First Pumpkin Beer...

I'm not sure if this helps in your situation or not, But i just bottled my pumpkin beer last week. I did some tasting of the pre-carbed beer and was happy with the balance I had. Be careful with your balance, the spices (I added mine at flame out) can easily overwhelm the pumpkin, the spice has a stronger flavor. If I brewed it again I would add a bit more pumpkin in the form of a can or two of pumpkin puree towards the end of boil. Let me know how it turns out!

 

I've never tried a pumpkin ale, but, like you, I've seen many reports that the pumpkin flavor is lost in the beer in comparison to the spices for most recipes. Do you have a recipe in mind? Most recipes call for roasting the pumpkin to concentrate the flavor, but I don't know if that helps vs. using canned pumpkin. Maybe someone can chime in on that issue.

If you already have a recipe I'd just lighten up the spices. I'm going to guess that the recipe creators tend to go heavy on the spices because they think most people want to taste those spices more than the pumpkin flavor.

 

Pumpkin has no flavor.
It's all about the spice.

 

I've made my annual pumpkin ale for the past 3 years and I think this past year will be the last time I use real pumpkin. I'm not sure if the pumpking contributed anything great to it. This is the first time I've experienced a stuck recirculation and sparge, which made the brew day a bit longer than expected. I find most if not all of the flavor comes from the spice addition at the end of the boil, and after fermentation. I also put in 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice at kegging. It's currently carbing now so I'll be able to take a taste this upcoming Sunday and report back.

Mine did come out to 7.7% ABV this year. Should be interesting!

 

I may not go that far but for the most part, pumpkin has little flavor. Even in pumpkin pie (at least the ones I've had) are basically all about the spices. I've only done one pumpkin beer but I opted for a brown ale base much like DFH's Punkin rather than an amber ale.

 

I'm going to be using Northern Brewing's 1 Gallon Pumpkin Beer Kit this weekend which will be my first attempt at home brewing. Anyone have tips with this one? Spices to add etc.

 

Any reason to think the NB's 1G Pumpkin Beer kit doesn't come with 'spices etc' and 'tips' such as an instruction sheet?

 

It does come with instructions and spices in the kit. I was just wondering if anyone here has tried it already possibly and could enhance the recipe further. Wishful thinking I guess!

 

I have brewed a few pumpkin beers, they are popular with the masses this time of year no matter what. seems everyone will drink at least one if offered. my recipe varies but is always similar.

keep the bitterness in check, 35 IBU. no late hop addition either. noble hops, Tettnang is my choice but Saaz would work well too. neutral yeast, US-05. no pumpkin addition at all. it just makes life difficult and adds nothing or at best very little to the beer. pilsner malt with less than 10% crystal. of course color is very important as well, and the beer can tolerate a bit more specialty grain than usual. I plan to use 80L this year.

after the brew is complete McCormick pumpkin pie spice is added. add until you think you have achieved the right amount of spice. feel free to play around with the pie spice blend. I like mace, a little goes a long way. too much cinnamon is annoying. but that is me.

my opinion is that people want and expect pumpkin pie in beer. I don't pretend that it should be anything other than beer with that quality.
Cheers.

 

Exactly what I was looking for billandsuz, thanks!

 

I haven’t brewed a Pumpkin Beer yet but IMO the critical aspect is getting the spicing level correctly.

There was a good article in the Sept./Oct. 2013 Zymurgy entitled “The Quest for the Perfect Pumpkin Beer” by Scott Jackson. Scott Jackson provided two recipes and in both of those recipes he recommended adding McCormick’s pumpkin pie spice at the end of boil:

· One recipe was for 10 gallons and it called for 1 Tablespoon of spice

· The other recipe was for 5 gallons and it called for 1 Tablespoon of spice

The 5 gallon recipe was for an Imperial Pumpkin Beer (OG 1.118).

So, maybe ½ tablespoon for a 5 gallon, non-imperial Pumpkin beer?

Cheers!

 

I know the spices are what makes it, but I personally couldn't call a beer a pumpkin beer without at least some pumpkin in there.

 

"...I personally couldn't call a beer a pumpkin beer without at least some pumpkin in there." But a number of commercial breweries do; you really can't taste the contribution of pumpkin in a pumpkin beer.

Cheers!

 

Two things
If it's your first pumpkin beer, then how do you know the flavor needs further enhancing?
If it's your first pumpkin beer, it's best to following the instructions.

 

I used a DFH Punkin clone. Added 2 Large cans to the mash for 5 gal. I think the recipe called for 1 Tbsp for the spice. I also dry hopped with 1.5 oz of hallertau and it smells pretty awesome.

 

Mash pumpkin and seeds. Subtheshhold spicing: 2 gms cinnamon, 1 gm nutmeg / 5 gallons.

 

Just brewed my pumpkin pie porter with a can of pumpkin pie mix, 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice, a tablespoon of vanilla extract, and 4 Oz brown sugar. Smells and tastes awesome. First seasonal brew in the books

 

I have only had one pumpkin beer I liked. It was from Spider Bite Brewing at a beer fest. The spice was muted, nice biscuit flavor and had some squash taste. The only thing I could think was that the spices were boiled the whole time, like when your making pie, the spices get baked. The brewer was not in attendance for me to ask.

 

I made one using one of the kits from Midwest. Had a small ziplock of spices with it and instructions said adding pumpkin was optional. Also said if pumpkin wasn't available butternut squash (or was it acorn?) was an acceptable substitute. I brewed it this spring (didn't have time to do it last fall) and no pumpkins could be found so I used the squash. To be honest the squash smelled close enough when I cut it open that I wasn't worried. I used maybe 6-7lbs of cubed squash in the mashing process. The bag of spices and an extra maybe 1/2 tbsp of Trader Joe's pumpkin pie spice were added at flame out. Came out delicious. Unlike some of the commercial brews I can taste pumpkin and not just spice so I'm happy with it. Currently aging it in the basement until girlfriend's November birthday.