Pumpkin Ale Recipe Check please

[Chuckie]

Hi Guys,
I've had a bad experience with a recipe from "Homebrew" magazine so this time I thought I'd check with the experts before committing.
My recent bad experience was a recipe with very incorrect malt amounts and this next one I plan to do has a fair bit of sugars again (4.3kg total) so I want another opinion. I've run it through Brewmate and it seems to come close to where it's supposed to but more feedback can't hurt.
Here's the recipe ;
PUMPKIN ALE
Ingredients:
3kg LME liquid
1kg Dex
150g Munich Malt - mash 20mins @ 70 deg
150g Caramalt - mash 20mins @ 70 deg
500g Roasted Pumpkin
5g Crushed Corriander
5g Ground Nutmeg
5g Ground Cinnamon
15g Magnum hops @ 45
15g Galaxy hops @ 45
Saf T58 yeast

Expected figures (according to magazine) :
OG: 1065 FG: 1010
IBU: ~ 50 ABV: ~ 7.2%
Volume : 23 litres

Comments appreciated
Thanks,
Andrew

 

[user 31093]

I've been thinking of doing an all grain pumpkin ale for autumn/winter...
I think 50 IBU is way too high for a pumpkin ale, I'd put it closer to 20... I'd drop the additions down to 20 minutes, they're both pretty heavy on alphas...

I was considering using some biscuit and roast malts as well...

 

[Chuckie]

Thanks Damon,
I'll probably do that. I do have a few commercial ales in the cupboard I was going to us as a comparison so I'll crack one of them to check the bitterness. But I recall you are correct, the pumpkin ales ive had in recent years are not very bitter at all. Almost sweet in fact.
Cheers

 

[Bizenya]

Sounds very nice- do you roast the pumpkin yourself or use pre-cooked stuff sourced from a can?

 

[user 31093]

Sounds very nice- do you roast the pumpkin yourself or use pre-cooked stuff sourced from a can?

Good question.

I know dogfish head use the tinned stuff but I'll try get some for nothing when they're in season.

They'll be roasted and added to the boil to pasteurise.

 

[Chuckie]

The recipe calls for 500g pumpkin "roasted with the skin on till lightly brown".
So I reckon I'll do it with fresh pumpkin myself. I may Google it to see which pumpkin has the best "pumpkin" flavour first.

 

[Bizenya]

I saw that "Brew Master" episode the other day when they did the Punkin Ale with the tinned pumpkin- got my interest up on that brew for sure!

Thinking as I have never tasted it might try a 9L batch to start with

But ill be keen to see how you progress (roast v canned, addition of biscuits etc)

 

[insane_rosenberg]

Here's my recipce for a big pumpkin Ale:

Rose Mountain Pumpkin Ale
Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 7.900
Total Hops (g): 52.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.072 (°P): 17.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Colour (SRM): 6.8 (EBC): 13.4
Bitterness (IBU): 22.6 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes): 60

Grain Bill
----------------
4.000 kg Pilsner (50.63%)
1.100 kg Crystal 10 (13.92%)
0.900 kg Roast pumpkin puree (11.39%)
0.800 kg Wheat Malt (10.13%)
0.600 kg Carapils (Dextrine) (7.59%)
0.500 kg Honey (6.33%)

Hop Bill
----------------
14.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
10.0 g East Kent Golding Pellet (4.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
14.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)
14.0 g Fuggles Pellet (5.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil) (0.6 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------
7.0 g AllSpice @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
2.0 g Cinnamon @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
14.0 g Coriander Seed @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
2.0 g nutmeg @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
2.0 g pumpkin pie spice @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
14.0 g coriander seed @ 0 Days (Secondary)

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale US-05

As you can see the IBU is down at about 20, which worked pretty well.

My pumpkin process is using a kent (jap) pumpkin, cut it in half and scoop out all the seeds. Then roast flat side down in a 180°C oven for 2 hours or untill all slumpy. Then scoop out the flesh.

The only catch is that the flesh then goes in the mash. If you decide to put it in with the extract, you have to be prepared that there will be pumpkin pulp all through your wort.

Not that it's a bad thing. I also added some flesh at bottling time once. Some people hated pulp in their beer. The judges at VicBrew on the other hand gave it a medal.

 

[user 31093]

I saw that "Brew Master" episode the other day when they did the Punkin Ale with the tinned pumpkin- got my interest up on that brew for sure!

