Autumn Seasonal Beer Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale (AG and Extract versions)

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With just a single bittering addition like I recommend, you won't get much hop flavor, even from Amarillo. Just cut the amount accordingly so you don't overbitter.
 
I wound up using a spice mix for my last batch. It worked out to about 1 Tbsp of Pampered Chef's Cinnamon Plus for a 15 gallon batch (IIRC, ground ginger is one of the ingredients in Cinnamon Plus).

Anything similar to this I can find at the grocery store? I did find this copycat recipe but it seems like a PITA to make it.....

http://www.recipezaar.com/45672
 
To approximate the "Cinnamon Plus" that I used, add equal amounts of ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice (a spice blend commonly sold at the grocery store). So, for a 15 gallon batch, add 1.5 tsp cinnamon and 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

The ingredients listed on the "Cinnamon Plus" canister are: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, orange peel, cloves, and ginger. All of the spices are ground together very finely, and the resulting product looks like ground cinnamon.
 
To answer the Guy who is asking about the S/S braid in the mash tun:
Yes it will work as long as you include the Rice Hulls.
I made a pumpkin beer similar to this last year and it worked out just fine with a s/s braid in my mash tun.
Rice Hulls help beat the Gelatinous mess in the mash tun.

As Yuri says long slow sparge, if you try and sparge fast you will get a stuck sparge no matter how many rice hulls you use.
 
On friday, i made variation of this recipe and Lakefront Brewery's Pumpkin Lager. I made a 10 gal batch, split it in half; pitched 5 gal with 1056 ale yeast and 5 gal with 2206 Bavarian Lager yeast (both washed). I'm trying to distinguish differences between lagering conventionally typically feremnted ales, etc. I've read about how great Lakefront's Pumpkin Lager was and got inspired. I'll let you guys know if it works.
 
For the 5 gal Extract version do you sub the Goldings listed in the All Grain for the Cascade and Fuggles? And if so do you boil for just the single 60 mins with the same amount or do I need to scale it back. :drunk:
 
Your extract recipe says 30oz canned pumpkin for 5 gallons and your AG says 60oz for 5 gallons. I am looking to do an extract variation and am wondering if I should stick with the 30oz.

Thanks!
 
I just transfered this to the secondary after two weeks in the primary. I intend to let it sit there for a month (maybe more, we'll see when I need the carboy) before bottling. Upon transfering I took a sample and found it too be a bit bitter for my taste (next time I think I'll cut the IBU to 15-17), and a little too clovy (used fresh crushed).
Yuri, I would like to up the cinnamon flavor in this a touch. Do you think adding some to the secondary would do the trick? Would I need to dilute it in boiling water, or just pitch it in (this is a 5 gal batch btw)? Tastes pretty good, otherwise. Thanks!
 
Ok, quick question. I went by the LHBS today and picked up an order of 2-Row and figured I would use some of that to brew this recipe. Here's where I ran into a slight hiccup. Yuri's recipe calls for Crystal 60, but the only thing my LHBS had was crystal 120. Since I'm only doing a 5 gal batch, I went ahead and picked up just a pound of that, figuring that I could make up the difference in OG with 2-row, which would also balance out the added color the 120 would give. Am I on the right track here?
 
Yeah half the amount will do with the crystal 120 vs the 60. Just wont add the body but that will be minimal
 
Yeah I would that will bump the body but you will be better off with something that wont add much more flavor but will add body.
 
Just another word of warning for those using a SS braid.
I used rice hulls (I forgot how much), and it still took ~2 hours to drain. I did add 90 oz of pumpkin filling for a 5g batch though. Mine did drain eventually, so don't give up! You just can't be in a hurry for this one. I would recommend adding a large amount of rice hulls.
I used Nottingham and it's bubbling away in the primary. Thanks for sharing the recipe Yuri. I'm looking forward to this one.
 
could you do a partial mash by slightly modifying the extract version of the recipe? just add 2lbs of american 2-row malt to the grain bill, and hold all the grains @ 150-155 for ~45 mins and sparge w/ 170 water? would this work out? also, if doing the partial mash as i described, would you still use the same amount of malt extract? this is my first crack at a pumpkin ale, and would like to start partial mashing, so any help would be great!
 
I have been drooling over this recipe all year but I wanted to wait 'til I was ready for AG - now its time to brew it!

Do you think a Whitbread WY1099 would be a decent yeast for this? Or a WY1056? Thats all I have around currently.
 
I just brewed this today, it tasted awesome, but man it was a LOT of work.

I used a fresh pumpkin, cut it open, cleaned it, and then boiled it for 20 minutes. After boiling I cut the skin off the pieces and then baked them for about 45 minutes at 350 ºF. I then steeped the following grains for about 25-30 minutes at 155 ºF:

1 lb Caramunich
1 lb Crystal 20L
1 lb Crystal 40L
1 lb Flaked Wheat

After steeping I sparged, then brought to a boil and added:

5 lbs Extra Light DME
0.75 oz Goldings Hops
The baked "meat" from a soccer ball sized pumpkin.

