Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale
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treacheroustexan
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I'm well aware of the plastics industry and the last thing i'm worried about is a bucket being toxic. It can handle 100 degree wort (didn't dump boiling wort in it, I chilled it as best as I could first). I am just worried about infection. I pitched yeast yesterday and it's sitting at 64 degrees.
It will be fine RDWHAHB
treacheroustexan
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(and to above boicutt, I didn't mean to sound rude so I apologize if I did)
Lots of homebrews were consumed in this process. I normally chill in a ice bath due to no hookup for wort chiller, and I got a new pot with a thermometer sticking out of it and I didn't want to submerge it in ice water so I panicked.
I used to brew similar to this all the time in the summer before I started recirculating ice water through my chiller with a pond pump. You basically did "no chill" it will be okay there are people who no chill in buckets
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Couple pics. I also added a 15 oz can of pumpkin at 10 minutes left in the boil just because I had it extra and figured I would use it.
treacheroustexan
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I brewed mine a few weeks ago that way I could bottle it later this month, then let it sit til mid-august before cracking one open.
treacheroustexan
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You still have time!
This beer does not take 6-8 months! Unless you waaaaay over spice it and it needs to mellow out, this beer should be good to go pretty quickly. This is a great recipe, but it is also a pretty simple grain bill with moderate alcohol.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Anyone else have theirs ferment completely dry? I'm not sure why but it smells incredible. I brewed it June 20th and I checked my gravity today and it was at 1.000...I'm really discouraged. I hope I didn't ruin it.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Us 05. I followed thenrecipe exactly. I'm thinking i really mashed too low and i need to recalibrate my thermometer. I'm thinking a # of lactose at bottling could save it? Ideas?
Should be ~80% attenuation, which should finish at 1.015 or so. Perhaps you mashed on the low side and produced more fermentable sugars, plus strong fermentation, but 1.000 is still surprising. Is your hydrometer well-calibrated?
I wouldn't worry. RDWHAHB!
So it is a bit more dry and a bit stronger ABV, should still be great beer.
Not sure why someone else commented it takes 6-8 months. It will go stale in that time. I plan to brew it in early August or so, to be ready by mid-Sept or October. Looks like a great recipe. Let us know how it turns out!
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Hydrometer and thermometer calibrated! Like I said it tastes and smells fantastic still. I am still adding 1# of lactose at bottling time. Should give it a little more creaminess.
sounds great. I am pretty sure you are worrying over nothing, if it smells and tastes great, and from your photos it looks pretty "clean" - no biofilms of bacteria etc. - high attenuation is just the way some yeast works. Not a problem at all, quite the opposite!
Good luck, let us know how the final product tastes.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
I sure will, thanks!
Brew_G
Well-Known Member
I've been reading this thread for the past week or so and have finally finished the most recent post. Holy crap, what a read!
I'm planning to brew a pumpkin ale as my next batch on July 25, and I've been planning it for a long time. I guess it's the time of year to start brewing fall beers! All the feedback in this thread has really helped inform me as to how to go about brewing this. It'll be my 11th (I think) batch ever, all but one of which have been all-grain BIAB.
I'll be making just a couple changes from Reno's OP, but I'm leaving it pretty much intact. I have 2-row, but I just really like what MO has brought to the table in the beers I've made thus far. I know others have brewed this beer with MO before, and I personally think it'll work really well.
Here's the general plan:
General Batch Info
Batch Size: 6 Gallons
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.017
Efficiency: 77%
Color: 15 SRM
Bitter: 21.7 IBU
Grain Bill/Fermentables
10.00 lb Maris Otter (Crisp)
1.00 lb Crystal 60
1.00 lb Victory
1.00 lb Dark Brown Sugar - Late addition (10 minutes)
58 oz Libby's pumpkin (baked at 375*F for 60 minutes)
Mash
BIAB, 60 minutes
Sparge with 2 gallons of 170F water
Boil Additions
0.50 oz Magnum (12.1%) (60 min)
1.00 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker (2.1%) (10 min)
1 tablet Whirlfloc (10 min)
1.75 tbsp Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice (5 min)
Yeast
Safale US-05 (1.25 packages, rehydrated) at 65F
My plan right now is to bake the pumpkin and then add it to a 5-gallon bag that I'll drop into the BIAB bag during the mash. I'll tie the pumpkin bag to the handle of the kettle so it hangs inside. I just don't trust that the pumpkin will allow me to easily lift and drain the bag (I don't have a pulley system), so I'll try it this way to keep the pumpkin separate from the mash bag and hopefully it'll work out. I'll just drain them separately on a colander that sits on my 4-gallon "drain kettle."
I decided to make my own pumpkin pie spice based on a number of recipes that are available online. It's pretty much 4 parts cinnamon, 2 parts ginger, 1 part freshly ground nutmeg, and 1 part allspice...with a couple freshly crushed cloves to add that little something extra. It's pretty tasty on a coffee, so I'm thinking it'll work just fine for this beer!
I plan to cold crash and fine with gelatin at around the 18-day mark so it can go into bottles at three weeks. At that point, I'm going to let it sit at around 72F for a week, then move it to my ~62F basement until the beginning of October, for a total conditioning time of about ten weeks. I've got a decent pipeline set up at this point, so that'll help immensely in keeping in check my temptation to crack these open early!
Thanks to Reno and everyone else for all the feedback in this thread. It's been great reading it, and I'm really looking forward to brewing this!
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Bottled this last night. We shall see 
What temp did you ferment at? the low gravity and that high krausen ring tells me you fermented very hot.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
OP
OP
Reno_eNVy
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Oh jeez, I'm sorry for my absence, I've been working quite a bit.
