Summoned Spirits Spiced Pumpkin Ale
8 lbs American Pale Malt
8 oz Crystal 120°L
4 oz Brown Sugar (added to the boil, not mash)
1.5 oz Chocolate
1.5 oz Roasted Barley
30 ounces of canned pumpkin added to the mash (mash everything at 152-154°)
1 oz of mild hops like Mt. Hood, Tettnanger, Hallertau, Willamette, etc. at 4.0 to 4.5% for 60 minutes
1½ tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice added to the brewpot and steeped for 15 minutes (lid on) after flameout
White Labs 01 California Ale yeast, 1056 or dry US-05
1½ teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice added to something like Captain Morgan's, Barardi Spice or anything that will keep the spice sanitary. Combine spice and rum in a container with a tight-fitting lid a few days before racking the beer to secondary. Add the spice & rum mixture to the secondary and rack the beer on top to mix it well
OG: 1.049, FG: 1.012, IBU: 19, SRM: 15, ABV: 4.8%
I have made this beer 3 or 4 times now and I seem to be able to recreate it pretty well. Buffalo Bill's Pumkpin Ale was the inspiration for this beer with it's dark color and sweet, spicy flavor. This is not a beer where hops or the yeast should lend much of anything. You want to create a nice, malty beer that is just barely balanced with hops and create a base for the spice to do its thing. The addition of pumpkin is an option as the pumpkin may not lend much flavor. But I do think that the mashed pumpkin adds a small amount of fermentables and also gives the beer a bit of an orangy color. Some brewers will cut a pumpkin (no skin) into small chunks and roast them in the oven. To get around that, I used some roasted grain in the recipe along with canned pumpkin from the grocery store which simply gets added to the mash. The pumpkin can cause some runoff issues (slowing the draining of the mash vessel) so you might consider adding rice hulls to your mash.
This is all about personal preference. I like the hops to balance the sweetness of the wort and that's it. I also like a neutral yeast because I don't want hops, spice and complex yeast profiles battling for attention with my tastebuds. The amount of spice in the beer is also a personal preference and this may be more than people want. This recipe will place the spice in the front and make it VERY detectable. I don't consider it to be too much for a beer that you will not necessarily be drinking all day. The spice that is added to the brewpot will be mellowed by the heat and the activity of the primary. The spice that is added into secondary will be more up front, creating layers of spice flavor. Another piece of experience I have picked up with this beer is that beers with any type of flavor added (spices, vanilla, fruit, etc.) require a little extra time to mellow and blend. If you want to be drinking your spiced pumpkin ale from mid-October up until Halloween, it's best to brew it sometime in August to allow the beer to sit awhile. If it doesn't have enough time to age, the spice flavor will be a little sharper and less smooth than you might like.
