Pumpkin Ale results

[FullDraw]

Back in July, I muddered through some 20 pages or so discussing pumpkin ales and there use of spices, grains, hops, and whether or not pumpkin is actually necessary. I've also come to understand one common thread, that time is really on your side with this one. The flavors need time to blend and mellow. So, I brewed mine in August and was able to serve it on Halloween.

I'm interested in other first-time pumpkin brewers and if the wait was worth it. I'll be doing mine again next year without hesitation.

And I did choose to use pumpkin.

 

[o0weno]

I've done a taste test and found that mine has way too much ginger going on. I hope that another month will smooth things out.

It's all about the pumpkin! It's a subtle flavor, but it totally adds to the beer. When making tomato sauce you can leave out an herb or a spice, but why would you?

 

[lyacovett]

care to post a recipe?? I have a few pie pumpkins left over from halloween and was lookin to make a pumpkin ale, I know it will be kind of off season, but I will save some for next year as well ... just need a decent recipe.

 

[Airborneguy]

Mine came out perfect, I'm just having carbonation problems. gonna give it another few days before I try another one. It has been in the bottles now for 12 days.

And I used pumpkin also, in the mash.

 

[Pschof]

I did a porter and a regular pumpkin ale. In each I added 1 tsp nutmeg, cinn, clove, and orange peel at the end of the boil. I left the ale alone after that. I was worried the porter wouldn't be spicy enough, so I added 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and cinn to the secondary. Bad idea. The ale was perfect. The porter has a nasty spice taste that never mellowed.

 

[passedpawn]

I made mine without pumpkin and, in my buddy's words, it is a masterpiece. It's so good. I'll try to get the recipe up at some point under recipes.

 

[skyzo]

I made mine this fall with real pumpkin, but it was only a small batch. Tasted great, but had major carbonation issues.

 

[andrewp]

i tried my luck at a pumpkin recipe this fall also. i think there is too much cinnamon bite and not enough pumpkin sweetness too it but my girlfriend is begging me to brew it again. i will probably give it a rest until next fall and do a bigger batch (this one only 3 gal.) here is my recipe:


OG 1.048
FG 1.013
ABV 4.7
IBU 33
SRM 11
2.0 lbs Amber DME
1.0 lbs Light DME
.50 lb 60L
1 pumpkin (volleyball size)
Spice Mix:
1 tbsp cinn
1 tsp whole clove
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
.25 lbs Maple Syrup
.50 oz Mt. Hood hops at 60 min
.50 oz. Mt. Hood hops at 30 min
1 package Safale US-05

Spice Mix added at 60, 30, 15, 1 min
Maple Syrup added 1 min

I cut the pumpkin into 2x2 squares and baked at 350 for an hour. Peeled the skin when cooled. I steeped 1/2 of the pumpkin with the 60L for 1/2 hour prior to boil at 155*. The other half of pumpkin was added at 30 minutes left in the boil.

This was brewed on Oct 14, bottled on Oct 23, and first tasted Oct 30. The beer has definitely continued to refine itself with time as each tasting is better than the last. Looking back on it I would add less cinnamon and a probably harvest a bigger pumpkin even if I used the same amount of pumpkin in the recipe. My pumpkin was bitter by itself. I think this is contributing to the bitterness of the beer taking over the pumpkin flavor I would have liked to get. Hopefully a bigger pumpkin will be riper and sweeter. I've got 15 bottles left of this and intend on drinking them slowly as to see how this beer matures in the bottle over time.

 

[andrewp]

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=30020&cat=1

here's the finished product

 

[andrewp]

passed pawn you and i are close. lets trade and compare!

 

[ahoffman565]

I, too, combed through nearly all of the pumpkin threads on this site for my first pumpkin ale and ended up deciding on using canned pumpkin in the mash. I opted for the AHS Pumpkin Ale recipe and used their default set of spices. The beer turned out to be one of my best. The spices were subtle and not overpowering. I'm not really sure if I could detect any pumpkin at all, but if nothing else, it gave me piece of mind to know that I actually used pumpkin. To date, I have only 6 left and will be sorry when they're all gone. I'll certainly have to give this one a whirl next year!

 

[conpewter]

I brewed mine to a higher gravity (1.070) hoping to get a bit more residual sweetness after it ages. I'll have it ready for Halloween next year. I tasted it and it's already pretty good, but still more dry than I wanted. I also need to add some spice tea to kick it up a little more.

Now the pumpkin wine is chugging right along (25 lb of grated pumpkin, 15 lb of sugar,4 gal water yielding 5 gallons of wine)

 

[BrewRI]

I'm very interested in trying a pumpkin ale in due time but I need to get a few more batches under my belt before I feel comfortable. Do you guys use actual pumpkin or pumpkin extract/pie making stuff. Do you add it to your primary/secondary or throw it in during the boil?

 

[mrtrav]

First lesson learned from making pumpkin was that jack-o-lantern pumpkins add little to no flavor to the finished product.

Second lesson learned, don't use brown sugar in the recipe. It comes out as an incredibly harsh sweetness.

This year we used sugar pumpkins and toned down our spicing much more then previous years. We still have it mellowing out, hope to keg it in a week or so.

 

[passedpawn]

passed pawn you and i are close. lets trade and compare!

I PM'ed you.