Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale

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onipar

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 8, 2011
Messages
1,218
Reaction score
14
Location
Tannersville
Recipe Type
Partial Mash
Yeast
Safle US-05
Yeast Starter
No
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.056
Final Gravity
1.014
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
18
Color
12
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
4 weeks @ 164-168
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
n/a
Additional Fermentation
n/a
Tasting Notes
To be determined.
Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale ***See important notes at bottom

*Updated in separate post with FG readings, pictures, and tasting notes.

Ingredients
Extract
1 lb light DME (60 mins)
3 lbs Pale LME (15 mins)
1/2 lb brown sugar (15 mins)
8 oz wheat DME (15 mins)

Base Grains (Mash)
2 lbs pale 2-row malt
3/4 pound Maris Otter

Specialty Grains (Mash)
6 oz Caramel Munich
4 oz Briess Victory
4 oz Biscuit Malt
8 oz Briess 2 Row Caramel 80

Hops
.75 oz Mt Hood Hops (60 mins) 5.5% AA
.5 oz Hallertauer Hops (30 mins) 3.6% AA

Extras
3 15 oz cans of pumpkin (2 cans for mash, 1 can for boil)
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (2 min)
(The following are fresh grated) 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp nutmeg , 1/8 tsp allspice (2 mins)
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (flame out)

Yeast
Safale US-05


After 3 weeks: Spice Tea (optional)
(Freshly ground whole spices) .5 tsp cinnamon, .25 tsp allspice, dash of pumpkin pie spice (Make an 8 oz. spice tea and add to secondary. Do this to taste. If you want even more spice flavor upfront, you can double the amounts. You can also substitute an equal amount of pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice if you prefer).


Instructions (This is for a stove top BIAB method. Change as necessary for your setup).

Caramelize pumpkin in the oven (350 for an hour). I really would like to use fresh, but I had to use canned.

Heat 1.5 gallons strike water to 165 degrees. (1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain to make up for the pumpkin addition. In retrospect, the mash was fiarly thin, so if you want a thick mash, you could do 1.25 quarts per pound).

Dough in grain and 2 15 oz cans of pumpkin. Get water to 146-154 degrees. Hold at temps for 1 hour.

Heat 2 gallons sparge water to 168 degrees.

Sparge with 2 gallons water.

Add top-off water to bring to 3 gallons after mash and sparge (if needed. I had 2.5 gallons post mash/sparge). 3 gallons is a lot to chill without an immersion chiller (though I did it), so you could skip the top off water at this point if you wanted to. It will change the hop utilization slightly, but it shouldn't make a *huge* difference.

Bring to boil. Add 1 lb light DME, first hop addition, and remaining pumpkin at boil.

At 30 mins add second hop addition.

At 15 add whilrflock tab, the 3 lb LME, 8 oz wheat DME, and 8 oz Brown sugar.

At 2 mins add and spice mixture

At flame out add 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice.

Chill, add top off water to fermenter, aerate, pitch yeast, etc.

Ferment for 3-4 weeks (You can secondary if necessary to get off pumpkin trub).

*Spice Tea: One week before you bottle, add the spice tea mixture if preferred. I'd suggest taking a hydrometer reading and tasting the sample to determine if you want more spice flavor. This step is included to help regulate the spice flavor to your personal taste, and to add an extra layer of spice flavor/aroma. If you have a small hop bag, you can put the spices into it to steep, and add the tea and bag of spices directly to the fermentor for the remainder of your primary period. If you're doing an (optional) secondary, add the spices to this stage. Do not boil this spice tea, steep as you would a regular tea.

Bottle and condition at least 6-8 weeks, or more if needed.

------------------------------------------------------------
***NOTES***

  • The gravity is based on a 65% efficiency. For example, I hit 75% efficiency, and my OG was 1.058 (2 points higher than determined).
  • I ended up adding another 8 ounces of canned pumpkin at 30 mins. This addition was not caramelized.
  • the 1/4 extra pumpkin pie spice at flame out was a last minute decision based on lack of aroma
  • I will add tasting notes and more pictures once my brew is done.
  • Please note, the instructions are based on my personal BIAB method for my equipment. Change as needed for your own set up.
  • You'll have to chill close to 3 gallons of wort, so if you don't have a chiller, plan accordingly.
  • I lined my bucket with a grain bag so when I poured the wort in, it filtered out a lot of the pumpkin, spices, and hops. This is a good idea to do if you want to try to avoid secondary due to too much trub.
  • I rehydrated and proofed the yeast, and fermentation started in less than 12 hours.
  • "Moon Hill" Pumpkin Ale is named after the town in my second novel. The beer will appear in the novel as well.
  • I chose to include multiple additions of spice and pumpkin at different stages of boil/fermentation in an attempt to create layers of flavor and aroma. There are varied opinions on when it's best to add pumpkin/spices, but I believe multiple additions will create a unique and complex product.

