BeerBorg

I just received Midwest's Pumpkin Ale kit. I have bought 4 extract kits on sale in the last month, paying less than $100 shipped. That rivals the price of grain, and quicker batche swill allow me to work on other projects. I made Thunderstruck Pumpkin from HBT a couple of years ago. It was great, but took months to condition. The Midwest kit is 6# light LME, 8oz Carapils, 8oz C10, 8oz brown sugar, 1 tsp@ cinnamon and nutmeg, Mt Hood & Cascade hops, either 15 or 30oz pumpkin.
Thunderstruck Pumpkin is:

6.25 lbs light DME
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
8.0 oz Biscuit Malt
4.0 oz Wheat, Flaked
60.00 oz Pumpkin, Canned (Boil 60.0 min)

.75 oz Goldings (5.0% AA 60.0 min) 13 IBU

0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) or one Whirlfloc tablet

Yeast - English Ale (White Labs #WLP002) or Fermentis S-04

Spread the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees F before adding to the brew.

Steep the grains for 20-30 minutes at about 155°F.

During clearing stage, add a spice tea of 1 tsp "Pumpkin Pie Spice" or Pampered Chef "Cinnamon Plus." Steep spices in 1 cup hot water for 10-15 minutes, cool then add. Consider adding the spice tea a little at a time to achieve the desired flavor profile.

I also looked at the BCS recipe. Does anyone here have a favorite? Or recommendations from your experience? I might sort of blend the recipes. I'm brewing this soon (maybe today) So that it will be ready by Halloween.

I've only done AG versions of pumpkin spice beers, and never actually used pumpkin.

I have used sweet potatoes (sold as yams in some grocery stores), which work GREAT and once I used butternut squash, which was ok--not as good as the yam beers, though.

However, in all of them I put the squash/yams in the mash.

I also found that I like to spice the hell out of my version, then let it condition until it drops clear (which takes a WHILE), but it was before I experiemented with gelatin, so that might be a solution. I usually put spices in the boil late (cinnamon, freshly ground nutmeg and freshly ground/chopped ginger) and then boost them up at kegging with pumpkin pie spice.

I also usually brew it in July/August so it can get the appropriate conditioning time. This year, maybe I'll try brewing it later and gelatin fining it.

Thanks. I decided to modify the kit by upping the extract (+1# DME) adding 5oz Quaker oats, 28oz canned pumpkin (roasted first) @5 and changing the spice to Cinnamon Plus. I'm staying with 1 tsp spice @0. I can always add more in the keg, but I like subtle spice. I'm charcoal roasting the pumpkin for a bit of flavor. I'll know how it tastes in October!

And I realize I made an error.
The kit included a pound of brown sugar. That's how it's listed in the instructions, but you only use half. So I dug out an open box of dark brown sugar and used that. When I put away the bag from the kit, I realized that it is Belgian Soft Brown Candi Sugar, not the same. I could either add the sugar now, upping the alcohol slightly, or use it to naturally carb the keg (less than 8oz, of course) or maybe a bit of each. Or I could relax and forget the whole thing.

So, I went to the Midwest site to check put the kit you are making. Then I saw the $4 shipping special that ends today. Then the Simply beer kits for $20. Then ordered the stout and the brown, because they stacked with the shipping. $22 each to my door.

Nothing wrong with that.

Im thinking of turning the brown into a pumpkin, in your honor.

Thanks. Glad you got in on the sale. I'm breaking some of these kits up for their ingredients, and modifying others. But it's hard to beat $20-25 for 6# of extract, 1# grains, 2oz hops and a pack of yeast.

MrBandGuy wrote:So, I went to the Midwest site to check put the kit you are making. Then I saw the $4 shipping special that ends today. Then the Simply beer kits for $20. Then ordered the stout and the brown, because they stacked with the shipping. $22 each to my door.

Nothing wrong with that.

Im thinking of turning the brown into a pumpkin, in your honor.

Not long ago, they had a sale with 99c shipping, so I got 4 of the simply beer kits. But they went straight to the freezer, because I don't know when I'll have time to brew them.

It's great to have on hand. With extract and a 30 minute boil, you can make a pretty quick batch.

bpgreen wrote:
Not long ago, they had a sale with 99c shipping, so I got 4 of the simply beer kits. But they went straight to the freezer, because I don't know when I'll have time to brew them.

Hard to beat that price for a backup. I'm going to experiment a bit with additions. They seem great for that.