Pumpkin Beer
As far as I can tell, the key to making good Pumkin Ale is to keep the pumpkin taste VERY mild. Too much pumpkin taste will kill it.
Salty Dog has a good pumpkin ale. (I've got a six-pack in the fridge right now.)
Regards,
DaveSlash
I've made a pumpkin ale each fall for the past couple of years. I use real pie pumkpins, cut them in half, bake them, then scoop out the fruit and add it to the mash. pumpkin is high in proteins, which will throw a huge haze unless you do an extended protein rest. it works out fine, but I'd recommend adding a fair amount of rice hulls to your mash because fresh pumpkin will gum up the works...
that said, several people have told me that the secret to pumpkin beers isn't the pumpkin, but simply the pumpkin pie spices. I agree with them somewhat, since raw pumpkin doesn't have that much flavor and doesn't add that much fermentables to your recipe.
I have made a few pumpkin beers in the past. My last one was horrible until it was 3 years old, after it had aged it was quite good.
I just brewed a pumpkin ale this Wednesday, and it appears to be fermenting well. I modified a recipe from a fried of mine, since I tried his, and it was excellent. I agree that the pumpkin cannot be overpowering, but also, I think it is key to not overdo the spices. If anyone's ever had Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale, you know what I'm talking about--it nearly burns as it goes down due to overspicing. This is what I put in at the last 10 minutes of boil:
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger (supposed to be 1 oz of freshly grated--couldn't find any!)
1 tsp Allspice
It smelled great when I added it. I put the pumpkin filing (from a 15oz 2 cans) in the fermenter after cooling--this is they way a friend of mine did it. I put it in directly, but he suggest steeping it in a grain bag. He also puts abou 30oz in the secondary too.
Well, I tasted my first pumpkin beer tonight. I tried Blue Moon's pumpkin ale. Overall, I was pretty disappointed - I was hoping for more flavor from the beer.
It was a very smooth beer, but lacked the flavor that you would hope from a beer like this.
pumpkin might be better in a molasses porter. this i would like to try!
Are you guys serious? so tell me how does it taste? somone give my the tactics on how to make pumpkin brew.
I have had several varieties of Pumpkin Ale like Blue Moon or Buffalo Bills. I've also had homebrewed Pumpkin Ale. Some of it tasty, some of it not. We hold our annual Pumpkin Brew-in sometime in Oct. This event started when one of our members was gonna brew a Pumkin Ale and invited us over for beer and food. 22 people showed up that first one. We brewed 10 gallons of Pumpkin ale, 10 gallons Rauchbier and 5 gallons. Spiced Christmas ale. The menu : Smoked Prime Rib , Smoked Pork Tenderloin , Bratwurst, Broccoli and Rice Casserole , Baked Beans and 7-grain bread. It's was a blast! That was 1999. Since then it's grown to around 7-8 brew rigs brewing around 100 gallons during the day with 50+ members and friends passing thru. Usually someone in our brew club will brew one this time of year. The secret is in the amount of spices used.
Follow this link for a recipe for Harvest Pumpkin Ale. http://hbd.org/kobb/oct99.htm
Cheers!
imabum
Here's a great pumpkin recipe that I helped develop. We've even brewed one batch inside an actual pumpkin.
http://www.thehomebrewstore.com/HBS017.htm
High all...
Just a short post to make a connection.... You really should look up the Sam Adams pumpkin ale and give it a go. It is really good, if you like pumpkin ale. If you try to brew up some, check it's taste against the S.A. and you'll know if you're on the right track.
Happy brewin to all and to all a good light!