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

[Yuri_Rage]

Recipe Type

Extract

Yeast

WLP002 English Ale

Yeast Starter

Yes - at least 1L

Batch Size (Gallons)

5

Original Gravity

1.053

Final Gravity

1.015

Boiling Time (Minutes)

60

IBU

32.1

Color

14.3

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

7

Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)

14 - rack off of trub to clear

6 Gallon Extract + Steeping Grains Recipe

Recipe still current as of Sep 2015
This recipe has been changed to reflect improvements over the years.
The final volume should be 6 gallons, not 5 as the data above indicates.
The IBUs should be 12-14, not 32.1 as the data above indicates.

6.25 lbs light DME
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt
4.0 oz Wheat, Flaked
60.00 oz Pumpkin, Canned (Boil 60.0 min)

.75 oz Goldings (5.0% AA 60.0 min) 13 IBU

0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) or one Whirlfloc tablet

Yeast - English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) or Fermentis S-04

Spread the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees F before adding to the brew.

Steep the grains for 20-30 minutes at about 155°F.

During clearing stage, add a spice tea of 1 tsp "Pumpkin Pie Spice" or Pampered Chef "Cinnamon Plus." Steep spices in 1 cup hot water for 10-15 minutes, cool then add. Consider adding the spice tea a little at a time to achieve the desired flavor profile.

There will be several inches of trub almost regardless of how you try to contain the pumpkin. Your yield may be slightly less than 5 gallons.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

15 Gallon All Grain Recipe

Recipe still current as of Sep 2015
This recipe has been changed to reflect improvements over the years.

21.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
5.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
2.50 lb Biscuit Malt
1.00 lb Wheat, Flaked
180.00 oz Pumpkin, Canned (a dozen 15oz cans - baked on a sheet as described in the extract recipe, cooled, and added to the mash)

2.25 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] (60 min)

3 Tablets Whirlfloc (Boil 10.0 min)

Yeast - English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) or Fermentis S-04

Single infusion mash at 158° F for 45-60 mins
Mash out at 168°F
Sparge with 178°F water to collect 17.5g of wort
Boil 60 mins

Est OG: 1.057
Est FG: 1.018
Est ABV: 4.99 %
Bitterness: 13.0 IBU
Est Color: 14.2 SRM

During clearing stage, add a spice tea of 1/2 tbsp "Pumpkin Pie Spice" or Pampered Chef "Cinnamon Plus." Steep spices in 1 cup hot water for 10-15 minutes, cool then add. Consider adding the spice tea a little at a time to achieve the desired flavor profile.

There will be several inches of trub almost regardless of how you try to contain the pumpkin. Your yield may be slightly less than 15 gallons.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Sounds like a solid brew, Yuri. I'm going to have to go pick up a pumpkin brew soon and see if I like it. If I do I'll scale back your recipe to 5 gal and go to town.

 

[mr x]

Did you have any luck scaling this to a 5 gallon batch? I halved the numbers and put them in BeerSmith, but that didn't do it. O.G still way high.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

BeerSmith will scale the recipe for you. There's a button at the top expressly for that purpose.

 

[mr x]

Aha.....I'll try that. Thanks!!

Did/would you add pumpkin as a misc item in the program?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Did/would you add pumpkin as a misc item in the program?

Yup. If you have trouble adding pumpkin to the program, just divide 180oz by 3 to get 60 oz (4 cans) for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[mr x]

Looking good now. When do you add the pumpkin to the boil?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

The beginning.

 

[jbraas]

so you put the pumpkin in the boil? i did one last year using fresh pumpkin that was in the oven a little with some pie spice on it and additonal spices in the boil.

i swear i remember putting that pumpkin in the mash, but it took lowsy (aka no) notes on that. I will do better this year. I have positive reviews on taste in the past...

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Sorry, forgot we were talking about the AG version. Mash the pumpkin.

 

[Alamo_Beer]

Hey Yuri how long do you let this age? Also, are we talking about the can's of pumpkin pie filling?

thanks!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I age it just like most other ales - it's good at about 6 weeks.

NOT pumpkin pie filling, canned pumpkin. Similar, but not the same.

Here's a scanned label of the stuff I use:

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Some pictures of the brew (9/21/07):

 

[Yuri_Rage]

And some more:

 

[Dude]

Some pictures of the brew (9/21/07):

If I didn't know better, I'd swear you had white socks on with red stripes at the top! DORK!

What "style" is this beer based on? Almost looks ESBish.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

If I didn't know better, I'd swear you had white socks on with red stripes at the top! DORK!

