Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

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I brewed this yesterday and followed the recipe exactly. I was thinking about using some munich because I had it laying around but decided to follow everyone's advice and not deviate. I ended up using 4# of rice hulls in my ten gallon batch which may have been over kill but at least it didn't run slow. I'm super excited! The sample tasted amazing and ferm fridge smelled awesome this morning.
 
Brewed this this weekend except I changed up the GB to what I had. Used 8lbs. each of Pale Ale and Vienna (for that roasty, biscuity taste) and then C40 to color (3lbs.). Total of 19lbs. for a 9g batch. Used 7 smaller cans of pumpkin, roasted on two cookie sheets at 350 for 45 minutes, then cooled. Missed my mash temp low due to equipment issue (leaking valve on MLT, had to drain strike out, reheat, while fixing that, then didn't quite heat it enough to compensate for cooled pumpkin going in).

Anyway, I used Perle to bitter and Willamette at 5mins. Used the WLP810 SF Lager yeast and ferming at around 59-60 right now in chamber. Hoping for a clear beer that has all the flavors we're shooting for here and doesn't finish too low (hence the SF Steam yeast, which WLP says attenuates a full 10% less than WLP001 and/or more ale yeasts). Plus, I had the SF yeast on hand harvested last week from an Oktoberfest.

I also used two TBSP of pumpkin pie spice for my 9g batch instead of nearly 3. It seems so strong, I didn't want to overdo it. If it's lacking in spice I can always make a tea and add it to the keg.
 
Thinking about doing this one. Thanks for taking the time to give a partial mash recipe!

Anyway, I had a question about the pumpkin. You said we can keep the same amount of pumpkin. Do we have to add extra water to account for the weight of the pumpkin? I would guess you'd have to, considering there will only be a little over 1.5 gallons being mashed at 2.0qt/lb of grain. When I did all grain I didn't add any more water for the pumpkin, I just threw it in. Now I'll have to add more. How thick should the mash be for partial mashing?
 
Getting ready to transfer this to secondary so I went to LHBS today to get some gelatin because this thing is CRAZZZY cloudy but all they had was Kieselsol? I picked some up but not sure if it will help? Anyone have any insight? Never used a fining agent before...
 
Matteo57 said:
How come you lower the specialty grain amount when doing a mini mash? Do you always want to do that when you do a mini mash compaired to a full mash? I haven't brewed a long time so just asking for my own knowledge.
Also, if doing a extract version of this... would you steep the pumpkin in it the water for 30 min or so or just boil the pumpkin? Would you get more haze in the beer by boiling the pumpkin? Sorry if I missed this in directions somewhere
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The partial mash recipe is what I was able to get through BeerSmith. That's just the amount it says to use to get the same color and gravity. If somebody has experience brewing the partial mash exactly then your insight would be greatly appreciated.

Brewskier said:
Thinking about doing this one. Thanks for taking the time to give a partial mash recipe!

Anyway, I had a question about the pumpkin. You said we can keep the same amount of pumpkin. Do we have to add extra water to account for the weight of the pumpkin? I would guess you'd have to, considering there will only be a little over 1.5 gallons being mashed at 2.0qt/lb of grain. When I did all grain I didn't add any more water for the pumpkin, I just threw it in. Now I'll have to add more. How thick should the mash be for partial mashing?
Click to expand...
It would probably be a good thing to add more water. My typical volume for other 5 gallon batches is roughly 4-4.5 gallons. Therefore for this one I made it 6 gallons of strike water to account for pumpkin absorption and yesterday 6 gallons strike and 3.5 gallons batch sparge got me a perfect 5 gallons (~5.5 if you include the junk I left behind after whirlpooling.)

As far as mash thickness, there were some experiments done by Kai, an oldie on here. You can actually go up to 2.5 qt/lb without diminishing effects. Whenever I make session beers I often end up getting close to 2.5 qt/lb in order to limit headspace in my MLT.

