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Hopelesst · 11-30-2012, 12:03 PM

Remember how I said I got worried about carbination and added a few grains of champagne yeast to each bottle? Well guess what. We crack one of the 6 that didnt have the added yeast and it is a completely different beer. More spice, richer malt, less ethanol, less tart, brighter pumpkin, and more drinkable. I should have just trusted the recipie and come out with a better beer.

Another 6 months and the yeast-ed bottles will prolly be fine. The heat on the natural ones is a bit severe (no worse than some commercial barleywines I've bought) but its a much better beer at this point.

I already plan on this being an annual brew, so I'll know better next time.

Thanks again Weeb!

**TheWeeb** · 12-01-2012, 07:43 PM

Agreed, I think I will put a case of this year's batch away for next year. It should really be rich and smooth by then.

tyecies · 12-15-2012, 09:49 PM

Just transferred the original recipe with a few changes to the secondary. I substituted 1 pound of maple syrup for .5lbs honey and .5lbs white sugar for cost reasons, used 2oz goldings hops (seemed wasteful to throw away the other .5oz) and added 1oz of cascade at 15 minutes to add some citrus with a bit more bitterness. I also added 1 tbsp of vanilla extract to the rum/spice tea. I used 2 packets of Safale-05 instead of WLP500 as I prefer a more neutral yeast with fewer fruit esters. I also don't have a great way to control fermentation temps, so when I brewed with WP500 in the past I got too much banana for my liking. I broke my hydrometer on brew day, so I don't have an OG, but FG at transfer was 1.016. It was in the primary for 2 weeks, so I'm not expecting it to drop any further. Taste was quite good with pumpkin and malt up front, though a bit sweet. Didn't get too much spice. I'm hoping the combo of increased alcohol bite from rum alongside the increased spice aroma from the secondary adds some depth to the beer. Secondary for 3 weeks, bottle for 3 weeks, and hopefully we'll be all set.

As a side note there was a ton of sludge at the bottom, I probably lost .5gallons, though this was expected.

tyecies · 12-15-2012, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLI

Totally brewed this a few weeks ago, in a pumpkin. Getting ready to add the rum sometime soon, but I'm in no hurry with such a big beer...

That you actually brewed this in a pumpkin is just awesome. For my curiosity, how were you able to get an airtight seal?

Kob · 01-03-2013, 05:05 AM

Just read all 15 pages. I'm getting ready to brew this up over the next couple weeks for next winter/fall time.

Thanks for the effort guys. It's appreciated.

Mike

SLI · 01-03-2013, 02:07 PM

It's been in the bottle for a few weeks, and ooh boy, it's tasty!

Shoot, tycies, just saw your post. I didn't worry about an airtight seal. At first I tried to cover it up with the top of the pumpkin, but the fermentation was so vigorous that I had to just cover it up with a towel. Look up open fermentation, it's been my experience that it is really hard to infect a batch of beer.

tyecies · 01-28-2013, 01:02 AM

Just bottled today. Tastes fantastic. Lots of pumpkin, rum, and vanilla up front (my own addition). Can't wait for it to carb.

**TheWeeb** · 01-28-2013, 01:44 PM

I have about a dozen bottles stashed for this fall, will be interesting to see how it ages. Good stuff!