Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

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I had this in bottles for two weeks and tested one this past Saturday. I tasted the same slight sour notes, almost like a cider. I let this beer sit in primary for 4 weeks before bottling and then another two weeks in bottles. I'm going to give it more time and hope that it disappears. If it doesn't this is going to be my first batch that hate.

i just opened a bottle of mine it also had no carb. and tasted a little sour..something like a cider is almost spot on. mine sat in primary for 2 weeks, and bottles for another 2 weeks...should i give it more time and hopefully the flavors mellow out
 
millaj92 said:
Yeah I know a lot of people that use that set-up and have no problems. I was just suggesting things that might be causing his stuck sparge problem.

So im brewing a smoked nut brown and getting a stuck sparge again after first runnings ...its gotta be my grain mill that's doing it my crushed grain is kinda floury.
 
Could the sour/cidery taste be how you are perceiving the spices? Have you done a beer where spices go in the boil and there are no post-fermentation spice additions? It changes it a little bit and I've had people tell me it was a bit sour but we were able to deduce that what they were tasting was the spices that had gone through fermentation and the only word they could use to describe it was "sour".
 
About the long primaries... could maby all the carbing issues correlate with the long time in primary and the yeast going dormant? Also when does or how long before autolysis factors into off flavors?
 
Ooooo, okay this may cause some debate.

But I've left beer on the yeast cake for about 6 months without this "autolysis" off-flavor everybody talks about. I call shenanigans.

Also, a 2-3 month primary won't slow carbing too much. Even when your beer in crystal clear there is still a ton of yeast in suspension.




If anybody is having a problem with carbing, hold your concerns until the bottles have been sitting at 70*F for at least four weeks. It's usually three weeks as the standard minimum time but this is a higher OG beer so it most likely will take longer than a normal beer to condition.
 
Reno- No I have never done a beer with spices going into the boil and not the carboy. that being said will the flavors of the spices eventually mellow out and merge with everything else by sitting in the bottles for a longer period of time?
Thanks
 
Medevac_Chief said:
Reno- No I have never done a beer with spices going into the boil and not the carboy. that being said will the flavors of the spices eventually mellow out and merge with everything else by sitting in the bottles for a longer period of time?
Thanks

Yup :mug:
 
Ooooo, okay this may cause some debate.

But I've left beer on the yeast cake for about 6 months without this "autolysis" off-flavor everybody talks about. I call shenanigans.

Also, a 2-3 month primary won't slow carbing too much. Even when your beer in crystal clear there is still a ton of yeast in suspension.




If anybody is having a problem with carbing, hold your concerns until the bottles have been sitting at 70*F for at least four weeks. It's usually three weeks as the standard minimum time but this is a higher OG beer so it most likely will take longer than a normal beer to condition.

Yeah I agree with you on this one. The "common knowledge" is that you don't want to leave it in the primary for more than 4 weeks and if you're fermenting for more than two months total there should be no trub at all in the fermenter but I also have aged beers for longer than this without getting any off flavors. I think it really comes down to the quality of yeast you're using, proper pitching rate (starter), and overall sanitation practices.
 
So im brewing a smoked nut brown and getting a stuck sparge again after first runnings ...its gotta be my grain mill that's doing it my crushed grain is kinda floury.

It very well could be too fine of a crush. You mention "after first runnings"...are you batch sparging? If so, does it run off just fine during the first run, then dump in hot water, try to drain second runnings and nothing? If this is the case, it sounds it's the compaction of the grain bed by letting it run dry that's causing the problem. You could try adding some hot water before letting the grain bed go completely dry, or you could try one of a few continuous sparge methods.
 
Yes I batch sparge. I think the grain is over milled resulting in that tight compact grain bed and clogging up. What gap is your mill set at and what kind of mill do you use millaj92?
 
Reno_eNVy said:
Ooooo, okay this may cause some debate.

But I've left beer on the yeast cake for about 6 months without this "autolysis" off-flavor everybody talks about. I call shenanigans.

Also, a 2-3 month primary won't slow carbing too much. Even when your beer in crystal clear there is still a ton of yeast in suspension.

If anybody is having a problem with carbing, hold your concerns until the bottles have been sitting at 70*F for at least four weeks. It's usually three weeks as the standard minimum time but this is a higher OG beer so it most likely will take longer than a normal beer to condition.

+1 on this. The higher gravity. The longer the conditioning time. If I have a lengthy fermentation period, I generally give the beer at least four to five weeks to condition, if not more.

My porter at about the same gravity as this brew, has a 5 week primary/secondary ferment. It doesn't ever reach a finished carb level in under 5 weeks in the bottle. So, RDWAHAHB.
 
