Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

I'm going to get the canned pumpkin today. Just to be sure it is 2-29oz cans right?

Yup

Reno_eNVy said:

Yup

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Thanks, I'm brewing this tomorrow.

nyer said:

Thanks, I'm brewing this tomorrow.

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Excellent, be sure to post your results.

Doing all grain or extract/pm?

Reno_eNVy said:

Excellent, be sure to post your results.

Doing all grain or extract/pm?

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All grain.

It's a beautiful sight! Tastes like the best pumpkin beer I've ever had. Can't taste the vanilla I added but combined with the 2.5 oz of bourbon I added it's perfect. Can't wait for thanksgiving to crack this open!!

I bottled tonight as well, smelled amazing, can't wait til it's all ready.

I'm just starting the mash. The baked pumpkin and spice aroma are making me crave a pumpkin beer for breakfast.

brewmaster12: Looks and sounds great! I'm glad it worked out so well for you.

absoluthamm: :rockin: How long do you plan on giving it?

nyer: Dang dude, getting an early start? Way to be!

So good!

Gorgeous! And I'm glad you like it so much.

I'll likely end up posting a pic tomorrow. It's pretty much perfectly carbonated by now.

This is a hit Reno. Everyone loves it, I even compared it to DFH Punkin and I totally preferred this one. My only slight variation was to add more spice in the bottling bucket. Other than that I was spot on. Thanks for the great recipe!

Just brewed this up with a couple of subs. to match what I have available between my personal stock and the LHBS. I couldn't find victory malt locally, so I used a pound of mild ale malt and used my bulk maris otter for the base. I hope the combination of MO base and one pound of low lovibond mild malt will give the same toasty/bready/nutty flavors that the higher lovibond victory was supposed to give. I tasted the hydro sample. Man, it tasted really good!

So I bottled this a week ago. I just couldn't wait to try it and I crackd one open a moment ago.

I changed the recipe a bit to what I had on hand.

10 lbs pale ale (NOT 2-row)
1 lbs Caramel 90L
1 lbs Munich
0.5lbs Victory
2 cans of pumpkin (in the mash)

1 lb of Brown Sugar @ First Wort (60 Min boil)
1 oz Willamette @ First wort (60 min boil)
0.5oz Fuggle @ 25 min
0.5oz Fuggle @ 15 min
1 T pumpkin pie spices @ 10 min
1/2 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min

Wyeast 1272 fermented at 62* for 4 days then 70* for 17 days (total of 21)

OG-1.070
FG-1.002
ABV- 9.26%

yep, you read that right, FG of 1.002. That's 97% attenuation! I had to check my hydrometer and it is properly calibrated. At first I worried that I may have an infection because I did have some blow-off troubles with the active fermentation, but everything tasted great (albeit dry) before bottling.

It's been a week in the bottle with two days in the 'fridge. It tastes fantastic! Subtle hints of spices blend perfectly. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with such a low FG. I'm guessing that because Wyeast 1272 has high attenuation (75%) and combined with the brown sugar. Those are just guesses though.

Anyone know why my FG could have finished so low and still produced a great beer?

FightingBob said:

I'm guessing that because Wyeast 1272 has high attenuation (75%) and combined with the brown sugar. Those are just guesses though.

Anyone know why my FG could have finished so low and still produced a great beer?

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What temperature did you mash at? Sounds like it was really low and you just ended up with a really fermentable wort.

brewmaster12 said:

What temperature did you mash at? Sounds like it was really low and you just ended up with a really fermentable wort.

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Oh, yeah. I forgot about posting that info.

I mashed at 154* and I checked my thermometer when I took the FG. It's 1* F lower than it should be reading (read 31* F in a glass Pyrex measuring cup filled with ice and H2O). Mashing at 153* wouldn't account for that would it? I can see if my thermometer is off by 5* and I mashed at 149*. I brewed a brown ale just before the pumpkin and it finished as expected and I used the same thermometer.

Heating strike water for this now! Pumpkin is baking. Quick question: do I let the pumpkin cool before adding to the mash?

nspaldi0 said:

Heating strike water for this now! Pumpkin is baking. Quick question: do I let the pumpkin cool before adding to the mash?

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Either way works just check your mash temp if you don't cool it...

FightingBob said:

Oh, yeah. I forgot about posting that info.

I mashed at 154* and I checked my thermometer when I took the FG. It's 1* F lower than it should be reading (read 31* F in a glass Pyrex measuring cup filled with ice and H2O). Mashing at 153* wouldn't account for that would it? I can see if my thermometer is off by 5* and I mashed at 149*. I brewed a brown ale just before the pumpkin and it finished as expected and I used the same thermometer.

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I can't see it having that big an impact. As long as it's tasty and not overly dry I would just call it an exception... I mashed at 157-158 to keep some malty sweetness around

Ditto on the higher mash temp.

Also, here's a bad photo. my camera wasn't liking the light anywhere in my house so it's a bit fuzzy.

Also, don't let the photo fool you... it's actually crystal clear.

