Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

Brew day was a success! Now the long wait before it's kegged. Here are some pictures;

Pumpkin in strainer bags


Took out strainer bags and steeped it in the sparge water



OG reading


Colour in the sunlight


Full album here

great pictures how did the bag help? any issues with pumpkin sticking the sparge process?

RandomBeerGuy said:

great pictures how did the bag help? any issues with pumpkin sticking the sparge process?

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I used the bag because I forgot the buy rice hulls. It worked just fine. The mash tun contained a lot more floating pumpkin matter during the sparge compared to when I drained the first runnings. The sparge drained a little slower, but it never stuck. Just took my time with it. I'd say it added an extra 15 minutes or so, but that's probably because I wanted to be more cautious about it and didn't want to risk a stuck sparge.

jpmg said:

The sparge drained a little slower, but it never stuck. Just took my time with it. I'd say it added an extra 15 minutes or so, but that's probably because I wanted to be more cautious about it and didn't want to risk a stuck sparge.

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Smart man

Has anybody tried a 50/50 mix of Maris Otter and 2-Row?

And how do you think the taste would differ from mashing at 154 (medium body) vs 156 (full body)?

Soup4you2 said:

Has anybody tried a 50/50 mix of Maris Otter and 2-Row?

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I would be interested to know as well. I am brewing this up tomorrow and plan to use a 50-50 mix.

Soup4you2 said:

Has anybody tried a 50/50 mix of Maris Otter and 2-Row?

And how do you think the taste would differ from mashing at 154 (medium body) vs 156 (full body)?

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In BN podcast I heard the suggestion to go high on MO. I will probably try that once I get my other grains. This will be awesome!

funnycreature said:

In BN podcast I heard the suggestion to go high on MO. I will probably try that once I get my other grains. This will be awesome!

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Think i'll try a 50/50 mix this weekend @154

I don't want to go too high on the MO, as i don't want the taste to focus on the malts instead of the spices. But i'm hoping the nutty/biscuit taste will compliment this recipe.

But i'm hoping that those whom have brewed with MO can chime in on their thoughts about using it.

Brewing it now, with a 50/50 mix of 2-row and MO.. i'll report in another 1.5 months with tasting results but all is going well.. Here's some pics so far.

And it just started raining.. but problem solved very quickly..

Well, I tried this brew today because it sounds amazing. I guess it probably wasn't the best brew with which to test out my new mash tun (10 gallon Igloo w/ false bottom). My sparge was stuck from the start. I actually had to prod the ball valve with a wire to get anything to come out at all. I managed to get my boil volume, but my sparge process was shot to hell. Now that I've boiled and am waiting for the trub to settle, I just took a gravity reading and I'm short (as expected), about 1.055. It won't be a total loss, though, because it already tastes fantastic.

Question: What can I do for next time to kind of contain the pumpkin? I went into this not really knowing what to expect, but that stuff is like glue.

Well thanks for giving this a shot.

As far as preventing it being stuck, it is mentioned all over this thread (including the first post) to use rice hulls. Half-pound to a pound always works for me.

Yeah, I used a full pound. I must have done something wrong along the line somewhere, but I don't know what it could have been. Maybe I mashed too thick... I only went with 20 quarts for the mash. But, even after adding sparge water and stirring it up as well as I could, the thing would just not drain.

All that said, I did manage to boil, and after I let it set for a while the gunk in it settled, so I managed to get a pretty clean transfer to primary. Also, as I mentioned in my previous post, the gravity sample I took tasted fantastic. I'm only sad that it's going to be a bit weaker than it should be.

Its about that time of the year for this! Tried it a few years ago and didn't go well (water was heavily chlorinated and tasted like plastic) guess thisll be my next one again! Stoked!

i've been toying with the idea of a pumpkin beer(would be my 1st). I haven't read thru all the posts but it seems to be a hit! looks pretty straight forward. subscribed!

