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

flyingfinbar said:

This may have been asked already, but how much does the pumpkin contribute to fermentable sugars?

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I did the math on my batch. I used 8 cans of 15oz pumpkins for a 10gal batch. There were 4 grams of sugar in each can, so 32grams of sugar total, or 1.1oz. At just over 1/16 of a pound, the contribution would be around 36points / 16 or (1.1/16)*(36) = 2.475 gravity points for one gallon. For my ten gallons, this would be 2.475 / 10, or .2 gravity points.

So, in short, almost nothing. Hope this helps

Wow, thanks a ton! How did you like the amount of pumpkin you used? Dead on? More or less next time?

flyingfinbar said:

Wow, thanks a ton! How did you like the amount of pumpkin you used? Dead on? More or less next time?

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It's still fermentin' . But the pumpkin just dissolved right into the boil and settled out in the fermenter (about 5"). But now that the yeast is kicking (edinburgh scottish ale yeast) it's all stirred up again. Honestly I may just try to stir it up and bottle with a bit of it and just let it be.

no idea yet, but it sure tasted and smelled awesome. not sweet or spicy of course, but like a normal pumpkin. i think it'll add to the mouth feel for sure.

also looking forward to the edinburgh ale yeast. took close to 36 hours before i got to fermentin' but it is kicking it in high gear right now. never used it before, i am feeling good about it though.

Just did the extract recipe last night, 23l turned out with an OG of 1.060. Made my own spice mix added 1/4tsp at beginning of boil and a tsp with 5 min left. Smells amazing tasted grate can't wait to see what the final product is like.

Yuri_Rage said:

Make a batch for me. I'm brewing vicariously through HBT. I don't have my rig set up at the new place yet, and I'm probably not going to be able to get a batch going until next year sometime (life happens).

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Just kick it old school and do a small extract batch on the stove. Who needs a fancy brewing rig anyways

Almost done mashing a modified version of this recipe (use 8oz of C40 and 8oz of C120 instead of the lb of C60). The orange color is great already! Looking forward to this one. I wasn't able to pick up the spices to add to the boil So I think I will be adding the spice tea when I go to keg. Was the consensus 1 teaspoon and then add more if needed or 1.5 teaspoons, to start?

I just racked to secondary. I brewed a 5 Gal AG recipe that Yuri updated in the middle of this thread.

9lb 9oz Pale Malt
2lb 5oz Crystal 60L
1lb 2oz Biscuit
7.3 oz wheat, flaked
10 oz rice hulls
75oz Pumpkin Canned (Organic from safeway... organic was all they had.)

0.75oz Goldings, East Kent 5% (60min)

Mash at 158f

S-04 Dry Yeast sprinkled on top.

Rack to secondary after 14 Days, add 1sp Cinnamon plus to secondary.


I missed my volume as I've changed burners, but ended with 6 gallons @ 1.062.

During mash my sparge incredibly efficient. even faster than normal. Added 10oz of rice hulls, but I wonder if the pumpkin I used was more soluble than other brands. It was organic from Safeway and it tastes incredible.

When I racked it, to my amazement, the trub was almost non-existent outside of the normal yeast cake. Had 3 liters left over that wouldn't fit in my 5gal carboy. Tasted it and it was phenomenal (pre-spice) so I primed it and threw it in 3, 1-liter swing tops.

After spicing it was prettty clear that it will take some time for the spice to set in. PLanning on leaving this one in the secondary for a while as I'm critically low on bottles anyway. I've got some work to do

I'm new to brewing and I have a couple of question about this recipe.
How much does the pumpkin contribute to the color? When I plug the numbers into brewmaster the SRM Comes to 11.64. Will the pumpkin increase the color to this expected 13-14?

Also does the pumpkin effect the OG?

Would Wyeast London ale III 1318 or Wyeast ESB Ale 1968 be a good substitute for the white labs wlp002

Thanks

Just came back to note that the 1tsp of Cinnamon plus clone i originally complained about being lacking, its gotten way better as time passes...the beer now has a good pumpkin flavor to it...i was worried that first day as it was way more mellow than i had thought...now its just about perfect.

I just brewed this recipe (with some small variations) Friday doing a BIAB style. I have to say that I love the smell coming off this brew from beginning to end. Just magic. I had very little troubles in regards to stuck mash...had to squeeze the bag a little more, and I had to dunk sparge (let the non-BIAB hating begin) to get my final volume back up though. Overall it was a great experience and the time outside getting my brew-on was perfect.
I hit my gravity right on 1.050 and the taste-testers (read: family) said it tasted like a sweet potato casserole. Thanks again.

I brewed this a few weeks back at a club group brew day. Started out with about 1/2 lb of rice hulls and 1.25Qt per lb. About 15 min after starting to recirc, it jammed up. I added another 1.5lbs of rice hulls, and maybe another gallon of water, and the rest of the brew went smoothly. Pitched Denny's favorite 50.

