Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

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rewski said:
I also used a 5 gallon cooler for this recipe and it came out at 80% eff and 9% ABV. Finished at 1.014. Delicious. It was to the brim with grain but mash then fly sparge worked great.

According to Beersmith I did 3.85 gallons in mash and fly sparged 3.89. Got right under 5 gallons after boil.
 
Hey now! Anybody bottle this? After 8 days of bottle conditioning my brew is flat. I know, minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees to achieve proper carbonation. When I transferred it to the secondary I used a hop bag at the end of my cane to filter the brew better. Starting to think that was a bad idea. I do have a small amount of sediment at the bottom of each bottle. Just wondering what your experience was with bottling it. I would like to share this with friends before Halloween.
 
Hey now! Anybody bottle this? After 8 days of bottle conditioning my brew is flat. I know, minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees to achieve proper carbonation. When I transferred it to the secondary I used a hop bag at the end of my cane to filter the brew better. Starting to think that was a bad idea. I do have a small amount of sediment at the bottom of each bottle. Just wondering what your experience was with bottling it. I would like to share this with friends before Halloween.

I've done that with alot of my "messy beers" while transferring and never had a carbonation issue. This beer is still fresh in my primary and I can't wait to try it so I understand your impatience :)
 
Wreck99 said:
I've done that with alot of my "messy beers" while transferring and never had a carbonation issue. This beer is still fresh in my primary and I can't wait to try it so I understand your impatience :)

If you take a look just a few pages back, Reno was so kind enough to post a link to my almost exact same question about carbing in bottles.. Mine is also still fresh in primary and still has about 2 and half weeks to go before I bottle.. I hope that link helps!

Cheers!
 
In November im brewing 20 gallons of this recipe I just cant get enough of it. Defiantly a sad experience when the keg is empty.
 
brewski1 said:
Hey now! Anybody bottle this? After 8 days of bottle conditioning my brew is flat. I know, minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees to achieve proper carbonation. When I transferred it to the secondary I used a hop bag at the end of my cane to filter the brew better. Starting to think that was a bad idea. I do have a small amount of sediment at the bottom of each bottle. Just wondering what your experience was with bottling it. I would like to share this with friends before Halloween.

It took my version last year almost 3 months to be fully carbed and conditioned in the bottle. Brewed it late in August last year and took til the end of November. Sometimes it just takes longer
 
I'm going to brew this for my first all grain recipe. My thoughts are though, that I would cut the brown sugar into 2 different steps. I want to roast the pumpkin with a 1/4 cup of it sprinkled on top of the pumpkin, then use the other 3/4 cup during the boil. I also will be using 2/3 cup of light brown sugar and adding a 1/2 tsp of the pumpkin pie spices plus an additional 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon to my bottling mixture. Do you foresee any ramifications to doing this?
 
I hope this pic isn't too big. I'll delete it if it is. This was exactly two weeks after bottling. Garnished with a little pumpkin spice. It's still very young, but already drinkable. The garnish of spice really helped the aroma. I highly recommend. Thank you Reno for the recipe!

ForumRunner_20121020_192852.jpg
 
brewski1 said:
Hey now! Anybody bottle this? After 8 days of bottle conditioning my brew is flat. I know, minimum of 3 weeks at 70 degrees to achieve proper carbonation. When I transferred it to the secondary I used a hop bag at the end of my cane to filter the brew better. Starting to think that was a bad idea. I do have a small amount of sediment at the bottom of each bottle. Just wondering what your experience was with bottling it. I would like to share this with friends before Halloween.

It will have some carbonation by Halloween, but don't expect it to be fully ready. I had a Scottish ale back in June take 4 weeks before it was carbed and it was for a wedding. I was sweating bullets. I contemplated opening and dropping carb drops in and chose not to cause of the hassle. I let it ride and it worked out for the best. Let this sit and you'll be rewarded. I would venture to say that thanksgiving would be a good point to really test this beer.
 
Thanks for all the information dudes! It tastes good, it's just flat. I had other higher OG beers that were carbonated after 7 days.(not completely carbonated) I never brewed a pumpkin beer before and was thinking it may take longer to carbonate because the characteristics of the pumpkin playing a part. Anyway, I'm gonna let it chill for a few weeks and see how it develops.
 
