Northern Brewer Smashing Pumpkin

Just ordered this kit from NB -- had good reviews.

Has anyone tried it?

I will be brewing this Saturday along with the caribou slobber kit

Caribou Slobber is excellent.

I will also be brewing this Saturday. Are you planning on adding pumpkin?

Well when I ordered the kit I didn't plan on adding pumpkin so I didn't buy the 6row they suggest you add if you use pumpkin. But after thinking about it I think I'm gonna add about 60 oz of canned pumpkin the last 15 min of the boil to atleast give a little color and extra body.

Just ordered as well. Like browndawg, I also did not include any 6row, but am contemplating adding canned pumpkin to the boil.... just not sure yet. Hopefully others will chime in...


Cheers!

I'm formulating a recipe as well; anyone care to share why they suggest 6 row if you add pumpkin but all 2 row (I assume--for base malt) if not?

I don't know anything about mashing the pumpkin with 6 row, but I did I've got Yuri's Thunderstruck pumpkin ale in primary right now and I boiled 60 oz. of libby's canned pumpkin for the full 60 minutes.

The gravity sample and smell from the airlock are fantastic. If I were doing that kit from NB I'd just add the canned pumpkin right to the boil. It creates a lot of trub, but that stuff doesn't bother me fwiw.

I have this in the secondary right now. I added a can of pumpkin when I did the grains from the extract kit. I'm pretty sure that wasn't right so I just added a little extra pumpkin pie spice at the end.

So far (based on smell and the tastings from my gravity readings) it is more of a spice flavor rather than a pumpkin flavor. If I were to do it again I'd probably caramelize the pumpkin in the oven then add it to the boil. I don't think I will end up with a bad beer but it probably won't be that pumpkin flavor more people think of. Regardless, it should go damn good with my Thanksgiving dinner!

About to go to secondary. I did the partial mash with brew in the bag method. The 6 row is there to help convert pumpkin sugars(doesn't matter if it's canned cause they're already cooked). Going to rack on top if a cinnamon stick and vanilla bean that's soaking in a small amount of JD Honey. Also added some Biscuit, Special Roast and Victory to the mash, 4-6 oz each to be safe. My OG came out 1.078, down to 1.018 after 7 days. S-05 with starter. Stay tuned.

sivdrinks said:

The 6 row is there to help convert pumpkin sugars(doesn't matter if it's canned cause they're already cooked).

Click to expand...

Canned pumpkin still should be roasted in the oven prior to adding to the mash. The caramelization is what adds really great flavors and color. Plain cooked pumpkin is fairly bland and doesn't contribute much to a pumpkin ale.

Made this recipe almost 2 weeks ago and I am about to secondary it and add a vanilla bean or two. When smelling (and tasting a little) I noticed a banana-ish smell. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I be worried? I definitely did not under pitch, fermented at 66-68 and felt that i airated well. Any advice?

I brewed this one with the given recipe to a T. Came out FANTASTIC. I researched what to add to it nearly to it being overhyped. No idea why.. Anyways.. Follow the recipe, wait a few weeks and carb it. Turned out great. out of 5 kegs in the fridge, this time of year it's my go to "work is over" beer.

SDVmnt said:

I brewed this one with the given recipe to a T. Came out FANTASTIC. I researched what to add to it nearly to it being overhyped. No idea why.. Anyways.. Follow the recipe, wait a few weeks and carb it. Turned out great. out of 5 kegs in the fridge, this time of year it's my go to "work is over" beer.

Click to expand...

That's awesome...great to hear.
I'm transferring mine to secondary this week to clear for a few days.

richross said:

Made this recipe almost 2 weeks ago and I am about to secondary it and add a vanilla bean or two. When smelling (and tasting a little) I noticed a banana-ish smell. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I be worried? I definitely did not under pitch, fermented at 66-68 and felt that i airated well. Any advice?

Click to expand...

just kegged mine and i noticed a fruity smell also but it seemed to taste fine for what it was (only a week old and moved to secondary in keg for a couple weeks)

After 4 weeks, I just transferred to secondary for clearing.

Sampled it-- strong alcohol taste..didnt taste too much if the spices. Hoping things mellow and more of the spices come through.

Planning on kegging next weekend.

