Southern Tier Pumking Clone??

To get back on the subject of the thread...what are you guys carbonating this at?

MrNic said:

To get back on the subject of the thread...what are you guys carbonating this at?

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I think I did mine at 2.3, I read somewhere you can put them anywhere between 2 & 3.

As a follow-up to my previous testing with the Graham Cracker Extract and possible off-flavors, my wife & I did some more testing by putting some in my pumpkin beer and comparing to the unadulturated beer. Our conclusion is that the Capella's Graham Cracker Extract does not belong in beer, unless the aging process drastically mellows it, which I would doubt.

PROCEDURE: I used 1 drop of Graham Cracker Extract per 25 oz of pumpkin beer, which is equivalent to about 0.35 tsp per 5-gal batch, i.e. around a THIRD the amount in the page 20 recipe (post 191). I also added 1 smallish drop of vanilla extract, but the taste wasn't noticeable. My pumpkin beer uses less boil spices (2 tsp Pumkin Pie Mix) and I had an OG of 1.072.

RESULTS: The sample with Graham Cracker Extract had a slight Pumpking nose, just milder, so it seemed promising. But the beer had a very bad chemical / metallic aftertaste. Terrible. The unadulturated version was smooth with no strange aftertastes. It was a night & day difference. In my prior experimenting, I found that higher levels of the Extract were far worse, and any residual sweetness of the beer became masked by the terrible chemical twang of the Extract. Again, aging might help mellow it, but no way will bet the batch on it. Goodbye Graham Cracker Extract.

Hope you're wrong, I got 5 gallons in secondary with the said 1 teaspoon of GC extract. Also 1 vanilla bean, a chunk of candied chopped ginger and 1 oz a Absolut Vanillia. Half will be kegged for a Halloween party, the rest bottled.

It definitely adds a little ethanol like burn, i am hoping it continues to fade.

My wife put 40 drops into a homemade batch of ice cream(size?) and while it tasted good it left a coating on the roof of my mouth. How long does "continue to fade" mean? My bottles will last into next year, keg will be consumed on Halloween.

sivdrinks said:

My wife put 40 drops into a homemade batch of ice cream(size?) and while it tasted good it left a coating on the roof of my mouth. How long does "continue to fade" mean? My bottles will last into next year, keg will be consumed on Halloween.

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I dont know how long, I added 1tsp when I racked to secondary about a month ago. It has mellowed a little, but is still present. Can't really smell it at al thoughl, and the beer smells a lot like Pumking. I am hoping some carbonation will help the boozy aftertaste. I will probably bottle some in a couple weeks.

munklunk said:

Everybody needs to buy their vanilla beans from topvanilla.com. $12 for 20 beans, and they are awesome.

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Can you store vanilla beans in the freezer without losing too much flavor from them?

skeezerpleezer said:

I dont know how long, I added 1tsp when I racked to secondary about a month ago. It has mellowed a little, but is still present. Can't really smell it at al thoughl, and the beer smells a lot like Pumking. I am hoping some carbonation will help the boozy aftertaste. I will probably bottle some in a couple weeks.

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So you'd say you wouldn't use it again or maybe half? I just don't want it to be undrinkable, most people will only try one and then move on to whatever brew they're gonna drink all night. I'd like to hear from the peeps that used the extract and liked it, if there is any.

sivdrinks said:

So you'd say you wouldn't use it again or maybe half? I just don't want it to be undrinkable, most people will only try one and then move on to whatever brew they're gonna drink all night. I'd like to hear from the peeps that used the extract and liked it, if there is any.

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It will depend on how it fades out. At this point I wish I would of started with half the amount and added more to taste if needed. Only time will tell though.

So what's the verdict on the graham cracker extract from the other's who have tried it?

I've used the Graham Cracker Extra from Capella on my last years batch. I honestly did not taste it after two months had passed. I bottled on Saturday this years batch and will wait at least four weeks to taste it. Cannondale's recipe is not an exact clone, but it's the closest I've ever gotten to the Pumking. I'm looking for the McCormick's flavoring in my local supermarkets but cannot find it.

Here's how to make your very own Vanilla Butter Nut extract

BuffaloBeer1 said:

So what's the verdict on the graham cracker extract from the other's who have tried it?

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i added a tsp of the GC extract, tsp of pumpkin pie spice, and 4 oz of homemade vanilla extract in spiced rum about 10 days ago. bottled yesterday and it tasted great. i tried it before i added those 3 things and it was really good then too, i was trying to look for an overbearing vanilla or graham cracker flavor but couldnt really find it. its definately present tho, but with so many other spices in the recipe, they all do their part and its great. i brewed it for a party on the 22nd of sept, pretty stoked for my friends and family to try it. i can only image it'll get better with a few weeks of bottle conditioning, carbed, and cold. i followed cannondales except it was extract and i dont use a secondary.