So its 6 days after bottling (used table sugar) its nicely carbed and an amazing beer. Will be a must make from now on!
 
My SWMBO told me to order enough ingredients to make this again. She said it was the best beer I have made so far. She must have liked it, I think I only got about 5 or 6 pints out of the keg. She drank the rest. :D
 
I have 5g. of this in the keg at just over 4 weeks total age (2 primary, 2 in keg) and it's really come around. A great beer, sweet, some squashy pumpkiny quality, and the spice of pumpkin pie. Having a Halloween party this Saturday and I think this will be a hit.
 
To those of you that steep the pumpkin puree before the mash, what are you putting the pumpkin in? I may do this the next time I brew this because the BIAB grain bag was super heavy with the pumpkin in there with the grains.
 
When I did mine, I threw the pumpkin in disposable hop bags and steeped them in the water as I heated my mash and sparge water. Turned out great!
 
I'm mashing my first attempt at this brew as I type. Not going to be ready for Halloween but should be keg'd and carb'd by Thanksgiving. Thanks for the recipe!
 
Cracked a bottle of this last night. Brewed in september. A little light on carbonation but spices smell great but dont come through in flavor though.
 
My first attempt at this went pretty smooth all things considered. I missed my mash temp by about 3 or 4 degrees because of the pumpkin (certainly not used to compensating for that) but no stuck sparges of any kind. The brew smelled fantastic and fermentation took off like crazy. The photo was from 6 hours after pitching yeast and after about 12 hours the krausen forced its way through the air lock which has since been replaced with a blow-off valve. In any event, I can't wait to try this thing.

2012-10-25 00.34.11.jpg
 
First, thanks Reno for the recipe.
Next, brewed this 10/6 BIAB with the pumpkin in a mesh bag while bringing the water up to mash temp. Removed the bag and lost about 1 can (29oz) of pumpkin into the water. Mashed at 156 for an hour, chilled and put on a 05 Centennial Blonde yeast cake (thanks BeirMuncher) and had activity in 5 hours. Been holding temperture at a steady 65 deg. Checked last week and again tonight gravity at 1.030, OG was 1.070. Color is nice and sample is clear.
Is FG high due to the amount of pumpkin lost or stuck fermentation? Taste is great, a little spice forward and not too sweet.
Which way to head next?
Thanks
 
First, thanks Reno for the recipe.
Next, brewed this 10/6 BIAB with the pumpkin in a mesh bag while bringing the water up to mash temp. Removed the bag and lost about 1 can (29oz) of pumpkin into the water. Mashed at 156 for an hour, chilled and put on a 05 Centennial Blonde yeast cake (thanks BeirMuncher) and had activity in 5 hours. Been holding temperture at a steady 65 deg. Checked last week and again tonight gravity at 1.030, OG was 1.070. Color is nice and sample is clear.
Is FG high due to the amount of pumpkin lost or stuck fermentation? Taste is great, a little spice forward and not too sweet.
Which way to head next?
Thanks

I'm guessing 156 mash temp aided this some, but still shouldn't come out that high. Perhaps your thermometer isn't calibrated or the temp rose above that at some point?
 
This one is looking good so far, I had a few hiccups on brew day, but its been 2 weeks since and I'm getting pretty excited for the one.
 
Well tomorrow is going to be week 5 since brewday and I've yet to taste it. The chest freezer ferm chamber smells friggin amazing though. I went to LHBS yesterday and bought a new shank, faucet, and all accompanying accessories to get a third beer in the kegerator (I already have the keg.) I wanted to get the punkin carbed and going but I wasn't willing to take a keg out for the time being, so third tap is the obvious solution.

The overwhelming urge to get my punkin on gas was due to the fact that we went to BJ's and their pumpkin ale had just come out, plus we carved pumpkins while drinking Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale... so yeah, it needs to happen.
 
I also need to catch up with responses:

I'm going to brew this for my first all grain recipe. My thoughts are though, that I would cut the brown sugar into 2 different steps. I want to roast the pumpkin with a 1/4 cup of it sprinkled on top of the pumpkin, then use the other 3/4 cup during the boil. I also will be using 2/3 cup of light brown sugar and adding a 1/2 tsp of the pumpkin pie spices plus an additional 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon to my bottling mixture. Do you foresee any ramifications to doing this?
Well it sounds like a good plan to me. However, I don't typically do dry ingredients in volume, especially not brown sugar. Brown sugar is very compressible and thus volume is not conserved. So in that case you may have a bit of a different OG (I'd guess lower) but it'll still be beer!

