Yes, it's that time of year again - when it seems like half of the homebrewing population is debating the best way to brew a good pumpkin ale (often with little to no firsthand experience on the subject), while the other half is suggesting that the first step to enjoying a pumpkin ale is to pour it into the closest drain.  And of course, craft beer outlets everywhere are inundated with pumpkin offerings of varying quality, which likely encourages the trend even more. 

Rather than take a side on that debate, the following article is presented as some tried and true suggestions to follow if you find yourself wanting to brew a pumpkin ale.  After all, if you're going to do one of these beers, do yourself (and anyone you share the beer with) a favor, and make a good one!

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Note from homebrewdad: this article is directly taken from a post by /u/rrrx at reddit's homebrewing sub.  While I have edited and applied formatting, I do not take any credit for the content.  I have reprinted it here with permission.

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Interestingly, it seems that many brewers are adamantly opposed to using actual pumpkin flesh in their beers, feeling that doing so doesn't really offer anything to the beer and just makes a mess.  Instead, they rely on their spice mix to invoke that signature pumpkin beer flavor.

As an avowed advocate of using actual pumpkin in pumpkin ales, I have to say that the idea that actual pumpkin contributes nothing isn't true at all. Once I first brewed my pumpkin ale, I spent the next five years perfecting the recipe, and have brewed it every year for the past fifteen years. I notice a very significant difference between pumpkin ales with actual pumpkin and those without it; you just have to know how to treat the pumpkin right.

A few tips for anyone interested, both generally about

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In my early years I used real pumpkin just as it says here. But now many years in, I find you do not get much from using real pumpkin other then being able to say you used it. I use the canned puree now and get a much better pumpkin flavor. I do happen to use real pumpkin when I am tapping it for effects.. LOL
These are all good tips for using the real thing though....good article.

posted by madcowbrewing on 9/10/2015 at 01:24:28 AM

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You've worn me down, I'm planning on brewing an Elysian Dark O the Moon Clone. Would I be smart to use canned pumpkin or use fresh from the pumpkin? I'll be using 24oz total 8 in mash, 8 in boil, and 8 in secondary.

posted by Buxman14 on 9/17/2015 at 04:53:40 PM

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I do like your notes and rationale. I started with a Maris Otter Brown ale and added two cans of roasted pumpkin at 15 min to go, a vanilla bean (split and emptied into the wort) at 8 minutes along with the pumpkin spices at the same time. It comes out with amazing balance, and tastes like a slice of pumpkin pie. I have made it every year for the past 4 years and it is our fall favorite here. You have me thinking about more tweaks next time I brew.

posted by locnar1701 on 8/30/2016 at 07:08:45 PM

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Tags for this post: pumpkin, ale, spice, pumpkin flesh, homebrew

I won!...
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I had planned to write about a fun - or, at least positive - subject for my post today. I've been working on my Christmas beer for this year, and while it's a bit off the wall, I have some high hopes for it. Related to that Christmas beer, I found myself trying to revive some old, neglected yeast; that turned out to be an interesting process. Also, I do really need to get a pumpkin beer "how to" post up.

Unfortunately, those topics will have to wait. Instead, it appears that it is time for a classic "what Homebrew Dad screwed up this time" story.

You may recall me posting three weeks or so ago about my nine hour brewday in preparation for the Alabama Brew Off. I had wanted to enter at least a couple of beers into the competition, but had missed the announcement stating when they would accept entries; as a result, I only had a chance to brew once for the comp. I ended up deciding to go with a split batch, which resulted in seven gallons of a simple wort. Four gallons got WLP820 and was fermented via the fast lager process as a Festbier. The other three gallons got further split; both got WLP500 so as to be fermented as a Belgian Blond, but I decided to play with pitch rates to see which gave the best Belgian character.

The fermentation process seemed to go great; once fermentation slowed,...
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Tags for this post: infection, competition, drain pour, beer, infected

With a short break from the dunkelweizen series as I wait for the latest batch to finish fermentation, my investigations turn to equipment. Moving into a place with more space by the end of the year I wanted to price out a set of equipment. I was hitting limits as far as making higher gravity beers or doing new processes for my experimental brews. So I started digging into the research that is one reason I enjoy this hobby, there is always so much to learn (and subsequently rant about). First I needed to get a pot, that can't be hard to pick right?

The right size is (not) all you need

It should just be simple as moving from my old 5 gallon pot when I was doing extract or partial mash brews to the one I have now at 8 gallons for full mash brews. Yet what I saw as the size I needed changed with the processes I used. Now I have this expensive pot and I am looking to replace it in less than a year! My method of no-sparge brewing suddenly became impossible when trying to brew a Strong Scotch Ale as apparently 7 gallons wasn't enough in one go. And that isn't even the only one as I started looking into parti-gyle brewing.

Planning ahead really is the key to a smooth brew day and equipment which is the most expensive piece is the most important. I only plan on doing 5 gallon

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Tags for this post: pot, kettle, equipment, tri-clover clamp

It has come to my attention that Lavatools mistakenly shipped normal Javelin thermometers to me, not the Javelin PRO models that I was supposed to review.  As such, I have edited my review to reflect this.

