Snowy Pumpkin Seasonal Ale
For the longest time I have always wanted to brew my own beer. For years I’ve searched the internet for how-to’s and kits. But I always shied away from doing it because it felt like such a daunting task. I created my own fear by assuming it was difficult. Until one day I asked my Dad about his old equipment that I remember him using when I was a kid. He still had it and before you know it we were brewing a ‘kit’ from the homebrew store on a Sunday.
It was as easy as boiling water and the beer came out great. The hardest and most nerve-racking part was washing and sanitizing everything (and thank god my Dad did it the first time). I’ve since brewed another “kit” and I’ve learned a very important thing about homebrewing.
It is incredibly difficult to screw up homebrew.
After brewing two kits with my Dad at my parents place I decided to step it up a notch. I brought the equipment back to the apartment and opened the King Beaver Brewery for business. My first beer recipe was a bit adventurous but I was excited to try something completely different from everything available at the store. I decided on a Pumpkin Ale. After reading a lot of recipes and instructions, I picked one and headed to the homebrew store to pick up my ingredients and tweak the recipe.
Snowy Pumpkin Seasonal Ale
This is an extract recipe. Using extract is a bit easier than mashing grains. Using extract removes the whole step of mashing grains which requires a bit more room than my small apartment kitchen. There are “partial mash” methods that can be done in a kitchen but I decided to keep it simple for the first time.
Recipe:
7.72 lb (3.5kg) Light Malt Extract (Added more to yield a higher alcohol percentage)
1 lb Crystal Malt
8 oz Biscuit Malt
4 oz Wheat Flakes
66.95 oz (4.1844 lb) cubed fresh pumpkin
0.75 oz Golding Hops
0.25 oz Irish Moss
Pack of Fermentis S-04 Yeast
Homemade pumpkin pie spice:
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Cloves
