Autumn Seasonal Beer Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale (AG and Extract versions)

If you add during the boil (as suggested), you'll end up with a heap of trub that will likely be difficult draw down efficiently -- I'd add some extra allowance for that. If you add during the mash, I think the pumpkin is fairly water neutral after the sparge.

In my case I forgot to account for the 1.2# of rice hulls when I did my mash water figuring and I had to heat up another quart to thin it down some. As you can see above, my mash tun was full, so, that as much a concern as anything. The mash was a bit thicker than I'd have liked, even after the extra water.

Had some issues with the sparge. OG is around 1.40 due to needing to sparge faster than I would have liked. Thinking of adding a couple lbs. of honey to the primary around day 4...any thoughts?

ericelmer said:

Just brewed this last night! I found organic pumpkin pie at Publix for about $2.50 a can.

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Did you use pumpkin pie mix or straight canned pumpkin? The mix will have the spices in it already, so you'll probably want to give it a good taste before adding the spice tea.

I was looking for good pumpkin for this season and this sounds great. Has anyone had this and Shipyard's Smashed Pumpkin and could comment on the comparison? Smashed Pumpkin is probably my favorite of the variety.

I just read the whole thread, finally finished, and I'm wondering if anyone has done this as a Brew-In-A-Bag or No-Chill? Specifically, for no-chill, what should I do for spice additions? Add to vessel post-boil? If you were adding hops at this point it'd be a dry hop. Perhaps "dry spice," then rack off of the spices once the wort has reached pitching temps? Or just use a spice tea in secondary? I did a search, but I couldn't find anything on spices in no-chill beers.

Also, kinda looking forward to BIAB of this just because I won't have to worry about slow/stuck sparges with all the pumpkin!

Thanks in advance!

I worried about a stuck fermentation @ 1.030 (from a start of 1.053), so I racked onto a Safale US05 yeast cake and after transferring to a secondary on Tuesday, I'm currently sitting at 1.018. Guess racking onto a yeast cake really does the trick!

However, I'm amazed at how much wort I've lost so far. Next time around, I'm going to see about trying to finish with around 6g wort while maintaining the same gravity - perhaps a more mild 7g boil would do it? It looks like I'm at 4 gallons right now, and there's still an inch of trub in the secondary! SG sample tasted great even w/o the spices added!

Waiting until fermentation is done to move this to secondary. Blew out my airlock and had to switch to a blowoff. The color is fantastic.


on the right

beerrepository said:

Waiting until fermentation is done to move this to secondary. Blew out my airlock and had to switch to a blowoff. The color is fantastic.

on the right

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Get a carboy cap for that sucker!

Grasslands said:

Get a carboy cap for that sucker!

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I know, I got one, just need to clean and sanitize it tonight and throw it on there.

I just picked up some of the ingredients today. Of course I couldn't find any pumpkin, and I forgot the biscuit malt and flaked wheat.

It gave me an excuse to spend more money at BM Warehouse. I'll brew this one next week. After reading notes on the slow sparge I'm glad I'm doing extract this time.

EDIT: I also plan to use Wyeast 1098. I have tons on hand from yeast washing, and I think it'll be a PERFECT fit for this recipe.

Also, which version of this is the current all-grain version? Post 1 is extract and lists doing a spice tea of Cinnamon Plus, while Post 2 is the all-grain but lists out all the different grains. Then there's Post 100, all-grain, that lists the Cinnamon Plus.

So, is there a 'Definitive' all-grain recipe of this?

Thanks

Just divide post #2 by 3 and you should get acceptable numbers for a 5g batch.

I was wondering if anyone has compared mashing vs. boiling the pumpkin. Is the abv % much different? Does it change the flavor dramtically?

I'm wondering because I'm currently doing BIAB and I really have no room for additions to my mash, so I'd either have to do a separate mash, stick it in the boil, or build myself a mash tun, which isn't gonna happen soon.

Today I bought supplies to make this recipe. Evidently it's a bit too early for the mainstream grocery stores to carry the canned pumpkin. Whole Foods has it, but it is in short supply where I live (main line Philly). I had to visit two stores to get 4 cans (60 oz). Really excited about this beer.

Brewed this yesterday. It's the focus of the following video. Sparging was fun. Enjoy.

Anyone use US-05 yeast for this?

