In the Fermentor: Better Nate than Lever Pumpkin Porter

It's November, which means it's time to brew a pumpkin beer!

What's that? Pumpkin beers are already off the shelf? Oops.

Oh well. I'm brewing one anyway. The pumpkins I bought have been staring at me for too long. I'd hate to see them go bad.

This year's beer is a bit of an experiment. The recipe is basically what happens when my Power Outage Pumpkin, Burton Warmer, and Taddy Porter Clone all come together in the same pot. Hopefully the result will be worth the effort.

Rather than shoot for a specific weight of pumpkin, I simply baked a couple of Sugar Pie Pumpkins (thank you allrecipes.com), chopped them up, and tossed them in the Mash. Fresh pumpkins are a pain in the butt to prep, so I figured I might as well use everything. Despite my grumblings, I still think the flavor and aroma of fresh baked pumpkin is worth the additional work.

The total weight of the two pumpkins after being cleaned out was roughly five pounds. Last year's beer used around four pounds and came out with a wonderful dose of pumpkin flavor and aroma. Who knows what five pounds will bring.

Traditional pie spices and a dab of molasses round out the ingredient list.

Here's the five gallon recipe:

Grains:
6 lbs Fawcett Maris Otter
1.5 lbs Fawcett Brown Malt
1 lb Briess Flaked Maize
12 oz Great Western Crystal C60
12 oz Bairds Chocolate Malt

Hops:
0.5 oz Merkur (12.4% a.a.): 60 min

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Yeast:
Safale US-05

Extras:
2 Baked Sugar Pie Pumpkins: Mash
1/4 cup Dark Unsulphered Molasses: 15 min
1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Ginger: 15 min
2 tsp Cinnamon: 15 min
2 tsp Nutmeg: 15 min

Mash Schedule:
Protein Rest: 120F for 10 min (No Maize or Chocolate Malt)
Saccharification Rest: 154F for 60 min (No Chocolate Malt)
Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes (All Grains)

Original Gravity:
1.049
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.011

IBU: 21
SRM Color: 31

Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
4 Weeks Secondary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $15 per case
Commercial Equivalent: Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin: $32
Savings: $17

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