Option said:
Getting ready to transfer this to secondary so I went to LHBS today to get some gelatin because this thing is CRAZZZY cloudy but all they had was Kieselsol? I picked some up but not sure if it will help? Anyone have any insight? Never used a fining agent before...
Click to expand...
Hmm never used kieselsol for brewing... I know it's used in wine making, though. Why don't you just go to the grocery store and pick up Knox gelatin for crazy cheap?
 
I posted a link above to my brew-thread for this Punkin Ale. This evening I transferred from the no-chill container into the sanitized Better Bottle, pitched 2pks of Safale US-05, and put it in my fermentation freezer.

TransfertoCarboy.jpg


You can see all the material in the carboy. I wanted 5.5 gallons in the fermenter. The last 1/2 gal was a runny puree that smelled great. I decided to transfer much of it with the thought that it would enhance the flavor. I was afraid that if I was too careful to leave as much trub behing as possible, I would lose much of the flavor I was seeking. It'll be gotten rid of when I transfer to secondary.

IMG_1406.jpg


Looking forward to it.
Keith
 
ForumRunner_20120924_222928.jpg

Beautiful...cooked the pumpkin puree to start my day.

ForumRunner_20120924_222950.jpg

Loving my mill.

ForumRunner_20120924_223011.jpg

Mash went fine...added 3/4 pound of rice hulls.

ForumRunner_20120924_223033.jpg

Missed the OG number though...came in at 1.060, which was a little lower than I wanted. Thanks a ton for the recipe Reno!
 
Did this last night. I milled the grains with my new mill, got about 80% eff. which is a bit higher than i wanted. Oh well. Also, I did what I saw a couple others do which was to throw the pumpkin in with the water as I boiled my strike and sparge water. We'll see how it comes out.
It smells great! Looking forward to trying this soon!! Thanks again for the recipe Reno!
 
Brewing this today have the puree cooking right now and getting ready to mill the grains. Looking forward to this brew.
 
I'm assuming that having a mess in the blow-off tube and jug is OK. As I said a few postings above, I brewed this Sunday afternoon (today is Thursday). Monday evening I transferred 5.5 gal into the 6 gal Better Bottle and pitched 2 pks of Safale US-05. I set the Ranco controller to 60. I don't have a heater, but the freezer takes it down to 58 after shutting off, but it's spending most of the time at 61.

In anticipation of heavy krausen, I used a blow-off tube instead of the 3-pc airlock.

Had some bubbling Tuesday morning and considerable bubbling last night. This morning, there's a decent amount of creamy stuff in the blow-off tube and the water bottle water has a bunch of nice-smelling sludge in it. There was a couple tablespoons of sludge on the floor of the freezer.

The blow-off "system" is intact - nothing disconnected. I replaced the little water bottle with a 1/2 gal milk jug of water.

So I'm thinking that everything is OK. I guess I need to make sure that the krausen that collects in the tube doesn't harden and block the tube. I will check later today since I'm off work today. I might need to spray starsan around the stopper and neck of the Better Bottle, remove the stopper/tube as I cover the bottle with sanitized aluminum foil, clean out the tubing, resanitize, and replace.

Any suggestions?
Keith
 
kzimmer0817 said:
I'm assuming that having a mess in the blow-off tube and jug is OK. As I said a few postings above, I brewed this Sunday afternoon (today is Thursday). Monday evening I transferred 5.5 gal into the 6 gal Better Bottle and pitched 2 pks of Safale US-05. I set the Ranco controller to 60. I don't have a heater, but the freezer takes it down to 58 after shutting off, but it's spending most of the time at 61.

In anticipation of heavy krausen, I used a blow-off tube instead of the 3-pc airlock.

Had some bubbling Tuesday morning and considerable bubbling last night. This morning, there's a decent amount of creamy stuff in the blow-off tube and the water bottle water has a bunch of nice-smelling sludge in it. There was a couple tablespoons of sludge on the floor of the freezer.

The blow-off "system" is intact - nothing disconnected. I replaced the little water bottle with a 1/2 gal milk jug of water.