0731111228.jpg

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This looks good. Let us know how it turns out! I too want to make the jump to partial mash. I noticed on another thread you said you had a difficult time sustaining the mash temp. Can I ask what happened? Because I don't have a specific cooler or anything designated for the mash tun, I've read just pre-heating the oven to 170 and turning it off and then mashing for an hour works well.
 
This looks good. Let us know how it turns out! I too want to make the jump to partial mash. I noticed on another thread you said you had a difficult time sustaining the mash temp. Can I ask what happened? Because I don't have a specific cooler or anything designated for the mash tun, I've read just pre-heating the oven to 170 and turning it off and then mashing for an hour works well.

Thanks! Definitely, I plan on updating this recipe with pictures and tasting notes throughout the process.

I think what I did wrong with the mash was that my oven was still too hot. I had it set to 350 for the pumpkin (to caramelize). When it was finished, I left the door of the oven opened for a couple minutes, then closed it up and let it sit (off) while I prepared my mash. I put my mash in the oven, expecting that it had cooled enough to simply keep the mash at temp. Boy was I wrong.

I checked it after 25 minutes, and it went *up* from 154 to 165-ish.

I did what I had to do to drop it back to mashing temps and finished out my mash. The final (post boil) OG was 1.058, and my calculated OG had been 1.056, so I actually hit very close to what I wanted. I'm thinking the extra two points on the OG was because my recipe presupposes a 65% efficiency (I shot low because it's BIAB and my first try), but my actual efficiency was 75%.

From what I'm told, I may have a higher than expected FG due to possibly extracting too much unfermentable sugar from the high mash temps, but only time will tell.

This is the thread about the high mash temps, if you were interested: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/first-mash-too-hot-260019/
 
10 day update: It has been 10 days since I pitched my yeast, so I decided to take a hydrometer reading, and taste how it is progressing.

First, the color: It is awesome! This is exactly what I was hoping for in terms of color, a deep, golden orange like that of an autumn sunset.

0810111312a.jpg

The hydrometer reading is a solid 1.015, which is a mere .001 higher than I was shooting for. If you read my other thread about this recipe, you'll know I mashed a bit too high, so I was worried there would be too much unfermentable sugar. It seems I dodged a bullet though, as I was hoping for sweet, but not cloyingly sweet.

The aroma at this point was mostly yeasty with only subtle hints of spice.

I'm usually not very harsh on taste so early in the game (especially with a pumpkin ale which has to age for quite a while), but I did want to determine how much and which spices I might want to add in the spice tea.

In the recipe, you'll note that I suggest doing this step to taste.

I definitely want to increase aroma, so this stage should help dramatically with that.

The flavor right now (10 days in primary) has a surprisingly up front "pumpkin" flavor. *Not* spice. I actually taste the pumpkin. Whether this stands the test of time is another question.

It is definitely sweet, but not overtly so. I don't detect much hop aroma or taste, which is what I was going for. I wanted just enough for balance to let the spices shine through (think Belgian wit in that respect).

I did also taste the spice, but it's fairly mellow. I got hints of the spice, but no one stood out in front. There *was* a flavor I didn't care for at this juncture too. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I suspect it's nutmeg or ginger, because it isn't a "spicy" flavor.

I feel it is lacking cinnamon and "spice" like that of clove or allspice, so my plan for the spice tea is to add these components. I'm thinking 1/2-3/4 ts of cinnamon, 1/4 ts of allspice, and maybe a pinch of pumpkin pie spice should round out the flavor and bring out the aroma. I want to avoid too much nutmeg and ginger at this stage.

There you have it, my "day 10" in primary tasting notes. I am ecstatic with the progression of this beer so far, and I feel with the addition of the spice tea and proper aging, this will turn out great.
 
Week 3 update:

Another hydro sample has verified a FG of 1.015. The flavor has balanced and mellowed more since my first sample taste. The predominant flavors are still pumpkin with a background note of spice. But now the yeast flavor is gone, replaced by a nice "bread/pie crust" flavor from the Victory and Biscuit malts.