I brewed this back in October. I just started drinking it about a week ago, and it is very yummy! This was my second brew ever. My OG reading was 1.070 and it finished at 1.015 (8.2% ABV according to my hydrometer). I let it ferment for three weeks @ ~70*F and it carbed for I think two weeks (keg @ like 10 psi). I am really enjoying this beer!
 
I brewed this back in October. I just started drinking it about a week ago, and it is very yummy! This was my second brew ever. My OG reading was 1.070 and it finished at 1.015 (8.2% ABV according to my hydrometer). I let it ferment for three weeks @ ~70*F and it carbed for I think two weeks (keg @ like 10 psi). I am really enjoying this beer!

Great to hear! I'm glad it worked out for you and that this is your first post! :rockin: Welcome to HBT :mug:

70 is a weeee bit high for this style unless you use a yeast that can contribute good flavors at high temperatures (i.e. belgians.) What yeast strain did you use? I mean, it ultimately doesn't matter if you enjoy what you created!

And by my calculations you're looking at 7.22% ABV.


But again, welcome to the obsession.
 
Great to hear! I'm glad it worked out for you and that this is your first post! :rockin: Welcome to HBT :mug:

70 is a weeee bit high for this style unless you use a yeast that can contribute good flavors at high temperatures (i.e. belgians.) What yeast strain did you use? I mean, it ultimately doesn't matter if you enjoy what you created!

And by my calculations you're looking at 7.22% ABV.


But again, welcome to the obsession.
Thanks!

I used WLP008 It was the closest thing I could find at my LHBS that was in stock.

Ok, so 7.22% lol...I probably read my chart wrong. But yeah, I like what I created! And my beer snob buddies liked it too, so that's good enough for me!
 
I brewed this 2x this Fall. The first time I used US 05 at 70F for 21 days in primary and the second time I used Wyeast 1056 at 70F for 21 days in primary. Both batches were awesome. Many thanks for this recipe!
 
Yes I batch sparge. I think the grain is over milled resulting in that tight compact grain bed and clogging up. What gap is your mill set at and what kind of mill do you use millaj92?

Not sure. I use the mill at my LHBS. I would ask them but I doubt they would know. I love all those guys and they have years and years of great brewing experience but none of them are real technical. Besides, I'm pretty sure that mill/hopper was set up about 25 years ago so I wouldn't expect anyone to remember. I would like to eventually get my own mill, but at this point I've got other things I'd rather spend money on. There are lots of threads on here about the right size so get to searchin!
 
Damn, after reading all the great reviews I'm bummed that my batch didn't turn out well. This is the first batch in 17 that I think I'm going to have to dump.

Everyone that tries it uses the word "sour". Not sure what happened, but I'm 99.9% sure that there wasn't infection or a reason for it to be sour. I used US05 yeast.
 
Well, im not sure on your process but mine came out sort of the same way. Mild nose, sharp almost sour like quality. However I realized my OG was a bit higher than the recipe called for. So I've drank 3 so far, 1 at 3 weeks, same results you speak of, another at 6 weeks, mellower, more spice in the noise still some sour like qualities, 8 weeks, very nice noise, hey, I can now start to pick up the pumpkin smell...yea! Still just a hint of sour, but very nice drink. I think Im coming into my 12th week and I expect it will be great. For me I need to take my water hardness down a bit and keep that gravity in check for faster results.
 
I'm sorry to hear your batches didn't turn out great.

Faseel, interesting you mention water... I hadn't thought about that before. A chloride to sulfate ratio favoring sulfate can increase the apparent bitterness of hops... I wonder if that makes spices seem sour.

If it helps for reference, I adjusted my water chemistry to enhance maltiness (i.e. higher ratio of chlorides than sulfates)
 
Well, im not sure on your process but mine came out sort of the same way. Mild nose, sharp almost sour like quality. However I realized my OG was a bit higher than the recipe called for. So I've drank 3 so far, 1 at 3 weeks, same results you speak of, another at 6 weeks, mellower, more spice in the noise still some sour like qualities, 8 weeks, very nice noise, hey, I can now start to pick up the pumpkin smell...yea! Still just a hint of sour, but very nice drink. I think Im coming into my 12th week and I expect it will be great. For me I need to take my water hardness down a bit and keep that gravity in check for faster results.

I had similar thoughts, as my abv is higher also at 7.15%. However the 'sourness' is unexpected. I've brewed many high gravity beers, and never had this flavor characteristic.

I've got several beer snob friends and homebrewers, and they all think it's strange also. Almost lambic like, but no sign of infection on this batch or any other I have brewed.
 
My ABV I think was 7.4 but I had no off flavors or sourness. I think i finish at 1.010. Defiantly try this recipe again though. When you get it right on your next batch you'll be happy. I wish I had made 10 gallons because my 5 gallons went to fast.
 