So I'm thinking that everything is OK. I guess I need to make sure that the krausen that collects in the tube doesn't harden and block the tube. I will check later today since I'm off work today. I might need to spray starsan around the stopper and neck of the Better Bottle, remove the stopper/tube as I cover the bottle with sanitized aluminum foil, clean out the tubing, resanitize, and replace.

Any suggestions?
Keith
Click to expand...

I think you have a great plan there. Key is making sure there are no restrictions and that the beer isn't exposed to the air while you replace/clean any tubes/stoppers.
 
tre9er said:
I think you have a great plan there. Key is making sure there are no restrictions and that the beer isn't exposed to the air while you replace/clean any tubes/stoppers.
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Thanks. I had a cupped square of aluminum foil that I had used to cover the opening while I was getting the blow-off assembly ready the other day. I soaked it in Starsan, the sprayed starsan all around the stopper, neck of bottle, and top surface of opening. I carefully removed the stopper and placed the foil cup over the opening. I blew the tubing out, ran starsan thru it as well as all over the stopper, then carefully replaced the stopper.

The glass thermometer in the freezer says 62, the adhesive thermometer strip on the side of the Better Bottle says 64. The freezer overshoots to around 58 when it cools down, but the Ranco shows 60 most of the time. So I'm probably at the correct temp for the US-05.

We had a small ceramic heater (with fan) in the other freezer, but the fan no longer works. When I do the next beer, I will find a small fan to come on when the freezer kicks in with the hopes that it will lessen the amount of overshoot - although, the overshoot doesn't appear to be adversely affecting the temp of the fermenting beer.

Perhaps it was Reno eNVy who said that he starts low, then gradually raises the temp to 68 as fermentation slows down.

Thanks,
Keith
 
kzimmer0817 said:
The glass thermometer in the freezer says 62, the adhesive thermometer strip on the side of the Better Bottle says 64. The freezer overshoots to around 58 when it cools down, but the Ranco shows 60 most of the time. So I'm probably at the correct temp for the US-05.

We had a small ceramic heater (with fan) in the other freezer, but the fan no longer works. When I do the next beer, I will find a small fan to come on when the freezer kicks in with the hopes that it will lessen the amount of overshoot - although, the overshoot doesn't appear to be adversely affecting the temp of the fermenting beer.

Perhaps it was Reno eNVy who said that he starts low, then gradually raises the temp to 68 as fermentation slows down.

Thanks,
Keith
Click to expand...

What I do now is secure my probe to the side of my fermenter with insulating material (styrofoam in my case) over it. This reads more of the beer temp than ambient air temp, since the beer temp will rise during fermentation. It's still *somewhat* exposed to the air though so there is enough lag that it doesn't take the temp wayyy down to try and counter the beer temp. It has worked great for me.
 
I might be biased since I know the brewer, but I've been sampling this every day for a few days and I think it's the best pumpkin beer I've ever had, except for possibly Pumking, and I am a fan of pumpkin beers.

It's got a definite pumpkin flavor, just short of sweet like a pumpkin pie, and the spices are clearly there but not overpowering. It has a crisp bite yet is smooth. I keep wanting another but I'm restraining myself... I don't know how this is going to last until Halloween.
 
troyh said:
I might be biased since I know the brewer, but I've been sampling this every day for a few days and I think it's the best pumpkin beer I've ever had, except for possibly Pumking, and I am a fan of pumpkin beers.

It's got a definite pumpkin flavor, just short of sweet like a pumpkin pie, and the spices are clearly there but not overpowering. It has a crisp bite yet is smooth. I keep wanting another but I'm restraining myself... I don't know how this is going to last until Halloween.
Click to expand...

