pumpkin stout recipe critique

1. Yes, you can use 2 Row
2. Hop like you would a normal stout IMO...looks fine to me if you don't want much bitterness, but I'd personally up the IBUs and go with Magnum vs Cascade at 60
3. I'll get back to you when I'm closer to my brewing journal with my specific amounts of each spice.
4. I add 2 cans of organic pumpkin puree with 5 minutes left to boil (in my 5 gallon batches) and am very happy with the results. Most people will tell you to leave out the pumpkin, but then its not a pumpkin beer but just a spiced beer...if you want a pumpkin beer, add pumpkin, if not, dont call it a pumpkin beer. Some mash the pumpkin, but I get more pumpkin flavor by adding puree between 5 minutes and flameout. Some will tell you that pumpkin doesnt add flavor to a beer, but I think they've added it wrong or are just repeating someone else's opinion and they truly dont have experience adding pumpkin properly to beer.

Good luck!

 

What flavor do you get from the non-spiced pumpkin? I've smelled and tasted it both fresh and pureed and get diacetyl, vaguely vegetal and nothing else that I can really identify. Nothing that tempted me to put it in beer.

 

My advice, at least if you are kegging, would be to go conservatively on the spices on your first try. You can "dry spice" in the keg to add more (or even to replace faded spice flavors).

 

As a professional I've F'd up pumpkin beer more than any other beer I've ever brewed due to over-spicing, so be careful and err on the low side. Cinnamon, especially, is your enemy. Go light. If you can find it Ceylon mace is also nice.

And as for pumpkin itself I'll agree with VikeMan, it doesn't really help your overall flavor. Throw some shredded pumpkin into your mash, or a can of the puree, but just a little for show - you can then say it was made with pumpkin in the mash - it's really not that good for flavor at all, and traditionally it would have only been used just as an adjunct. Pumpkin should never be added post mash, that makes no sense at all.

I'd also eliminate all late hops, and the black patent. Black patent is just for color and a pound in your recipe is absurd. Sub that out with some good English brown malt and switch the carapils up for chocolate, or at least half of it.

 

I'm of the opinion that "pumpkin" beers need not have any actual pumpkin in them. What people are looking for is pumpkin pie spices. Cinnamon and nutmeg are good bets. I like to add them to my mash, so that I get a more subtle, but more incorporated, character. If you're interested in this strategy, I can give you measurements.

Good points to be had here:

Personally, I HATE black (patent) malt. Use some carafa instead. I'd also recommend a low cohumulone, high alpha bittering hop, like Magnum or Horizon. The character of Cascade (and Willamette) will clash with your spices.

 

You can use a similar amount if you like. Or run it through some brewing software to see what your SRM will probably be.

As to the roasted barley question, what do you want your base beer to taste like?

 

I'll have to look at my notes (at home) to give you exact numbers, but simply doubling the numbers that you posted above should do it. Triple them if you want a more assertive spice character, which I don't recommend. Subtle spice undercurrent is the sweet spot for spicing, IMO.

 

I use pumpkin in my pumpkin beer, and I do like the way it tastes. I also eat a lot of pumpkin at home so it works if you like it.

1. Yes to 2 row, I prefer marris for stouts.
2. No cascade unless you want to avoid English type hops. Magnum is ok, I prefer goldings and or fuggles, northern Brewer hops for stouts.
3. Good advice above, I use half a teaspoon of nutmeg and cinnamon for 5 gallons 5 minutes before flameout.
4. I use 2quarts of cooked/cubed pumpkin.

 

I'd say the recipe looks better but I'll also agree with @GormBrewhouse that I also like Maris Otter in stouts (not so much in pale ales as it can be too much), and I don't think you need the Cara-pils if you mash correctly. I think the Carafa is a good choice (I'll actually be visiting Wyermann in a few weeks so I'm looking forward to that). Now all you need to figure out is the pumpkin and the spice. Don't forget a light touch of ginger.

 

I agree with what was said above: When most people say pumpkin they mean pumpkin spice (aka pumpkin pie spice). Cinnamon and nutmeg are the classics. 2 tips

1) Get whole cinnamon sticks and nutmeg and grate yourself. The fresher the better.

2) a little cinnamon goes a very long way.

 

Echoing going low on the spices so your beer doesn't end up tasting like the discount candle section of TJ Maxx in January. I would not use black patent in this recipe. Maybe opt for some chocolate malt, pale chocolate malt or a combo of the two if you're looking for more roasted malt. Drop the carapils, the lactose will add body. Instead Mash high, like 158 to create a dextrinous wort.

 

I would use either the carapils or lactose, but not both. And I'd keep it to a pound total.