• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Pumpkin Ale-Thoughts?

jlestos

Apprentice
Joined
Jun 25, 2011
Messages
21
Reaction score
0
Location
Fargo, ND
I hate recipes. Truly, I hate them. To me they always seem like a decent guideline of how things should probably go, and then you get to mess with is and see how it turns out. However, I would very much like to have a decent pumpkin brew ready for the fall. So, Still being very new to the homebrew side of things, I took a recipe and started tweaking it. I was hoping to get some thoughts before brew day, which is in about two weeks. Mostly, it seems like an awful lot of sugar to dump in. Granted, that should mostly get converted but the last thing I want is a super sweet pumpkin ale.
Also, if I clearly have screwed something up in the general use of BeerSmith, tips would be appreciated so I don't continue to screw up the rest of my beers planned for the future.

Thanks in advance-
J
 

Attachments

  • Pumpkin.bsmx
    19.9 KB · Views: 283
Seems weird that it doesn't include any spices. At flameout I would add  a 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and a 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice. The sugars don't seem that bad but if you would like bump up the extract by a pound and remove the brown sugar. Also I would put the pumpkin in a shallow baking dish and bake it in the oven until the top is slightly brown. I made a pumpkin ale  a few months back using this technique and it came out great. Good Luck!
 
Here's one I put together a few years back using fresh roasted pumpkin. It took a few months for the spices and hops to mellow but it ended up really good.
 

Attachments

  • Pumpkin Ale.bsmx
    20.4 KB · Views: 259
Pumpkin ale is a good beer for this time of year to brew. Remember this. It's only the spices that you taste. So this is no reason to have real pumpkin in your beer. Having said that, I still use pumpkin in my beer. Roasted in an oven and dumped into the mash. I use pumpkin pie spice mix in a secondary or late in the primary.
 
Agree on using 'some' standard pumpkin pie spices at end of boil; whatever suits you. 

Were it me, I would just use extract and not the brown sugar; it will ferment out and diminish body slightly. 

You could sprinkle brown sugar on the pumpkin meat when you roast it, which would caramelize somewhat. 

Also not sure about the molasses, but I've never used that much molasses so unsure how prominent that will be. 

Whatever you decide on the sugars, you may want more IBUs to balance the high gravity.  I see about 12 IBU which would be sweet.  I'd think 20-25 would be balanced.
 
I agree with BB.  It's the spices that make the flavor of a pumpkin ale.
Cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice... There's where you get the flavor.
As for the amounts, your guess is a good as mine.
 
Back
Top