I brewed the recipe from post #191 on 8/25 except I substituted 3 cinnamon sticks with 3 tsp ground cinnamon which I think may have been way too much now that I am doing more reading on it.

Anyway, I think I will be adding Vanilla Butter Nut extract instead of the Graham Cracker extract and see how that goes.

Last weekend I brewed the exact recipe from post 191. I re-hydrated the 2 packs of dry-yeast and the fermentation started with in 12-24 hours. About day 3 the fermentation went wild! I have never had to use a blow off tube but this went thing went right through the airlock. I caught it before a complete blow off thank goodness. Its been 6 days and it continues to go nuts bubbling like crazy. I can't imagine brewing this without a secondary fermentation. That's a lot of mess that needs to settle out. I took a few pictures of my fermentation to share. Did others have this same issue?

Corey

Hey Smitty, maybe if you turn your carboys off their sides?

ErieShores said:

Hey Smitty, maybe if you turn your carboys off their sides?

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Ha yea my bad with the sideways pictures. You get the idea though.

OG only came to 1.072

When you guys racked to secondary, did you rack the pumpkin in the fermenter, or just beer? I've got a thick layer of pumpkin that I'm hoping will shrink. I'm thinking I'll probably cold crash it before racking to secondary (keg) and adding more spices.

Well I finally got around to brewing this one. This one made me work for it. After 15 AG brews, I have finally experienced a stuck mash. I used 2 cans of Libby's puree. I think the mistake I made was putting the puree in the mash water before the grain, and only using 1 pound of rice hulls instead of 2. Has anyone else had trouble with this? Well having several homebrews on hand to drink while lautering definitely helped get through the 45 minutes of constant stirring to collect the 7 gallons (forget about vorlaufing this time). I think the work will be worth it; it's happily fermenting away with a blowoff tube and antifoaming powder (I don't want to have to think about it). Cheers.

BuffaloBeer1 said:

Well I finally got around to brewing this one. This one made me work for it. After 15 AG brews, I have finally experienced a stuck mash. I used 2 cans of Libby's puree. I think the mistake I made was putting the puree in the mash water before the grain, and only using 1 pound of rice hulls instead of 2. Has anyone else had trouble with this? Well having several homebrews on hand to drink while lautering definitely helped get through the 45 minutes of constant stirring to collect the 7 gallons (forget about vorlaufing this time). I think the work will be worth it; it's happily fermenting away with a blowoff tube and antifoaming powder (I don't want to have to think about it). Cheers.

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I had to do some serious work with my mash initially to get it to spread evenly. It wanted to clump up really bad. Luckily with enough stirring it spread evenly.

Now I've got a huge layer of pumpkin in the fermenter (talking 2 inches tall at least). I'm hoping it'll settle down and thin out.

nickmv said:

When you guys racked to secondary, did you rack the pumpkin in the fermenter, or just beer? .

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Just beer

I made a scaled down 3g batch of this about two weeks ago. Huge trub layer in the fermenter. Due to carboy constraints I am not racking to a secondary. I'll just do those spice additions in the primary and see how it turns out. Should make bottling interesting.

Still smells young, but I can sense some goodness underneath. Hope to crack bottle #1 in early October.

smittygouv30 said:

Last weekend I brewed the exact recipe from post 191. I re-hydrated the 2 packs of dry-yeast and the fermentation started with in 12-24 hours. About day 3 the fermentation went wild! I have never had to use a blow off tube but this went thing went right through the airlock. I caught it before a complete blow off thank goodness. Its been 6 days and it continues to go nuts bubbling like crazy. I can't imagine brewing this without a secondary fermentation. That's a lot of mess that needs to settle out. I took a few pictures of my fermentation to share. Did others have this same issue?

Corey

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Fermentation took off like crazy for me too. Blowoff tube is definitely recommended or you will end up with a mess to clean up.

Also, I brewed mine without the use of any actual pumpkin. From the research I've done, pumpkin adds very little (if any) flavor to beer and the only reason you would brew with it is if you want to be able to say "this beer was made with real pumpkin". It's been in primary for about 10 days now. I will transfer to secondary this weekend and probably bottle a week or two after that.

I've heard that too, that the pumpkin adds very little. But I taste the pumpkin loud & clear in mine. Definitely a viscous mouthfeel and distinct pumpkin flavor. But it's only been a week in the primary, I expect more of it to drop out.

