Pumpkin Ale

[joeskidmore]

Hey guys - please could you critique my recipe for a pumpkin ale?

I have a couple of large pumpkins to use up so thought I'd put them to the best use I could think of: beer!

[code]Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 23.00 l
Boil Size: 29.43 l
Boil Time: 75 min
End of Boil Vol: 26.87 l

Ingredients
4000.00 g Pale Malt, Maris Otter (4.5 EBC) Grain 1 69.6 %
900.00 g Biscuit Malt (50.0 EBC) Grain 2 15.7 %
400.00 g Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (150.0 EBC) Grain 3 7.0 %
200.00 g White Wheat Malt (4.7 EBC) Grain 4 3.5 %
2.00 kg Pumpkin (Mash 90.0 mins) Other 5 -
250.00 g Brown Sugar, Light (15.8 EBC) Sugar 6 4.3 %
20.00 g Boadicea [7.11 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 12.3 IBUs
20.00 g Pacific Gem [14.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 25.5 IBUs
20.00 g Pacific Gem [14.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 9.2 IBUs
20.00 g Willamette [5.90 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 3.7 IBUs
20.00 g Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 11 -
2.00 Items Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 12 -
2.00 Items Cloves (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 13 -
1.00 Items Vanilla Pod (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 14 -
1.00 Items Nutmeg (Boil 1.0 mins) Spice 15 -
1.0 pkg American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) [124.21 ml] Yeast 16 -

Est Original Gravity: 1.060 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.2 %
Bitterness: 50.8 IBUs
Est Color: 23.7 EBC

Measured Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.011 SG
Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.6 %

Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Mash Steps
Mash In Add 12.10 l of water at 77.6 C 68.0 C 90 min
Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (8.50l, 15.09l) of 78.0 C water[/code]

Cheers,
- Joe

[asd]

That's a very complicated recipe!

Good luck!

[Mr. Dripping]

I'm no expert on these things, but from what I've read and listened to I think you would be better making an extraction with the spices. Listened to a good podcast recently that said to run the spices through a drip coffee percolator and dose with the extract. If you do it gradually you can avoid over spicing it.

[6470zzy]

Perhaps a bit heavy handed with the hops, I believe that your spices will become somewhat lost.

[joeskidmore]

Thanks for the advice Ozzy - I've decided to remove the Pacific Gem entirely from the bill. I'm hoping the spicy notes from the Willamette will compliment the pumpkin and cloves.

That sounds like a fun experiment Mr. Dripping, I'll be pre-cooking my pumpkin in the oven for about 2 hours and may add spices to that and taste the wort pre-boil to see how much flavour comes through the mash

[Chicken Dipper]

Let us know how it turns out, good luck

[timothy]

I'd recommend keeping the IBUs under 30. Also, you'll have to taste it post boil, and possibly even post fermentation to see how much spice character was lost after all that boiling and venting. You can always add more spices to secondary or create an extract like Mr. Drippy mentioned. Those are my two biggest recommendations.