FishinDave07

Recipes 

I have taken the plunge and I want more (what could i say ) My next AG beer i have chosen to be Yuri's Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale. I know that the sparge will be slow and anticipate a long brew day. I'm going to batch sparge, no mash out.

Think I will have for this AG:

• 5.2 buffer (I will be using my water this time)
• Rice Hulls
• Iodine Conversion Test (I'm pretty sure this is important)

My first AG i got 68% efficiency and I'm wondering:

Should i "assume" i will get 68% efficiency again and modify Yuri's recipe around my efficiency? Would asking Austin Home Brew to put my grains through the mill twice help me get better eff. ?

__________________
Primary: Nothing
Secondary: DFH Punkin Ale
Bottled/Conditioning: Cigar City Jai Alai IPA Clone, Apple Jack 1.0, Apple Jack 2.0
Drinking: Yakima Blonde (Imperialized), Banana Wheat, Russian Imperial Stout, and anything i can get my hands on
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat, Red Panda Ale, Gluten Free Brown Ale, Mojito IPA, Smoked Pepper Stout

enohcs

Recipes 

go ahead and assume 68% and modify the recipe by adjusting the pale malt only. I think your eff will increase with the 5.2 (if you didn't use it before). If you find your eff has gone up, use that new number in future brews and for the current brew, just remove some excess wort (and replace the volume removed with water (if you're concerned with being spot on with your gravity).

Rice hulls I don't think with help with the eff, I think they'll just make the sparge run easier.

Iodine will tell you how far along your sugar conversion is. Some people use it, I think most don't. I don't use iodine because I would rather mash for 1 hour every time (90 min for my cream ale) for consistency sake no matter how far along the conversion is.

FishinDave07

Recipes 

Are there any advantage to using 1.25 qts/lb over 1.33 ? Would it work better for a pumpkin beer like this?

__________________
Primary: Nothing
Secondary: DFH Punkin Ale
Bottled/Conditioning: Cigar City Jai Alai IPA Clone, Apple Jack 1.0, Apple Jack 2.0
Drinking: Yakima Blonde (Imperialized), Banana Wheat, Russian Imperial Stout, and anything i can get my hands on
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat, Red Panda Ale, Gluten Free Brown Ale, Mojito IPA, Smoked Pepper Stout

enohcs

Recipes 

I always use 1.25 and change the mash temp to control how sweet/dry I want the beer (lower temps like 148 for dry, higher temps like 156 for sweet). Worrying about mash thickness just adds one more variable I have to take into consideration, and I don't know about you, but when I brew I'd rather do as little thinking as possible.

In general a thinner mash will result in a longer conversion time because of the dilution of conversion enzymes, but it also results in a more fermentable wort and a drier beer. A thicker mash will convert quicker but result in more non fermentable sugars and a sweeter beer.

All that being said, I don't think a difference of .08quarts/lb will yield a noticeable difference. If you're wanting to experiment with mash thickness try 1qt/lb or 2qt/lb.

steelerguy

Recipes 

Asking Austin Homebrew Supply to give you a finer crush or run through twice will help your efficiency. I just put together a Pumpkin Ale this weekend and ordered my grain from AHS. In the comments of the order I told them I batch sparged and asked for a finer crush or twice through...the grain came with an excellent crush. I mashed with 3 lbs. of sugar pumpkin I cooked and mashed up and I have no idea what amount of fermentables that added, so I can't really calculate my efficiency...but it was higher than expected and since pumpkin supposedly does not have a lot of sugar, I am guess I was getting close to 80%. This was up from 70% before I asked for a finer crush.

Regardless, I would assume 70% or so and then ask for a finer crush or twice through, the worst that can happen is your get a higher ABV.

I mashed at 1.25 qts./lb. and it seemed plenty liquidy...although I was using fresh pumpkin. I mashed at 150 for 15 mins and then 156 for the remaining 75 mins. (Did a 90 min mash because of the pumpkin).

Last thing, I used .5 lbs. of rice hulls to try to prevent a stuck mash. I don't think it was needed, it flowed fine...perhaps because of the hulls but I doubt it. I didnt completely pulverize my pumpkin though, just mashed it into very small bit, but still bits not total a puree.

FishinDave07

Recipes 

Cool, thanks for the advice enohcs and steelerguy

__________________
Primary: Nothing
Secondary: DFH Punkin Ale
Bottled/Conditioning: Cigar City Jai Alai IPA Clone, Apple Jack 1.0, Apple Jack 2.0
Drinking: Yakima Blonde (Imperialized), Banana Wheat, Russian Imperial Stout, and anything i can get my hands on
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat, Red Panda Ale, Gluten Free Brown Ale, Mojito IPA, Smoked Pepper Stout

enohcs

Recipes 

I did once hear of a homebrewer hollowing out a pumpkin fermenting directly in the pumpkin. In fact, as I write this I google searched "pumpkin fermentor" and found 23) wort goes in the fermenter on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Not a bad idea. I'd probably run a few gallons of sanitizer through it first.

With regards to pumpkin in the mash, I've not heard of anyone doing it that way. how did it turn out? I typically hear of fruit being pureed added to a secondary fermentation.

steelerguy

Recipes 

Okay, first off...that is great! A pumpkin fermentor...awesome! I bet the inside of a pumpkin is pretty sterile actually, if only you could keep it that way while cleaning it.

There seems to be a bit of a debate regarding adding pumpkin to the boil or the mash. From what I have read, you won't really get any fermentable sugar unless you mash (and you still don't get much...about 40% per lb of 2-row). Of course, you have no choice if you don't do AG or at least partial mash. I also heard boiling it makes a huge mess in the kettle and you get tons of trub. Just seemed better to mash, plus the recipe I used (from Jamil and Palmer's book "Brewing Classic Styles") called for it in the mash.

As far as how it turned out...tasted pretty good going into the primary, just brewed it up yesterday. Put it onto a yeast cake from an APA I just did and it was fermenting like crazy within 3 hours and brew through the airlock in less than 12. Smells pretty good, although I think I am going to have to add more spice in the secondary. I'll assess the spice situation when it goes into secondary, only added 1 tsp at the end of the boil.

enohcs

Recipes 

Would it be wrong to drink it with a dash of nutmeg and topped with whipped cream?

FishinDave07

Recipes 

Or better yet, Keg it and use a stout faucet. Then add nutmeg

__________________
Primary: Nothing
Secondary: DFH Punkin Ale
Bottled/Conditioning: Cigar City Jai Alai IPA Clone, Apple Jack 1.0, Apple Jack 2.0
Drinking: Yakima Blonde (Imperialized), Banana Wheat, Russian Imperial Stout, and anything i can get my hands on
On Deck: Watermelon Wheat, Red Panda Ale, Gluten Free Brown Ale, Mojito IPA, Smoked Pepper Stout