I had a second taster agree on further spicing. I added the following:

Spice tea: 1/2 ts Cinnamon, 1/4 ts allspice, 1/4 ts pumpkin pie spice. Heat water in tea kettle and steep spices in 8 oz water. Add to carboy. EDIT: Upon further inspection I've found the the ground spices formed into a weird looking goo that floats at the top of the beer. It's not big problem (I can easily siphon around it), but in the future, I will add *only* the tea, and strain out the spices, or else not grind the spices.

I'll leave that for a week and taste again. If I'm not happy with the spice flavor, I'll do a second spice tea for another week, otherwise I'll bottle.

I will continue to update. :mug:
 
You should post this after you tried it, if it sucks then what?
 
You should post this after you tried it, if it sucks then what?

Then I'll say it sucks in my tasting notes, and this recipe will drop to the bottom of the recipe database from lack of responses or interest. Otherwise, if I posted this in the wrong section (pending tasting), the mods can move it or delete it as necessary.
 
I love a good pumpkin brew, but the pumpkin beer I brewed last year was none-so-great, in my opinion, though others liked it (too alcoholic and astringent and lacking in pumpkin character for my taste). I'm almost obsessive about research, especially when it comes to my brewing recipes and this year's pumpkin beer recipe has been no exception.

I looked up some clone recipes and pumpkin use-methods of my favorites in the pumpkin-genre for direction/inspiration - Punkin (Dogfish Head), Imperial Pumpking (Southern Tier) and The Great Pumpikn Ale (Elysian), plus others... When I came across your post here, onipar, I knew I had come across something interesting and unique in the category.

When I was putting together my recipe, I noticed that yours seemed to capture many of the elements I wanted to add from those other clones so I thought, "what the heck" and made up a recipe very similar to yours. I appreciated the detail and care of thought you've put into this recipe so I felt it was worth a go.

I'm brewing something pretty similar next week. The differences are that I plan on using fresh grated ginger and cloves en lieu of pumpkin spice additions and adding greater quantaties of spices overall, per your later tasting notes. Also, I'm considering adding a couple of vanilla beans, a can of fresh pumpkin puree and, perhaps, a little lactose for sweetness, if necessary, in secondary. These additions will only be added if a taste test seems to warrant it - I'm considering them because other clone recipes almost insist on them.

So, brew on, good sir, and let us know how it turns out. If you care you care to know, I'll keep you up-to-date on how my near-clone is coming along, as well...
 
JayLove,

Absolutely, I'd love to hear how it comes, and even see the recipe. You sound about as obsessive as I was about it. I have a folder in my internet bookmarks that contains dozens of websites and articles about pumpkin ale. I went a little crazy with research getting ready for this.

I'm glad my recipe helped and serves as a good starting point for you. It's interesting, but all of the additions and changes you mentioned are all things I'm planning on experimenting with later on. I wanted to start out with something of a "base" recipe, and then start making changes based on taste. But yeah, vanilla bean, lactose, etc are all things I came across too and want to try.

So, here's the new UPDATE:

I bottled on 8/28/11/. The smell and taste had really good spice notes. Last minute, I decided to boil 1/2 a stick of Mexican cinnamon (this is different than other cinnamon, and has a citrus/floral aroma and taste) with my priming sugar solution. So that should hopefully layer on a nice cinnamon aroma.

Otherwise, the bottling went smoothly. There was a good amount of trub, and I ended up with about 4.6 gallons from the 5 gallons. But it cleared fine with only a primary, so I'm gonna say that secondary isn't really needed for this recipe. I will say that I may end up with a bit more carbonation than I wanted because I underestimated how much beer loss (due to trub) I had. I calculated for 4.8 gallons and had more like 4.5.

Now the hard part. The loooong wait while it bottle conditions. I'll probably take a sneak taste after a month, but I want to let the rest sit till near the end of October. :mug:
 
So, I'm brewing my version of this recipe tomorrow --- don't want to steal your thunder in any way, onipar, but I feel my notes could be useful information for brewers who want to try a pumpkin beer and, since I am relying heavily on your recipe and have tried to brew pumpkin beer a few times, more info can help interested brewers greatly...