What "style" is this beer based on? Almost looks ESBish.

Hey, ya gotta brew in style...

When I first created the recipe, I used American Amber Ale as the base style. As you can see, I hopped it a little aggressively last year, thinking that the spicy notes from the hops might meld with the flavors from the spices and pumpkin. Since that was hardly the case, I cut the hops back to a single bittering addition, and it's a style of its own at this point.

 

[lpdean]

I have been eyeing this recipe up and before I made a batch I figured I would try a commercial pumpkin ale first to see what the taste is all about. I tried Saranac's Pumpkin Ale and was not overly impressed. It was ok but maybe I was expecting too much. I didn't taste much pumpkin in it at all. I was kinda looking foward to pumpkin pie in a bottle and didn't get that at all.

I guess what I am asking is.........with this recipe should I expect pumpkin pie in a bottle or beer with some nutmeg/cinamon/clove tastes?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Yup, this is pretty much pumpkin pie in a bottle. The pumpkin flavor is subtle, the hops are very mild, the yeast should leave some residual sweetness, and the spices are about the same as those you would use in pumpkin pie.

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

Can someone scale this back to 5-gallons, I don't have brewsmith and I would really like to do this.

Yuri, are you partial to WLP002 or would another strain like Wyeast 1098 British Ale or 1056 American Ale work?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'm partial to a clean fermenting strain that will leave a bit of residual maltiness - WLP002 is a great strain for that, but 1056/US-56 or 1098 will do just fine if you can't get WLP002.

I used four packages of Nottingham (yes, I overpitched...on purpose!) this year. I went out to check on the fermenter a few minutes ago, and I had a blow-off! 15 gallons of beer in a 21 gallon fermenter with easily 6 inches of head space managed to climb all the way up the ferementer walls and into/out of the blow off tube! It's down from 1.058 to 1.010 in TWO DAYS! Sweet...I like overpitching a little...

 

[jbraas]

with your "re-vamped" recipe do you still do the spice tea? If so do you just place the pie spice in something like a hop bag to steep?

also the spices that you use in the recipe -- do you grind / crush / etc yourself or go with a nice pre-ground variety? is that fresh ginger?

whew, sorry for all the questions. as I indicated in an earlier post I have a recipe that I have used and friends have liked in the past. I moved this year and the fresh "neck pumpkin" that I used before seems to be in shorter supply and a little more expensive here so I was thinking of making some changes.

sorry again for all the questions and thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Yuri_Rage]

No spice tea required with the new recipe. I used pre-ground spices and intended to use fresh ginger but wound up using a little ground ginger instead.

 

[jbraas]

No spice tea required with the new recipe. I used pre-ground spices and intended to use fresh ginger but wound up using a little ground ginger instead.

very nice, thanks for the continued feedback on this!

 

[Castawayales]

Does the Pumpkin add any sugar when mashed, or is it just for flavor?

Barry

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

Does the Pumpkin add any sugar when mashed, or is it just for flavor?

Barry

The pumpkin is mostly starch, some of which will be converted to sugar in the mash and some will remain starch and add mouth-feel and flavor. I am a little worried about driving most of the flavor off in the boil, and am thinking about adding some more canned pumpkin to the boil towards the end.


For those who are interested, I scaled this back to 5 gallons with brewsmith and it is almost exactly 1/3 recipe...

7# 2-row
1.66# Crystal 60
0.83# Biscuit Malt
0.33# Flaked Wheat

60oz Pumpkin

1 and 1/8oz EK Goldings 60m

all spiced just use 1/3 of what yuri posted

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

Yuri, random question as I am getting ready to brew this tomorrow maybe...how do you account for the pumpkin in the mash as far as mash water ratio? I usually mash at about 1.3 qt/lb, should I adjust this at all for the added pumpkin (I am doing a 10-gallon batch after all) or just not worry about it?
Thanks

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

Word to the wise on this one.

If you use a ss braid in your MLT, DO NOT add the pumpkin to the mash, I am sitting here with a hopelessly stuck sparge, I am about to just dump it out and give up on brewing for today. Just add the pumkin to the boil and reduce the amount you use.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Perhaps I forgot to drive this point home well enough...the sparge will be SLOW! It took me 4 hours to fly sparge 15 gallons (twice the normal time). In this case, batch sparging really won't be much faster...the wort just drains really slowly. There's a microbrewery in VA where they make a similar recipe and sparge for EIGHT hours for a 15 gallon batch. Be patient!

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

I gave up and dumped it, I don't think that this would have even drained in 8 hours, it was just dribbling out...oh well...$40 down the drain.