There is no shortage of pumpkin beer on the market this time of the season for adventurous beer drinkers. Pumpkin style ales and lagers originated in the U.S. by micro-breweries looking to put the flavors of pumpkin pie into a bottle. The flavor of pumpkin beer is delicate pumpkin usually overpowered by traditional pumpkin pie spice mix. The aroma has a nice spiciness, perhaps a little malt and balanced by a little sweetness. Some brewers add caramel malt which adds some interest and going even further with pumpkin they actually malt pumpkin seeds and use them in the mashing process.

Pumpkin spice ales and lagers are the most common styles of this gourd-like brew, but the Saison style seems to have some peppery spice undertones that could aid in this beers overall balance. The normal gravity range for Pumpkin ale is 1.047-1.056 with an ABV range of 4.9-5.5%. Bitterness is low on this beer around 10-15 IBU with color 6-12L and attenuation medium. The normal gravity for a traditional Saison is 1.055-1.080 with ABV range of 4.5-8.1%. Bitterness is medium to high on this beer around 20-45 IBU with color 6-12L and attenuation super dry.

By blending together these two styles we arrive at some interesting results. The additions of pumpkin and brown sugar gives the yeast more sugars to convert to alcohol making this brew on the higher end of the ABV and Lovibond scale for the Saison style. The White Labs Platinum Saison II yeast WLP566 is moderately phenolic, with a clove-like characteristic and aroma. The pumpkin plays nice with the fruity ester production of this yeast.

To add another layer of complexity to this beer's body I smoked the pumpkin in my wood smoker. I chose Alderwood (SmokerWoodChunks.com) for one of the smoothest, real wood smoke flavors available. Smoking 3-7 lbs of pumpkin at temperatures of 250-300F took around 3 hours. 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 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).

Smoked Pumpkin Saison - All Grain Batch size 5 gallons Boil size 6.1 gallons Boil time 60 minutes Grain weight 13 pounds Efficiency 70% Original gravity 1.070 Final gravity 1.019 Alcohol (by volume) 6.7% Bitterness (IBU) 18 Color (SRM) 12.0°L Yeast 3 liquid packs White Labs

WLP566 Platinum Belgian Saison II Ale

Grains/Extracts/Sugars 13 pounds 2 Row Base

37ppg, 1.5°L 10.5 pounds

80.8% Dry Sugar - Brown

42ppg, 40°L 1 pound

7.7% Wheat

38ppg, 2°L 0.5 pounds

3.8% Crystal 70L

34ppg, 70°L 0.5 pounds

3.8% Biscuit

35ppg, 25°L 0.5 pounds

3.8%

Hops 1.5 ounces Goldings (Styrian) hops

5%, Pellet 1 ounce Saaz hops

4%, Pellet 0.5 ounces

Additions 56.04 ounces Smoked Pumpkin

Flavor 3 lbs. Cloves

Flavor 4 whole Nutmeg

Flavor 4 cracked Cinnamon

Flavor 5 sticks Irish moss

Fining 0.04 ounces

Mash 70 minutes, 8.2 gallons Strike

Target 153°F 4.5 gallons

164°F

60 minutes (+0) Sparge

Target 168°F 3.7 gallons

178°F

Boil 60 minutes, 6.1 gallons Goldings (Styrian) hops

5%, Pellet 1 ounce

60 minutes (+0) Smoked Pumpkin

Flavor 3 lbs.

60 minutes (+0) Saaz hops

4%, Pellet 0.5 ounces

20 minutes (+40) Irish moss

Fining 0.04 ounces

15 minutes (+45) Cloves

Flavor 4 whole

10 minutes (+50) Cinnamon

Flavor 5 sticks

10 minutes (+50) Nutmeg

Flavor 4 cracked

10 minutes (+50)

Ferment 28 days @ 68-75°F Rack to secondary 14 days (+14)



Notes Smoke pumpkin with Alderwood

Smoke at 250-300F for 2-4 hours or until it becomes soft

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