'Bout Damn Time Pumpkin Ale

Been throwing a fall festival at my house for years and never brewed a pumpkin ale.  Not sure what that's about.  Hopefully this batch will make up for things.

Base is a fairly run of the mill Amber Ale.  About 6lbs Amber malt extract and 1lb of Pilsen, 1oz of Cluster hops and 1oz of magic pumpkin powder added at the end of the boil.  There is something about those pumpkin pie flavorings (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, etc.) that go so well with beer.  The wort smelled so good while I was cooling it I wanted to drink the whole thing.

I also plan on adding a bit more of the pumpkin magic when I transfer it to secondary in a about a week or so.  Shouldn't change the flavor much but it should add a nice pumpkin pie aroma to the finished product.  I'm hoping the result is equal parts:

Sad to see Summer go, but I dig Fall real hard and I have a feeling this year is gonna be a good one.

**UPDATED**

Homebrewer's lesson #3,973: Be sure to count not only your bottles but also your caps.

I bought a big bag of caps eons ago that I have been using for a long time now.  Long enough that I just got used to them being there and figured they would just never run out.  So I'm just about to start sanitizing all the bottles when I remember I need to throw the caps in the sanitizer as well.  I pull the bag out and do the classic..'uh oh'.  I'm about 10 caps short of what I need, which with the big boy bottles is about 20 beers short.

Luckily I have a few flip top bottles that I could use to supplement but they aren't as big so I still needed to figure something out.  Didn't want to waste too much of the batch so it was scramble time.  Gina got home as I was pondering what to do and came up with a smashing idea:

Beer in Ball Jars...I'm OK with it

They may or may not seal but they have a sporting chance and they'll be guzzled down in about 2 weeks anyway.  And even if they don't really condition at all, beer in Ball jars is perfect for Squamtoberfest.

I tried a bit and I'm pleased.  The pumpkin aspect is subtle but there.  Its a bit more like a Long Trail Harvest than a really pumpkin'y ale like Shipyard's Pumpkinhead.  I think peeps will like it and if they don't I will.