My ultimate note to interested brewers is that a pumpkin beer really needs to at least have a partial mash. I'm sorry extract brewers but it's true and DON'T CLICK AWAY - IT AIN'T SO BAD, REALLY... - all my research on pumpkin brewing seems to point to it as do my previous lack-luster attempts. I'm sure a Senior member can provide better data as to why that is...

For you extract brewers, it really isn't as rough as it seems - check out John Palmer's description of a partial mash online - it's incredibly helpful and it's very simple to achieve a partial brew. I have a small kitchen space myself - all you really need for partial mash is a large nylon grain bag (cheap), a 5gal brew pot and a 3gal or less pot for the partial mash catchings and to be able to be able to read time and temperature. Not rocket science, just making delicious beer. And maintaining the temperature with some stirring and cool water additions isn't so rough...

Back to the subject at hand - pumpkin beer: I've got my ingredients measured out and, for the spice additions to the boil, I decided (based on smell and good 'ol Betty Crocker's pumpkin recipe) that:
- 1 tsp of Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ginger
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/4 tsp cloves
I felt that this should hit the mark. If more is needed, that can always be added later --- may add more spices, lactose for creaminess/sweetness, perhaps, and more pumpkin can be added during primary, secondary or at bottling.

A general note to fans of pumpkin brewers - pumpkins and cans of pumpkin puree are difficult to get a hold of in August and September, which is the ideal time to brew that style of beer. My wife usually has some fresh frozen pumpkin ready to go in the freezer, but I had to go online this year to grab up a 12-pack of cans from Amazon... uhhh... so, be prepared...

Hoping tomorrow's brew day goes smoothly - long day ahead considering there's a pumpkin roasting, followed by an hour+ long partial mash, followed by a standard 60-minute brew! But, that's a home-brewer's life who is committed to the craft...
 
Jaylove,

Thanks for sharing. Great info all around, and no, I don't feel you're stealing my thunder or anything like that.

Out of curiosity, are you brewing my recipe exactly except for the spice amounts? I actually do like your spice measurements. I used mostly fresh ground spices except for the couple pumpkin pie spice "top-offs" which I mainly added to ensure I hit the correct pie spice flavor.

Are you planning on doing a secondary spice tea only if you taste and feel it necessary? In other words, did you choose the boil amounts hoping to hit the exact flavor you want without the use of a secondary spice tea?

Oh, and I am so jealous that you get to use fresh pumpkin. I guess that's the benefit to brewing this a little later in the season: there are pumpkins around! I'm thinking of baking/pureeing fresh pumpkin this fall and freezing it for use next year.

And finally, good sir. I wonder if you'd be interested in a swap: a bottle or two of your version for a bottle or two of mine? I don't expect mine to be conditioned for at least another 5-6 weeks, but if you're interested we can set up a swap to see how our different versions come.

Thanks for posting, and good luck with the brew day. :mug:
 
Hi onipar,

Sorry to burst your bubble, but I actually had to use canned pumpkin for this batch. I had fresh pumpkin for the previous one. To your questions:

Differences From Your Recipe:
- Used same grain bill, hops and schedule. As I said before, your recipe really captured several elements from my favorite pumpkin beer recipes that I was looking at so I thought I'd go with it.
- Increased spices in the boil and added ginger and cloves (I didn't want to use "pumpkin pie spice" because the ingredients tend to vary greatly - but pumpkin pie spices tend to incorporate ginger and cloves, which you had left off).
- Used Wyeast 1028 London Ale Yeast, which some sites note is comparable to WLP002 English
- May add a spice tea, lactose, vanilla beans, more pumpkin during secondary or bottling if it seems to warrant it. Yes, I prefer to nail down the flavor profile in the initial brewing, if possible, but I'm open to refining later as needed. I wonder if you find that adding ingredients in stages really does layer flavors.

That's really it... Really similar.

Brew Day Notes / Differences From onipar:
- Baked the pumpkin puree on a cookie @ 350-degrees for 60-mins but it wasn't very caramelized. So I broiled in on low for 15-mins more and it looked great - like the top of a pumpkin pie.
- After the partial mash, ended up with 2.75-gallons wort. Very orangy and sweet.
- The 15oz of pumpkin I added at 60mins in the boil ended up boiling right into the wort through the grain bag...
- Making matters worse, I forgot to add a clarifier in the boil.
- Fermentation began about 3-hours after pitching and seems to be almost finished after 3 days. It's very cloudy in there with a lot of trub... But it smelled like a pumpkin pie and my wife says it tasted like a nice pumpkin pie batter with the crust added in -- that's promising, but I've been disappointed by then end results before...
- Hit my SG of 1.057 perfectly.

