Autumn Seasonal Beer Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale (AG and Extract versions)

*7 days later, not 77

Would Wyeast London ESB 1968 yeast be ok to use with this?

how could I import this recipe into beersmith...or a beersmith file avail?

Spend 5 minutes putting the ingredients into the software?

Yuri_Rage said:

Spend 5 minutes putting the ingredients into the software?

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Oh

What temp is best to ferment this at? I used white labs English ale yeast.

White labs says between 65 and 68 for wlp-002. Better to be on low end or high end?

Yuri, tried today after adding the spice and racking, and it is exactly as advertised. I soaked the spice in about 1/4 C vodka.

Awesome. Glad you like it!

Where should the OG be on this beer? I brewed a batch today and it came out at 1.060. Is this a little high? Might have gone a little over on the DME

1.050 - 1.060 is about right. Don't shoot for anything higher without increasing the crystal malt.

I have an extra ounce of Cluster (7% AA). Would substituting it for Kent Goldings make much of a difference? Just thinking that a spiced ale shouldn't be hop forward and Cluster is a very neutral hop. Using it as the only bittering addition shouldn't affect the flavor too much. Any thoughts? Thanks.

So I just brewed this over this past weekend. 10 hours total time... man the mash/sparge was a huge PITA... It just kept getting stuck and/or was draining immensely slow.

If I ever do this pumpkin batch again, I might just aim for the extract to save my sanity and time.

Pitched the yeast dry after racking 10 gallons into two 6.5 gal carboys, and had the fiancee run into the yard in her bath robe while I was mowing the next morning to get me back into the house... darn fermentation was going gangbusters and blew the cap's right off the airlock. Re-sanitized and put back on. After 36 hours it was calm enough to stop blowing the caps off the airlocks. Now I have a bit of beer to clean off the floor AND the ceiling.

Brewed the extract version over the weekend following the recipe exactly as written. After topping off the fermentor to 5.5 gallons, I took a gravity reading and was right at 1.050. I was expecting it to be higher so I did not continue adding to the 6 gallon mark as the recipe recommended. What are other people getting for OG for extract and at what volumes?

I had OG at 1.060 but I did a full 6.5-7 gal boil and I was at just about 6 gal in the fermenter for primary. Lost about a gallon to trub when transferring to carboy for clearing...

chairbornrangerx said:

So I just brewed this over this past weekend. 10 hours total time... man the mash/sparge was a huge PITA... It just kept getting stuck and/or was draining immensely slow.

If I ever do this pumpkin batch again, I might just aim for the extract to save my sanity and time.

Pitched the yeast dry after racking 10 gallons into two 6.5 gal carboys, and had the fiancee run into the yard in her bath robe while I was mowing the next morning to get me back into the house... darn fermentation was going gangbusters and blew the cap's right off the airlock. Re-sanitized and put back on. After 36 hours it was calm enough to stop blowing the caps off the airlocks. Now I have a bit of beer to clean off the floor AND the ceiling.

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I brewed up a 10 gallon batch Saturday as well. While I mash the BIAB method, I chose to keep the pumpkin out if the mash after seeing how much there were and reading all the stories here. I just threw it all in the fermenter. It all mixed right in so I doubt the bag would have filtered much. I'm not even clear on what mashing the pumpkin does anyways.

So I guess my point is, instead of going straight to extract, consider brewing like normal and just boiling the pumpkin instead.

Any thoughts/experience with using Challenger hops in a Pumpkin Ale?

I've got an ounce in the freezer but don't have a lot of experience with using it. I'm concerned the aroma and bitterness quality might clash with the pumpkin spices.

I'm thinking 1/2 oz first wort and 1/2 oz @ 15 minutes into a Northern English Brown base. BeerSmith estimates 21 IBUs with 0.459 IBU/SG.

bradford0113 said:

Brewed the extract version over the weekend following the recipe exactly as written. After topping off the fermentor to 5.5 gallons, I took a gravity reading and was right at 1.050. I was expecting it to be higher so I did not continue adding to the 6 gallon mark as the recipe recommended. What are other people getting for OG for extract and at what volumes?

