Autumn Seasonal Beer Richard's Pumpkin Ale

[RichBrewer]

I'm betting that the honey will be about the same or maybe slightly more fermentable than the maple syrup. Should be good!
Keep us updated.

 

[brokenanchor]

Brewed 10 gallons Thursday with the roommates, but subbed the maple syrup with golden brown sugar (because we're cheap), and toned down the spices just a little (because we plan on drinking it in only a couple months). Like everyone else said it fermented hard and fast. Completely fermented out by Sunday. It was nice to have a recipe to work around, thanks Rich!

 

[FatsMcBrew]

That's interesting. I Specifically bought a used Carboy, and a blowoff tube setup because evreyone was saying this beer fermented hard, but Mine is fermenting nice and steady. I have 1 1/2 inch of Krausen, and a constant stream of bubbles but no blowoff yet. It's been going steadily since Sunday morning.

 

[Coastarine]

I plan to make this with a few tweaks:

-Using MO as my base malt
-Instead of 8oz C40, I'm using 4oz C20 + 4oz C120
-I'm going to try mashing my pumpkin this year
-I want the spices to shine through a little more so I'm making a tea based on your amounts + a tbd amnt of ginger and clove. (I love those two)
-I'll be adding a few tbs of maple extract. I've used this before in beers where maple was desired because I have heard that the syrup just doesn't really get the flavor into the beer. I've had good results.
-I may be serving this on beergas through the stout faucet, but only after I drink it for a little while from a regular tap. I've heard that any particulate in the beer can clog the restrictor plate in the stout faucet, and I've seen the fibrous gunk that settles out of pumpkin beers.

The hydrometer sample from this showed big promise. Much better than last year's attempt. I was impressed by how much my one 15oz can of pumpkin in the mash came through to the flavor, especially since I couldn't smell it during the boil. I was intrigued by the flavor of it though, if I didn't know it was from the pumpkin I might have thought it was a belgian yeast. I pitched and fermented with US-05 at a strictly controlled 68*F so I know I didn't get esters from that. I have yet to add my spice tea, so I'm really looking forward to the final product.

 

[MarshyTheKid]

I'm thinking of trying this. I'm not sure if it will be ready by the end of Novemberish though.

 

[Mainebrew]

Just put this together a little under 2 wks ago, sg of 1.065,fg of 1.009. Tasted sample and it was a little hot but should smooth out. I did not get a hint of pumpkin that much though. and the spices I back down to about 2/3 and even that seemed a little unoticable. Hopefully this smooths out after a few weeks and the pumpkin will join the spices and be good. If not I will add a little more spice during kegging.

I think that the burn from the alcohol drowned the rest of the flavor out. I did use notti for yeast but that was the only difference.

 

[Coastarine]

I didn't add any spices during the boil, as I outlined earlier, so two days ago I made a spice tea as follows:

Boil 8oz water, kill heat, wait 1min.
Add 1tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg.
Let it steep for 5 mins, then add to secondary (tea and spices).

I also added about 1.5oz of maple extract.

Today I took a taste: AWESOME. I'm really excited for this one. I also am noticing that putting the pumpkin in the mash means a clear beer much sooner. Last year I boiled the pumpkin and it took forever to clear, leaving a big layer of pumpkin trub in the secondary. This year It is only 5 days into secondary and it is already pretty clear. I wasn't able to taste the maple at all. I have another half ounce which I will add but I don't expect that I'll taste it. Maybe I'll buy another 4oz bottle and add the whole thing to see if I taste it then.

 

[strangebrewer]

I'm planning on making this tommorrow. At what point did you put in the maple syrup? Maybe if it is added at the end of the boil the flavor will come through more? But then will 2.5 lbs be too much?

 

[RichBrewer]

I'm planning on making this tommorrow. At what point did you put in the maple syrup? Maybe if it is added at the end of the boil the flavor will come through more? But then will 2.5 lbs be too much?

I added the Maple Syrup at flame out. Maybe add more maple syrup or even add it after primary fermentation dies off? I'm just not sure.

