Ahh dangit...Pumpkin FG is high

I'll start with the recipe:

8 lbs Pale Malt (US)
1 lb crystal 80
1 lb munich 20
.5 lb crystal 10
.5 lb honey malt
.5 lb wheat

Mash at 154 for 60 min

45 oz Canned caramelized pumpkin
5/8 oz Northern brewer 8.8% 60 min = 19.4 IBU
1/4 oz pumpkin pie spice 60 min
1/4 oz pumpkin pie spice 30 min
1/2 oz pumpkin pie spice 1 min

OG 1.061. Pitched rehydrated danstar Windsor yeast, VERY fast start, activity ceases after 48 hours ish. Krausen falls, airlock dead. At 7 days the gravity is 1.028. That's 52% apparent attenuation. I know it has only been 7 days but I don't think anything is happening in there. I'll give it a few more days and take another reading, but if it's not going anywhere, what's the problem?

Did my yeast not multiply?
Is this normal for windsor?

I want this beer to have some body, but come on! Maybe I'll pitch some notty into it?

Egh the more I search around the more this sounds typical of windsor. Worse than usual, but typical. If I can get a second opinion from someone experienced I have a packet of s-04 and a packet of s-33 in the fridge.

I used s-04 on mine and FG was 1.014. Why the varied times on the pumpkin pie spice additions. Winsor from what I have heard does not do well with a high sg. S-04 did well for mine and I used one 32oz can of pumpkin SG was smaller then your though at 1.051

I read an article that was written as a narrative from an outsider observing the brewing and I can't find it now, but it said that adding the spices at different times does have a similar effect as adding hops at different times. I figured it couldn't hurt.

I would almost and could almost see how that would work but I dont really see the benefit of it as long as you let the beer age on the spices.

Ya that's Windsor for you.
I did a NBA clone started at 1.056 FG 1.020.
A Bass clone started at 1.045 FG 1.020
A Scottish 60/- started at 1.036 FG 1.020.

I'm sure if I brewed a 1.021 OG beer Windsor would take it down to 1.020.

Rudeboy

Well I rehydrated s-04 and pitched yesterday. I don't know how much activity to expect from this sort of thing but I've seen zero krausen and next to zero airlock activity. I'll give it a few days and take a gravity.

I just made a pumpkin ale with windsor yeast as well and it sounds like it fermented just like yours. I just brewed it on Friday, so I'll see where it's at in a week or so. I'm thinking I might have to repitch as well.

Coastarine said:

Well I rehydrated s-04 and pitched yesterday. I don't know how much activity to expect from this sort of thing but I've seen zero krausen and next to zero airlock activity. I'll give it a few days and take a gravity.

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Got down to 1.025. Three points. Oh well.

I'm checking mine this weekend, we'll see where it's at.

I left mine sit for 2.5 weeks and checked where it was last night. I used Windsor yeast. The OG was 1.056 and FG was 1.018. I was able to collect a little over 4 gallons off the trub, which was pretty thick with all of the pumpkin in it. The sample tasted decent, it needs some aging and maybe more spices. Is there anything wrong with adding spices to the secondary?

Probably a non-issue, but what was your ferment temp? Did you control?

68-70 F was the ferment temp

Just be careful when adding more spice to the secondary. I added a few dashes without measuring and it turned out to be way too much.

rando question benny but did you throw the spices directly in the secondary, or did you steep them first making a spice tea?

Benny Blanco said:

Just be careful when adding more spice to the secondary. I added a few dashes without measuring and it turned out to be way too much.

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Related to this; if you DO end up adding too much spices, I've been told time will take care of that, as the spices eventually drop out of the beer. I would think this would be accentuated with just throwing spices in vs. adding a spiced "tea" or "extract".

Yeah that was the basis of my question. Everything I've read has you steep the spices in a cup or two of boiling water. I plan on adding a tea to secondary

just be a little cautious on your clove use. a little bit goes a long way (especially is crushing your own fresh whole cloves) :rockin:

I pulled my first pint of this tonight, and this beer has turned out pretty darn delicious. The age/chilling/carbonation has toned down the spice actually to precisely the level I was looking for. It did have a "second fermentation" which was producing strange smelling CO2 but that smell is pretty faint and unoffensive. I think force carbing helped, as opposed to letting the yeast carb it with that smell.

Yeah probably a good call with the force carb. At only 5-6 weeks of your brew (assuming you brewed when you made your OP) I think it will only get better the longer it sits in the keg. Just a matter of showing self restraint at this point . I've got another 2 weeks before I can finally taste my pumpkin ale, and it's starting to feel like an eternity.