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Also, after 48 hours I had no more signs of fermentation going on. After 72 hours, I took a gravity reading and it's down to 1.012. I'm guessing it's still possible for this to drop another point or two before it's completely done. Is this going to be too dry? I was hoping for a little sweetness and am wondering if I should get some lactose to have on hand for when I transfer to my "clearing vessel." I could potentially add a little at a time until I get the sweetness I'm looking for. Right now, I can't really tell how it's going to taste because there are several off-flavors that still need to be cleaned up by letting sit longer.

I fermented with rehydrated S-04 dry yeast at a temp of 63F. I can't believe how fast and clean this fermented out. I was expecting a lot of blow-off like I had on my last couple of batches, but this one went so fast (1.050 to 1.012 within 48 hours) without leaving any residue or anything on the sides or lid of the bucket!

FWIW...I brewed this earlier this week. 5 gallon all grain batch. I used 1# of rice hulls to improve my extraction and prevent any issues....about half way through (3-4 gallons) my extraction came to a complete stop. I shut it down and stirred it up then pulled a few runs to set the grain bed again...anyway after all that I still hit my gravity

bradford0113 said:

Also, after 48 hours I had no more signs of fermentation going on. After 72 hours, I took a gravity reading and it's down to 1.012. I'm guessing it's still possible for this to drop another point or two before it's completely done. Is this going to be too dry? I was hoping for a little sweetness and am wondering if I should get some lactose to have on hand for when I transfer to my "clearing vessel." I could potentially add a little at a time until I get the sweetness I'm looking for. Right now, I can't really tell how it's going to taste because there are several off-flavors that still need to be cleaned up by letting sit longer.

I fermented with rehydrated S-04 dry yeast at a temp of 63F. I can't believe how fast and clean this fermented out. I was expecting a lot of blow-off like I had on my last couple of batches, but this one went so fast (1.050 to 1.012 within 48 hours) without leaving any residue or anything on the sides or lid of the bucket!

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Did you already add your spices? I think a lot of the sweetness and flavors actually come when you add your spices. I had spread some pumpkin pie spice as well as a layer of brown sugar on top of my pumpkin while it was baking so that gave the wort some nice flavors. I haven't touched the brew since I picthed the yeast in my fermenting bucket over 2 weeks ago. I'm planning on adding a spice tea made with Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus when I rack to my bottling bucket next week.

MMJfan said:

Did you already add your spices? I think a lot of the sweetness and flavors actually come when you add your spices. I had spread some pumpkin pie spice as well as a layer of brown sugar on top of my pumpkin while it was baking so that gave the wort some nice flavors. I haven't touched the brew since I picthed the yeast in my fermenting bucket over 2 weeks ago. I'm planning on adding a spice tea made with Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus when I rack to my bottling bucket next week.

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Haven't added any spices yet. I was planning to primary for one week, add the spice tea upon transfer to secondary, then secondary for two weeks. I was looking to see if anyone had experienced dryness at this FG (1.012-1.010). I don't plan to add anything unless it seems dry on bottling day. I just want to be prepared (possibly with lactose) if I feel it needs sweetened up at that time.

This is my first time brewing this recipe as well so I have no past experience to go by...

Just bottled today, the OG sample tasted pretty good. Can't wait for 3 weeks to go by now!!

Brewing now... Second AG I have ever done. Heck its like the sixth batch total lol. Wish me luck! Scaled it down to 5 gal batch (well 5.5 to account for some trub loss from the pumpkin.) LHBS didn't have the yeast so I had to use Wyeast American Ale. Whole house smells like thanksgiving!

My pumpkin is in the oven.. smells great. Cant wait to get mashing.

Ok, so I've been reading just about all of this thread an am wanting to do the extract version but was only wanting to do a 2.5 gallon batch. Am I correct in just dividing the recipe in half? Can't wait to get this one going!

knox_brew said:

Ok, so I've been reading just about all of this thread an am wanting to do the extract version but was only wanting to do a 2.5 gallon batch. Am I correct in just dividing the recipe in half? Can't wait to get this one going!

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Yup, although this is for a 6.5 gal primary to give you a 5 gal secondary. So you need to factor that in too. But yes, you have the right idea.

