Reddish orange in color, creamy tan head, sweet and spicy, rich and unique. Like a New England fall afternoon.

(5 gallons, grain and extract)

Ingredients:

• 2 to 3 lbs. pumpkin
• 0.5 lb. two-row pale malt
• 0.5 lb. malted wheat
• 0.5 lb. medium crystal malt, 40° Lovibond
• 5 lbs. unhopped amber malt extract (or 4 lbs. unhopped amber dry malt)
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulphered molasses
• 1 oz. Mt. Hood hop pellets (4% alpha acid), for 57 min.
• 0.5 oz. of pie spices: nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, allspice, cardamom, ginger in cheesecloth bag
• Ale yeast (such as Wyeast 1056, American Ale)
• 1 cup light dry malt for priming

Step by Step:

Cut in half, clean out, and bake one pumpkin at 300° F for one hour or until flesh becomes mushy. Crush two-row and crystal malts and malted wheat. Mash the malt and the pumpkin together in 5 qts. of water at 152° F for 55 minutes, then raise the temperature to 165° F for five minutes. Run off and sparge with 5 qts. of water at 170° F, gathering (hopefully) about 2 gals. of sweet wort.

To the kettle add malt extract (or dry malt), brown sugar, and molasses. Bring to a boil, then add Mt. Hood pellets. Boil 55 minutes. Add pie spices in a bag and boil just long enough to mix them in (two to three minutes). Remove the bag.

Remove the kettle from the heat, chill, and top off to 5.25 gals. in your primary fermenter. Ferment with a clean ale yeast, prime with light dry malt, and bottle condition cool (50° to 55° F) for a month. Serve at cellar temperature to allow the blend of flavors to truly express themselves.

Notes:

Pumpkin: Avoid using canned pumpkin pie filling. It is already spiced, often, and is laden with preservatives and artificial products (although if you can find organic, all-natural, no-preservative, unspiced canned pumpkin, by all means use it). It is important to use a partial mash with this recipe; I can't figure out any other good, efficient way to use the pumpkin and get anything out of it (I'm open to suggestions!).

Malts: All-grain brewers can adapt this recipe to a standard "amber ale" grain bill, but be sure to include a little malted wheat for better head retention. Extract brewers may have trouble using the pumpkin unless they do a partial mash as described above.

Spices: The biggest problem with this brew is the proper ratio of spice to beer. It is very easy to overdo, especially with strong-flavored spices such as ginger and clove. I have arrived at a dose of only 0.5 oz. total, which will not seem like enough as you brew but will be noticeable in the mature beer.

My personal blend is "heavy" on nutmeg and cinnamon and very light on ginger and clove, just enough to indicate their presence. IÕve found that leaving the spices in the fermenting beer tends to become overwhelming, hence the use of a bag or some other device to steep the spices in the boiling wort but then remove them.

The commercial "Pumpkin Pie Spice" mixtures available on the grocery store shelf seem to me a little too gingery/clovey, so I make my own blend. Also, I have better luck with larger pieces: crushed or shaved whole cinnamon stick, allspice berries and nutmegs, whole cloves, and small pieces of fresh ginger. rather than any finely ground forms.

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