Pumpkin Ale Recipe Suggestions

[sleepyjamie]

Here's what i'm thinking. Something off the top of my head so its not very accurate.

IBU ~ 18
OG Target: 1.050
FG Target: 1.012
IBU: ~ 18

86% Pale
8% Vienna
5% Light Munich
2% Crystal 60
1 canned pumpkin 10 min end of boil

Magnum 60 min 80% IBU
Willamette + Cascade 20 min 20 % IBU
Willamette Flameout

1 tbsp cinnamon flameout
1/2 tbsp nutmeg flamout
cardamom (?)

Thoughts?

[GuingesRock]

Just a thought. Could you put in some turmeric as well? would it give the beer a yellow orange pumpkin colour. Take out the crystal so it wouldn't darken the colour. Maybe a dumb suggestion. Turmeric colours oil and rice bright yellow but maybe in beer it might be more of a brown colour. I don't know. It has no real taste.

[sleepyjamie]

Just a thought. Could you put in some turmeric as well? would it give the beer a yellow orange pumpkin colour. Take out the crystal so it wouldn't darken the colour. Maybe a dumb suggestion. Turmeric colours oil and rice bright yellow but maybe in beer it might be more of a brown colour. I don't know.

hmm possible.

the crystal 60 is in there to give it a slight caramel in the finish, but not be too overpowering.

[Ladd]

Looks pretty damn good for off the top of your head!

If it were me, I'd bump the crystal up to about 5% and drop the late hop additions but keep your IBU's around 18. I think in a beer like this you want the pumpkin and spices to shine. The late hops would likely be muted by the pumpkin flavors anyway. I would also bump the pumpkin up to two cans and have started dropping the individual spices in favor of a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice (per 19L).

Some other considerations would be to spread the pumpkin on a baking sheet, sprinkle it with brown sugar and bake it at 350°F for an hour to caramelize the sugars. You can also add it right to the mash instead of the boil to help try to keep it out of your fermenter however be warned that it makes for a really sticky mash so you need to lauter really slowly. Rice hulls can make a significant difference in the mash. I think your target IBU's are perfect and I would shoot for around 15 SRM. I usually toss in about 50g of black barley (or carafa) to achieve this without imparting any flavor. Just my two cents.

Let us know what you do and how it turns out! I plan on making another batch of this over the weekend!

Edit: I also like to use a nice clean yeast for this beer: US-05, Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or White Labs WLP001 (California Ale)

[AllanMar]

I'm planning a pumpkin brew shortly as well. I've never done one and I wanted to use pumpkin in the mash (undecided on canned or fresh). I'm fairly concerned with all i've read about sticky mash. As I have a HERMS setup and recirculate constantly, I'm worried it will be clogged quickly and i'll be fighting it constantly.

Any Thoughts?

[Ladd]

I'm planning a pumpkin brew shortly as well. I've never done one and I wanted to use pumpkin in the mash (undecided on canned or fresh). I'm fairly concerned with all i've read about sticky mash. As I have a HERMS setup and recirculate constantly, I'm worried it will be clogged quickly and i'll be fighting it constantly.

Any Thoughts?

I can't say for sure as I don't have any experience with a setup like yours but I would say a couple of handfuls of rice hulls should keep things from getting stuck. You are definitely more likely to have problems with canned pumpkin as it is just a puree. I have also heard of people cutting up fresh pumpkin into cubes, baking them and adding them whole to the mash. I have only ever used canned, in the mash and the first few times didn't use rice hulls. Lautering was really slow (I do a single infusion and batch sparge) and it took about twice as long to run off the wort but I have not had it get stuck on me. Rice hulls in the next couple of batches took care of that problem.

[canuck]

I'm not currently using my PC that has Beersmith installed, but I know that my annual Pumpkin ale has MO, C-120, C-40, Special Roast, and Aromatic. I only do an early EKG addition and use S-04 yeast. I also use cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice as well. This year's batch I used a can of pumpkin in the mash and another can with 15 mins left in the boil. Like Ladd mentioned, rice hulls will be your friend.

[Woody]

I'd go with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and all spice. Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice or ground cloves, 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg. Stir to blend which makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. If you are adding it at late as you are in the boil I wouldn't go over 1 teaspoon combined as you can add more at kegging. I just used a pumpkin spice which was pre mixed and added it at the start of the boil so I would need more. I've read the route you are going ie adding later in the boil is better. C60L is also a great idea. I made one last week and added a tiny bit of smoked malt for an extra level of flavour.

[jeffsmith]

Mine this year was:

7lbs Pils
6lbs Munich
2lbs 12oz Pumpkin purée
1lb brown sugar
1lb C-75
.5 Victory
.5 Caramunich 120

35IBU Magnum at 60'
3IBU Willamette at 15'
1oz Willamette at flame out

Spices in at 5'
US-05 for yeast

[sleepyjamie]

Mine this year was:

7lbs Pils
6lbs Munich
2lbs 12oz Pumpkin purée
1lb brown sugar
1lb C-75
.5 Victory
.5 Caramunich 120

35IBU Magnum at 60'
3IBU Willamette at 15'
1oz Willamette at flame out

Spices in at 5'
US-05 for yeast

When did u add the pumpkin?
Pilsner sounds interesting. I'd like it to have a more crisp mouth feel.


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[sleepyjamie]

All great ideas. Once I'm at my computer I'll do up a formula.


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[jeffsmith]

Mine this year was:

7lbs Pils
6lbs Munich
2lbs 12oz Pumpkin purée
1lb brown sugar
1lb C-75
.5 Victory
.5 Caramunich 120

35IBU Magnum at 60'
3IBU Willamette at 15'
1oz Willamette at flame out

Spices in at 5'
US-05 for yeast

When did u add the pumpkin?
Pilsner sounds interesting. I'd like it to have a more crisp mouth feel.


