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

[craigbrew]

I made this awhile back and it is good. I mashed the pumpkin added 2 Tbps of pumpkin pie spice with 5 min left. racked after 10 days added 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice. At bottling I added 1/2 cup Lacto.

I just took it to the local brew pub (Kuhnhenns) and let the owners taste it, they both said that it was a very good pumpkin ale and that I should enter it in competitions. I just happen to take it up there the same day that they brought out their Pumpkin ale.

 

[FuelshopMcgee]

Here is what I did yesterday to make this beer really something interesting. I crushed up 2 ginger snap cookies w/ half of a honey graham cracker. Put in 1/2 a tsp of green (or whatever color you want) decorating sugar...Dipped the rim of the glass as you would w/ a margarita and dipped the wet glass into the crumbles...The entire beer you find yourself moving the glass around to get some more of the cookie taste in w/ the beer. Think of it as adding the crust to the pumpkin pie It was awesome and I'm telling you TRY IT!

 

[dracus]

Ok, I tasted this at one week. It was yummy, spicey but seems a bit "thin" Head as light and thin.

Tasted another brew, at 2 weeks. WOW. The head was fluffy and the spices had melded together, the thinness was nearly gone. I fully suspect 1 more week and this will be go from yummy and delicious to absolutely amazing.

 

[cryptonic84]

its finally sitting in a keg, i think i timed it perfectly for being ready for thanksgiving. we will see. can't wait to try it.

 

[dmbnpj]

The "tea" refers to boiling the spices in some water to sanitize. The boiling water extracts the spices flavors and you have a sanitized, spice flavored, solution you can safely add.

How long would you recommend boiling the spices?

 

[cryptonic84]

After aging and carbonating it, it is ready for thanksgiving. and i couldn't help myself, so i decided to try it. A-MAZING

i am going to brew up a batch to have in the summer just because i can

 

[McBrewski]

Just tried mine after 3 weeks of carbonating, and it is awesome.

 

[dracus]

I just wanted to say...This is a great brew...It really does need to age a bit though. I just had a bottle about 4 or 5 weeks out and its was fabulous.

The spices were perfect, and it has a crisp malty aftertaste that lingers along with the spices. All thinness originally reported was gone. The beer is light in terms of body but it is well balanced with a nice mouth feel from the pumpkin.

I like this beer sooo much I bought 10 cans of pumpkin so I can make it again. Going to do this all grain next time.

Yuri, thanks a lot for the recipe. The pumpkin mess is WELL worth it.

 

[corvax13]

I just submitted this to my first competition and WON best in category!

I did the extract version, and just tweaked a couple things - added the full oz of hops, and did "continous" hopping, adding a couple pellets every 5 minutes or so. I also added a pinch more pumpkin spice.

Thanks Yuri! This brew is my best so far, and has been a great hit with co-workers and friends/family. I am hoping to brew this again soon!

 

[dmbnpj]

How long would you recommend boiling the spices?

Well I boiled the spices in about a cup of water and it came out to be a sludge. I added that to my fermentation bucket. Hope it comes out ok.

 

[Jun]

With Careful planning I had my beer ready for Thanksgiving.

I do have to say that everything that could have possibly go wrong with the mash did go wrong, it got stuck 3 times even fith a truckload of rice huls, but I am not that kind of a person that woud give up easily.
Surprisingly it came out great!

Everyone loved the beer.
Thanks Yuri for the recipe

 

[midfielder5]

Mine has this 'flavor'...hard for me to discern whether the beer is "green" or whether that is the pumpkin flavor.
It has been in bottles since 11/9. I cracked it open today.

 

[Joe C]

 

[dracus]

Ok, going to make this one again it was so good. Plus its going to be my second all grain batch. Wish me luck...

 

[HopEd]

Has anyone ever just left this in a primary for 3 to 4 weeks instead of putting it in the secondary? I'm wondering if leaving it on the pumpkin trub for a bit longer would help or hurt the final taste and mouthfeel. Any thoughts?

I just bottled a pumpkin porter (extract) in which I had boiled a whole pumpkin along with the LME and hops. I left it in the primary for 4 - 5 weeks because of my lack of bottles and time. I primed with a cup of DME and the first draw from the bottling bucket tasted a bit sour. The leftovers at the end were more spicey and less sour, however. When I went to dump the trub in the compost bin, I stuck my head in the bucket and the smell made me want to puke. Hopefully, the beer will mellow out. I'm going to give it a while.