I'm thinking I'll add a claifier solution during secondary - it'll definitely need it.

I have several weeks to go myself, but I'd be happy to swap bottles with you, onipar - if things don't go terribly wrong in the end, that is. I think it's legal to ship alcohol from Washington State. I'd be interesting to see how each of us did on this - and hope I don't embarrass myself too much.

I'll be able to do a taste test soon enough and see how it's going.

__________________
Planning: Anniversary Coconut Milk Stout, Tempest Kolsch, Harpoon Winter Warmer
Primary: Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale (Clone)
Bottled: Evil Twin, Pliny Clone, Dragon's Milk Brown, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone, Magnifera Indica Belgae clone (Belgian Strong fermented w/ mango and bourbon-soaked oak), Chocolate Hazelnut Porter, Bert Grant's Perfect Porter clone
 
Jaylove,

Awesome! Yeah, it sounds like you brewed this really close to mine. The only differences really are the spices and the yeast (and if you add anything later).

You asked, "I wonder if you find that adding ingredients in stages really does layer flavors."

Wellllll, in theory, yes. In actually practice, I don't know. I'm thinking of the spices in the same way we think of hops. Boiling them for 5 minutes is going to bring out a different flavor than steeping them in hot water and adding them to primary (in theory). I guess I was also thinking that adding aromatics closer to bottling would add a good aroma that might be lost quicker from the spices if they are only boiled.

Similarly (and you may have read this article in your research too), I read about some brewers who actually boil some cinnamon for the 60 minutes because it will add bitterness when in the boil that long.

Thanks for the brew notes too. I actually didn't use a grain bag in the boil, but I did strain the chilled wort through a grain bag. i think a got a good amount of pumpkin out, but like I said in a previous post, there was a good .5 gallons of loss due to trub. I *may* increase amount to make a 5.5 wort in the future, but I don't know if I'll bother.

Looking forward to your tasting notes and such. We'll hold onto the swap idea until sometime in October when we both have conditioned bottles. :mug:
 
Hello onipar,

I just racked to tertiary today - only racked three times to clear out all that pumpkin trub.

But initial fermentation wrapped up within three days. Did a taste test and the beer tasted thin - limited spice flavor, low pumpkin flavor and almost no aroma but a nice mild bready quality --- I was pretty disappointed.

I wanted to rack to tertiary after a week so... [Fast-forward to a week later] My wife and I had a Southern Tier Pumpking beer last night for inspiration of the possible additions that could be made to this current brew. That Pumpking beer is terrific - very spice flavor and aroma forward and it has a lot of character. The smell alone was rich and mouthwatering and it tasted like pumpkin pie batter made into beer - very bold and pronounced and delicious.

Tasting that made me realize that I could really step up the spice additions to much higher degree. So I ended up making a 4oz lactose solution to bring up the sweetness/creaminess/mouthfeel and added an 8oz spice tea using the same proportions to what I had added during the initial brew day. The result is much better and could, I believe, use even more spices. I'll probably be adding more spices at bottling.

At least the clarity of the beer has improved, but I'm losing a lot in the racking process. Note: I skipped adding any vanilla. I took a small taster from the fermentor and tried out tiny additions of spices and a high-quality vanilla extract and it just overpowered the flavors so I decided not to use vanilla at all.
 
Hey, thanks for the updates, Jaylove.

I'm actually *really* surprised about the mouth feel and pumpkin flavor. When I tasted mine at bottling, it had a really nice, full body (I'd even say almost syrupy), and an upfront pumpkin flavor. The first thing I taste is pumpkin in fact.

The spices, yeah, I can see those being too little for you. I was going for the lower end of spice flavor, enough to be present and enjoyable, but not so much that that's all I would taste. But then, I think the spice amounts are really a personal taste sort of thing. personally, I thought it was spot on with my initial spice plus the spice tea (for my taste).

I am really sorry you're disappointed in the brew so far. Hopefully your additions will kick it up to what you're looking for. Also, hopefully after bottle conditioning, it will be right where you want it to be.

So how much total spice have you added at this point?

Funny thing, I just bought a few 4-packs of Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale to have something to compare mine to later on, and I was surprised to find a lot of the tasting notes from my ale to match up with what I tasted in the DFH beer.