Kegged it last friday with 1 tsp of the homemade "cinnamon plus" that is mentioned in this thread. I steeped it for 15 minutes, then poured the whole thing into the keg. The spice blend had turned into a gooey paste, but I dumped it in anyway. it settled to the bottom of the keg, and gummed up the dip tube for a second, but I was able to work it out.

Tasted it last night, and WOW. I was looking for "pumpkin pie in a glass" and that is what I got. It is delicious. There is a nice amount of spice on the nose, the beer tastes great, with subtle spice, and a very clean aftertaste. Fantastic. The beer is very clear, and even if it sits, it doesn't get any sediment, but the head has some nice little flecks of spice in it, giving a very nice visual effect.

Thanks for sharing Yuri!

ooops.

So I plan on starting this brew this weekend. I noticed the extract recipe calls for 6 gallons. I only currently have a 6.5 gallon fermentor. Can I ferment 6 gallons in a 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket?

Also, instead of adding the pumpkin to the boil, I was thinking of steeping it with the grains in an attempt to reduce the amount of trub. This seems like a common way to incorporate the pumpkin, should there be any issues?

I just threw the pumpkin in with the boil if you used the can stuff, your grain bag will do next to nothing in keeping the pumpkin out of the pot. Unless you are using a mash tun than I stand corrected throw in the rice hulls and mash with the pumpkin. As for your fermentor 6.5 is big enough just throw on a blow off tube this beer fermented like crazy.

I"m gona brew this Sunday (AG). Has anyone tried 1/2 tsp spice at flame out, then 1/2 tsp at secondary? I'm thinking best of both worlds. Infusing the wort while hot with the spice, then a little kick at secondary.

For a 6 gallon final, should I do a 3 gallon boil, or should I try a bit more?

Always boil bigger if you can swing it

I'm sorry if this question has been asked already. It probably has since there's so many pages to browse through. But I'm wondering about the size of the batch being 6 gallons.. I have 6.5 gallon fermenter buckets and I'm sure that only .5 gallons will not be enough to handle a vigorous fermentation. I have experience with a Tripel overflowing my fermenter and it was not fun. Since it's a bucket I can't really install a blowoff tube either, nor do I want to lose a lot of krausen.

Any way I can modify this recipe slightly to allow more fermenting room to say.. 5.5 gal? Or perhaps ferment a more concentrated beer and dilute in secondary? I highly doubt the latter option is a good idea. This recipe looks amazing but the 6 gallon part is holding me back. What to do

You're going to end up having about a gallon of trub if you don't filter your wort when racking it to your fermentor. I had no problems racking 6 gallons to my 6.5 gal. fermenting bucket so I wouldn't sweat it.

Also, wrt a blowoff tube, I just put a tube over my air lock valve for a blow-off tube in my bucket.

Also, fwiw, mine didn't overflow...

MMJfan said:

Also, fwiw, mine didn't overflow...

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I too had 6 gallons in my bucket and did not have any blow off. I used S-04 yeast and maintained the temp at 63F. Primary fermentation was DONE within 48 hours with no blow off at all. I think the low temp is the key. I always start off with a blow off tube. I just push a piece of racking tubing right through the grommet in the bucket lid and that's always worked out for me.

BTW, I'm brewing round two of this over the weekend! :rockin:

Tymk said:

I'm sorry if this question has been asked already. It probably has since there's so many pages to browse through. But I'm wondering about the size of the batch being 6 gallons.. I have 6.5 gallon fermenter buckets and I'm sure that only .5 gallons will not be enough to handle a vigorous fermentation. I have experience with a Tripel overflowing my fermenter and it was not fun. Since it's a bucket I can't really install a blowoff tube either, nor do I want to lose a lot of krausen.

Any way I can modify this recipe slightly to allow more fermenting room to say.. 5.5 gal? Or perhaps ferment a more concentrated beer and dilute in secondary? I highly doubt the latter option is a good idea. This recipe looks amazing but the 6 gallon part is holding me back. What to do

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You should get yourself a vial of Fermcap. It costs $2, and will keep your fermentation under control, as well as prevent boil-overs. It has no side affects to your beer, so is a no-brainer for me.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/fermcap-s-1-oz.html

Tymk said:

I'm sorry if this question has been asked already. It probably has since there's so many pages to browse through. But I'm wondering about the size of the batch being 6 gallons.. I have 6.5 gallon fermenter buckets and I'm sure that only .5 gallons will not be enough to handle a vigorous fermentation. I have experience with a Tripel overflowing my fermenter and it was not fun. Since it's a bucket I can't really install a blowoff tube either, nor do I want to lose a lot of krausen.

Any way I can modify this recipe slightly to allow more fermenting room to say.. 5.5 gal? Or perhaps ferment a more concentrated beer and dilute in secondary? I highly doubt the latter option is a good idea. This recipe looks amazing but the 6 gallon part is holding me back. What to do

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Alternatively, cool the beer before racking to the fermenter and let some tribe settle out beforehand over say an hour once cooled (covered of course). I've done this before and racked it just like you would off a yeast bed, only a little higher to avoid disturbing the loose trub bed, say starting halfway up the boil pot for my transfer. As long as the yeast is ready to go and gets a quick start, no problems. And the us-04 always gets a quick start for me. I would personally sacrifice a little beer and just make it stronger at the smaller batch size.