HickoryMike said:

Brewed this yesterday. It's the focus of the following video. Sparging was fun. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQRiegtvXak

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Great video. You mentioned smelling the allspice and nutmeg from the airlock. What spices did you use and what amounts for your 12 gallon batch? I'm brewing this recipe this week and am torn on which spices to use (i.e., pumpkin pie spice vs. others).

novabrew said:

Great video. You mentioned smelling the allspice and nutmeg from the airlock. What spices did you use and what amounts for your 12 gallon batch? I'm brewing this recipe this week and am torn on which spices to use (i.e., pumpkin pie spice vs. others).

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I just took Yuri's recipe and scaled it to 12g....Beersmith did all the work for me.

I'm glad you liked the video. Thanks.

elproducto said:

Anyone use US-05 yeast for this?

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Curious as well, my brew store was out of the 04 last week and I might want to brew this on Sunday this week.

novabrew said:

You mentioned smelling the allspice and nutmeg from the airlock. What spices did you use and what amounts for your 12 gallon batch? I'm brewing this recipe this week and am torn on which spices to use (i.e., pumpkin pie spice vs. others).

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I brewed this last year and added ginger, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon right before bottling. Not during initial fermentation. Came out fantastic, best brew to date.

I'm planning on adding the spice tea to my 5 (now 4) gallon extract batch tonight. Even if I weren't to add anything, the sample I pulled from a week ago had a decent pumpkin(y) undertone.

I'm excited about this one.

I'm making this on Saturday. Is the 60 oz of canned pumpkin a "volume" measurement or a weight measurement? The reason I ask is I'm going to substitute my own homegrown "neck" pumpkin - commonly found in PA and used for making pies. I'm looking for the conversion so I know how much pumpkin to use in my mash... IE 60 oz of canned pumpkin is equal to how many cups of fresh, pureed pumpkin?

snevey said:

I'm making this on Saturday. Is the 60 oz of canned pumpkin a "volume" measurement or a weight measurement? The reason I ask is I'm going to substitute my own homegrown "neck" pumpkin - commonly found in PA and used for making pies. I'm looking for the conversion so I know how much pumpkin to use in my mash... IE 60 oz of canned pumpkin is equal to how many cups of fresh, pureed pumpkin?

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I'll let you know tonight. I am going to bake 5 pumpkins down to just the "pie filling" and see how much I get. Canned pumpkin is just the pureed innards. 60 oz is 60 oz.

I want to know the conversion of N pounds of whole pumpkin = X pounds of filling.

Randar said:

I'll let you know tonight. I am going to bake 5 pumpkins down to just the "pie filling" and see how much I get. Canned pumpkin is just the pureed innards. 60 oz is 60 oz.

I want to know the conversion of N pounds of whole pumpkin = X pounds of filling.

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I went by cups... One 15 oz can of Libby's is 1.75 cups of pumpkin goo. So, I pureed my baked pumpkin and am saving 7 cups for my beer making purposes. My wife was "stock piling" 2 cans of Libby's canned pumpkin, but I can brag that I used my own homegrown pumpkin. Thanks for checking back and replying to me. Were doing 4 "neck" pumpkins now, and it is probably going to take 2 whole neck pumpkins to get 7 cups!!! My wife already has callus's from cutting this dense crop! All for my beer making purposes! I love her!:rockin:

snevey said:

I'm making this on Saturday. Is the 60 oz of canned pumpkin a "volume" measurement or a weight measurement? The reason I ask is I'm going to substitute my own homegrown "neck" pumpkin - commonly found in PA and used for making pies. I'm looking for the conversion so I know how much pumpkin to use in my mash... IE 60 oz of canned pumpkin is equal to how many cups of fresh, pureed pumpkin?

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Had an in depth conversation about pumpkin ale at my LHBS tonight during a tasting party. One guy has been brewing a pumpkin ale for many years and just recently has stopped adding pumpkin.......and it was his best batch ever. I know it's been said before in this thread, but evidently the pumpkin doesn't really matter much. With that said, I still added 60oz to my batch a few days ago.

I brewed 11 gallons on 9/5 with an OG of 1.053. It didn't start fermenting until 3 days later, and is at about 1.018 right now. Is anyone else getting an abnormally slow fermentation, too? There are a couple other factors (immature stater and little headspace in the carboy) that might have also contributed to the slow progress, but i wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing.

What does "mash out at 168" direct me to do?

dmbnpj said:

What does "mash out at 168" direct me to do?

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It means raise the temperature of the mash to 168*F before beginning the sparge by adding hot water, doing a decoction, or directly heating it.

