a carrier.

 

[Padj]

Brewed this recently. Replaced the vicotry for biscuit malt. Added lactose and used London ale yeast. Abv is 5.6% and it's currently carbing. I used two tins of pumpikin. Spread them out on a baking sheet cooked for 20 mins then spread dark molasses over the top for another 15. Added to mash. Tried a little whilst transferring it to keg. Flavours seemed right on the money. Can't wait to try a poor. I did use pectic enzyme to clear it up which worked. A table spoon did the trick.


I disagree with folks saying Pumkin doesn't add anything. I think it all harmonizes well and you need the pumkin in it. Just be sure to add it during the mash and not later.

 

[rbach2]

Anyone ever get a green apple like flavor on this one? Third time brewing and first time with this outcome.

 

[Andro907]

Tried this recipe AG. Pretty good. Was 1.070 post boil OG.
Had to bitter with cascade instead since I somehow only ended up with 1oz of Haller which I saved for the end of the boil.
Primary for 3 weeks. No secondary, just ran it through a bouncer filter into serving keg. Fermented at 60* in a kegmenter at 5 psi.

I'm not huge on amber ales but this is really a nice, festive brew that everyone seemed to enjoy. Will brew again. ABV was 6.75 or so iirc.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Time to get this thread rolling again for the year. Just chiming in to say I can't wait to brew this again! Going to brew it at the end of the month.

 

[Genuine]

I'll probably be making mine in August this year. Already Planning a pipeline of fall beers to brew! Pumpkin ale, an Oktoberfest and I think an English Bitter. Maybe a brown ale (haven't made the style yet).

 

[rbach2]

Brewed on 6/30. First use of the freezer fermentation chamber instead of ice bath. Looking forward to seeing how that impacts my beers going forward. Screwed up and put 2 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon in at the end of the boil. I hope that doesn’t ruin it. We’ll see I guess. Fermented at 65 for a week and upped it to 68 for the last week. I’ll transfer to secondary on Sunday for a few weeks and then into a keg to condition until late September.

 

[passedpawn]

I'll probably be making mine in August this year. Already Planning a pipeline of fall beers to brew! Pumpkin ale, an Oktoberfest and I think an English Bitter. Maybe a brown ale (haven't made the style yet).

I've got a bitter on tap right now, it's phreaking great. It's actually what you'd call an ESB I guess, at 5%.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm gonna try to pull off a big octoberfest party this year. Gonna provide pumpkin beer (haven't made one in a while), ocfest, and probably a light lager (already brewed this) for the derps that don't like the fall flavors. Probably a bourbon vanilla porter, that is a treat.

 

[Padj]

Gonna try mine which I put in the cellar from last year this Halloween.

 

[user 263363]

Going to be brewing this after work this evening. Going to be doing BIAB and after reading most of the thread I believe I will be steeping the pumpkin while heating my water to strike temp. I love pumpkin beers and I hope I can do this recipe justice! Will report back how the brew day goes.

 

[user 263363]

Brew day went great, minus one little hiccup.

Steeped the pumpkin as I heated my strike water. There was a noticeable pumpkin/squash aroma to the water as I did this. Nailed my mash temp of 156. I even remembered brown sugar and the spices!

After partly cooling, I checked my O.G. and I hit 1.069. Brewer’s Friend had an expected of 1.070, so I’d call that a win.

The hiccup was that I did not have any ice to cook the wort. I brew small 1.25 gallon batches so I always chill in an ice batch. So I got the wort as cool as I could with water and some popsicles, then I transferred to my little big mouth bubbler to sit in my ferm chamber over night. Since I had such a late brew day, over night ended up being only about 5 hours. I pitched 3/4 of a packet of US-05 this morning. Hoping it goes well!

 

[ehk089]

With the brown sugar addition, beer smith has this attenuating down to 1.013....anyone using something other than Chico strain here, or just watching fermentation and stopping with cold crash when it hits 1017?