I'm curious too based on the original recipe/post, what is the bottle conditioning time before this is ready? I see 24 days to ferment/secondary, is the usual 3 weeks in the bottle enough? Just wondering as I have a brew day planned for the 16th which means I'd be bottling around Sept 9/10th I assume then it would be ready to go come October? Thx

At what time do you add the pumpkin at the boil or mash?

andyrobertson said:

At what time do you add the pumpkin at the boil or mash?

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During the mash.

jaydog2314 said:

I'm curious too based on the original recipe/post, what is the bottle conditioning time before this is ready? I see 24 days to ferment/secondary, is the usual 3 weeks in the bottle enough? Just wondering as I have a brew day planned for the 16th which means I'd be bottling around Sept 9/10th I assume then it would be ready to go come October? Thx

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Given the OG i would recommend 6-8 weeks to bottle condition.

Soup4you2 said:

Given the OG i would recommend 6-8 weeks to bottle condition.

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+1

This recipe was my first ever brew. When I hit bottling day I was excited to post that I was just 3 weeks away from drinking my first homebrew when Reno_eNVy (the OP) crushed my spirits eek telling me the beer would take 8 weeks to really hit its stride.
But he is correct. I had 1 bottle a week starting at week 5 and could tell it got better each week for the next few weeks. It is definately worth the wait.

ChrisL_ said:

+1

This recipe was my first ever brew. When I hit bottling day I was excited to post that I was just 3 weeks away from drinking my first homebrew when Reno_eNVy (the OP) crushed my spirits eek telling me the beer would take 8 weeks to really hit its stride.
But he is correct. I had 1 bottle a week starting at week 5 and could tell it got better each week for the next few weeks. It is definately worth the wait.

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Yeah, that stinks. If we brew this now it won't be ready until late October/early November. I wonder if kegging it will speed it up a little bit with the bulk aging?
I have this planned to brew but didn't calculate the timeline correctly to be ready by October, and I can't brew for another 2 weeks!

D_Nyholm said:

Yeah, that stinks. If we brew this now it won't be ready until late October/early November. I wonder if kegging it will speed it up a little bit with the bulk aging?
I have this planned to brew but didn't calculate the timeline correctly to be ready by October, and I can't brew for another 2 weeks!

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I would like to know the same thing. I am likely 2 weeks away from having time to brew and will be kegging this beer this time around. I am sure it would be quite drinkable by mid October and then just keep getting better provided you don't drink it all in the first 2 weeks.

Kegging will carb it quicker, but this beer needs time for everything to meld together properly imho.

Waterboy42 said:

Kegging will carb it quicker, but this beer needs time for everything to meld together properly imho.

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I fully agree. I just wonder if it is still eight weeks or if it is something a bit less then waiting for bottle conditioning.

I have another question about the extract version of this recipe.

It says to mash the pumpkin for the full 60 minutes. What about for extract? Should I just use it for the typical 30 minutes that one would use with specialty grains or should I add the pumpkin for 30, then specialty for 30, before starting the 60 minute boil?

ClemTiger0408 said:

I have another question about the extract version of this recipe.

It says to mash the pumpkin for the full 60 minutes. What about for extract? Should I just use it for the typical 30 minutes that one would use with specialty grains or should I add the pumpkin for 30, then specialty for 30, before starting the 60 minute boil?

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I plan on brewing this tomorrow and am going to steep the grains in one bag and the pumpkin in another at the same time in the same pot for 30 minutes.

I brewed this on Sunday and it smelled fantastic! I love a good pumpkin ale and I'm excited about this recipe. Thanks RenoEnvy for posting this and all the feedback and comments everyone has provided. Now the patience waiting game.....

My lauter took forever despite the 3/4 pounds of rice hulls I used (all I had on hand). It didn't stick though it was just a dribble but I didn't want to mess with it because it was still draining. I noticed that the pumpkin settled on top of the grainbed creating a near impenetrable layer for sparging. I think next time I might bag the pumpkin separately but still mash with it but be able to pull it out, dunk it and maybe suspend it over the mash ton during the sparge.

It's fermenting like crazy now! I nearly had a blowout though. I caught it just in time and got a blowoff tube on it. The krauzen was creaping up the airlock tube!

