Imperial Brown Pumpkin
This is the big brown pumpkin ale that everyone loves to sip on as the cold weather rolls in. Our imperial pumpkin brew has a nice spice, rich caramelized brown sugar and traditional grains for an imperial brown. Earlier this month we published a recipe for a Smoked Pumpkin Saison with smooth Alder wood smoked pumpkins using a farmhouse style ale yeast, but this Imperial Brown Pumpkin would drink that pumpkin ale for breakfast. Yeah that's right... pumpkin cannibalism.
Imperial brown ales usually have a higher alcohol content than there traditional counterpart. It may also contain a lot more hops than normal. The normal gravity range for an Imperial Brown is 1.080 -1.100+ with an ABV range of 7-12%. Bitterness is high on this beer around 63 and can range anywhere from 40-70 IBUs with color 15-22L and attenuation dry to sweet.
The additions of organic canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) and dark muscovado brown sugar (IndiaTree.com) gives the yeast more sugars to convert to alcohol making this brew on the higher end of the ABV and Lovibond scale for the Brown style. The Nottingham Ale Yeast is highly flocculant and has relatively full attenuation. The pumpkin really comes through nice with the low fruity ester production of this yeast.
Using 5-20% pumpkin in your recipe is a nice rule of thumb when dealing in squashy fermentables. The addition of pumpkin in the mash, whether it be from a can or freshly cooked, may increase viscosity, causing runoffs in the grain bed. Adding rice hulls (~0.5 lb per 5 gallon batch) to the mash is recommended when lautering with pumpkin to provide bulk and help prevent the mash from settling and becoming stuck during the sparge.
The spicing mixtures vary for pumpkin beers, but normally are made up of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, anise or ginger. The spices can be added at the end of the boil or they can be added during secondary fermentation (dry hop).
Imperial Brown Pumpkin - All Grain
|
| Batch size |
5 gallons |
| Boil size |
6.1 gallons |
| Boil time |
60 minutes |
| Grain weight |
15.67 pounds |
| Efficiency |
70% |
|
| Original gravity |
1.080 |
| Final gravity |
1.024 |
| Alcohol (by volume) |
7.4% |
| Bitterness (IBU) |
63 |
| Color (SRM) |
17.1°L |
|
| Yeast |
| 2 dry packs |
Danstar
11g packs |
Nottingham Ale |
| Grains/Extracts/Sugars |
| 17.54 pounds |
2 Row Base
37ppg, 1.5°L |
13 pounds
74.1% |
Brown Malt
32ppg, 50°L |
1.67 pounds
9.5% |
Dark Muscovado Sugar
32ppg, 80°L |
0.5 pound
2.8% |
Organic Pumpkin
32ppg, 80°L |
30 ounces
10.7% |
Crystal 80L
34ppg, 80°L |
0.25 pound
1.4% |
Crystal 50L
34ppg, 50°L |
0.25 pound
1.4% |
| Rice Hulls |
0.5 pound |
| Hops |
| 2 ounces |
Warrior hops
16%, Pellet |
1.5 ounces |
Vanguard hops
6%, Pellet |
0.5 ounces |
|
| Mash |
| 60 minutes, 8.5 gallons |
Strike
Target 153°F |
5.7 gallons
164°F
60 minutes (+0) |
| Sparge |
2.8 gallons
168°F |
| Boil |
| 60 minutes, 6.1 gallons |
| Dark Muscovado Sugar |
0.5 pound
60 minutes (+0) |
Warrior hops
16%, Pellet |
1.5 ounces
60 minutes (+0) |
Pumpkin Pie Spice
|
1 tsp
10 minutes (+50) |
Vanguard hops
6%, Pellet |
0.5 ounces
0 minutes (+60) |
| Ferment |
| 28 days @ 64-74°F |
| Rack to secondary |
14 days (+14) |
|
| Notes |
- Add pumpkin and rice hulls to mash
- Add your spice mix earlier in your boil if you want less spice to come through after fermentation
- Pumpkin Pie Spice mix:
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp allspice
|
Related Recipes:
Smoked Pumpkin Saison - A smoky pumpkin beer recipe with a spicy selection of pumpkin pie flavors.
Pecan Doppelbock - A recipe for a strong Bavarian style Doppelbock with roasted pecans that will warm you up pre-winter.
Sunflower Wheat - A recipe for a nutty style Hefeweizen with toasted sunflower seeds that will ease you into Fall.
Published: October 27, 2011
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