Brewed recipe from post #191 last week using whole fresh ground spices for all spice additions.. will rack to secondary next week.. After reading some posts on graham cracker extract I added a drop to a glass of water to see if I tasted any off flavors... I could detect graham cracker aroma more than taste it.. Was thinking about maybe cutting the addition in half? I have 2 fresh gourmet quality Madagascar vanilla beans and 1 gourmet Tahitian vanilla bean in 4oz of Absolute vodka for secondary addition as well.

Just came across this thread after trying Pumking for the first time this weekend. I find the swing of opinions very interesting from those who tried the recipe on page 20 saying they can't tell the difference from the original to those who say that it's not even close.

I've also seen some very anti-extract comments on the graham cracker extract. I think at some point in the next couple months, I'll do the recipe on pg 20 minus the extract and lactose but with a higher mash temp, as well as using a can of the Libby's instead of fresh pumpkin. We'll see how things go.

I loved Pumking and would love to duplicate, but I'm afraid, as others have said, that there may be some artificial extract hanky panky going on with ST's original recipe that we're not going to be satisfied with no matter how much hard work we homebrewers put in.

I just racked my version of this to the secondary, and for the first time realized I forgot to add the 1 lb of brown sugar during the boil. No wonder my numbers didn't make sense to me.

Anyway, I was wondering is it possible to somewhat salvage this by boiling the sugar and adding it to the secondary, or am I fubared at this point?

Do it. Boil the sugar, put a lid on the pot as you turn it off. Then that will allow you to let the sugar cool down. Then you can add it to the fermentor once cool with out killing your yeast.

I'm in on this recipe too, with a slight variation in specialty grains (honey malt) and a 156 mash since I'm lactose intolerant. Just from tasting the wort I'll be adding more spices post primary.
Anyone tried capella's pumpkin pie extract?

smokinghole said:

Do it. Boil the sugar, put a lid on the pot as you turn it off. Then that will allow you to let the sugar cool down. Then you can add it to the fermentor once cool with out killing your yeast.

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Phew! I'm glad there may be hope for my batch just yet. Thanks for the input!

After drinking a case and a half so far i am still baffled as to what they put in here! mmmmmmm sooo tasty!! Can't wait to refill all these bottles with homebrew and then gift them to some one, they will think they are getting pumking! haha

MZRIS said:

After drinking a case and a half so far...

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So that's why this stuff sells out in a week.

bnmir said:

I'm in on this recipe too, with a slight variation in specialty grains (honey malt) and a 156 mash since I'm lactose intolerant. Just from tasting the wort I'll be adding more spices post primary.
Anyone tried capella's pumpkin pie extract?

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Did you use 3 cinnamon sticks, or did you use ground cinnamon? I'm curious how much and what type others used.

bbbblaine said:

Did you use 3 cinnamon sticks, or did you use ground cinnamon? I'm curious how much and what type others used.

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People do it either way. But keep in mind that Pumpking doesn't seem to use much/any cinnamon. A couple people in this thread don't detect any cinnamon, and I definitely agree with that. Try a few pumpkin beers back to back and you may agree.

I boiled with one stick, figuring I can add ground to secondary if more is needed.

Just bottled Cannondale's recipe on page 20. Only change was 2 sticks of cinnamon in the boil, an extra tsp of candied ginger mixed in with the vodka tincture for the secondary, and I used Pinnacle Whipped vodka instead of plain. Smells like liquid pumpkin pie. It smelled like something sooo familiar to me but I couldn't place it. Then it hit me. Dunkin Donuts pumpkin flavored coffee... without the coffee. You can smell the crust, the spices, the pie, and especially the whipped cream topping. Can't wait for this to age a little (still has a little alcohol bite), but this'll be a crowd pleaser.

hopbrad said:

i added a tsp of the GC extract, tsp of pumpkin pie spice, and 4 oz of homemade vanilla extract in spiced rum about 10 days ago. bottled yesterday and it tasted great. i tried it before i added those 3 things and it was really good then too, i was trying to look for an overbearing vanilla or graham cracker flavor but couldnt really find it. its definately present tho, but with so many other spices in the recipe, they all do their part and its great. i brewed it for a party on the 22nd of sept, pretty stoked for my friends and family to try it. i can only image it'll get better with a few weeks of bottle conditioning, carbed, and cold. i followed cannondales except it was extract and i dont use a secondary.

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cracked my first one after 12 days in the bottle. there was almost no carbonation, 2 weeks til the party. i hope it carbs up by then. otherwise it was pretty decent. a little forward on some of the flavor and alcohol taste but that should mellow with time.

Just made the recipe from post #76. I can not wait until this is ready to drink.