Ive never brewed a Pumpkin Ale but am considering giving it a shot since we are approaching Pumpkin Ale season. Came across this recipe for a partial mash and was wondering what everyone thought of it and what they may tweak:

6# Pale LME
2# Pale 2-row
.63# Crystal 60L
.63# Victory Malt

1# Brown Sugar @ 60
1oz Hallertau (4.8%) @ 60
1.5 Tbs Pumpkin Pie Spice @ 15
1oz Hallertau (4.8%) @ 5

Yeast either US-05 or S-04


Thoughts?

looks pretty damn good to me. I haven't used victory a lot (or at all?), so I might use special roast or munich, personally. overall, it seems pretty solid without plugging in the numbers. Could be a touch heavy on the spices. I'd prob use 2 teaspoons and adjust in the fermenter as needed.

Sorry, Im a bonehead... also add to the recipe

60oz non-spiced canned pumpkin - baked at 350 for 45 minutes @60
1 tsp Irish Moss

See, now it's imperfect.

Canned pumpkin is rarely pumpkin- it's squash. And it contributes nothing beneficial, in my opinion, to the end beer. All the flavor comes from spices. it'll just goo up your partial mash (and, yes, it needs to be mashed).

My last two pumpkin beers had no pumpkin in them and people loved them. I'd suggest maybe some vanilla bean in there, too.

I would like to do similar to that recipe. My only question is the amount of pumpkin spice too much?

Appreciate the input and love the vanilla idea

Now, is the real pumpkin something I should consider doing when I rack to the secondary? Or just leave it out all together?

On the calculator it looks like this:

OG - 1.063
FG - 1.016
IBU - 25
SRM - 8
ABV - 6.1

gosch - Im thinking I may take the pumpkin spice from 1.5 Tbs to just 1 Tbs and see how I like it. Im also considering adding a touch of nutmeg but not really sure how much to add... may have to feel that out as well.

I am always afraid I will add too much of the spices. At the same time you want to have enough to get a good flavor. I did a spiced brown last year that had 1 tsp cinammon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Turned out pretty well with a nice touch of the spices. I was thinking about adding pumpkin spice this year but we'll see.

Do you plan on brewing that soon? If so, I would like to know what amount you end up using and how it turns out.

Another thought I just had, what about adding 1/2# lactose to this?

>is the real pumpkin something I should consider doing when I rack to the secondary

Heck no!

Pumpkin has to go in the mash if you use it at all. Otherwise it just contributes starch which beer yeast can't consume... but bacteria and other nasties would love to eat.

Serisouly, pumpkin contributes so little in the way of flavor, color, or (when mashed) sugars - espcially when put up against the flavor of the spices, that you should just leave it out.

P.S. a guy in my club texted me an hour ago. Libby's had a failed crop, so they don't have canned "pumpkin." He had to pay out the arse for some organic brand. 'Never listens...

Well Bryan, you have convinced me... NO PUMPKIN... Hahaha. So Im now thinking I will change that Victory to Munich and drop the Pumpkin Spice from 1.5 Tbs to 1 Tbs and maybe a 1/2 tsp of nutmeg. Also any thoughts on my lactose idea? Just thinking it may add a little creaminess which in theory would be a good compliment to the flavors.

Everything I've read about it tells me that the pumpkin is like adding a sugar, and the flavor comes from the spice.
The pumpkin might add a bit of color.

gosch - I got myself all worked up over this recipe so I will be brewing this weekend... headed to the home brew shop right after work to pick up supplies. I will probably have the guy there look it over for any other tweaks but I feel good about what was discussed here.

I appreciate all the input guys, will let you know how it progresses.

Nice master. Let me know how it goes and how the spice additions work out.

Another note on pumpkin- my buddy did a pumpkin ale last year with like 10 pounds of fresh pumpkin. I am not sure what process he followed but I don't remember the pumpkin adding any desirable flavor to the beer...

The pumpkin does add a pumpkin flavor that is distinguishable from the spices. It's better if you use 9 lbs of fresh and roast at 350* until brown then mash. Use a step mash with a protein rest.

I talked to the buyer for Stater Bros. in California and there is a shortage of canned pumpkins.

Honey Malt might be nice in there too, maybe just a small amount.

Update:

Stopped at the home brew store last night and had about a 30 minute conversation with the owner about this recipe. The outcome of that conversation was that he agreed using real pumpkin added very little to the beer and wasnt even close to necessary. In addition we pulled the 3# Pale two-row and added 3# Munich LME... give it a little more body. His opinion was also to leave the Pumpkin Pie Spice at 1.5 Tbs unless I wanted more of one specific spice as a highlight flavor... was initially thinking nutmeg but Im going to keep it straight forward for the first batch and see what we end up with. Oh and we decided to use the S-04 yeast instead of the US-05.

Will be brewing early afternoon so I will throw up the OG later today.

Never brewed with vanilla bean. How much would you think I should add?

1-2 vanilla beans is all you need. Split the pods, scrape the seeds and soak the pod and seeds in vodka for about 6 hours before adding to secondary. Obviously depending on how much vanilla flavor you want present will determine 1 or 2 beans for your brew.

I live in new england where in colonial times they literally used to use pumpkin to make beer. It's what they mashed to make their wort. Has anybody ever heard of this being done in modern days? I would be interested to see what that tastes like. Also apparantly, they used carroway and other spices because they had no hops.

Paul, yes. Amhearst brewing in Mass still uses real sugar pumpkins grown in or just outside of town to make theirs.

Most of the beers made up here in new england had a large amount of oats and rye. I'm sure they used some imported barley malt and posibly some corn, too. Nettles were one of the main herbs used.

Thanks Bryan, I'll have to check them out.

I'd like to use pumpkin in the mash for a real pumpkin ale. I know people say that it doesn't add much if anything but I'd still like to try. Would a grain bag help prevent a stuck sparge? I'm thinking that if it did get stuck (or slow) then lifting the bag a little might help the flow.

It surely wouldn't hurt. Rice hulls, too.

I've got a can of half pumpkin have squash. Im gonna use it just for the hell of it, or mabye butternut squash. theirs a recipe on the can for pie, and it says 1 tbsp. Cinnamon, .5 tbp Mace. do you think this is too much for a 5 gallon batch? also, im considering doing about 6 percent with wyeast trappist to really bring out the spice and some fruitiness, and wheat and munich additions to add a slightly bready or "pie" taste, also brown sugar, im thinking about 10 percent. sound good?