Thinking as I have never tasted it might try a 9L batch to start with

But ill be keen to see how you progress (roast v canned, addition of biscuits etc)

Not easy to find dogfish head in Australia, but you ought to be able to get a hold of the one by Elysian think it's called night owl.

Haven't tried it yet but planning to real soon. I love that brewery.

I won't be brewing a small batch. Brewed a small batch of chilli beer thinking oh I'll just use the stove. Huge pain in the ass, never again will I brew on the stove.

 

[user 31093]

1.100 kg Crystal 10 (13.92%)

Lordy, that is a mighty **** tonne of crystal. I'm sure it suited though!

 

[Chuckie]

QUICK UPDATE:
Airlock still bubbling after 19 days at 18/20 degrees.
ABV is predicted to be 7.2% so I suppose the longer ferment is expected.
Had a bit of a taste yesterday and it's coming out quite ok with a nice "christmas pudding" taste & aroma. The alcohol content is pretty apparent. It could be a good brew with a bit of aging in the keg to mellow it out.
Looks like I will be waiting a bit still though.
Cheers
Chuckie :drinks:

 

[user 31093]

Had a bit of a taste yesterday and it's coming out quite ok with a nice "christmas pudding" taste & aroma. The alcohol content is pretty apparent. It could be a good brew with a bit of aging in the keg to mellow it out.

I ended up getting a hold of the elysian pumpkin ale, first thing I though was fruit cake.

I liked it but in all honesty I wouldn't want to do a large batch. I'm thinking I'll do something like a porter and keep it much lighter on the spice.

 

[r055c0]

I've got a batch bubbling away at the moment and I've clearly gone much heavier on the spices, for a 23L batch (all grain at about 7%) I used:



4 tsp Dutch Cinnamon (not as harsh as the regular stuff)

1 tsp Ginger

1 tsp Allspice

1 tsp Nutmeg



All were the pre powdered stuff (ie hoyts) so I guess they aren't as potent as the freshly ground stuff, but holy crap did it smell good going in to the boil (added for the last 10 minutes)



I also used a whole kent pumpkin in the mash (pre roasted whole with skin on for 2 hours, skin & seeds removed), about 1.6kg all up. It's only been fermenting for 5 days but I had a little taste on the weekend and it was pretty good (although still a bit sweet), the spices don't overpower the beer and it doesn't taste like raw vegetables, still a good 2 weeks away from bottling time so will be interesting to see how that changes.

The brew is intended for a Halloween party so it will have 6 months in the garage to condition.


Edit: I should have added my grain bill but it's at home and I'm not, Maris Otter was the base malt and it was hopped to about 15 IBU

 

[TimT]

Quite interested in doing a pumpkin ale or two soon. It's a good time of year for it. To add a biscuity/roast flavour, perhaps toasted oats could be used?

 

[TimT]

I've never seen pre-cooked pumpkin in a can in the shops (aside from pumpkin soup) - I thought that was more an American thing?

You could also try the other US classics, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cake. Delicious with some added spiciness from cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.

 

[user 31093]

Quite interested in doing a pumpkin ale or two soon. It's a good time of year for it. To add a biscuity/roast flavour, perhaps toasted oats could be used?

Precisely why I was thinking something dark

 

[Chuckie]

From the tastes I've had of mine and commercial one I think that adding oats may be lost. The cinnamon and nutmeg would overpower them. See if you can lay your hands on a commercial sample (although probably hard now that Halloween is over).
Cheers,
:lol:

 

[user 31093]

From the tastes I've had of mine and commercial one I think that adding oats may be lost. The cinnamon and nutmeg would overpower them. See if you can lay your hands on a commercial sample (although probably hard now that Halloween is over).
Cheers,
:lol:

I can see value in adding oats for mouthfeel still.

 

[Chuckie]

True, hadn't considered that. :super:

 

[Chuckie]

Well, I got it into the keg, carbonated for a 2 days and did the taste test.
Was a bit disappointed.
Colour is pretty lame.
Taste is a bit watery.
Alcohol level is a bit too high for my liking.
I'm letting it age a bit now I think. Will try it in a few weeks and see if it's improved (rounded off in flavours etc).
Ahh well, it was worth a shot.
Packs a punch though, so it'll be good to get the head fuzzy with LOL.
:chug: