Pumpkin ale recipe

[Jamie488]

Am looking to brew a pumpkin ale this weekend. Had a look on the internet but wanted to get some first hand experience from anyone who has brewed one before. I would also welcome any good pumpkin ale recipes anyone may have tried. Seems to be getting the spices right is key...

[BluePanda]

I'm a kit brewer only, and faced the same dilemma.
In the end I made a batch of Wilko Golden Ale and bottled half normally ( just in case) . I steeped 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice in 8ozs hot water for 5 mins then let cool. Once cooled, I poured the liquid off to remove the sediment and added 1 tsp to my remaining beer, tasted it and added another, then bottled the remaining half.
To be honest, It's still conditioning, so haven't had any yet, so can't really say if it has been a success, but it tasted nice at the bottling stage.
I understand that my favourite pumpkin beer 'Pumpkinhead' from Shipyard brewery in Maine, USA has no actual pumpkin, just the spices, hence my approach.

[LeeH]

Don't think you can buy pumpkin pie spice in the UK can you?

[ajclarkson]

Having made pumpkin pie on more than a few occasions, the spice I always go with is nutmeg, ground ginger and cinnamon (usually 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1tsp ginger, 2tsp cinnamon to give you an idea of the ratios)

[flything]

I made a great Pumpkin Spice Ale a couple of years ago, based on a Jamil Zainasheff recipe.

19ltr

Grains
11 lbs/ 5kg English Pale Malt
.5 lbs/227g. Aromatic
.5 lbs/227g. Crystal 40
.5 lbs/227g. Crystal 120
.25 lbs/227g. Special roast

Hops
1.2 oz / 34g Kent Goldings 5% 60 mins

Spices
.5 tsp. Cinnamon (1 min.)
.25 tsp. Ginger (1 min.)
.125 tsp. Nutmeg (1 min.)
.125 tsp. Allspice (1 min.)

Tesco sell tins of pumpkin pie filling in it's USA food section, I got a tin to try using in the mash but haven't got around to it. Maybe I will soon...

[Jambo]

Greg Hughes' book Home Brew Beer has a recipe which uses a whole pumpkin, the other recipes in the book are great so likely this would be too.

[alix101]

Mine was made with roasted pumpkin cooked in spice and brown sugar. Once cooked it was added to the boil.
It was a good example and you could taste the pumpkin which many say you can't in other examples.
Word of caution don't make a huge batch unless it's for a party it's incredibly rich.

[timothy]

Here's what I did last year, if you haven't come across this thread yet. There's no one right way to do it, but this thread might give you some ideas.

viewtopic.php?t=61832

Good luck!

[seymour]

I had a bottle of Timothy's and it was amazing.

[Jamie488]

Couple of brew day pics. Smells good in the fermenter. Will balance the spice in the secondary. Not the clearest from the boiler but should drop out.