Brew it later next year :D
 
My buddy and I just made our own version of the smoked pumpkin seed Saison from BYO. I smoked the pumpkin for 4 hours, roasted the seeds with nutmeg and cinnamon and mashed it all together with the grains. We also added two pounds of dark brown sugar, half in the beginning and the rest at flame out. The Wort tasted amazing! Can't wait to taste this when it is finished. Over the weekend I will see what the beer finished at and see if I need to add any more spices. OG was 1.074
 
I'm now the proud owner of a Punkin' sour. Plate chiller was a nightmare on this one, so I'm not surprised by the contamination ... but I was surprised the pellicule didn't show up till secondary. Wonderful thin spiderweb ... Pretty sure it's Brett.

We're in the process of waiting it out - will let you know how it goes.
 
brewguyver said:
I'm now the proud owner of a Punkin' sour. Plate chiller was a nightmare on this one, so I'm not surprised by the contamination ... but I was surprised the pellicule didn't show up till secondary. Wonderful thin spiderweb ... Pretty sure it's Brett.

We're in the process of waiting it out - will let you know how it goes.
Click to expand...

Can you post a photo just for us learners?
 
Well brew day is past now, what a experience that was for my first all grain. Now I now what equipment I need to be more efficient. My braided hose on my MLT decided to kink at the barb so flow was garbage. I for see a false bottom in the future . I hit the OG spot on and going to left this one clear up for a while as the MLT runnings were dirty as I had to stir the grist to get flow. It is however fermenting away now about 8 hours after pitching.

Dan
 
troyh said:
This is going on my list of 10-gallon batches.
Click to expand...

Use plenty of rice hulls. I learned the hard way.


I'm brewing this tomorrow or Sunday. I was thinking of baking the pumpkin the night before to shorten the brew day. What's your guys thoughts on that?
 
Should be ok to prebake the pumpkin, but let it come close to room temp, or warm it in the oven, or your mash temps will be off.
 
RandalG said:
I'm brewing this tomorrow or Sunday. I was thinking of baking the pumpkin the night before to shorten the brew day. What's your guys thoughts on that?
Click to expand...

I did that. Turned out fine, I think I had to add just a little extra heat to the mash to compensate for the temp drop. If I remember correctly. :drunk:
 
Waterboy42 said:
Should be ok to prebake the pumpkin, but let it come close to room temp, or warm it in the oven, or your mash temps will be off.
Click to expand...

I did mine the night before and then threw it in the fridge once it had cooled. Then when I started getting set up on brew day I turned my oven on to the lowest temp (170). Once the oven came up to temp I turned it off and let the pumpkin warm that way until it was time to mash.
 
Waterboy42 said:
Should be ok to prebake the pumpkin, but let it come close to room temp, or warm it in the oven, or your mash temps will be off.
Click to expand...

I baked mine the night before and put it back in the oven at 160F while I got everything ready to brew the next day. After I doughed in the grain I stirred in the pumpkin. Worked out great.
 
BlakeL said:
Could I bottle this after two weeks in primary?
Click to expand...

Sure, assuming you have confirmed that fermentation is completely finished. To do this, take a gravity reading and then another one in 3-5 days. If the gravity is the same then you are good to bottle.
 
Reno,

Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! Also thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

I decided to brew this a while back and read the entire thread. Then I went back through it last night and reread the whole thread. I brewed it up today and everything went smooth! The sample I tasted was great!

I can't wait to keg this! I'm already thinking about doing another batch next week to bottle and give away around Thanksgiving.

Thanks again!

Mpjay
 
Just finished brewing this up with my lady friend. Long day today. My OG was a bit high at 1.070 but the hydro sample tastes good. Thanks for the recipe, can't wait to see how it turns out.
 
mpjay2000 said:
Reno,

Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! Also thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

I decided to brew this a while back and read the entire thread. Then I went back through it last night and reread the whole thread. I brewed it up today and everything went smooth! The sample I tasted was great!

I can't wait to keg this! I'm already thinking about doing another batch next week to bottle and give away around Thanksgiving.

Thanks again!

Mpjay
Click to expand...

