Alright, a little later than planned, but here it is. I racked this almost two weeks ago and sampled it on the way to the secondary.
The good - The pumpkin pie flavor was one of the best I've personally tasted in a pumpkin beer. It wasn't over powering, but definitly present and pleasant. Usually most pumpkin ales I've had, including Blue Moon's, Dog Fish Head's, and New Holland Brewery's have always been on the weaker side of pumpkin flavor for me. So far this is really hitting the spot
The bad - Too bitter. The bitterness is just a tad over what I'd like to see in this kind of beer. Also, it's lacking in the chocolate flavor. If the flavors don't blend and mellow over the next few weeks in the bottle I plan on brewing this again with an increase to 3/4 pounds chocolate malt, as well as reducing the Hallertau hops to 1/2 ounce.
The primary - The directions mention removing pumpkin sludge from the strainer on the way to the fermenter. Yeah! This happened a few times all right. In fact I ended up with close to 6 gallons in the primary when all was said and done. When I racked to secondary there was nearly 1 gallon of sludge left in the bottom.
OG was 1.040
FG to come when I bottle
The altered recipe (as the LHBS wrote on my recipe sheet for me):
6 pounds light DME
1 pound 40L crytal malt
1/2 pound chocolate malt
1/4 pound black
1/4 pound roasted
1/2 pound victory
44 ounces canned pure pumpkin (Libby's comes in 29 and 15 ounce cans)
1 cup brown sugar
6 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
6 whole cloves
1 ounce Hallertau pellets (bittering)
1/2 ounce Kent Golding (flavor)
1/2 ounce Cascade pellets (finishing)
1 tbsp Irish moss
1 package WYeast 1028 London Ale Yeast
Raise 2 gallons of water to 155ºF in your brew pot. Place the cracked grains in the muslin grain bag and place in the hot water. Steep for 45 minutes. With 15 minutes remaining, in a separate pot, boil 3 quarts of water with the pumpkin, brown sugar, cloves, and spice. When the timer runs out, remove the grains, and add the boiling pumpkin mash to the first pot. Add the liquid malt and Hallertau hops. Bring it all back to a boil and set the timer for 50 minutes. With 30 min remaining, add the Kint Golding hops. With 10 min remaining, add the Cascade hops. When the timer runs out, remove from the burner, cover, and set aside to cool.
Add 3 gallons of chilled water to a clean and sterilized fermenter. Strain the wort into the fermenter (you may need to stop periodically to remove pumpkin sludge from the strainer.) Add the yeast when the temperature falls below 80 degrees F. Primary fermentation should run approximately one week. Rack the beer into a clean and sterilized secondary fermenter and allow it to ferment out to completion. Let the sediment settle out before bottling.