I'm sorry to hear about the dryness, treacheroustexan. I've had it happen before and it is still tasty. It might be missing that breadiness but it will still be holiday beer
I'm sorry to hear about the dryness, treacheroustexan. I've had it happen before and it is still tasty. It might be missing that breadiness but it will still be holiday beer
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
Oh jeez, I'm sorry for my absence, I've been working quite a bit.
I'm sorry to hear about the dryness, treacheroustexan. I've had it happen before and it is still tasty. It might be missing that breadiness but it will still be holiday beer
Tasted good out of the bottling bucket. I added 1# of lactose
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So how did the brewing go? I am looking for a good pumpkin beer to brew and yours looks good.
Brew_G
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I actually didn't get a chance to brew this weekend. I was put on daddy duty, so brewing has to wait until this Friday. I'll let you know how it goes!
Oh...and let's be clear. This is really Reno's recipe. I just tweaked it to fit what I've got and what I think I'd like a little better!
Brew_G
Well-Known Member
Pitched my yeast about 45 minutes ago on this one. Everything went fairly smoothly, although I've had issues with discrepancies between boil gravity and original gravity yet again. BG came in at 1.051 (estimated 1.047), but OG came in at 1.066 (estimated 1.067). I ended with just a bit under 5.75 gallons in the fermenter, which is almost exactly where I was hoping to be, so I'm not quite sure why this happened.
Oh well. Wort was a beautiful dark orange and had a nice spice to it...and it smelled divine. The gravity sample also cleared up pretty nicely as it sat in the flask. Today was also the first time I used an immersion chiller. Ground water temps are pretty high now, so I only got to 100F after about 25 minutes. I then moved it to an ice bath to drop to 65F - that took another 35 minutes or so. Nonetheless, it was much easier work than slaving over an ice bath for an hour!
I'm really looking forward to bottling this in a few weeks so I can get a little taste of it!
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
I bottled mine on Sunday, and I got too impatient and opened a bottle just now while I brew a pale ale.
Wayy under carbed obviously but tastes phenomenal.
Wayy under carbed obviously but tastes phenomenal.
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Brew_G, I have the same issue since I live in SW Arizona. Since I brew in the kitchen, I put an aquarium pump in the sink and connect a vinyl hose from that to my coil. Then I do about the same thing you do, run tap water til about 100 degrees, then add ice. I get mine down to about 75 in 15 min, but its only about 2.5 gal.
Hey guys, I'll be brewing this up this weekend. I'm going to get a yeast starter going, has anyone tried using Wyeast 1968? Since it has a lower attenuation and high flocculation I'm thinking it'll give it a good maltiness and also give good clarity to the beer. Just a thought, wanted to see if anyone has tried using it.
Also, I read at a few different points that people are heating the pumpkin in the strike water and that helps with stuck sparges. Is that still what people find works best? Or should i add the pumpkin at the end of the dough in.
Thanks
Also, I read at a few different points that people are heating the pumpkin in the strike water and that helps with stuck sparges. Is that still what people find works best? Or should i add the pumpkin at the end of the dough in.
Thanks
Brew_G
Well-Known Member
Hey guys, I'll be brewing this up this weekend. I'm going to get a yeast starter going, has anyone tried using Wyeast 1968? Since it has a lower attenuation and high flocculation I'm thinking it'll give it a good maltiness and also give good clarity to the beer. Just a thought, wanted to see if anyone has tried using it.
Also, I read at a few different points that people are heating the pumpkin in the strike water and that helps with stuck sparges. Is that still what people find works best? Or should i add the pumpkin at the end of the dough in.
Thanks
I do BIAB, so my experience is a bit different, but I put the pumpkin in a separate bag in order to reduce the total weight of my main bag (grain bags can get pretty heavy once the grains are soaked). Perhaps you could pursue that as an option during your mash - putting the pumpkin in a 5-gallon paint strainer bag so that the larger pieces are contained, thus cutting chances of a stuck sparge.
waltzbrewingco
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If I brew this now will it be drinkable by the first week in October? 2 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, then bottle condition? I want to do the extract or the biab partial mash.
Cheesy_Goodness
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I don't see why it wouldn't be ready. That should be plenty of time
If my LHBS doesn't have victory, should I sub it with biscuit? I know they are similar but I also know that victory is a little bit darker and will add an orange color to the beer. So I'm just worried about using biscuit and having it be too pale in color
waltzbrewingco
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I looked at ditching the victory in the extract version and subbing the Special Roast per the recommendation on the first page. Any experience on that extract brewers?
should be ready. I plan to brew this around Aug 15 or so. 6 weeks is more than enough.
te-wa
Well-Known Member
i wonder, if this good recipe could be made into a porter with something like:
8oz black patent
6oz american chocolate
8oz black patent
6oz american chocolate
OP
OP
Reno_eNVy
Well-Known Member
i wonder, if this good recipe could be made into a porter with something like:
8oz black patent
6oz american chocolate
Sounds like it might be tasty. Personally if I were to try that I'd use Midnight Wheat instead of black patent. Smoother roastiness and less bitter might work better as it won't cover up the spices.
treacheroustexan
Well-Known Member
How long would you say it would take for this to carbonate in a bottle? I used a little over 3 oz priming sugar. But the kicker is, I also added 1# of lactose to the same mixture. I don't think the lactose dissolved all the way because a lot of it was settled in the bottom of my bottling bucket when I finished bottling. I'm hoping the priming sugar still mixed, not too worried about the lactose.. Thoughts?