 

[brokenanchor]

Threw 2 carboys in the keezer a few days ago, and I'm hoping to get about 12 gallons out of this batch, since I think we did a good job of whirlpooling and had minimum trub. Probably kegging tomorrow during the brew day. I'm stoked for this brew to be on tap!

 

[strangebrewer]

Made it today, I added 1 pound maple syrup at flameout, and plan on adding about another pound or so when I rack it. Best smelling beer I ever made!

 

[JLem]

I didn't add any spices during the boil, as I outlined earlier, so two days ago I made a spice tea as follows:

Boil 8oz water, kill heat, wait 1min.
Add 1tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg.
Let it steep for 5 mins, then add to secondary (tea and spices).

I also added about 1.5oz of maple extract.

Today I took a taste: AWESOME. I'm really excited for this one. I also am noticing that putting the pumpkin in the mash means a clear beer much sooner. Last year I boiled the pumpkin and it took forever to clear, leaving a big layer of pumpkin trub in the secondary. This year It is only 5 days into secondary and it is already pretty clear. I wasn't able to taste the maple at all. I have another half ounce which I will add but I don't expect that I'll taste it. Maybe I'll buy another 4oz bottle and add the whole thing to see if I taste it then.

Any more updates?? How did it turn out in the end with the spices and completely conditioned??

 

[Coastarine]

This was a good beer! I served it through a stout faucet which I since sold. This year's pumpkin ale will be on conventional CO2 and will be a very similar recipe. I never really enjoyed more than one pint of it at a time, and by the end of the keg got a little sick of it (hah) but it's a seasonal, almost novelty style to me. The spice level was good, but I'm going to be experimenting with spice tincture instead of tea. I'll probably just dump a bit of pumpkin pie spice in a mason jar with vodka. I'll be using that for the occasional spiced cider also.

 

[thewerx]

I plan on making this beer my first all-grain attempt. Nothing like baptism by fire, right?

I think I'm all set up to brew this, but is there any specifics I should know about, considering this is my transition from Extract to All-Grain?

 

[smuth10]

Just finished reading through this thread and have decided to make this beer for my wife as she loves pumpkin beer. After reading through everyone's comments I put in a few changes to Beersmith and this is what I came up with.

TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Size: 8.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 7.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
12 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 82.76 %
2 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 13.79 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 3.45 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [7.00 %] (60 min) Hops 15.3 IBU
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (30 min) Hops 8.4 IBU
0.33 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Clove, Ground (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.50 tsp Allspice, Ground (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.50 tsp Nutmeg, Ground (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
2.50 tsp Cinnamon Ground (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
4.00 lb Roasted Pumpkin (Boil 90.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs SafAle America Ale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 14.50 lb
----------------------------
My Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Step Add 18.13 qt of water at 164.8 F 153.0 F
10 min Mashout Heat to 168.0 F over 8 min 168.0 F


I thought about doing the spice tea, but I think I am going to just put them in there for the boil on the first try. I am going to use fresh whole spices and grind them down just before I pitch them in the boil. I am also going to get some local pumpkins and roast them myself. Kuhnhenn Brewery by me made a pumpkin a few years back and it was the best I had ever had. He said they used fresh spices and roasted pumpkin. I just upped the MO grain to compensate for the lack of maple syrup and upped the EK Golding to 1oz to get the IBU's close to the original. I should have time to make this over the weekend and I will post back with results.

For some reason HBT will not let me upload a .bsm file, so if you want the Beersmith file just send me a PM and I will email it to you.

 

[pikeman94]

I have been reading this thread and a few others. The spice payload seems to run the gambit.

This recipe:
2.50 Tsp Cinnamon Spice 10 Min.(boil)
1.50 Tsp Nutmeg Spice 10 Min.(boil)
1.50 Tsp Allspice Spice 10 Min.(boil)

or

Another one I found:
1 t. cinnamon (5 min)
1/2 t. allspice (5 min)
1/2 t. ground ginger (5 min)
1/4 t. nutmeg (5 min)
1/4 t. clove (5 min)

My question is, does the higher amount in this recipe and the longer it boil time of 10 minutes help to level out the spice aroma/flavor? As opposed to the other spice payload where it is a lower amount and almost at the very end of the boil.