 

[mtnbrew]

Just brewed this up yesterday! Did a 10g batch and slit it between us-05 and a slurry of Nottingham from a beer i just kegged! Both beers are rocking after 12hrs, and the Nottingham had a blowoff within 6hrs! Going to be a tasty brew! The hydo sample tasted great!

 

[user 263363]

After a month in the fermenter, this brew has been in bottles 11 days now. I am notoriously impatient so I popped one open. The spices are a tad strong, but I know they will mellow after a couple more weeks conditioning. I couldn’t be happier with this brew!

 

[user 263363]

After 20 days in the bottle, my Punkin’ Ale has really gone from a good beer to an excellent beer that I am truly proud of. This is only my second all grain brew and it is by far my best beer yet. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[CodeSection]

Unnecessary extra step. Libby's canned "pumpkin" comes already cooked. Just dump it in. 8oz per gallon. Transfer all of it to the fermenter.

You have been a great help and I appreciate it. Maybe you can help here as well. I'm considering brewing this or a recipe from BYO (Liquid Pumpkin Pie).

Would you suggest pouring the canned pumpkin into a hops bag and put it into the BK rather than pouring it directly into the BK?

I was thinking about mixing and making my own pumpkin spice by using this recipe https://www.dessertnowdinnerlater.com/homemade-pumpkin-pie-spice/. Have you tried making your own spice mix or do you have a suggestion what might work best?

This recipe has you adding the spices at the five minute mark of the boil. BYO's recipe adds it at flame out. When I brew my Christmas Ale (from a recipe on HBT), spices are adding to the priming sugar and the are put into a French press for 20 minutes. Then it is poured into the bottling bucket. Will adding the spices to the BK for the Pumpkin Ale at or near flame out diminish their flavor as opposed to adding them via the priming sugar/French press as described above?

Have you tried adding any other ingredients to the recipe like honey?

Have you changed the grain base in any way from the original recipe? I was thinking of splitting 50/50 with GW 2-row and Golden Promise.

I'm considering multi step mash as opposed to a single infusion. Have you tried that?

I realize I just typed and asked several questions directed toward you. That was not fair to ask you to answer them all. So, if any others want to post their experiences or suggestions, I would appreciate that as well.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Would you suggest pouring the canned pumpkin into a hops bag and put it into the BK rather than pouring it directly into the BK?

It's pureed. I'm pretty sure it won't stay contained, but you're more than welcome to try and report back.

Have you tried making your own spice mix or do you have a suggestion what might work best?

I'm having trouble organizing all my thoughts on this, so bear with me...

I've brewed a bunch of spiced ales, ciders, and meads, and I've never used a pre-blended spice mix. I use individual spices, and usually purchased in whole form. In various brews I've used [Saigon] cinnamon sticks, whole nutmeg that I grate myself, whole cloves, ginger that I grate myself, molasses, brown sugar, honey, and vanilla beans, as well as pre-ground spices back when I started brewing.

It's been very hard to nail down the exact spice profile I want when adding spices in the boil. Freshness of the spice makes a HUGE impact on the amount of flavor it contributes. For example, freshly ground nutmeg has waaaaay more flavor than pre-ground nutmeg, like WOW. Therefore I'm pretty sure following spice recipes is completely pointless because results will vary dramatically. Combine that with the fact that we all have different tastes... In my opinion, you're better off controlling the the amounts yourself judging by your palate using the particular spices you have.

So, if you're like me and want to go through the effort to tune the spice profile to your preference, I'd strongly suggest making hot spice teas and dosing the beer at packaging. Otherwise it's a total crapshoot.

Individual spices:
I've used straight molasses, and it's really good right up until it ferments out, and then it's quite terrible. Brown sugar seems like it contributes good flavor though, which doesn't seem logical. Maybe only very small amounts of molasses are ok.

For vanilla I cut up the beans into small pieces with scissors, put those in a jar, and cover with bourbon. Apply the lid. That gets gently stirred on a stir plate for a couple days, just enough speed to keep it all moving.