Not a clone *at all* (DFH has more bitter notes, higher alcohol, and more prominent allspice), but I was at least glad to see my beer was tasting like a pumpkin ale. :cross:
 
Tasting Notes:

1001111743.jpg

After 4 weeks in the bottle, I chilled a single bottle for 5 days and tasted with my brother and his fiance.

The color is a deeper orange-brown than the initial samples, and it also came out cloudy. Not really sure why because the samples were all crystal clear, and even in the bottle it looks clear. Could be chill haze? Either way, I don't much mind. I'll bet it was my ineffective chilling of the wort (not getting a good cold break to get rid of proteins).

The aroma is sweet pumpkin and spices, nutmeg and cinnamon forward.

Both my brother and his fiance said they didn't taste the pumpkin, but I disagree. I actually feel it's one of the more prominent flavor notes. Of course either they could be confusing pumpkin for spices, or I could be confusing spices for pumpkin. :drunk:

The spice notes are absolutely perfect for my taste. They come in strong through the middle, but the beer finishes clean without much aftertaste of the spices. The body is medium. Sweetness is there, but not too sweet. Balanced really nice.

As a comparison, I brought some DFH Punkin' Ale for everyone to taste alongside my beer. We tasted mine first, and then the DFH. My brother's fiance wouldn't even finish the DFH, said she hated it, and thought mine was much better. I personally prefer mine as well, as the DFH has much too much spice going on for my taste, and a little too much alcohol bite too. My brother also preferred Moon Hill.

Moon Hill has some nice alcohol warming in the throat after a few sips, but not the hot bite you can get from higher ABV beer.

I gave a bottle to a fellow HBT user during a recent purchase of homebrew equipment, so maybe he'll come by and give some tasting notes too.

Hope this helps for anyone on the fence about giving this one a shot.

:mug:
 
Hi onipar,

I finally bottled my version today - later than anticipated. The sample looked a lot like your above picture - cloudy and dark orangish - but it smelled and tasted much more promising than earlier samples I've had. The pumpkin aroma and flavor is at the front and the spices come in nicely later in the sip and, to my taste, not too strongly. I'm glad I added the spice tea and the 4oz of Lactose in secondary - they help round out the flavors and body nicely. It's a quantum leap over my last year's attempt.

I bottled 4 gallons using 5oz of DME for around 2.2 volumes CO2 in carbonation --- I long for a keg system; I hate bottling days.

These should be ready for drinking in time for Halloween.

I'm still open to trading bottles, if you are. Just personal-message me with your mailing address if/when you're really to trade samples.

---

I'm glad your tasting went well - I personally love DFH's Punkin' but the Moon Hill recipe is excellent. It's a lower-gravity, subtler approach to pumpkin beer. My previous pumpkin brew was high-gravity pumpkin flavored rocket fuel, so I'm pretty happy with the results of the current recipe.

I'll add an update after I crack open my first bottle - probably right around Halloween - my favorite holiday.

Side Note: Ken Burns' new 3-part documentary "Prohibition" kicks off tomorrow, 10/02/11, on PBS at 8pm - it looks great.


- Jay
__________________
Planning: Anniversary Coconut Milk Stout, Tempest Kolsch (Original), Harpoon Winter Warmer (Clone), Caramel Cream Ale (Clone), Magnifera Indica Belgae Belgian Strong (Clone)
Primary: Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale (Clone)
Bottled: Evil Twin Red Ale (Clone), Dragon's Milk Brown (Clone), Magnifera Indica Belgae clone (Belgian Strong fermented w/ mango and bourbon-soaked oak), Bert Grant's Perfect Porter (Clone)
 
Howdy, Jaylove. I'm very glad that the recipe ended up tasting better for you.

Yeah, the spice tea in secondary is absolutely necessary to hit the proper spice taste since I wrote the recipe to have both additions (boil and tea).

The DFH did grow on me a little. The first sip of it always hits me wrong, but after a few more sips it somehow tastes better to me. It's not bad by any means (and of course there are plenty of people who *love* it). Just goes to show how much personal tastes and preferences can influence.

Anyway, again, I'm *so* glad you're liking this. Do let me know what your final tasting notes are, and I'll PM soon about a trade/swap. :mug:
 
Hey dude, finally home and cleaned up from the bachelor party. I put your beers in the fridge Thursday night when I got home and my wife and I just opened the Pumpkin Ale.

