It's Pumpkin Time

Boo-zers! It is that time again... this year's hop harvests are wrapping up and the pumpkin harvest is beginning to crank up! But what to do with all that pumpkin... make some ale! The first ale that yours truly ever brewed was a pumpkin ale, and it is still a seasonal favorite, and not just because of my love affair with the Great Pumpkin.

This season, I am rising the Great one up from the patch with four different batches of pumpkin ale, just so he knows I've been patiently brewing and waiting for him all year long.

With that said, allow me to discuss with you some things that, to me, make the distinction between optimum red-faced pumpkin madness and just your regular old boozehoundery.

First and foremost: USE REAL PUMPKIN!
Disturbingly often, one will hear of people trying to get away with making a pumpkin ale that contains 0.00% pumpkin, and instead creating the flavor of a pumpkin ale with spices only. A few notable benefits of using real pumpkin include: higher alcohol content, thicker texture that is characteristic of a fine pumpkin ale, and extra badass points for using big vegetables in your boil.

I've spoken with some brewers who are afraid to use pumpkin because of all the mess it makes, and thus, don't know how to use it. Thus, here's a quick run-through of how to do it right:

a) Get pumpkins: small sugar pumpkins are best, but a medium size like the one pictured furthest to the right will do as well

b) cut into halves, remove seeds and guts
(optional) add pumpkin pie spice

c) bake skin-side-up on 375F for ~90min.
The flesh should be cooked now. Take it out
and remove the skin and the stem. Now, add
it to your beer when you start boiling*

*Boiling your pumpkin for 60 minutes is pretty standard, but you will lose all the pumpkin flavor and gain all its fermentable sugars and the thick texture. I have heard of people adding pumpkin at the last minute for flavor, but I cannot speak in favor if this latter technique.

With that out of the way, let us now delve into the rest of what makes a pumpkin beer unique... the spices!

Typical pumpkin beers include such spices as cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. I'm always experimenting with when and how much, but generally using 1-2 tsp (per 5gal of beer) of your preference of spices in the flavoring-aroma stages of the boil (30-10 minutes left). Adding a dash of vanilla extract at bottling is also occasionally done, I'll be trying this for the first time soon. I have heard of people adding powdered lactose (non-fermentable milk sugars) after fermentation ends as well, to really thicken up the flavor, but I just don't have the heart to do it. Ultimately, it's a matter of pumpkin-y preference, so do what sounds the most delicious to you!

That is all of my gourd-derived wisdom for you libation-lovers today. Spend this October and Halloween drinking pumpkin ales and getting into drunken mischief; may the Great Pumpkin be with you!

Infernally fermenting,
Mr. Beerd

[primary: Palouse Pumpkin Porter]
[secondary: Big-Ass Pumpkin Beer]
[tap 1: Rye Pale Ale]
[tap 2: The Great Pumpkin's Ale]