Only thing I changed was adding 1 lb of brown sugar and 4 - 15 oz cans of pumpkin.

Excited about kegging -- because this will be my first kegging experience after 10+ years of bottling.

For off-flavors/odors, check out this link...

http://morebeer.com/content/homebrew-off-flavors

Yep-- has a strong alcohol taste.
Too high if fermentation temp?
Possibly pitched yeast too high of temperature.

Thanks for the link.

baron said:

Yep-- has a strong alcohol taste.
Too high if fermentation temp?
Possibly pitched yeast too high of temperature..

Click to expand...

If you're sampling before even carbing it up I would say don't worry. I sampled my pumpkin at bottling and found the same - a bit of a noticeable alcohol taste and not much in spice taste even though mine is only 6.26% ABV. I was worried and even posted about it here. After 4 days in the bottle I caved in and put one in the freezer to taste cause I was worried about how the taste would come out. To my pleasant surprise even at only 4 days in the bottle and still being rather flat the taste was way different than at bottling time. I could totally smell and taste the spices and the noticeable alcohol taste was gone.

So, I'd say relax and wait until it's carbed and ready to drink before you pass any judgment or get worried. Things change quite a bit with carbonation and some time, even if minimal, with conditioning.

Rev.

That's good to hear.
I'll post my results after I carb for awhile.

Kegged my batch a few days ago pulled a sample of it last night and boy is it good. Spices came through just the way I wanted them to. I will definitely do this kit again.

I have the AG version fermenting right now. It smells amazing and the most interesting thing is I can smell the pumpkin clearly! I only used three cans of Libby's this time, I'd used 4 for the extract recipe I came up with and couldn't taste the pumpkin. That recipe turned out bad though so I'm anxious to see how this Northern kit comes out. It's my first AG, and yeah this is the extract forum, but since its the northern kit I just felt like sharing.

Rev.

I brewed this a few weeks ago. I did the Mini Mash with pumpkin that NB has in the instructions. 2 1/2 Lbs of 6 row and canned pumpkin that i roasted in the oven with some cinnamon. It turned out AWESOME. I will post pics of it when i get a chance if interested but it is a beautiful color and has a very nice flavor & mouthfeel. id say personally if you use the pumpkin and 6 row i would add a bit more pie spice @ the end of the boil to compensate for the extra sugars from the grain and pumpkin.

All in all i will definitly be brewing this again next year for the holidays.

kickrjason said:

id say personally if you use the pumpkin and 6 row i would add a bit more pie spice @ the end of the boil to compensate for the extra sugars from the grain and pumpkin.

Click to expand...

I threw out their spice pack and did my own and used a lot more. Having brewed one pumpkin prior and having used more than their 1tsp and still having only a light spice taste I upped it quite a bit. I used Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, and Ginger and I don't recall the exact spice amount as I'm at work and don't have the recipe but it was something like 3-4 teaspoons or so total.


Rev.

I'm bottling my first batch of Smashing Pumpkin tomorrow. So far I have stuck to the original recipe. I am going to bottle half as is and add more spice to the other half before bottling. I'm thinking 1 1/2 tbs for 2.5 gallons. However, I would love to hear any opinions because this is my first attempt at adding extra spices.

I think this batch is ruined.
It still has a strong off taste -- strong alcohol -- almost rubbing alcohol.

I am now a strong believer in controlling fermentation temps -- and that is the reason why this one turned to crap.

With this batch -- I think the ferm temp was too high...and the reason for the off taste.

Bought a Sanyo 4912M off of Craigslist and I am going to purchase a Johnson Temp controller soon for my next batch.
At least now I can do lagers too.
I'm very interested in seeing how my next batch goes.

I brewed this for a halloween party I threw. It went quick and everyone loved it!
I baked a can of that libbies stuff since no one had pumpkins yet. I also used the small pack of spice that came with the kit.
I'd definitely brew it again next season but I wanna use real pumpkin and I'd like to add more spice like rev2010 did as it was a little subtle. I'd atleast add a cinnamon stick and some nutmeg to secondary

Well this batch turned out great. I added a bit more spices at bottling. Now I just need a way to get the smell out of my primary. Apparently soaking in PBW won't do the trick.