If anyone is looking to make something similar to punkin' I noticed the IBU's on the website are targeted at 28. Referencing Sam's book there is a recipe for a "punkin' porter" in extreme brewing and there are three hop additions. 1 oz hallertau at 60, 1 ounce cascade at 20 and 0.5 ounce hallertau at 10. Similar to the OP. Maybe it's just coincidence, but that combination adds up to about 28 IBUs for me.

Also, 2 teaspoons of gypsum and safale us-05 are in punkin' porter recipe.

Listened to an interview of Sam and he did confirm brown sugar and fresh ground spices allspice, cinnamon and nutmeg. The same spices are used in punkin' porter. However, the brown sugar is not.

I know this recipe is great just as is from reading the posts, but trying some of these changes may hit the nail on the head if you are attempting to go for a punkin' clone. I brewed this punkin' porter last year and it was excellent. I am going to try the punkin' ale this weekend or next. If anyone is interested, I will let you know what changes from the OP I end up making and how it turns out.

pushed up brew day until today based on that the recipe and if i waiting a full 8 weeks it would put me smack dap in the middle of October, perfect timing! This will be my first adventure into a specialty beer. Based on the post I plan on using a pound of rice hulls to help, maybe even 1.5 lbs. Can't wait! Thank for the recipe Reno!

I'm brewing this one tomorrow and was curious as to what the thought is behind baking the pumpkin in the oven first? Does this bring out some extra flavors that wouldn't come out in the mash or in the boil kettle?

Richard-SSV said:

I'm brewing this one tomorrow and was curious as to what the thought is behind baking the pumpkin in the oven first? Does this bring out some extra flavors that wouldn't come out in the mash or in the boil kettle?

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I've been wondering the exact same thing. I have no idea why we bake it first.

I'm brewing this in a day or so. Making a half batch. Using the 05 yeast. Can I just pitch it? Or need to rehydrate it.....which I've never done. Thx

In lieu of re-hydrating you can pitch it and let it sit of the surface of the wort in the fermenter for 30 mins, and the shake vigorously after the 30 mins has passed.

Will that serve same or better purpose? I'm a newbie. I've done starters. But always just pitched dry straight out of the packet.

Richard-SSV said:

I'm brewing this one tomorrow and was curious as to what the thought is behind baking the pumpkin in the oven first? Does this bring out some extra flavors that wouldn't come out in the mash or in the boil kettle?

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The purpose of roasting the pumpkin prior to mashing is to produce an array of caramel and toasted flavors via caramelization of sugars and the Maillard reaction. You can read more here if you'd like to really get down on the nuts and bolts:

http://m.popsci.com/science/article/2012-12/beersci-how-beer-gets-its-color

rdbrett said:

Will that serve same or better purpose? I'm a newbie. I've done starters. But always just pitched dry straight out of the packet.

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Yes, if you go to their website these are alternate instructions in lieu of re-hydrating.

wilconrad said:

The purpose of roasting the pumpkin prior to mashing is to produce an array of caramel and toasted flavors via caramelization of sugars and the Maillard reaction. You can read more here if you'd like to really get down on the nuts and bolts:

http://m.popsci.com/science/article/2012-12/beersci-how-beer-gets-its-color

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I went ahead and baked it with some brown sugar for 45 mins. Then I put it in a strainer bag and steeped it with my strike water and then my sparge water. This produced some nice orange colored water and a nice aroma of pumpkin, all without slowing down my lauter.

I'm getting ready to brew this as a 10 gallon batch. Any advice? I'm assuming I just double everything, or are there things that should be increased more to compensate for poorer efficiencies on a larger batch? Just want the same result as the OP.

n240sxguy said:

I'm getting ready to brew this as a 10 gallon batch. Any advice? I'm assuming I just double everything, or are there things that should be increased more to compensate for poorer efficiencies on a larger batch? Just want the same result as the OP.

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Yep, just double everything.

today we are brewing our batch of pumpkin ale, which is out own recipe, but looks like it is close to a few recipes on here, if they were mixed together

it smells and tastes wonderful going into the kettle (photo of wort pre-boil in the glass)

sparging right now, about to start the boil & wanted to share with everyone