Very curious.

Either way this one is on deck. I may change the up the grain to this:

9.50 lbs. American 2-row America
2.00 lbs. Munich Malt(2-row) America
2.00 lbs. Crystal 60

The Crystal 60 seems to help make up for the sugars provided by the maple syrup. It seemed that almost everyone that used it said the flavor washed out. I am toying with changing even the 2-row to MO. Opinons appreciated!

Pikeman

 

[CheemsAF]

Made this beer about 2 weeks ago. I followed the original recipe pretty closely, but used Wyeast 1056 American Ale.

Here are some of my observations thus far:
Collected 6.25 gal as directed and ended up with 5.5 in the bucket with all the additions. I needed a blow off tube as it blew off about .2 gals worth of crap in the 1st 72 hours. My OG was 1.069...after 5 days it registered at 1.010 in the primary. I couldn't believe my eyes. I took a 2nd sample and it was the same. So I racked it into a secondary glass carboy leaving behind about .75 gals of orange trub (the most stuff I've ever seen on the bottom). It's now sitting at 35F degs and most of the particulates seem to have fallen out of suspension.

One thing I noticed when I was cleaning the primary fermenter was the bottom of the trub had a lot of the spices in it, yet the flavor of them is still in the secondary...interesting.

I plan on kegging it. It'll be my first kegged beer. Can't wait, I'm expecting it to be ready around Turkey Day.

 

[damnyankee]

Ugh...I can't do cinnamon in pumpkin pie. In fact, I make my own old-fashion pumpkin pies from scratch because I can't stand any of the pumpkin pies on the market today (a 100+ year old WVa recipe from my grandmother; which I believe includes allspice). They have cinnamon or too much nutmeg, or a spice which just overpowers the pumpkin and ruins the entire pie. Her recipe is PERFECT...so I'll take a look at her old recipe later today (spice-wise) and try out a one gallon batch to see how it tastes and tweak the spices as needed.

DY

 

[yoshiie]

I was looking for a pumpkin ale recipe to play around with and found this one. I kept the mash and boil schedule the same, upped the grain bill a bit (basically rounding up in converting to metric), subbed 0.75kg brown sugar and 0.25kg medium DME for the maple syrup, and nugget hops for both additons. I got a fairly high OG of 1.072, and upped my IBUs a tad as well, but I have a long time to mature it before the fall.

The wort sample tasted great, however, so I wonder if it will even make it to the summer!

 

[mredge73]

I plan on brewing this summer so it will be ready for fall.
I have concerns on how I am going to cool it.
I love my plate chiller but have read stories about it easily clogging up.
Should I avoid using the plate chiller on this beer?
How detrimental would it be to the flavor of the beer to leave the hop strainer attached and use the chiller?

 

[alix101]

Just finished an epic brew day ... Hope this beer tastes good when it's done ...otherwise it's 5 gal of lawn feed what a mess !!!!

 

[Beerzilla]

I was looking for a pumpkin ale recipe to play around with and found this one. I kept the mash and boil schedule the same, upped the grain bill a bit (basically rounding up in converting to metric), subbed 0.75kg brown sugar and 0.25kg medium DME for the maple syrup, and nugget hops for both additons. I got a fairly high OG of 1.072, and upped my IBUs a tad as well, but I have a long time to mature it before the fall.

The wort sample tasted great, however, so I wonder if it will even make it to the summer!

Yoshiie,
I live in Japan too and am looking at doing a pumpkin ale for this Fall. Did you use Japanese kabocha or canned American pumpkin? I'm curious if there's a difference and thinking the Japanese variety might be a little more sweet and flavorful. What do you think?

lemme know how yours turns out!