This beer only gets better with age. My first batch that was ready on Halloween, had 23 days in the primary @ 70 degrees. Second batch was fermented @ 68 for 21 days, and then cold conditioned in the primary from 68 to 52 degrees over the past two weeks, then cold crashed for 12 hours @ 36. Bottled yesterday, and the sample was very much better than the first batch. The spices just need time to mellow, and cold conditioning, if you can, helps imho.
 
Exactly one month later I just transferred to a corny and took a gravity reading. My final gravity was 1.015. I'm not noticing a sour taste like the others are talking about but I only used 1tbl spoon of spice. It smells and taste like high gravity beer (upwards of 6.7% abv) I'll check it again in a week or two with some carbonation in it.
 
KCBigDog said:
I had similar thoughts, as my abv is higher also at 7.15%. However the 'sourness' is unexpected. I've brewed many high gravity beers, and never had this flavor characteristic.

I've got several beer snob friends and homebrewers, and they all think it's strange also. Almost lambic like, but no sign of infection on this batch or any other I have brewed.

I see what you mean. I think that the higher abv merely brings out that flavor in the younger spiced beer, and that it should mellow over time. I think for me, I should have cut my hard water more. From my tap, im at like 175 to 200 caco3 ppm (alkalinity ). Now I used brew'n water to balance more to the middle instead of malty. Its initial composition felt like the results you would get from a young sasion. Which to me means I was still to hard.
 
I had a buddy try it tonight, and he said this was so sour he could only take a few drinks. My batch of this is TERRIBLE and it depresses me. First batch I have made that isn't great.

What could have caused it to be so damn sour? I've never made a sour beer before, and there were no signs of infection.
 
KCBigDog said:
I had a buddy try it tonight, and he said this was so sour he could only take a few drinks. My batch of this is TERRIBLE and it depresses me. First batch I have made that isn't great.

What could have caused it to be so damn sour? I've never made a sour beer before, and there were no signs of infection.

So strange.... I've never had that happen
 
I had a buddy try it tonight, and he said this was so sour he could only take a few drinks. My batch of this is TERRIBLE and it depresses me. First batch I have made that isn't great.

What could have caused it to be so damn sour? I've never made a sour beer before, and there were no signs of infection.

I brewed my batch on 10.8 and it has now been conditioning in the bottle for ~9weeks and the green/sour taste i had is finally beginning to dissapate. I am bringing a 6er for xmas to get some opinions but I think 2-3 weeks it will good. Sometimes they just need time.
 
Well its a hit and even the neighbors who drink mostly coors light have enjoyed it thanks Reno.
 
Well its a hit and even the neighbors who drink mostly coors light have enjoyed it thanks Reno.

You're quite welcome. I'm glad it went over so well... hmm maybe drop it to 1 Tbsp like you did and it won't be so sour... or take so long for it to go away.

It scored a 33 at the 2012 Boneyard Brew-off so I must have done something right. Sadly it didn't win... I think it was shy just a couple points from placing.
 
I'm planning on brewing this recipe tommorow, and I'm wondering...Is the sourness some are reporting maybe due to too much of the pumpkin going to the primary? Should I try to leave as much pumpkin as possible behind in the kettle after cooling?
 
Nah I don't think it's too much pumpkin. I'm seriously thinking it's the spice. If you're worried you should cut it back to one tablespoon

Also, unless you're doing all extract and have no other option, don't boil the pumpkin... put it in the mash. But if you must boil it put it in a muslin bag or cheese cloth. If you transfer that to your fermentation vessel you will lose a ton of beer.
 
Thanks, I definitely don't like losing beer. Doing brew in a bag, so I'm guessing most of the pumpkin is going to make it into the boil, but we'll see. Thanks for the recipe, pretty excited about this one.
 
rmclark12 said:
Thanks, I definitely don't like losing beer. Doing brew in a bag, so I'm guessing most of the pumpkin is going to make it into the boil, but we'll see. Thanks for the recipe, pretty excited about this one.

Just add the pumpkin to the bag so you can remove it with the grain. It'll work just fine.
 
i wonder how well it would work to caramalize the pumpkin (be careful not to burn it of course lol) and have it absorb as much as that caramalized pumpkin... doing this instead of just baking it for a bit... hrm...
 
I always bake my pumpkin until it caramelizes, it definitely brings out the most flavor.
 
I made a 10 gallon batch of this awhile back. One keg I added 3 scraped vanilla beans to to and one I didn't. I have to say if you like vanilla I think it compliments the pumpkin nicely.
 
As I'm good at burning stuff without trying.... Is there a point you can tell it's caramelized? I figured a spritz of water like I do when toasting grain would prevent some albeit not all of top burning but other than that I was just going to match the 1hr oven time.
 
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