I'm not disappointed with the outcome. It's a bit dry, but is very drinkable. Just need to sip it for sure. Next time I'll mash at 158* and see how that works out.

I'm beginning the boil. I was slightly above preboil gravity at 1.047. Perfect day here in Kentucky for brewing. Doesn't get much better than brewing and football!

So, while relaxing and not paying attention, I forgot to add the spice to the boil. I added it with the yeast. Should I have boiled the spice separately before adding? I guess it's too late now, oh well.

nspaldi0 said:

So, while relaxing and not paying attention, I forgot to add the spice to the boil. I added it with the yeast. Should I have boiled the spice separately before adding? I guess it's too late now, oh well.

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You should be fine.

Took a hydro sample after 14 days in Primary. Down to 1.014 from 1.065 and tasting quite delicious, there isn't much pumpkin on the nose but the taste is definitely there.

Looking to keg this next weekend after 3 weeks and cannot wait to taste that first pint!

Update;
I moved it to secondary at 10 days and I have to say that the fermentor had me scratching my head. Now; granted, it was still green @10 days and I need to qualify this by saying that I have not had another ale with a spice blend like this before.
The aroma was strong and reminiscent of uncured epoxy. Now, I am not a newb... And neither is the fermentor I used so I am not looking for advice and I have racked it to secondary over a spice tea of vanilla bean and nutmeg and the airlock smells of none of this anymore, but I must say it had me nervous. I think I was smelling my secret ingredient (3 black pepper corns in the original 5'gal brewkettle boil addition) along with the yeast and cinnamon. My fermentation was rock solid at 63 F with US-05 so it's not so much yeast ester as it is young yeast/beer character mixed with the spice.
I am bottling this weekend and I am confident from sniffing the airlock that this is a stellar beer but I thought I would share. I'll post a bottling day update.

i just brewed this but i only had one package of dry yeast. is one enough or would it be worth it to run to the store and get a second one?

rob22 said:

i just brewed this but i only had one package of dry yeast. is one enough or would it be worth it to run to the store and get a second one?

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For a 5 gallon batch of 1.065 OG (which what I believe the estimated OG is for this recipe) you would need a yeast cell count of 250-300 billion.

Dry yeast cell counts are about 20 billion cells per gram. So you would need 10 grams to reach 200 billion and 15 grams to reach 300 billion cells. Is your dry yeast packet 11.5 grams? That's 230 billion. It might be good enough, but if you have quick access to another, I'd use it.

Ouch. Uber attenuation. Just getting ready to rack to the secondary and I went from a 1.07 OG to a 1.01! May add some unfermentable sugar at bottling.

Waterboy42 said:

Ouch. Uber attenuation. Just getting ready to rack to the secondary and I went from a 1.07 OG to a 1.01! May add some unfermentable sugar at bottling.

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Same thing happened to me! I ended up with 1.002. Still very drinkable though...well, sip-able actually.

Heh, 1.010 is also a fair share better than 1.002

Brewed my own modified version of this recipe. my first ten gallon batch... the first time I brewed this as a five gallon, it came out great.

Check out my blog post: Hop River Ales: Pumpkin Ale... First Ten Gallon Brewday!!!

I posted my own recipe, but I give due credit to Reno eNVy's original recipe...

Reno_eNVy said:

Heh, 1.010 is also a fair share better than 1.002

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I agree on that, but trying to decide on a sugar to add at bottling. I have lactose on hand. Any thoughts?

Meh, I'd just leave it alone if I were you. Lactose will increase body but there will be negligible sweetness added. And any sweetness you may perceive wouldn't be the same as those of the malty sweetness you get from a high concentration of unfermentable polysaccharides from malted grain.

Yeah. I just finished bottling after a cold crash, and did end up adding a cup of lactose, along with an ounce of vanilla for that "whipped cream" finish.

I'll post picks in a few weeks and some tasting notes as well. I think it attenuated more because my mash temp dropped to 152 when I stirred in the pumpkin ;( Unfermented sample out of the bucket with the additions tasted awesome though! Spices need to mingle in the bottle a bit yet, but its a winner!

I transferred to secondary yesterday and the the gravity sample tasted great. I can't wait for it to be done.

brewed this up yesterday and followed the recipe exactly as we could. I accidentally left the grain in the car which kind of screwed up the mash temp and we had to go back and add more heated water. Smelled awesome in the BK at the end of the boil.
OG we measured was around 1.063
We did a starter and added that in while racking the wort out of the brew kettle, less than 24 hours later:
http://i51.tinypic.com/21mci7c.jpg

Fermenting at 60Fcurrently. Will this be ready by thanksgiving? I keg..

Thanks!

Yeah that should definitely be ready by thanksgiving. Try a four week primary followed by a cold crash and you'll be golden

Needed to get this on the gas so I cut crashing short. Cloudy but acceptable. Came in at .012 and is a really nice beer. Some spice on the nose...a touch of sweetness and on the lighter side. I really hate that this one goes to a block party so I will see very little of it....nice beer tho...very pleased.

Just finished chilling a second brew of this @ 156 mash temp this time Pitched onto yesterdays yeast cake for the Thanksgiving round.