'The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' Ale Special

I made this recipe for the fall. I'm not a big fan of pumpkin spice and so I knew I wouldn't love it, but I made it to share with others and fill growlers for family and friends. I liked it less than most regular brown ales I've made, but my wife and some others really liked this and I was able to get rid of it within a few weeks and free up my keg. I steeped 15 oz of canned pumpkin towards the end of the boil and that did seem to add a bit of flavor but may have meant more gunk and a smaller batch in the end. I think the recipe hits the mark for what it is meant to be (added pumpkin puree for me), but it's just not my type of beer.

Really thought is would have more flavor....

This beer is really tasty. Following other reviews advice I added a 15oz can of pumpkin to the last 15 min of the boil, then added 2 15oz cans to secondary. My wife loves it, everyone loves it. I would like a little more body in the beer, which could be done easy enough, but that’s me being nit picky. I will brew again.

Other than adding additional spices to the ones provided in kit, solid pumpkin ale.

Got two of these while on special. Took Steve's advice and added a 29oz can of pumpkin--went from ok to excellent. Also went with a full oz @60min of northern brewer over the half oz of cascade in the recipe. Balanced much better with the added pumpkin to my taste. Second go with those changes turned out excellent--much better than expected. Knocking off a star because the pumpkin should really be part of the recipe.

Turned out to be an excellent beer. I added 28oz canned pumpkin to the mini-mash for mouth-feel and subtle flavor. There's a discrepancy, the recipe shows Cascade hops and I received Northern Brewer. All is well but AIH should be aware of the contradiction.

Good beer, but the spices aren't enough in my opinion. To get a full bodied flavor, I added 29oz of "100% Pumpkin" canned puree into the boil at 15 minutes left. PUT IT IN A BAG or it's a mess to clean up. You'll get a great pumkpin taste and smell with this mix.

I brewed this using the WLP028 yeast. I fermented for 17 days then bottled. This is a medium-body dark brown ale (it's dark brown due to the "Chocolate" specialty grains) with a tan head. The aroma is malt up front followed by a slight chocolate and pumpkin-spice undertone. The taste is similar to the aroma, malt up front then you get some chocolate (think bitter-sweet baking chocolate) and a slight pumpkin spice on the back of the tongue. I'm not a fan of most pumpkin beers but overall this is pretty good so I'll give it 4 stars.

Really enjoyed this beer. Nice balance of spices give it a great flavor.

Brewed this on the 16th of October fermented for about 12 days. When I went to bottle it I was extremely pleased with the taste. Smells great feels like a brown ale but finishes with the pumpkin and spice flavors. Passed it around a party last weekend and people were loving it and were pleasantly surprised when they found out it was a home brew. I recommend this. Keep in mind it's a pumpkin Brown ale.

Brewed this beer about three weeks ago. Hit my FG right on target, and racked it to my new keg. Carbed the beer up and had a taste. First impression: Meh. It has some mouthfeel and a bit of sweetness, but no pumpkin flavor. Perhaps my spices were old, or maybe they should have been added to secondary. Either way, I can't recommend this beer and probably won't order it again.

Used harvested Safale 04 and added 2 cans of pumpkin and 2 pounds of 6-row for a mini mash with this one. Mashed all that for an hour before the boil. Went 2 weeks primary and 1 week secondary. FG was 1.011. Great fall brew with a nice spice smell and taste, but not overpowering. A real good fall brew that I'll repeat next year. Great value too!

Purchased this kit on sale. Added one can of Trader Joe's organic pumpkin to the boil as suggested in other reviews. That made straining the wort from the boil pot a chore - clogged the strainer quickly. Reached FG after 11 days primary and 10 days secondary. Just tapped the keg a few days ago. The spice level is not overpowering but is noticeable, which suits me fine. Not sure the pumpkin addition is noticeable or worthwhile. Others have added more spices. May have to try that next time I brew this kit, which I will.

I added 3lbs of baking pumpkins. Bought 2 pumpkins and cut them up and baked at 350F for 30 mins. Added to mash with grain. Adjusted water amount for mash. Also added extra pumpkin spice to boil. Then added a bunch to secondary. Turned out great. A little darker then I would've liked but tastes great. Will make again next year.

I just bottled this kit this weekend, one week in the primary, one week in the secondary, final abv of 4.7%. Tasted the beer while bottling, no aging, no carbonation and oh wow that's some good stuff I'm getting another kit next week.

Bought this as my first "kit" beer, as I usually work from recipes. It was a good price, so I thought I'd try it. Brewed on 9/11/2014. Made yeast starter with the White Labs 028 Edingburg yeast. Had explosive fermentation starting about 9 hrs after pitching (foam in blow-off hose in a 6.5 gal fermenter!). Racked to secondary fermenter 9 days later, and it was still bubbling. It is now October 4th and still slowly bubbling in secondary fermenter. It is VERY dark brew, and I did taste it when racking, it was good and spicy. Plan to keg in about a week. Can't give a 5 star, since it is not completed yet....

The first time I brewed this ale, I didn't add pumpkin. The last 3 years, I've added 3 15 oz cans of Trader Joes pumpkin on two occasions, and Libby or some other store brand on the third brew. The TJs pumpkin rounds out the beer and makes it an amazing brew. Another option would be to bake some pie pumpkins and add them. Regardless, avoid the Libby pumpkin because it adds very little pumpkin flavour. Also, someone suggested adding the pumpkin during the last 15 mins. of the boil, but I've also added it at the same time as my other fermentables with amazing results. Finally, I like a pumpkin ale with less "pie" flavour and more subtle spice flavour that allows the pumpkin to shine. This said, I'd only add 1/2 half the spice mix that's included with this kit; add it all if you like "pumpkin pie spiced" pumpkin ale. All-in-all, this is an amazing kit. I'm ordering two today and this will be my 4th season brewing this ale. Great job AIH!

First time I brewed a 5 gallon batch of beer and this was the perfect choice. Kegged my batch and had a tasting party, beer only lasted 3 hours and the guests loved it. Can't wait for next fall to do it again.

Completely satisfied with your product! Looking forward to ordering more beer kits. Cheers!

Very happy with my purchase as always. Pumpkin Ale came out great. Stout is still 2 weeks away from first tasting. Burner worked great.