Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale Opinions

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Brett3rThanU

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How did yours turn out? I brewed his recipe to the T, but am rather disappointed in the results. When fermentation first started it smelled great, like pumpkin pie, but now after carbonating in the bottle for 3 weeks there's hardly any pumpkin aroma or flavor. If I gave it to someone they definitely wouldn't guess it's a pumpkin ale. How did everyone else's turn out?
 
Mine is fermenting now (3 days in). It smelled great in the kettle. However, a lot of aroma from a beer is driven off during the primary. This is ONE of the reasons why dry hopping is done in the secondary. With the spice flavors I'm sure it's the same. Did you add a spice tea? Many people in the Thunderstruck ale thread stated that they do a spice tea after the primary is complete. I'm planning to do the same and the spice additions will be based on the flavor of the sample I pull.

Is the beer good even though not what you were expecting?
 
Nah, I didn't do any spices in the secondary, I guess I should have.

I'm not really a fan, it's just lacking something. Probably the spice which leaves just a very low hopped beer.
 
I was very happy with my batch. First time I'd brewed it. I kegged mine and let it sit for six weeks before drinking it. I'd planned on having it around for Halloween this week but the keg blew a week ago so next year I'm going to brew a double batch.

I did a spice tea in secondary and the flavors from that were an important part of the brew. I suspect without the spice the brew is missing a lot.

:mug:
 
jcryan2: How much spice did you add to the secondary. Would you be able to provide me the measurements you added to both the boil kettle and secondary. It would be nice to have something to go off of when I add my spice tea. Thanks!
 
How did yours turn out? I brewed his recipe to the T, but am rather disappointed in the results. When fermentation first started it smelled great, like pumpkin pie, but now after carbonating in the bottle for 3 weeks there's hardly any pumpkin aroma or flavor. If I gave it to someone they definitely wouldn't guess it's a pumpkin ale. How did everyone else's turn out?

I've found the spice is what makes the beer pumpkin. If you've ever made pumpkin pie and tried the filling before adding the spice, it tastes nothing like pumpkin pie! I had great success with Thunderstruck last year and designed my own pumpkin beer this year- a Maple Pumpkin Ale. Last year- quality pumpkin pie spice. This year- cheap pumpkin pie spice. Last year- Awesome flavor. This year- WEAK! Yours could be a spice quality issue as well!

Not sure how much I added... just followed the original Thunderstruck recipe.
 
Well my fiance tried it last night and she tasted the pumpkin and actually liked it. I guess all the IPA's I've been drinking lately have killed my taste buds.
 
I just racked mine into bottles. I used 1.5 tsp of the pampered chef clone in a spice tea at secondary. It was rather spicy and delicious. I used no spice in boil and brewed extract version. The only change I made was using LME. Ill let you know how it is post bubbles. It does need a bit to mellow.
 
For the spice tea I used the spices listed in the Thunderstruck AG recipe and made a tea. I used about 8 ounces of very hot water to seep it in. After an overnight soak I poured off the tea and added it to the secondary carboy.

I added nothing to the brew kettle.
 
For the spice tea I used the spices listed in the Thunderstruck AG recipe and made a tea. I used about 8 ounces of very hot water to seep it in. After an overnight soak I poured off the tea and added it to the secondary carboy.

I added nothing to the brew kettle.

I see. That helps. Thank you much!
 
I brewed the extract recipe as well and had a terrible issue with carbonating in bottles. I added the spices when i racked after primary fermentation and let the beer clear for about two weeks then i bottled. Usually recipes call for 3/4 cup of priming sugar but i use a full 1 cup given the temp difference in my garage.

I dont know what happened that made this beer not carbonate. I got almost the exact same OG (taken before pitching the yeast) and FG (taken at the end of the clearing stage) that the recipe calls for.

I was pretty disappointed with this recipe but given all of the positive comments about this I would really like to try it again if I could figure out what went wrong.
any ideas?
 
ahorn720. How long have you been bottle conditiong/carbing? If it got too cold the yeast could have dropped out but problem solved if you keep them room temp for weeks.Could it be this?
 
yeah i definitely added the recommended spices at racking to 2nd.

a few things i've determined could have caused mine to come out so poor where lack of fermentation temperature control, unsanitary bottling practices (my roommates did it without me haha), and cold temperatures during bottle conditioning (my garage got to around freezing this winter). It sounds like everyone else had pretty good results with this beer so it must have been my brewery practices.

better luck next time.
 
yeah good question... i think it was just too cold for the yeast. after i bottled i left them in the garage and it must have just gotten too cold this winter. ill be more careful next time and try to keep the bottle conditioning/carbing around 70F
 
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