I boiled for 45 minutes, then added about 1 oz Ginger root that SWMBO sliced up for me. After 55 minutes I added 3/4 tsp Nutmeg, 1.5 tsp of Cinnamon, 1 tsp Vanilla, and 3/4 tsp Irish Moss. Everything had gone great so far, but I knew i was in for trouble because I had tried to put the pumpkin in my grain bag, and it clogged it up, so I dumped the pumpkin straight into the wort.

Even after tediously straining out about 8 quarts of pumpkin, I had some more trouble. When I added the wort to the carboy, I tried taking an OG reading and it came out very wrong (1.030). I knew my efficiency couldn't be that far off and that's when I looked at the carboy and saw some strange layering going on:



So apparently, even after my tedious straining, a LOT of pumpkin made it into the wort. I know that my OG was not accurate b/c I could easily tell the top layer that I had pulled from with a turkey baster was significantly lighter than others. I'll probably have to use the OG that beersmith gave me and see what my FG is. I'm excited for this to finish, should be very tasty.
 
I'm confused. Are we supposed to just strain the wort before transferring to primary as usual? We don't need to use a grain bag do we? I imagine the pumpkin flesh is very chunky and will be a huge PITA for a fine mesh strainer...

I plan on brewing it this weekend.
 
Brewed this back in Dec 07. Tried a bottle last week. In the beginning it was not that good, but letting it mature has done wonders. Crystal clear orange color and really tastes good.
 
I brewed 10 gallons of the AG yesterday. Everything went well. The only thing is I skipped the ginger root, because I couldn't find any. I can always make a tea and add it later. Or should I just skip it? I guess I'm asking if the ginger makes a noticeable difference or is it safe to skip. All the other spices smelled really good when I put them in the boil. I hoping this will be my best beer yet.
 
I'd like to make my next batch a Pumpkin Ale...& I'm interested in this recipe. Here's the thing...I'd like to do it without having any leftover ingredients (SWMBO is already not happy w/ beer equipment and bottles taking up room in our already crammed apartment)...so that means buying 2 3lb bags of DME and using a full oz of hops instead of .75. So compared to the original recipe...I'm under -.25 DME & +.25oz hops. Anything I could do (aside from buying more DME/using less hopes) to make it less bitter?...Could I just add sugar to the boil?
 
I'd like to make my next batch a Pumpkin Ale...& I'm interested in this recipe. Here's the thing...I'd like to do it without having any leftover ingredients (SWMBO is already not happy w/ beer equipment and bottles taking up room in our already crammed apartment)...so that means buying 2 3lb bags of DME and using a full oz of hops instead of .75. So compared to the original recipe...I'm under -.25 DME & +.25oz hops. Anything I could do (aside from buying more DME/using less hopes) to make it less bitter?...Could I just add sugar to the boil?

It might be good with a bit of brown sugar added to it, I would consider that (or 1/2 to 1 cup of honey, or both :))
 
I have been thinking about doing this recipe and I printed one out a little while ago but it is different then the recipe in this thread but with the same name.... The older one that I have I am not sure where I got it from (it was somewhere on this site) but it has a lot more spices, more and more hops. Was this an old version that has now been modified to to this current recipe?

The old recipe that I had has
1oz Cascade (60)
1oz Cascade (20)
1oz fuggles (15)
1tsp allspice
cloves
only 30oz pumpkin

and some other spices too. Does this sound like an old recipe???? Oh and I am going with extract.
 
I transferred to secondary today, it tasted a LOT like water. I think I'm gonna get some pumpkin spice and maybe some brown sugar to add to it while in secondary. Any suggestions on improving flavor?
 
Bears, I just took mine from the primary after 5 weeks. I dont think an extra .25 oz of hops would hurt it. I could smell more pumpkin than I could taste and it had very little spice flavor. I think this is gonna make a nice light drinking beer.
mkw, This is a light tasting beer, if you add brown sugar, it will either kick off fermentation again or make it sweet. Be careful adding spices It could easily mask the more subtle flavors that will become more apparent as it ages.
 
I transferred to secondary today, it tasted a LOT like water. I think I'm gonna get some pumpkin spice and maybe some brown sugar to add to it while in secondary. Any suggestions on improving flavor?

I brewed a hefe that tasted a LOT like water once too. I tried it while taking a gravity reading. But it ended up fine with tons of flavor when it was finished. I'm still a beginner but I bet yours will be fine.
 
I brewed a hefe that tasted a LOT like water once too. I tried it while taking a gravity reading. But it ended up fine with tons of flavor when it was finished. I'm still a beginner but I bet yours will be fine.

While I imagine you are right, I think I'm going to at last add some pumpkin spice and some allspice (I didn't have any at the time of brewing) to the secondary to improve the flavor. I won't overdue it, let it sit for a week and then sample it, if it needs more I'll add a little more at bottling.

Thanks for the vote of confidence though :)
 
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