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Pumpkin went in the mash and I threw in about 3 handfuls or so of wet rice hulls. Didn't have any issues with a stuck sparge at all and the pumpkin flavour carried through really nicely. I roasted the pumpkin in the oven for about an hour the night before to caramelize it a bit.

[sucanushie]

I'm reading some people put the brown sugar in boil at 60m.

[sleepyjamie]

I'm reading some people put the brown sugar in boil at 60m.

Would it it better in the mash or the boil? Or will it make much difference?

Would give u higher attenuation


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[amartin]

What size batch is this? 1 whole teaspoon of cinnamon seems like a lot.

[Ladd]

I have done previous 19L batches with a tsp of cinnamon plus 1/2 tsp of each ginger, clove, nutmeg and all spice and after a month of bottle conditioning you would hardly know they were in there. I've since started using just the straight up pumpkin pie spice and use one and a half tablespoons in the last 5 minutes of the boil. Everyone is different though, someone else may find that overpowering. The best thing you can do is start out small and add more to taste at bottling/kegging.

[Barr]

I've made a few pumpkin brews and I think you should roast the pumpkin first in order to get that pumpkin pie taste instead of a raw veggie taste. I cut the pie pumpkin in half and made a brown sugar and spice paste and baked them for about 90 min at 350. Then scooped the sugar paste and pumpkin meat out of shell into a bowl and blended it with a hand blender. Then dumped it into boil kettle. I also wanted a little crust like character so I added victory. Also put a vanilla bean in after a week.

Funkin Punkin

4 kg 2 Row
300g Munich malt
300g crystal 60
250g victory

Sugar pumpkin roasted
1.5 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon

60 min. 30 g nugget
10 min. 30g willamette

1 week- Vanilla bean

[Barr]

Last year I just mixed the sugar, spice and caned pumpkin together and baked it like a pie but without the shell obviously. Then threw it into the kettle.

[sucanushie]

Here is what I'm thinking for tomorrow.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 21.58 l
Post Boil Volume: 19.69 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 18.93 l
Bottling Volume: 18.93 l
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 11.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt
4139.64 g Pale Malt (2 Row)
413.43 g Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
413.43 g Victory Malt
413.43 g Brown Sugar
26.32 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min
26.32 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1.50 tbsp Pumpkin spice (Boil 5 mins)
2.00 Items Canned Pumpkin (Mash )

[Ladd]

Here is what I'm thinking for tomorrow.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 21.58 l
Post Boil Volume: 19.69 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 18.93 l
Bottling Volume: 18.93 l
Estimated OG: 1.065 SG
Estimated Color: 11.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt
4139.64 g Pale Malt (2 Row)
413.43 g Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
413.43 g Victory Malt
413.43 g Brown Sugar
26.32 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min
26.32 g Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1.50 tbsp Pumpkin spice (Boil 5 mins)
2.00 Items Canned Pumpkin (Mash )

I brewed up my pumpkin ale yesterday and it is almost identical to this. I originally based it off a HBT recipe, I suspect this is the same one. In addition to that grain bill I use Munich in mine in the same quantity as the victory and caramalt. I also toss in a ~50g of black barley to darken it up more but I love dark beers! For hops I use Magnum for bittering and its the only hop addition (at 60). I changed up my spice addition timing this time around though just to see if it makes a difference and put a tsp in at 30, tsp at 5 and a tbsp in at flame out. I also spread my pumpkin out really thin (1/2" thick at the most) and bake it at 350°F for 60 minutes before putting it in the mash. The sample tasted phenomenal going into the fermenter!

Edit for spelling

[Ladd]

Barr - I love what you did with your pumpkin!!! That looks good enough to sit down to and just eat with a spoon! haha I will have to give that a go next time instead of using canned pumpkin! How late in the boil do you add it? I am curious how you find the spices come through? Also, do you find you get really thick layer of trub in your fermenter? I have only ever mashed the pumpkin and find that I can keep the pumpkin in the mash tun after sparging. I have heard of people adding it to the boil and then having 4 or 6 inches of trub in the bottom of the fermenter afterwards... Just curious about your experience.

[Barr]

I've tried it all kinds of ways but find I get a much fuller taste putting in kettle. I find it got lost in the mash a little. I added it right at beginning of boil along with bittering hops. Yeah there is a lot of junk in the kettle but I leave as much as I can in kettle. Some gets into my fermenter and it looks like a lot at first but it settles and is packed down by yeast after a few days.

This is the first time I used real pumpkin and it turned out great. That caramelized flavour is the key. Something about how the pumpkin and sugar and spice mingle in the oven makes a huge difference. Spices came through nice and round, nothing to sharp at all. Again I believe baking all together makes it and adding the vanilla bean rounds it off nicely too. We call it pumpkin beer but nobody really wants a pumpkin beer, we want a pumpkin pie beer.

[Ladd]

I'm gonna have to give that a try next time. I'll try the vanilla bean in this one, I haven't done that before either.

We call it pumpkin beer but nobody really wants a pumpkin beer, we want a pumpkin pie beer.

Well said!

[sucanushie]

I roasted the pumpkin last night.

Ended up roasting it for over an hour. It still didn't caramelized.

How did you know when it was good?

[Ladd]

The first time I did it I put it all in one little pan and it didn't roast very well. I usually only put one can per cookie sheet (put foil down first will save you a lot of scrubbing time) and spread it really thin. I cook mine @ 350°F and it is always done around 60 minutes. You will know because it is starting to brown up on top and sides and it starts looking like it is drying out i.e. lots of cracks and fissures on the top.