 

[yoshiie]

Great to see more homebrewers in Japan! I did use Japanese kabocha (1.6kg after peeling 4 bags of frozen cubes).

As for how it turned out, I tried one last week and it made me ultra nostalgic for pumpkin pie! It took almost two months after bottling to mellow out, and I got a lot of off-flavors (phenolic, rubber band) trying one 2 weeks after bottling but they've disappeared. The kabocha seems more pronounced in the mouthfeel and flavor, but it's the spices that really come through well in the aroma. My only regret is that I didn't make 10 gallons, only 5!

Best of luck to you!

 

[trebor]

Put the pumpkin (3 lbs) in a nylon bag, do the boil for 90 minutes, remove the bag to elimate a huge amount of trub. It'll save you headaches. You don't need a 2 month ferment. Put it in the secondary for two weeks, to clean up the residue, bottle condition for 6 +/- weeks, refrigerate for 3+/- weeks...and love it. Can the allspice, use corriander, can the maple syrup, you'll never appreciate it anyway. There are better grains to utilize....if your interested repost.

 

[craigbrew]

I have read this whole thread and I want to make this beer. Just one question.

Why the 90 min boil?

thanks in advance
CraigBrew

 

[jgoette]

Richard,

any chance you could setup an ingredient list on BrewMastersWarehouse.com?

I'm interested in getting this going for fall/winter brew, possibly xmas presents if it turns out well...

thanks!

 

[trebor]

I have read this whole thread and I want to make this beer. Just one question.

Why the 90 min boil?

thanks in advance
CraigBrew

It will produce melenoidins and a more dextrinis wort, one of the great effects of a good pumpkin ale.

 

[bdbriggs]

Put the pumpkin (3 lbs) in a nylon bag, do the boil for 90 minutes, remove the bag to elimate a huge amount of trub. It'll save you headaches. You don't need a 2 month ferment. Put it in the secondary for two weeks, to clean up the residue, bottle condition for 6 +/- weeks, refrigerate for 3+/- weeks...and love it. Can the allspice, use corriander, can the maple syrup, you'll never appreciate it anyway. There are better grains to utilize....if your interested repost.

Trebor - how much of the corriander and what grain bill do you suggest - I'm planning on the following:
2 Row - 10lbs
Munich (Light) - 2lbs
Crystal 40L - .5 lbs

 

[trebor]

Trebor - how much of the corriander and what grain bill do you suggest - I'm planning on the following:
2 Row - 10lbs
Munich (Light) - 2lbs
Crystal 40L - .5 lbs

10 lbs 2 row
1/2 lb carapils
1 lb munich malt
1 lb vienna malt
1/2 lb crystal malt 60L
1 1/2 oz chinook at the boil
1 oz willamette and 1/2 oz cascade at 20 minute mark
1/2 oz cascade at the 2 minute mark
1 tbsp cinnamon and 1/2 tbsp nutmeg at 90 minute
1 tbsp cinnamon and 1/2 tbsp nutmeg at 20 minute
1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp nutmeg and 1 tbsp crushed whole corriander at the 2 minute
1 tbsp irish moss if desired, I don't use it
Use fresh spices. I often throw out kit spices as the are of inferior quality and age. Get whole corrinader, use a morter and pestle.
I use either 3 lbs of canned organic pumpkin or an eight pound pumpkin seeded with the exterior removed, cut into 1 inch cubes, then baked until soft at 350 degrees. some folks let it turn dark brown. for a more intense flavor, the choice is yours. I use a nylon bag in the boil to avoid the HUGE trub...some folks don't. ferment for at least 7 days. secondary for another two weeks. the secondary will allow you to siphon the beer off the trub. let bottle condition for 3-4 weeks. refrigerate condition for 2-3 weeks. this beer will hold up for a good year + bottled. it is an awesome product, you can add variations. don't use ginger, ugh....of course unless you're a ginger fan...then I'm sure it's good. give it time.....you won't be disappointed.

 

[trebor]

oh...I forgot to mention the color....the color! It's also awesome...an orangeish glow.