Advice on Pumpkin Ale recipe

[bedman]

Just looking for some advice on this pumpkin recipe. I am using the northern brewer Emma's Ale extract kit as a base (using us-05 yeast). I am pulling a lot from a Pumking clone recipe I found on here as well. Is this too crazy? Is there anything in here that doesn't work or sound like a good idea. Thanks!

Emma's Pumking Ale

Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer OG: 1.091
Type: Extract FG: 1.023
Rating: 4.0 ABV: 8.91 %
Calories: 297 IBU's: 20.92
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 5.57 Gal
Color: 18.7 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Preboil OG: 1.085 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 14 days @ 65.0°F
Secondary 21 days @ 72.0°F
Bottle/Keg 28 days @ 74.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
1.00 lbs 7.66 % Simpsons Dark 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 7.66 % Victory Malt 60 mins 1.034
0.25 lbs 1.92 % Fawcett Pale Chocolate 60 mins 1.030
6.30 lbs 48.28 % NB Gold Malt Syrup 60 mins 1.036
3.00 lbs 22.99 % Briess Golden Light DME 60 mins 1.045
0.75 lbs 5.75 % Dememera Sugar 60 mins 1.046
0.25 lbs 1.92 % Brown Sugar, Light 60 mins 1.046
8.00 ozs 3.83 % Lactose 15 mins 1.030

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 14.08 Glacier 60 mins 5.60
0.75 ozs 6.17 Styrian Goldings 20 mins 5.40
0.25 ozs 0.68 Styrian Goldings 5 mins 5.40

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 10 mins Boil
1.00 oz Yeast Nutrient 10 mins Boil
2.00 tbsp Candied Ginger 05 mins Boil
3.00 each Cinnamon Stick 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Cloves, Ground 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Nutmeg 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Allspice 05 mins Boil
2.00 each Vanilla Beans 21 days Secondary
1.00 oz Pumpkin Spices 21 days Secondary

Mash Profile
(none)

Carbonation
Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols
2.98 oz Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation 74.0°F 1.90

 

[bedman]

Forgot to add this

2.00 lbs 20.94 % Pumpkin Purée 60 mins 1.000

DUH!!!!

 

[lunshbox]

That is a pretty sweet FG. Maybe my bias is showing but I think you need to dry that out a bit more. Even with the spices that seems a bit too cloying. You could drop that 5 minute addition and never miss it. The spices are going to swamp the hop flavor. I really like the 2 vanilla beans. This sounds like a really tasty pumpkin ale.

 

[rcsoccer]

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 10 mins Boil
1.00 oz Yeast Nutrient 10 mins Boil
2.00 tbsp Candied Ginger 05 mins Boil
3.00 each Cinnamon Stick 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Cloves, Ground 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Nutmeg 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Allspice 05 mins Boil
2.00 each Vanilla Beans 21 days Secondary
1.00 oz Pumpkin Spices 21 days Secondary

That is a pretty huge beer! I agree that the FG is a little too high. I would back off on some of the malt extract. I know this is going to get contested, but the pumpkin will add some more fermentables if you mash it. If not, it will just create a really hazy beer with a ton of trub in the bottom of the fermenter.

Also, with the spices addition.... My pumpkin ale that I make every year has 7 lbs. of pumpkin puree in the mash and I only put 4 tsp of pumpkin pie spice in the secondary for about 2-3 weeks. If you are going to use that much spice in the secondary, you could probably omit the boiling additions. Just my $0.02... Also, so people will tell you that you don't even need pumpkin in the beer, just the spices. I disagree.

Good luck!

 

[bedman]

This is why it's good to have people look over things. That should have been 1 tsp of pie spice not 1 oz! Do you think the 5 min additions and 1 tsp of spice in secondary is ok?

 

[rcsoccer]

Sure. It depends on how much flavor you want from the spices. If you use the boil additions, then you could always taste it when you are racking to the secondary and decide how much of the pumpkin pie spice to put in. And, you could always taste it after a week or so and add more if needed. That's one of the great things about adding stuff to the secondary.

 

[bedman]

Great advice so far. Updated my recipe to fix errors and also cut back on the DME to drop the abv a bit. Whadda ya think?

Emma's Pumking Ale

Style: Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer OG: 1.080
Type: Extract FG: 1.020
Rating: 4.0 ABV: 7.86 %
Calories: 261 IBU's: 22.91
Efficiency: 70 % Boil Size: 5.57 Gal
Color: 18.4 SRM Batch Size: 5.00 Gal
Preboil OG: 1.075 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 14 days @ 65.0°F
Secondary 21 days @ 72.0°F
Bottle/Keg 28 days @ 74.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
2.00 lbs 14.49 % Pumpkin Purée 60 mins 1.000
1.00 lbs 7.25 % Simpsons Dark 60 mins 1.034
1.00 lbs 7.25 % Victory Malt 60 mins 1.034
0.25 lbs 1.81 % Fawcett Pale Chocolate 60 mins 1.030
6.30 lbs 45.65 % NB Gold Malt Syrup 60 mins 1.036
1.75 lbs 12.68 % Briess Golden Light DME 60 mins 1.045
0.75 lbs 5.43 % Dememera Sugar 60 mins 1.046
0.25 lbs 1.81 % Brown Sugar, Light 60 mins 1.046
8.00 ozs 3.62 % Lactose 15 mins 1.030

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
1.00 ozs 15.41 Glacier 60 mins 5.60
0.75 ozs 6.75 Styrian Goldings 20 mins 5.40
0.25 ozs 0.74 Styrian Goldings 5 mins 5.40

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
2.00 pkg Safale US-05 Fermentis US-05

Additions
Amount Name Time Stage
1.00 each Whirlfloc Tablet 10 mins Boil
1.00 oz Yeast Nutrient 10 mins Boil
2.00 tbsp Ginger Root 05 mins Boil
3.00 each Cinnamon Stick 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Cloves, Ground 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Nutmeg 05 mins Boil
0.50 tsp Allspice 05 mins Boil
2.00 each Vanilla 21 days Secondary
1.00 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice 21 days Secondary

Mash Profile
(none)

Carbonation
Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols
2.98 oz Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation 74.0°F 1.90