For ginger, the length of the boil affects how spicy it is. If you like the heat, use a shorter boil, otherwise boil it longer.

Heat seems to bring down the spicy hotness of cinnamon also.
There are several types of cinnamon, so make sure you have the one you want. You can break up the sticks to increase the fresh flavor without needed to grate them.

Be very conservative with freshly grated spices. They are very potent. I learned that the hard way by adding fresh ground spice in the boil based on a previous non-fresh spice amount.

Spice flavor in general does seem to hold pretty well through fermentation, with the exception of molasses, honey, and probably vanilla.

Have you changed the grain base in any way from the original recipe? I was thinking of splitting 50/50 with GW 2-row and Golden Promise.

Not trying to derail the thread, but I use a completely different grain bill than the OP.
Article:
https://beerandbrewing.com/brewing-the-perfect-pumpkin-ale/
Recipe:
https://beerandbrewing.com/perfect-pumpkin-ale-recipe/
I obviously don't follow everything he suggests exactly (I can't even find the particular pumpkins he recommends), but the grain bill, yeast, gravity, and IBU in the recipe are excellent imo. I'm sure this would be a great beer even without the pumpkin and spice.

I'm considering multi step mash as opposed to a single infusion. Have you tried that?

I've only done 2 step mashes ever, so I can't really comment on that.

Hope that answers everything! Cheers

 

[CodeSection]

It's pureed. I'm pretty sure it won't stay contained, but you're more than welcome to try and report back.


I'm having trouble organizing all my thoughts on this, so bear with me...

I've brewed a bunch of spiced ales, ciders, and meads, and I've never used a pre-blended spice mix. I use individual spices, and usually purchased in whole form. In various brews I've used [Saigon] cinnamon sticks, whole nutmeg that I grate myself, whole cloves, ginger that I grate myself, molasses, brown sugar, honey, and vanilla beans, as well as other pre-ground spices back when I started brewing.

It's been very hard to nail down the exact spice profile I want when adding spices in the boil. Freshness of the spice makes a HUGE impact on the amount of flavor it contributes. For example, freshly ground nutmeg has waaaaay more flavor than pre-ground nutmeg, like WOW. Therefore I'm pretty sure following spice recipes is completely pointless because results will vary dramatically. Combine that with the fact that we all have different tastes... In my opinion, you're better off controlling the the amounts yourself judging by your palate using the particular spices you have.

So, if you're like me and want to go through the effort to tune the spice profile to your preference, I'd strongly suggest making hot spice teas and dosing the beer at packaging. Otherwise it's a total crapshoot.

Individual spices:
I've used straight molasses, and it's really good right up until it ferments out, and then it's quite terrible. Brown sugar seems like it contributes good flavor though, which doesn't seem logical. Maybe only very small amounts of molasses are ok.

For vanilla I cut up the beans into small pieces with scissors, put those in a jar, and cover with bourbon. Apply the lid. That gets gently stirred on a stir plate for a couple days, just enough speed to keep it all moving.

For ginger, the length of the boil affects how spicy it is. If you like the heat, use a shorter boil, otherwise boil it longer.

Heat seems to bring down the spicy hotness of cinnamon also.
There are several types of cinnamon, so make sure you have the one you want. You can break up the sticks to increase the fresh flavor without needed to grate them.

Be very conservative with freshly grated spices. They are very potent. I learned that the hard way by adding fresh ground spice in the boil based on a previous non-fresh spice amount.

Spice flavor in general does seem to hold pretty well through fermentation, with the exception of molasses, honey, and probably vanilla.


Not trying to derail the thread, but I use a completely different grain bill than the OP.
Article:
https://beerandbrewing.com/brewing-the-perfect-pumpkin-ale/
Recipe:
https://beerandbrewing.com/perfect-pumpkin-ale-recipe/
I obviously don't follow everything he suggests exactly (I can't even find the particular pumpkins he recommends), but the grain bill, yeast, gravity, and IBU in the recipe are excellent imo. I'm sure this would be a great beer even without the pumpkin and spice.


