Beer Recipe of the Week: Ray Spangler's Pumpkin Spice Beer

This recipe is located in Randy Mosher's book, Radical Brewing: Recipes, Tales & World-Altering Meditations In A Glass (Page 182). This is one of the many recipes in his book that showcase not-so-conventional ingredients. Pumpkin beer is a delicious seasonal style that brings the wonderful fall flavors of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg into your beer. While you're picking out your pumpkins to carve, grab a few extra for your homebrew!

All Grain: 5 gallons (19 L)

Ingredients:

8 lb (3.6 kg)	Six-row lager malt
4 lb (1.8 kg)	Pumpkin, baked 90 min at 350°F (176°C), get nice and smushy, add to mash
2 lb (.9 kg)	Pale crystal malt
1.5 lb (.68 kg)	Wheat malt
1 lb (.45 kg)	Dextrine malt
2 lb (.9 kg)	Mild-flavored honey, added to brew kettle
.5 lb (227 g)	Rice hulls
.5 oz (14 g)	Cascade, 6% Alpha acid (60 min)
.5 oz (14 g)	Kent Goldings, 5% Alpha acid (60 min)
.5 oz (14 g)	Cascade, 6 % Alpha acid (10 min)
.5 oz (14 g)	Fuggle, 4.4% Alpha acid (10 min)
.5 oz (14 g)	Corriander (crushed)
.25 oz (7 g)	Allspice
.5 tsp (2 g)	Pumpkin pie spice
.5 tsp (2 g)	Cinnamon
.25 tsp (1 g)	Nutmeg
4 packets	Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast (or make an appropriate sized starter)

Starting Gravity: 1.079

Final Gravity: 1.012

Boil Time: 60 minutes

Bitterness: 27 IBU

Directions:

Conduct a mash at 154°F (68°C) for 60 minutes then sparge. Collect roughly 6 gallons of runoff and bring to a rolling boil. Once boiling, add .5 oz (14 g) of Cascade hops and .5 oz (14 g) of Goldings hops and allow them to boil for the full 60 minutes. With 10 minutes left in the boil add .5 oz (14 g) of Cascade hops and .5 oz (14 g) of Fuggle hops. After the boil add your spices. Cool your wort to an appropriate pitching temperature and strain the wort in to your fermenter. Aerate the wort very well. Once the wort is both aerated and cooled, pitch the yeast. This beer should reach maturation in 3 to 6 months.

Note:

Keep in mind that you want the pumpkin very soft/mushy, it's going to be in the mash with all of your grains. Also, the temperature of the pumpkin being put in to the mash tun should be considered, there will be a heat exchange between the grains, pumpkin and strike water.

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