So 3.25 gallons when cutting it in half from 6.5 then. I need to get this one going if it's going to be ready by Halloween !

From what I read about the difficulties and the benefits of adding pumpkin... what if I just add orange food coloring instead of pumpkin? Or would that screw things up?

Then it wouldn't be pumpkin beer but orange food coloring beer.

I wonder how this would taste aged on some oak chips soaked in spiced rum. I might have to give this a shot later. This would be a good one to take to a halloween party.

knox_brew said:

Then it wouldn't be pumpkin beer but orange food coloring beer.

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From what I've been reading, the pumpkin will either make my sparge stick, or give me an ungodly amount of trub, and does nothing for the flavor.

It's all about the spices. I'd rather avoid the headache.

Pumpkin seems to contribute to a smooth mouthfeel. It adds a bit of flavor, but it's very light. I recommend adding it in order to get the texture and flavor. I've only had one stuck sparge, and it was due to a crushed manifold. Add rice hulls.

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet - i couldn't get my hands on the pampered chef cinnamon plus so i looked up how to make it.

http://www.food.com/recipe/baking-spice-copycat-pampered-chef-cinnamon-plus-mix-45672

Ingredients
6 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
Directions
In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients.
Store in an air tight container.
Use this mix in recipes that call for the ingredients above.
I substitute this for all of my cinnamon needs.
If a recipe calls for the spices add up all of the measurments and just put in the same amount of this blend.
It tastes great used in cinnamon and sugar for toast and in cinnamon rolls.

I'm going to try it in the brew this week!

Rofl i see it on the page right before this one.

Bottled my batch yesterday and all I can say it this **** is gooooooood! Now the hard part is waiting for it to condition in the bottles! With college football starting up this Saturday, I'm hopeful it will be somewhat carbed so I can enjoy a few during the Michigan-Alabama game!

MMJfan said:

Bottled my batch yesterday and all I can say it this **** is gooooooood! Now the hard part is waiting for it to condition in the bottles! With college football starting up this Saturday, I'm hopeful it will be somewhat carbed so I can enjoy a few during the Michigan-Alabama game!

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I've been a bit lazy about my brewing of late. I'm bottling a Belgian tomorrow but other than that I have 4 left of my last batch and nothing else going on. Oh well, I won't get to watch the game anyway, I work Saturday nights. All I will say about the Michigan Alabama matchup is ROLL TIDE!

Hmmm, so mine is 2 weeks old...finally got around to racking it to a carboy on top of the spice tea.

I used the Cinnamon plus "clone" recipe that was posted above and on previous pages, it does smell amazing but with 1tsp for my 4.5ish gallons it seemed really mellow...maybe i was expecting more of a kick from it.

Im guessing with this kind of spice tea, the flavor you taste right after mixing is the one you get, and its not a taste that builds in the beer over time? Or will it get stronger over the next week or two?
Regardless im not going to mess with it just yet, once i keg it and its cold and carbonated i'll determine if i like the spice level...

Thats another perk of kegging i suppose...if its not enough i can throw some more spice tea in there, pressurize it, shake the crap out of it to mix and try again.

Yuri_Rage said:

Spend 5 minutes putting the ingredients into the software?

Click to expand...

I am new to BeerSmith but this is a much bigger pain to do than you are implying. By default BeerSmith doesn't have any equipment profiles that are for 15 gallon batches, so it is messing up the calculations.

Can someone share the all-grain recipe for a 10 gallon batch?

LateraLex said:

I am new to BeerSmith but this is a much bigger pain to do than you are implying. By default BeerSmith doesn't have any equipment profiles that are for 15 gallon batches, so it is messing up the calculations.

Can someone share the all-grain recipe for a 10 gallon batch?

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Not really that big of a pain? Take all of the amounts for the 15 gallon and multiply them by 2/3rds...whala, 10 gallon recipe...

Thats what everyone is doing for the 5 Gallon AG amounts...

I got to try DFH Punk'n last night - it was VERY good. It may be a bold statement, but I think a good batch of Thunderstruck is quite similar in flavor and texture.