People keep posting about not using Pumpkin. What fun is that??? I would just call that a spiced ale and not a pumpkin ale. Who takes the easy way out, not homebrewers!!! Besides, the holiday season is about work...

mojotele said:

It means raise the temperature of the mash to 168*F before beginning the sparge by adding hot water, doing a decoction, or directly heating it.

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What does that do for the brew?

Cooked em up tonight and remembered why I went back to buying canned pumpkin. The conversion ratio of pounds of filling per pounds of pumpkins was as follows:

I had 5 pumpkins totalling 23.3 pounds and was able to get about 15.5 pounds of filliing afyer cooking them down (i used microwave method). YMMV, but this seems reasonable as long as you are buying pie pumpkins. That will be enough pumpkin for my pumpkin ale and my harvest ale.

Looks Great Yuri I will be snagging some spices from a Chef I know and brewing this up Tuesday...Halloween's right around the corner and my birthday is in november, So this recipe works perfect I'll keep you posted how this turns out...(using a SS Braid Also) Hello Rice Hulls!

After messing around with Beersmith I noticed your efficiency is around 80% correct? I scaled mine down to 70% which adjusted my grain ratios, now i end up with the same OG, FG, and bitterness ratio's....Beersmith is a beautiful thing!

Just brewed this yesterday, and it smells great! However, if you make this make sure to use rice hulls...otherwise the brew day starting at 2 pm will end at 2 am like mine. The sparge was SLOW since I forgot to get the rice hulls at the LHBS and took 7 hours.

erikrocks said:

I brewed 11 gallons on 9/5 with an OG of 1.053. It didn't start fermenting until 3 days later, and is at about 1.018 right now. Is anyone else getting an abnormally slow fermentation, too? There are a couple other factors (immature stater and little headspace in the carboy) that might have also contributed to the slow progress, but i wanted to see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing.

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I split a 11g batch w/ a friend. My buddy put s04 on his and it took off overnight and moved along smoothly. I used Wyeast London Ale III and it took a couple days before it really took off, and then I needed a blow off tube.

Do you add the Ginger root as it comes to the BK...?

I brewed this yesterday and I put my pumpkin goop in a LARGE grain bag. The grain bag appeared to have contained the pumpkin goo very well. I used real pumpkin that we boiled down, and not canned pumpkin. I also used a full pound of rice hulls and I did not have to drain slowly at all. No stuck sparges or anything.

Not sure if anyone has answered this in the forum I want to use Ground Ginger instead of ginger root and know it can be done...anyone have a conversion for .55oz of root ginger...to ground ginger? I got all the spices and pumpkin for free...Just need hops, Yeast, and some crystal! ( I will be making a 11 gallon batch) this coming tuesday...Thanks

Also why is the mash in temp. so high does it have to do with breaking down the pumpkin...158? ughhh

Well?? did you try fermenting in a pumpkin? Sounds interesting? Did it turn out?




Maybe for batch #2 I should try the fermenting in a pumpkin…………

Thanks again for the recipe and the help!

Ryan[/QUOTE]

heres my recipe as follows..Measuring this will be no Fun!

Brewhouse efficiency 70.00%
Batch Size: 11Gallons

2.00 - Rice hulls
19.75 - pale Malt (2 Row)
0.88 - wheat, flaked
1.79 - biscuit Malt
1.75 - crystal 120
0.50 - Cara-Pils

1.65 Goldings, East Kent - (60mins)
1tsp Irish Moss (15 mins)
1tsp Cloves - (5min)
1tsp Ginger, ground - (5min)
1tsp Nutmeg - (5 mins)
2tsp Allspice - ( 5 mins)
2tsp Cinnamon, Ground - (5mins)
131oz pumpkin caned - 5mins

1pkgs S-04 for 5.5 gallon batch (splitting them)

All my readings match

I added some cara-Pils to make up for the (body loss) due to the crystal 120,
but all my readings are the same...

Still debating weather to go with the boil spicing or add it to secondary~Also adding a little to the BK as i see some of you have...

Any recomendations?

Just brewed a pumpkin pie spice beer with no pumpkin (couldn't find any). I scaled the 2nd recipe down to a 5g, and added the spices per instructions. I'll update when it's ready to drink.

fugazzi said:

Just brewed a pumpkin pie spice beer with no pumpkin (couldn't find any). I scaled the 2nd recipe down to a 5g, and added the spices per instructions. I'll update when it's ready to drink.

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I had to order my pumpkin from Amazon!

I will be adding my pumpkin to secondary as I want up front pumpkin flavor!

I'm in my fourth hour of sparging with no end in sight. There has to be a better way, I just have to find it. Damn that pumpkin goop.