I'll post again in a month when I try a bottle, however, I have nothing to compare it to since this is my first pumpkin beer. Check out my blog and you can read about my other skrew up.

Well I boiled the spices in about a cup of water and it came out to be a sludge. I added that to my fermentation bucket. Hope it comes out ok.

A year ago I did a cinnamon and nutmeg infusion for a holiday ale and it turned sludgey. I've also got some sludge issues with my current pumpkin porter. I think some of these ground spices are not completely water soluable.

 

[mb2696]

i'm a season behind, but i think i'm going to make this. just read the whole thread and it sounds like the consensus for the best pumpkin flavor is to do 60oz of pumpkin per 5gal in the mash? you guys still agree?

 

[Scut_Monkey]

i'm a season behind, but i think i'm going to make this. just read the whole thread and it sounds like the consensus for the best pumpkin flavor is to do 60oz of pumpkin per 5gal in the mash? you guys still agree?

I used 60oz. I did roast it in the oven for about 1.5 hours and the flavor did increase and became more rich tasting. I still haven't tapped it yet but all the samples point to a great beer.

Just remember to account for the pumpkin in calculating your strike temperature.

 

[mb2696]

I used 60oz. I did roast it in the oven for about 1.5 hours and the flavor did increase and became more rich tasting. I still haven't tapped it yet but all the samples point to a great beer.

Just remember to account for the pumpkin in calculating your strike temperature.

thanks. as far as strike temp... i do the "overheat stike, transfer to mash tun, let cool down to strike temp, then mash in" method. i was thinking of just adding the pumpkin in with the strike water and letting the water/pumpkin mix cool down to strike temp, then mashing in

also, did you do the spice tea method at secondary or did you boil the spices? either way, how did it turn out in terms of pumpkin/spice balance? i don't want the spices to be too strong and i want to be able to taste the pumpkin

 

[Scut_Monkey]

I added the recommended spices at flame out. After sampling I then added the same quantity of spices to the secondary with a spice tea. It seems to be where I want it now which is pumpkin pie like but not gross.

 

[mb2696]

I added the recommended spices at flame out. After sampling I then added the same quantity of spices to the secondary with a spice tea. It seems to be where I want it now which is pumpkin pie like but not gross.

good to know...thats basically what i'm shooting for (pumpkin pie like but not gross).

 

[JamesM]

I way over did mine with the spice tea method, but after a few months in the bottle the flavor mellowed significantly. Its still really spicy, but it wasn't even drinkable at first.

 

[craigbrew]

Does any one know what base style beer this would be put in. I entered it in a competion and they hammered me because I didn't select a base style. I want to enter it again.

I got a 34.5 for a score.

 

[mb2696]

I brewed up 5 gals of this last weekend. I did mash the pumpkin and didn't have any lautering/sparing problems. I did include about 0.5# of rice hulls though. I also roasted the pumpkin for 90m at 350 as suggested by some, and would also recommend it myself. It does seem to intensify the pumpkin flavor. Lastly, I added 1.5tsp pumpkin pie spice (dissolved in warm water) at flameout. Overall the wort turned out really good. It really resembled a piece of pumpkin pie, but not gross, and the balance of pumpkin and spice was pretty good. Can't wait to see how it turns out...

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The base style is somewhere between a mild and a brown ale. It's a little too high in ABV for a mild, but it's a bit light for a brown. I'd go with 11C. Northern English Brown for the base style.

 

[Korben]

Want to have this completely done around early November. I was thinking about brewing the extract version (would like to do a partial mash it there is a recipe out tere). However, I cannot find pumpkin. Thought about ordering it online. I have also read various opinions about roasting times from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, what effect will the longer roasting have. Also, has anyone tried this brew without the pumpkin and if so have you compared it to those with the pumpkin?

Thanks.

 

[kingmatt]

Getting ready to brew this and can't find a concensus in this thread on whether to add the pumpkin right to the boil or to put it in a grain bag?

I am brewing the extract version, thanks!

 

[brewdude25]

Did it at the boil and it worked perfect for me!

 

[kingmatt]

Did it at the boil and it worked perfect for me!

Yes, but did you put it in a grain bag or just dump the pumpkin right into the wort?

 

[k1200rsvt]

I used roasted "fresh" pumpkin and did not use a grain bag. I ran the wort through a metal strainer before putting it in the carboy and I still had one massive pile of trub in the bottom of the carboy but everything seemed to go fine.

 

[kingmatt]

I'm thinking I will just add the pumpkin and hops right into the wort and skip the bag, then just pour through a 5 gallon paint strainer when I move to my primary.