Accurate temperature reading are an absolute must for serious homebrewers, as variances of even a few degrees Fahrenheit can make huge differences in wort fermentability and the final mouthfeel of a beer. Let us all observe a moment of silence for that glass floating thermometer that comes with so many starter sets. While we may keep it around for fun, one of the first pieces of gear that gets upgraded by the typical homebrewer is that thermometer, as traditional thermometers like this are often neither particularly accurate nor quick (or easy) to read. And, of course, they are made of glass - making them susceptible to death by fall.

It seems like there is a wide range of very affordable digital thermometers for sale, but if you want serious accuracy and super fast read times, there is only one big name on the market - the Thermoworks Thermapen. Now, don't get me wrong; I received a Thermapen for my birthday a couple of years ago, and I love it. If I'm being perfectly honest, the "bling" factor of having a real top of the line piece of gear probably factors into my feelings, but being able to pull a dead accurate reading in an near instant manner is pretty great. Having a great...
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For the longest time, I have been a very traditional brewer when it comes to hopping and bittering.  Sixty minute addition for my bitterness, somewhere around 20 for flavor and then 0-5 minutes for aroma. Some of it was my not wanting to invest in the amount of hops it takes to do these methods. But as of the last few years you are hearing more and more of these new techniques to insert not only flavor and aroma into your beer but bitterness too. And in search of a great IPA recipe, what would you invest to make it. These techniques are said to be anchored in home brewing and have cascaded into the commercial realm of some of the great IPA brewers. So there has to be some truth that they work.

Hop Bursting is the addition of late hops, and only late hops. No bitterness hopping at the beginning of the boil. Some brewers use a mash hop or first wort hop to compliment or add some bitterness. With this addition some say the bitterness tends to be softer. I am not sure it does, but I can tell you it lends a massive hop aroma and flavor.

Hop Stands, simply put, are the addition of hops post boil before the cooling, or sometimes it is during the whirlpool. As the wort is still hot, not boiling, you are extracting some alpha acids, but not as much as you would with boiling. And again, you are

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Part 4 - Yeast Blending

Continued from Part 1 - The Dunkelweizen Clone, Part 2 - Mastering the Yeast, and Part 3 - Decoction Mashing.

After the last 'few' attempts it seemed like nothing would get me any closer to the unicorn of a beer I had imagined. After many battles I finally gave up on WLP300 as it was the closest yet too unruly of a beast to manage. Thankfully I have White Labs locally to go try out other yeasts. Their tap room has saved me so much time experimenting by tasting flights of the same beer with different yeasts. Yet each I tasted made it really seem my goal was really just an imaginary creature. It was then in that tipsy daze (drunken stupor) that a light bulb came on...but that doesn't matter because I got a great idea after comparing two yeasts. Mixing them together created a complex yet mellow magical taste that I had been seeking!

At the time, I searched online and couldn't find many resources for blending yeasts much less any decent resources. Even the White Labs folks had only just started experimenting with their Franken Stout. Guess this was going to be my own adventure with Wenches and Beer! Or really just lots of beer as one of those two are in short supply...

White Labs Tasting Room, so many to try...

Recipe:

Note, you will find this...
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Tags for this post: Dunkelweizen, Hefeweizen, Adventure, Yeast Blending, Mixed Yeast Fermentation

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I am a great fan of methods that make things easier, and the overnight mash is certainly a time saver. But I have always wondered if it was possible to maximize the savings by doing a full volume mash (no-sparge) combined with the overnight aspect of it. Whenever I did an overnight mash, I still had to get up, start the water for the sparge and then spend the time to either fly sparge or batch sparge…..where did my time savings go?

So first to understand that an overnight sparge is okay and works you have to consider the following:

Attenuation - If you are making anything you do not want bone dry, forget it. This long, slow mash leads the best for those styles that attenuate almost fully. Like a Saison, some Belgian styles, etc. Be sure the recipe you want on this mash is prepared for a low final gravity.

Possibility of souring or bacteria - Any time your mash temp drops below 130 degrees F the Lactobacillus that live naturally on the grain, have the potential to grow and sour and infect your wort. If you keep your temperature of your mash up, you should have no problems.

Insulating your mash tun - When you mash overnight you want to minimize the temp loss as much as you can. You do want to stay above the 130 threshold….preferably higher than that. So in order to do that, I employ a three tier system. First, I place a...
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This past Saturday, I received a package I have been excitedly awaiting - a magnetic bottle opener from Hannison Woodworks. Hannison is a sponsor of the 2015 BrewUnited Challenge; they are contributing prizes to three winners, who will receive their choice of a tap handle or bottle opener. I don't keg, but I do bottle; Matt (the owner of Hannison) was good enough to send me a custom magnetic opener to review.

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Full disclosure: as mentioned above, Hannison Woodworks is a sponsor of the 2015 BrewUnited Challenge. This bottle opener was provided to me at no cost, in exchange for the consideration of an honest product review. With that said, the following review is 100% true and accurate, and is in my own words. Hannison did not suggest, edit, or even read my review prior to my public post.

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My very first impression upon unboxing the opener was pretty simple - wow. This thing is beautiful; my wife - who is understandably no longer impressed with me dragging various pieces of brewing-related gear home - made several nice comments about the opener, and was happy to hang this on the front of our fridge. The opener is crafted from one solid piece of cherry wood, and the BrewUnited logo has been laser etched onto the face.

In what feels like a lifetime ago, I spent three years as a cabinetmaker, and have continued to enjoy woodworking from time to time. Our home features a...
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Tags for this post: magnetic, bottle, opener, hannison, woodworks