How much yeast did you all us for a 6 gallon batch? I have one vial..Should I get some more?

Make a starter, typically in dry yeast packets there is enough yeast for your 5-6 gal batch. For liquid yeast (your vial) you will prob need to make a starter to get the appropriate amount of yeast for your batch.

mesa4234 said:

How much yeast did you all us for a 6 gallon batch? I have one vial..Should I get some more?

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I used one Wyeast Smack Pack for mine and that did the trick...

mesa4234 said:

How much yeast did you all us for a 6 gallon batch? I have one vial..Should I get some more?

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1 vial or smack pack should be perfect for gravities less than 1.060. I have done up to 1.090 with some yeasts before out of 1 vial with no problems and no starters. I would do it with a starter now though...

Hi,

So I just fermented this for two weeks in primary, opened up the bucket and there is still (what appears to be) a krausen over the entire top of the brew. When I made it, I racked it out of the brew pot, but there was still significant amount of solids getting into the bucket. Is this a real krausen or just the lighter solids (pumpkin?) floating on top. Thinking about giving it another week.

I didn't use a yeast starter. I used a packet of rehydrated dry yeast. Fermentation didn't begin to get vigorous until the 2nd day.

Please advise!

If hydrometer reading is stable for 2-3 days than it is done fermenting, rack away.

1.008

Is this even possible???! Must have messed something up

what was your sg, yeast used, did you do extract or ag, mash temps ferment temps. You know all the usual questions but in general yeast are living things that will surprise the sh#% out of you given the chance.

i made an extract. 6 lbs of DME, steeped the grains and flaked wheat at 155 - 160 degrees for half an hour. didn't take a gravity reading (I never do, until today when I ran into this problem.) I rehydrated and used Safale US-05. I don't have a temperature strip on the fermenter but it's in the basement so i figure it was at a pretty steady 65ish degrees.

but 1.008 is REALLY low, right? And I put in a TON of pumpkin. I figured that would have driven up the gravity like mad. If it remains the same gravity tomorrow I'll just rack it and add the vanilla and another round of spice tea. It tastes good! Just never seen the "krausen" linger for this long before. I'm starting to think that it was only the pumpkin floating on the surface.

Sounds good to me although the pumpkin will not really add any gravity points (not much for fermentables there). Start taking initial readings so you have a starting point for comparison. My sg was 1.068 fg was 1.018, so an attenuation of about 70% which is average /low for s-04. I've heard of people getting 90-100% attenuation with it so yeah yeast will surprise you. Cheers

OK, I think I need help with my pumpkin ale. That stuff I thought was Krasuen was clearly only pumpkin matter. As you can see, there is no typical "krausen stain" on the walls of my fermenting bucket. gravity is reading 1.008. did I even get a fermentation???? maybe the yeasts were not viable. Although, it was bubbling away happily for about 3 or 4 days after a slow start. (began bubbling on the 2nd day) should I re-pitch yeast?

Benedetto said:

OK, I think I need help with my pumpkin ale. That stuff I thought was Krasuen was clearly only pumpkin matter. As you can see, there is no typical "krausen stain" on the walls of my fermenting bucket. gravity is reading 1.008. did I even get a fermentation???? maybe the yeasts were not viable. Although, it was bubbling away happily for about 3 or 4 days after a slow start. (began bubbling on the 2nd day) should I re-pitch yeast?

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I had very little krausen stain on my carboy too. Does it smell like beer/fermentation? You should be able to smell the alcohol. Also, what was your OG? If it dropped, I would assume you had fermentation.

didn't check an OG. Yes, it definitely smells like a normal fermentation. I got a whiff of that offensive sharp smell as soon as I took the lid off.

I'd say you are good to go. Take a sample and taste it.

I just brewed up an extract today. I threw in the spices with 5 minutes to go in the boil, so we will see how that turns out. The OG was a little lower than expected at 1.050, but everything seems fine. I am looking forward to watching this thing brew!

oh, it tastes wonderful! i added two vanilla beans in secondary. thanks for the reassurance i am less worried than i was this morning.

A couple of questions.... please forgive me if this has already been asked, I don't want to go through all 116 pages....

Is there a partial mash version, or can someone attempt to convert it to partial mash? I have a new 3 gallon mini mash tun I've been dying to try out.

I was considering adding 2 vanilla beans to primary and letting it sit for the last week before kegging. I'm also considering throwing a half pound of lactose into the keg just to give it a little bit of sweetness and mouthfeel. Anybody have experience adding these two ingredients to this recipe? I definitely want it to be noticeably sweet, but not cloyingly so. Just a subtle sweetness to give it that "pumpkin pie in a glass" taste that I've found lacking in my previous recipes for pumpkin ale.

Thanks.