I’m getting ready to make a spiced pumpkin beer for a friend’s Halloween party. I had the thought to make a wee heavy on the smaller end of that style and add pumpkin & spice to that. I’d take other feedback and advice, but the main thing I”m worried about with this recipe is that it might have too much going on – specifically that the flavor from the grain bill with fight the spices.
Batch: 3.5 Gallons, BIAB
Mash (155 F):
6.5 lb Golden Promise
2 lb Weyermann Munich 1
8 oz Victory
2 oz Simpsons Brown (Coffee) Malt
1 oz Special B
3 lb Roasted Sugar Pumpkin
Boil:
60 Minutes 8 g Magnum
10 Minutes 8 oz Light Brown Sugar
5 Minutes 1.5oz Fresh Ginger Root
5 Minutes 2 pc Cloves
5 Minutes 1 pc Cinnamon Stick
5 Minutes ¼ tsp Freshly Grated Nutmeg
0 Minutes 14g EKG Hops
Yeast: Safale US-05
After Primary Fermentation: 1 lb Roasted Sugar Pumpkin
Notes:
*The reason the spices only steeped for 5 minutes is that my post-boil cooling process is not super fast, so they’ll definitely get extra steeping during that time.
*I’m hoping for 65-70 Fahrenheit for fermentation, but I”m more or less at the mercy of my basement’s ambient temperature.
*The brown sugar for is there in part for its toffee-eqsue flavor, and in part to dry out the beer slightly.
For a great wee heavy you only need Goldenm Promise (I prefer Simpson) and maybe an oz. of roast barley for color. Only one hop addition at the beginning of boil.
I wouldn’t say that recipe is terribly far from a lot of pumpkin beer recipes. You should be fine brewing it as it is but I’m not sure what you get out of that small amount of special B or coffee malt. The coffee malt might be color correction but I doubt you can taste the special B in that beer and not sure you want any of that raisin flavor in a pumpkin beer.
I made the beer and it turned out pretty delicious.
I removed the Special B from the recipe and I used additional ginger, cinnamon, and mace in secondary.
At first the coffee malt came across too strong, and it was sweet for my taste, but it dried out to a point where I liked it a lot. FG a little under 1.020 from around 10.080.
I can definitely taste the brown sugar on the finish. The pumpkin and spices come through subtly, not so much that I could say “Ah, there’s the ginger,” etc.
It ended up fermenting around 75*F, but I’m not noticing any strong fermentation flavors that break through the pumpkin, spice, and malt.
I think I might increase the magnum for bittering the next time I make it, but other than that I don’t think I’d change anything.