Pumpkin Brew

A little late in the season to brew a pumpkin ale but did not have the time the last month or so. I have been planning on brewing a pumpkin ale for sometime now so no reason to wait another year. Brewing an extract kit - Amber Ale kit from LHBS and used canned pumpkin. Last night I spent a considerable amount of time searching recipes for spices to add. Here is the best I could find (disclaimer: obviously have no idea at this point how the final product will turn out. Will update once the brew has been taste tested.):

1/2 tsp Cloves
1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1.1 tsp Allspice
1.1 Cinnamon

I also baked the canned pumpkin for 30 minutes at 350. Getting ready to add the baked pumpkin as soon as the boil starts.

I am a bit worried as I discovered a rip in my grain bag while rinsing the bag in the sink. I found some grain husks in the wort and am worried about the effects of the tannins that will / could(?) be released after the temp rises north of 170. At this point not much I can do. I guess upon second thought I could have strained the wort into another vessel to remove the husks but it is a bit late now as the temp is currently north of 200. Hopefully the fact that there are not many husks in the wort will lead to a lessened effect. Any thoughts on how this will effect the outcome of the brew?

Forgot two ingredients...brew day brew...

we all have some husks in our brew. no worries, mate. it's all good

lumpher said:

we all have some husks in our brew. no worries, mate. it's all good

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Thanks. Just had a brew day mishap... while removing wort chiller from sanitizer the hydrometer that was soaking took a ride and fell on the counter and of course busted in pieces. No back-up. Lesson learned...pay more attention and always have a spare on hand!

Transfer of the wort to the primary was EXTREMELY slow. The trub was about 2.0 qts. Keep this in mind when budgeting time. All in all the brew day has taken 4+ hours.

JBZSTL said:

Thanks. Just had a brew day mishap... while removing wort chiller from sanitizer the hydrometer that was soaking took a ride and fell on the counter and of course busted in pieces. No back-up. Lesson learned...pay more attention and always have a spare on hand!

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At least it didn't break in your kettle. Hey, maybe you should have kept a sample of wort aside to check the OG at a later time, after you had the chance to buy a new hydrometer.

Probably too late now but let me know how your spices came through after about 4 weeks in the bottle, when you get there. I used pretty much the same measurements you did and I'm disappointed in the overall spices. Next year I will definitely add at least double my current measurements.

Just took a fg reading of 1.014. The receipe called for 1.012 but that was just for the amber ale and did not include the pumpkin. I assume the addition of the pumpkin will alter the gravity. It's been 25 days since brew day. Given the fg is it ok to bottle? Also, plan on brewing tomorrow and just realized I have one grain bag which I do not believe to be sufficient to handle the amount of grains I'm using. Any thoughts on a make shift grain bag? The lhbs is not so close.

I would say you are fine to bottle. A lot of people wait one month then bottle. You are close.

The only thing I might suggest is to use a secondary for a couple days or at least cold crash your primary before bottling. I have heard that using real pumpkin can really make racking difficult, it might benefit from a bit more clearing.

As far as a grain bag, HD or Lowes carrys 5 gallon paint straining bags, alot of people use those?

If youve picked up a new hydro, the best way to know its bottling time is when youre gravity goes unchanged for at least three days.

Recipe final gravity estimations are not always accurate. Many things can change the final gravity of your beer. Mash temperature and boil volume in particular, and of course yeast.

If you bottle too early, you could end up with explosive results. (Ive never yet had a bottle bomb. [Knocks on wood])

Shinglejohn said:

If youve picked up a new hydro, the best way to know its bottling time is when youre gravity goes unchanged for at least three days.

Recipe final gravity estimations are not always accurate. Many things can change the final gravity of your beer. Mash temperature and boil volume in particular, and of course yeast.

If you bottle too early, you could end up with explosive results. (Ive never yet had a bottle bomb. [Knocks on wood])

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I plan on getting the next reading on Sunday at which time I am hopeful that I can bottle. We'll see. Thanks.

Ready to bottle tomorrow. Any thoughts on using brown sugar as the priming agent? I think the brown sugar might be a nice compliment. Will 3/4 cup of brown sugar be alright? Should I use light or dark?