OnTap Magazine

ontapmag.co.za | Summer 2025 | 51 BEER MEETS FOOD PUMPKIN BEER I have always loved pumpkin beer, despite the judgmental looks I receive from certain craft beer enthusiasts on occasion when I say as much. In the US, come autumn, every other craft brewery puts out their version of a pumpkin ale and they are, in my humble opinion, often delicious! (Although, a little pro tip: watch those ABVs. They can get real high!) When I started homebrewing, I was of course keen to make my own. As I scoured the internet for recipes, I was pleased to learn that there’s some interesting history to pumpkin in beer. In fact, according to an article in Craft Beer & Brewing: “pumpkin beer predates the founding of the United States.” Author Mark Pasquinelli writes, “Its beginnings were humble—first brewed during colonial days out of necessity, when malt was scarce and fermentable sugars had to be found wherever possible. The beer became popular among colonists, either straight or mixed in a cocktail known as flip.” The style eventually all but disappeared in the 19th Century, but was then resurrected by Bill Owens of Buffalo Bill’s Brewery in Hayward, California. He somehow came across one of President George Washington’s old recipes, and used it as inspiration for the pumpkin ale he eventually brewed, and for the first time, added in spices. So started the ongoing pumpkin beer craze. The recipe I have been using and tweaking on BeerSmith over the last five years was based off of Mark’s so- called “Perfect Pumpkin Ale” recipe. He insists on including real pumpkin in your brew, and I vehemently agree. The below is my adapted recipe for a 19L batch. PUMPKIN PREP I purchase the pre-cut pumpkin pieces in packages from Pick N Pay which usually contain about half a kilo of pumpkin. For this recipe, I use two kgs of pumpkin, so four total packages. At home, I line a few baking sheets with aluminum foil, lay out the pumpkin pieces, and then sprinkle/cover them with brown sugar. These pumpkin pieces then get roasted in the oven at 190°C until soft. This can take upwards of two to three hours. Once finished, I remove the pumpkin from the oven and let it cool before then transferring the pumpkin into a covered bowl, which I store in the fridge until brew day. Brew Day Batch Size: 19L Boil Size: 25L Grain Bill: Pale Malt, Maris Otter - 3kg Munich Malt - 1.3kg Biscuit Male - 0.5kg Caramunich Malt - 0.5kg Single step mash at 68°C for 60 minutes. Boil for 90 minutes, following the adjuncts, spices and hops schedule: Pumpkin: 2kg (Add at 90 min)* Brown Sugar: 200g (Add at 90 min) Perle Hops: 22.5 g (Add at 60 min) Ginger: 1tsp (Add at 5 min) Cinnamon: 5 tsp (Add at 5 min) Nutmeg: 1 tsp (Add at 5 min) Vanilla Extract: 1 tbs (add during secondary, a few days before bottling/ kegging) Estimated Post Boil Volume: 22L Estimated Post Boil Gravity: 1.065 Target Batch Volume: 19L Yeast: London ESB English Style Ale *I put the roasted pumpkin in a hop bag and add that to the wort. This way you can prevent clogging your kettle—and, most importantly—the pumpkin can then be used for other purposes after flavouring your beer! Speaking of… Discovered in a country store in the small state of Vermont A mere sampling of the pumpkin baked goods consumed on this visit