You should just make a 15 gallon batch this recipe is awesome
 
Weird. I went away for the weekend and came back looking forward to having some of this. I poured a glass and there was absolutely no spice aroma or taste – it completely disappeared. It's like drinking a bland pale ale. What happened??
 
troyh said:
Weird. I went away for the weekend and came back looking forward to having some of this. I poured a glass and there was absolutely no spice aroma or taste – it completely disappeared. It's like drinking a bland pale ale. What happened??
Click to expand...

Aww crap that sucks. How do you feel about making a spice tincture to add to the keg?
 
Tonight will be day 7 in the fermenter. I've kept the ambient temp around 61-62. The adhesive thermometer strip on the Better Bottle has been 62-64. There was a lot of activity days 3-5. Minimal bubbling now. I stole a sample from the spigot this morning. Tastes great. My O.G. was 1.066. Today, it is 1.020. So, I'm getting close. Recipe calls for 3 weeks in primary, so I'm assuming that there's still some work for the yeast to do. I shouldn't be in a hurry to transfer it. For the past 2 days, I'm moving the fermenter temp up a bit. Supposedly, that enables the yeast to do a better job of cleaning up.

Looking forward to drinking and sharing this. I'm wondering if I should brew another batch of this as soon as I transfer to secondary in order to have plenty around.

So far so good for my first.
Keith
 
kzimmer0817 said:
Tonight will be day 7 in the fermenter. I've kept the ambient temp around 61-62. The adhesive thermometer strip on the Better Bottle has been 62-64. There was a lot of activity days 3-5. Minimal bubbling now. I stole a sample from the spigot this morning. Tastes great. My O.G. was 1.066. Today, it is 1.020. So, I'm getting close. Recipe calls for 3 weeks in primary, so I'm assuming that there's still some work for the yeast to do. I shouldn't be in a hurry to transfer it. For the past 2 days, I'm moving the fermenter temp up a bit. Supposedly, that enables the yeast to do a better job of cleaning up.

Looking forward to drinking and sharing this. I'm wondering if I should brew another batch of this as soon as I transfer to secondary in order to have plenty around.

So far so good for my first.
Keith
Click to expand...

I was at 1.020 after a week in primary as well. I'm using a lager yeast, so I'm doing diacetyl rest now for a few days, then I'll cold crash it for a few more days and keg.

Didn't catch much spice to it, but I'll try again after the D-rest/cold-crash. I plan to put a liter of it in a soda bottle and carb it with the carbonator, then try it. If there's not enough spice I'll just make a spice-tea and add it to the keg.
 
Okay, I'm already thinking of making another batch of this but I have a few questions.

If I brew this on Friday, the first batch will have been in the fermenter for only 6 days. I started the temp at 60 and have been cranking it up 2 degrees every day and was going to stop when I hit 68 and leave it there for the next couple weeks.

Will I screw up the first batch if I drop the temp of my fermentation freezer back down to 60 for the 2nd batch and start the temp schedule over like I did for the first batch?

Should I just do the second batch at 68?

Should I just say "screw it" and go buy a case of Miller High Life?

As always thanks for the help!

Mpjay
 
It will be fine. Temp is not critical after the initial ferment, and having been fermenting for 6 days I would think you are there...
 
Hey guys,
Brewed two batches of this... one on 9/15 and one on 9/23, both were double pitched and both are in swamp coolers. The temp of the towel around the carboy is about 68*, so I am assuming with the evaporation it is about 65* in the carboy. Both still have airlock activity! Haven't taken a gravity reading, but just wanted to see if anyone else has this? Don't know how fermentation could still be going on after 2-3 weeks.
 
Chris7687 said:
The temp of the towel around the carboy is about 68*, so I am assuming with the evaporation it is about 65* in the carboy.
Click to expand...

....what exactly is evaporating?

And if the outside of your fermenter is 68 during the height of fermentation you can assume the beer itself is probably closer to 75. Yeast are living things and thus create heat when they do stuff.

Also, airlock bubbles aren't a sign of fermentation. Gravity reading is the only sure way to know if it's done.
 

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