I've only done 2 step mashes ever, so I can't really comment on that.

Hope that answers everything! Cheers

Thank you so much! You gave me a lot of great suggestions and additional reading material! I appreciate it very much!

 

[Wayne1]

The best pumpkin beer I have ever tasted was entered in competition by SGT. Scott Jackson.
It was brought to my attention maybe 6-8 years ago during compitition. A grand Master judge handed me a sample and said " What do you think?" I thought it was fabulous. I contacted Scott that night and we made arangements to brew this beer at Staiton 26. There will be more photos later

 

[Wayne1]

Sorry, I guess I removed those pictures from my phone.
Anyway, the recipe was published in Zymurgy. If you are a member of AHA you can find it here: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/saison-dpotiron-pocahontas-pumpkin-ale/

It uses a combination of 2 row and 6 row with canned pumpkin in the mash, along with biscuit, melanoiden and some light crystal. There is maple syrup and honey added at the end of the boil.

The MOST important part was to use ONLY McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice in it. Scott tried different brands and blending spices himself. He says the McCormick give the best, traditional pumpkin pie aroma and flavor.

This recipe was also discussed here on HBT some time ago: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/zymurgy-pocahontas-pumpkin-ale-2013.429819/

Scaling up from 12 gallons to 500 gallons was interesting. Trying to find 250 lbs of canned pumpkin was a challenge. It was also an expensive beer to make as I used 120 lbs of wildflower honey and 120 lbs of Very Dark Strong Maple Syrup from Bascom Farms.

It did turn out very, very good. Scott ended up with a 5 gallon keg of it each year we made it.

 

[RPh_Guy]

If you are a member of AHA you can find it here: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/saison-dpotiron-pocahontas-pumpkin-ale/

I've attached a PDF of that article for anyone interested. Hope that's allowed.

 

[HiImBrian]

Gonna brew this up tomorrow. I can appreciate a simple recipe. I've seen a lot of Pumkin Ale's with super complex malt bills and I'm just not a fan. I'll report back later after the brew (maybe).
p.s. subscribed.

 

[user 263363]

Gonna brew this up tomorrow. I can appreciate a simple recipe. I've seen a lot of Pumkin Ale's with super complex malt bills and I'm just not a fan. I'll report back later after the brew (maybe).
p.s. subscribed.

I promise you won’t be disappointed. Definitely let it age as others have said and it will be perfect.

 

[CodeSection]

...It uses a combination of 2 row and 6 row with canned pumpkin in the mash, along with biscuit, melanoiden and some light crystal. There is maple syrup and honey added at the end of the boil.

The MOST important part was to use ONLY McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice in it. Scott tried different brands and blending spices himself. He says the McCormick give the best, traditional pumpkin pie aroma and flavor.

This recipe was also discussed here on HBT some time ago: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/zymurgy-pocahontas-pumpkin-ale-2013.429819/

I had family visiting over the weekend and last night we went to BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse and I had their Pumpkin Spice Ale.....it was delicious! Tonight, I finally was able to read the article and recipe. I'm going to brew this recipe instead. Thank you to you and @RPh_Guy for providing the recipe!

Just a couple of quick questions:
1) the recipe calls for 6 Row; have you tried it with GW 2 row? Or should I stay with 100% 6 Row? I have plenty of GW 2 Row. I believe 6 Row has DP 160 vs GW DP 141.
2) I have WLP001 and US05 on hand; did you stay with WLP008 or have you tried using others?

 

[Wayne1]

I used Rahr 2 and 6 row standard. Mashing the pumpkin does require a bit more DP. Cost is the same. I split it 50/50. I used US-05 with good results. I subbed Biscuit for Victory as that is what the distributor closest to me carries. Same for Rahr.