Had my first glass of this, and its damn good! Its been kegged for for 5 weeks, great carb and flavor!

My SWMBO told me to order enough ingredients to make this again. She said it was the best beer I have made so far. She must have liked it, I think I only got about 5 or 6 pints out of the keg. She drank the rest. :D

In November im brewing 20 gallons of this recipe I just cant get enough of it. Defiantly a sad experience when the keg is empty.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! It brightens my day and SWMBO's day when we hear such awesome things being said about this recipe.
 
I had my first taste of the beer fully carbed after sitting in the keg and fridge for 3 weeks now. It's been about 5 weeks since brew day also, this thing is amazing! I wanted to keep drinking it!
I originally brewed it to bottle about half and give away as presents for holiday time, but I might have to do another batch for that or soon there after because I wanted to drink the whole thing yesterday!
 
Cracked the first bottle today (bomber) and split it with my wife ... Both were suitably impressed :). The pumpkin was a PITA, but this brew will likely be brewed at my house next fall.

The color of this beer is amazing. Perfect for a pumpkin beer.
 
Legged 10 gal of this today. Can't wait till its carbonated. Had a nice pumpkin flavor and a hint of the spices on the finish.
 
Has anyone skipped secondary and went straight to bottle? I'm at 9 days and it's still bubbling. Im thinking about letting it sit for two or three weeks and bottling.
 
Has anyone skipped secondary and went straight to bottle? I'm at 9 days and it's still bubbling. Im thinking about letting it sit for two or three weeks and bottling.

I just hit 2 weeks in primary yesturday, and mine still has some bubbles every so often. I am skipping the secondary and going to cold crash the last few days. I think im going to go with a 3 and half week primary just so itll still have about 3 weeks to carb in the bottles.

Reno posted on here a calculator for measurements of sugar used to carb in bottles a few pages back.

My only other question to this is should I put the sugar directly into the bottleing bucket or disovle it in water first then pour the water into the bucket?

Anyways I am really getting excited for this one. Last years was not so much a success, so im really hoping to be one of the ones to be able to say that this one is amazing just like everyone else.
 
Medevac_Chief said:
Reno posted on here a calculator for measurements of sugar used to carb in bottles a few pages back.

My only other question to this is should I put the sugar directly into the bottleing bucket or disovle it in water first then pour the water into t

I have always dissolved it in boiling water, then let cool before adding. I always just pour water from a tea kettle over the sugar, mix til clear, cover it and then put in fridge.
Also, if you cold crash, let it come back up to room temp before racking it onto your priming sugar... The sugar has a possibility of not mixing properly at too cold a temp. Had this happen once on a blonde.
 
I have always dissolved it in boiling water, then let cool before adding. I always just pour water from a tea kettle over the sugar, mix til clear, cover it and then put in fridge.
Also, if you cold crash, let it come back up to room temp before racking it onto your priming sugar... The sugar has a possibility of not mixing properly at too cold a temp. Had this happen once on a blonde.

This.

Unless it's been soaked in liquor, you always always boil stuff if you're adding it after you've done your main boil and yeast pitching. Not only does it ensure that you have a homogenous solution in which the sugar is evenly dispersed, but it kills anything on the sugar that could potentially cause infection. And infection plus bottles equals BOOM!
 
Matteo57 said:
No need for secondary in this one. Just leave it for 3-4 weeks then transfer to keg/bottle! Enjoy!

Yup. Only use a secondary if you're using gelatin or something of the sort.
 
I'm losing some of the pumpkin/spice of this beer the longer it's in the keg. I'm betting that bottled versions would retain this far longer, especially from an aroma standpoint.
 
I'm losing some of the pumpkin/spice of this beer the longer it's in the keg. I'm betting that bottled versions would retain this far longer, especially from an aroma standpoint.

Same with mine. I am pondering the idea of boiling another .25-.5 tblsp with like 1/4 cups water and throw that in to add a bit more spice. Will probably make that decision in about a week or two
 

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