NB smashing pumpkin question

Hello,

I am going to try my first pumpkin ale and went with the NB extract kit. They recommended that i get an extra 3lb of grain and mix that in with the kit grains and pumpkin flesh.

My questions are, do I just add everything to the bag (flesh, kit grain, and extra grain) and steep for an hour at 152? (also how much pumpkin skin?)

Also do I add the actual pumpkin meat to the boil and how much and at which point in the boil?

I feel like I am hopelessly lost here, can somebody help me and set me in the right direction. I have only ever done 5 gal extract kits, and this seems like a step beyond that.

Thanks for your help!!!

I ordered this kit the other day and am looking forward to it. I wasn't aware of these recommendations they made... Kinda sucks.

Anyway, I brewed a brewers best spiced pumpkin porter ( or something like that) like 3 weeks ago. It had steeping grains and a spice pack. I only added half the pack of spices (at about 5 minutes left in boil) because that's what everyone here recommended. I also got a can of unspiced pumpkin puree which I baked for 30 minutes with some spices on top and added to the boil at the 15 minute mark. I just dumped it in because it would have just seeped out of any bag I had. I added Irish moss and did a secondary. I lost about .5 gallons. It's super clear, however it has a vegetablyish taste, so ill probably add pumpkin a different way next time.

I've read tons of methods for brewing with pumpkin, so i'd just experiment with whatever you feel would be easiest.

For this one I'm going to bake some fresh pumpkin(cubed) with spices and add it in a grain bag while steeping the grains. Atleast that's what I plan on right now...you don't really get much flavor from the pumpkin itself, so don't stress about it, but who wants a pumpkin beer without pumpkin!?

There is a recipe on here for thunderstruck pumpkin that I've referred to a couple times and that may help you too.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f76/thunderstruck-pumpkin-ale-ag-extract-versions-26699/

Have fun! It'll be delicious.

the extra grain it to turn the kit into a partial mash for mashing the pumpkin.

Northern Brewer has posted a video for both the extract and all grain versions on their website under the connect button:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/


Good Luck!

Just what I was looking for!!! Ill be brewing this tomorrow, Thank you!!

I just brewed this last night, kept to the directions, but after reading the feedback on their site, added and extra tsp of pumpkin pie spice at flameout. Looks good, smells great so far, fingers crossed.

brewed this last night. i just followed the video on their site as far as incorporating the real pumpkin into the mash. I thought the spice packet they supplied was a bit too strong on the cloves for my tastes so i substituted a homemade "pumpkin pie" spice mix. As of this morning it is bubbling away nicely suuuuper pumped for this pumpkin ale

After reading a few things about the spices, I think ill try adding a little bit more. Most people say the spice was not enough and recorded adding another 1/2 - 1 tsp of pumpkin spice.

Another question, this is my first time using liquid yeast. When the kit arrived, the activator pack was already kinda inflated and almost impossible to locate anything inside the bag because of the inflation. I couldn't smack it for fear of popping the entire bag. Is my yeast still good? I'm looking to avoid a starter, I don't have any equipment for it and my time is running a little short. Should I just head to the LHBS and pickup dry yeast or use the liquid that I have?

sounds like your smack pack was smacked. i would contact NB about it. im sure they would either reimburse you or send out a new yeast packet. their customer service is pretty good i have had missing items from kits etc a few times and they usually ship out a replacement right away.

From what I have been doing with all my NB kits just follow their instructions for the boil and and hop additions. All of my extracts have been from NB and so far they are great. I also recommend doing a starter and using oxygen with an aeration stone. I had the blow off tube on for 3 days and its still bubbling away like crazy. I am curious about adding more pumpkin spice because I love pumpkin. Anyone tried adding more spice?

Well so far everything looks and smells amazing. The beer is bubbling, after I got another yeast pack because I didn't trust the already smacked one from NB. I did add an extra tsp of pumpkin spice in addition to the NB spice in the kit. My only issue is that I messed up on the directions. The instructions say add half the LME at the beginning when you usually would and the other half 15 min before flameout. I didn't read through and put it all in before the boil. Is this going to ruin the beer?

it should still be ok. the late extract addition is to reduce any off flavors that may arise with the extract boiling for 60 min and caramelizing. i think it also gets rid of the "homebrew" taste that extract beers can have. i dont think it will be too big a deal with this beer though because there are a lot of other flavors going on.

check out this link for more info on late extract additions

http://beersmith.com/blog/2008/02/20/better-beer-with-late-malt-extract-additions/

I just racked this one last night, so far so good. Still has more of a beer/yeast smell than anything pumpkin, but is still finishing fermenting. Color is a beautiful dark amber, has a lot of promise. Hoping this will be ready to drink by Halloween!

I bottled this on Sunday, primed with brown sugar. 4 weeks until Halloween...this should be perfect by then. Tasted pretty good going into the bottles.

