A pumpkin ale

[damoninja]

Hi all,

I've decided to have a crack at a pumpkin ale, I've tried a few and find that there's little if no pumpkin and a lot of spice. A few recipes were tailored to combat this but I've added a few additional malts such as the biscuit and chocolate for a touch of colour. If I do decide there's not enough spice I can easily bump this up post fermentation.

The smoked malt is some maris otter that I smoked myself, it's got a decent amount of smoke to it (more than the weyerrman stuff) so 500g should be nice.

I've kept the bitterness low so as to not overpower the spices, pumpkin and malt profile.

Specs
OG: 1.074
FG: 1.019
EBC: 30
IBU: 26
Mash: 90 mins @ 60C

Grain
5000g Pale malt
1000g Munich I
850g Biscuit malt
500g hickory smoked maris otter
350g Crystal 40
170g Crystal 30
100g Crystal 60
75g Chocolate

Hops
15g Northern Brewer @ 60 min
40g UK Fuggles @ 45 min
10g UK Fuggles @ 0 min

Misc
Toasted pumpkin seeds
4.5kg Roasted pumpkin mash
20g Ginger Root @ 10 min
0.50 tsp Cloves, Crushed @ 5 min
1.00 tsp Nutmeg @ 5 min
1.00 tsp Allspice @ 5 min
1.00 tsp Ground Cinnamon @ 5 min

Yeast
US-05 starter from fresh pack

 

[damoninja]

edited
Specs
OG: 1.080
FG: 1.019
EBC: 37
IBU: 31
Mash: 90 mins @ 60C

Grain
5000g Pale malt
1000g Munich I
850g Biscuit malt
500g hickory smoked maris otter
350g Crystal 40
170g Crystal 30
100g Crystal 60
75g Roasted barley

~130mL maple syrup
250g light brown sugar

Hops
15g Northern Brewer @ 60 min
50g UK Fuggles @ 60 min

Misc
Roasted pumpkin seeds (add to mash)
4.5kg Roasted pumpkin mash
20g Ginger Root @ 10 min
0.50 tsp Cloves, Crushed @ 5 min
1.00 tsp Nutmeg @ 5 min
1.00 tsp Allspice @ 5 min
1.00 tsp Ground Cinnamon @ 5 min


Edit: Moved all hops to 60 minute to close the BU:GU gap a little
Added brown sugar
Added maple syrup
Swapped chocolate for roasted barley

 

[blekk]

Thats a pretty big grain bill (for a mini brewer like me). Recipe sounds tasty and rounded. What size batch does that produce?

 

[damoninja]

Thats a pretty big grain bill (for a mini brewer like me). Recipe sounds tasty and rounded. What size batch does that produce?

Oh derp. That makes 23 litres.

Also an update - 7 days in primary and it needs way more spice, i've doubled all the spices bar the cinnamon which i tripled

 

[breakbeer]

That recipe looks tasty AS!

Might give it a go once I find out how yours went

 

[damoninja]

It's very malty, as expected due to the smaller amount of hops. The biscuit really came through but really it's hard to say on day 7 it was still quite yeasty.

It's very hard to describe/imagine pumpkin without sweetness... But it's not the best, the spices are certainly needed so I'll keep adding until I find the right level

 

[seehuusen]

how did this turn out in the end Damoninja? I'm looking to do a pumpkin ale myself, and would be keen to hear your thoughts, any improvements?

 

[damoninja]

how did this turn out in the end Damoninja? I'm looking to do a pumpkin ale myself, and would be keen to hear your thoughts, any improvements?

It's actually aged quite well at around 8%, I'm actually still drinking it slowly!

It's quite nutty.

If I were to do it again, I would amp up the crystal and some late fuggles. Also I don't think I actually would have mashed at 60, that's really low for me at the best of times I probably meant 69 or something.

I'd probably also bump up the cinnamon and cloves.

And add some rice hulls since the sparge took about an hour :beerbang:

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Yes, blocked sparge was a killer for me. Took longer than an hour. More like 3. -_-
My recipe was very similar to this. Method and all. Only lower OG and FG, Less spices. I mashed at 68 for fuller body. Turned out well but not a winner for me. Even bottled for 12 months and lagered for months. It also had a nutty character. Maybe the roasted seeds are more powerful than I thought they would be. I'd be reluctant to do another but I couldn't discourage the experiment at all. No drop was wasted B). Definitely stands apart in character. Call it a desert beer to go with pumpkin cake? Although I cant ever recall eating pumpkin cake. -_-