“Peter Peter Porter Eater" Pumpkin Porter

Brew date: September 16, 2012
#9
3 gal

I will be the first to admit that I'm not big on pumpkin beers. Scratch that. I hate pumpkin beers -- too sweet, too malty, too much allspice, whatever. Then, last fall, the wife and I dropped by one of our favorite bars in Madison, the Mason. They always have a great selection of craft beers on tap, many of which I've never tasted and seldom less than delicious. So, low and behold, on that particular visit, there was a pumpkin porter listed.

Now, given my tastes, I wasn't about to sample this particular brew. But Jenny, in keeping with the season, decided to give it a go. Afterwards, you'd think she never tasted anything so good in her life. And she rarely gushes about a beer. Obviously I had to try this... Disbelief. Here, at last, was a pumpkin seasonal that I could enjoy. Great balance from the roastiness and bitter coffee against the otherwise sweetness. A light touch on the spice additions. And a bit of hoppy bite to cut through it all.

Unfortunately, we no longer remember the name of beer we tried that night. (Obviously we suffered some sort of pumpkin-induced shell shock.) But, since then, I've been on the lookout for a promising recipe. I found it in the Extreme Brewing book I recently picked up. The recipe below is a fairly faithful reproduction.

Ingredients:

• 15 oz canned pumpkin
• 1 t gypsum
• 10 oz Black Patent Malt (Briess)
• 16 oz Pale 6-row Malt
• 1.252 kg Golden Light LME
• 1.85 lb Amber DME
• 273 g Dark DME
• ⅔ oz Hallertau hops
• ½ oz Cascade hops
• 1.5 t Irish Moss
• ⅓ oz Hallertau hops
• ½ t Cinnamon
• ½ t Nutmeg
• ½ t Allspice
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

Instructions:

Add black patent and pale 6-row malts, and pumpkin to 2.5 g cold water. Heat to 150-160 'F for 45 min. Strain. Add malt extracts and bring to boil for 5 min. Add ⅔ oz of hallertau hops. Boil 60 min. 20 min prior to end of boil, add Cascade hops and Irish Moss. 10 min before end of boil, add rest of Hallertau hops. 5 min before end of boil add spices. Chill wort to pitching temp. Transfer to carboy, top off to 3 gal. Pitch yeast.

Observations:

OG: 1.073 (1.070 at 86 'F)

Target Gravity: 1.078

Smell: Gingerbread cookies, roastiness, hint of pumpkin

Color: black, deep brown foam

Taste: think, sweet, cinnamon, nutmeg, slight bitter spice