How much priming sugar did you guys who bottled add to this (5 Gallon)? I am ready to get this bad boy going!

I used 3.71 oz of brown sugar based off the NB priming sugar calculator:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/

lactardjosh said:

I bottled this on Sunday, primed with brown sugar. 4 weeks until Halloween...this should be perfect by then. Tasted pretty good going into the bottles.

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I've never tried priming with brown suger, is it quicker/slower/different to carb up? Interested in what flavor boost that might give, thanks

It should carb up pretty much the same as table sugar, just hopefully a little of the molasses flavor from the brown sugar will be left behind. This is the first time I'm trying brown sugar, so we'll see. Sounded good to me, so I tried it.

I've had this kegged and carbonated for about two weeks. I added about a extra tsp of pumpkin pie spice to the boil. Beer seems to keep getting better the longer its aged, very strong spice taste at the beginning.

Just finished conditioning a NB pumpkin ale. So far (3rd beer), it has a nice malty taste upfront followed with a slight spiciness. This time I just followed the directions. I think next time I will add more spice or try real pumpkin. Also, the yeast packs I get from NB are sometimes a little inflated. I think this may be due the heat in transit. It hasn't caused any real problems so far. I used about 4.6 oz. of corn sugar.

I did mine with canned pumpkin and a few #'s of 6 Row. It was active for a while and has slowed down as of late. Temps are around 70 degrees right now, so we will see how it ends up. Smelled and looked awesome when it went in though. The pumpkin color was quite evident but also scares me how cloudy it really was. I imagine it will settle down a little, but still a little skeptical.

I did this without additional spice, and without pumpkin. I thought it came out brilliantly, more spice would have been a little bit excessive to my palate. YMMV, though.

superslomo said:

I did this without additional spice, and without pumpkin. I thought it came out brilliantly, more spice would have been a little bit excessive to my palate. YMMV, though.

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I did extra spice and I'm now waiting and hoping that the flavor will come down a notch. I guess that's a lesson in not altering kit recipes because they are well thought out and designed to be easy.

I did extra spice but I am hoping that all the extra grain and real pumpkin will mellow it out. Haven't tried it yet tho. Kegging in a week or so.

Just took a hydro reading after one week at 66F with canned pumpkin and got a mess of trub flying out of the spigot. This definitely needs a hole heap of time to settle.

Did anyone add another teaspoon of spices in? The smell isn't as prevalent as I had expected. Anyone know what ratio they used for spices? I was going to just use Cinnamon, Nutmeg, All Spice, and mabye a pinch of clove.

I added a full extra tsp of pumpkin spice. Kegging an bottling this week, I'm excited.

Meatfoot said:

I added a full extra tsp of pumpkin spice. Kegging an bottling this week, I'm excited.

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Did the pumpkin spice smell really come through?

itsernst said:

Did the pumpkin spice smell really come through?

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Kinda from what I could tell. I'll know more on Wednesday.

bottled this yesterday. i used real pumpkin and 2# of 6-row in the mash. im not really a clove fan and i thought the spice pack that came with the kit was way too clovey smelling so i used a heaping tsp of "pumpkin pie spice" i found at the grocery store. i believe it is just cinnamon ginger and nutmeg pre-mixed into a small bottle. kept it in the primary for 3 weeks before bottling.

i was pretty happy with the taste it was slightly sweet with just a hint of the spices in the aftertaste. i'll crack one after 2 weeks and see where we are at. im thinking it will just keep getting better!

So I finally kegged and bottled the batch. It tastes great. There's a semi sweet spice flavor with a little bite at the end. The extra spice was worth it if your a fan of true spice flavored pumpkin beer. Great color as well. Can't wait to drink more!

Awesome! I also brewed this as my first batch. It will be a week Sunday since I brewed it. How long did you leave yours before putting it in a carboy? How long until you put it in bottles?

HopSmith said:

Awesome! I also brewed this as my first batch. It will be a week Sunday since I brewed it. How long did you leave yours before putting it in a carboy? How long until you put it in bottles?

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Mine was in primary for a month, no secondary, bottled on September 30th. First bottle will be cracked open no sooner than Wednesday next week, just to check progress. Expect it to be ready for Halloween.

Primary for a month and then keg for a week and a half. The bottles I'm going to age a bit longer. Keg will be ready for halloween.

primary for 3 weeks then bottle. i'll check a bottle after 2 weeks and see where we are at.

What was FG for you guys?

I'll have to check my notes, but I think it was 1012

I just checked and I'm at 1.020. Today is a week since I brewed. I will let it sit for another week or so before adding to carboy in hope gravity will drop.

For those who keg, what're you carbing it to?

Woohoo! Just checked gravity today and It's now 1.012. I was getting nervous there for a minute that is was stuck. First time brewer scares I guess lol.