I've only had one bottle of one other pumpkin ale this season and didn't think it was anything special. Wolaver's Pumpkin Ale (from Vermont)...it was way short on pumpkin flavor and spice and maybe that's an attempt to reach a broader group of the buying public.

The beer pours nicely, I was thinking at first I was going to get a massive head on it, but it didn't go nuts. It was a nice puffy head that dissipated after the first few sips down to just a covering of the surface.

The beer smells phenomenal...not too spicy, but you can tell it's a seasonal. The taste is much better than the Wolaver's as you can tell it's actually a pumpkin beer. I think the amount of spices are right on for a beer you want to be able to share without going overboard. I could definitely tolerate more spice, but it's very drinkable and I could definitely drink a number of these sitting around a camp fire.

My personal preference is for just a bit more body on the pumpkin ales, but that's just me.

Nice spice notes, great flavor, awesome beer.
 
Your tasting notes are *very* much appreciated.

I'm agreed on the body. I was going for a medium to full body (mashed high, etc), and if you read some early tasting notes, it initially seemed almost "syrupy." But now it has more of a light-medium body, and I'm not entirely sure why.

Overall I'm stoked at how good this came. If you remember, when we met I was saying I was a bit worried before tasting that it wouldn't be good.

Oh, and the spices. Yeah, 'm not the biggest fan of the over-the-top spicing, so I started on the lighter side, and this is about perfect for my taste. Jaylove found it a bit too mellow and added some extra to his batch. Maybe I'll try a little more next year, but I do like the flavor as is too.

Anyway, thanks again for the comments. :mug:
 
A quick update. In my tasting notes I mentioned the ale coming out sort of hazy in the glass. Well, after another week or so of conditioning, I put more bottles in the fridge and let them sit for at least 5 days before opening, and when I poured, they were crystal clear. So I'm now guessing they just needed a little more time to settle.

The flavor has improved even more as well (as is usually the case with conditioning). I'm really happy with the recipe.
 
This recipe sounds great! Out of curiosity has the leading recipe been updated to the changes made through your process? I would like to try this this weekend.
 
This recipe sounds great! Out of curiosity has the leading recipe been updated to the changes made through your process? I would like to try this this weekend.

Yes, the recipe was completely updated. Although, I do add some "notes" about the spice tea in later posts.

I think the main thing that has been commented on regarding my recipe is that the spice levels are on the light/mellow side (by design). It's easy enough to simply add more spice if you're looking for a heavily spiced PA, but I really like the spice levels on this. The comments I've gotten are that it's highly drinkable due to the low-medium spicing.

Let me know how it goes if you decide to brew it. :mug:
 
After conditioning in the bottle for 3-weeks, I now have some follow up tasting notes to contribute on my slight variation of this recipe:

Color:
The beer is a bit hazy and doesn't have much head retention, but a nice deep orange color.

Aroma:
The pumpkin and spices come through prominently and they're well balanced - almost mouth-watering aroma.

Taste:
Previous tastings left something to be desired. But now it's actually very good. The pumpkin and spices really come through great, very nicely balanced and they're not overpowering. There's pumpkin flavor on the nose to a semi-sweet pumpkin pie-ish middle and a lightly spicy crisp finish. I'm very pleasantly surprised!

Several friends tasted this beer along side DFH Punkin' and Blue Moon Pumpkin and my brew was preferred overall. Not to toot my own horn, but I actually preferred it over the others, as well - which really surprised me.

Kudos, onipar, on an excellent recipe!

If there's one tweak I'd like to make, it's that I'd like it have more biscuit in the flavor profile and the finish - currently the flavor finishes a bit bright and almost tangy for my taste. Next year, I think I might up the biscuit & victory and nix the wheat DME, and perhaps experiment more with the levels of the spices used.

I'd be happy to swap bottles whenever.

__________________
Planning: Anniversary Coconut Milk Stout, Tempest Kolsch, Harpoon Winter Warmer, The Kitchen Sink
Primary:
Bottled: Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale, Magnifera Indica Belgae clone (Belgian Strong fermented w/ mango and bourbon-soaked oak)
 
Jaylove,

Thanks so much for the compliment and for posting your tasting notes.

I also noted a cloudy appearance when i first tasted the beer, but interestingly, after a couple more weeks of conditioning, and leaving it in the fridge for closer to 5 days to chill, I have a much better clarity in the cup.

1030111632.jpg

1030111632a.jpg

The head retention could be better, as you stated. There was about a minute or two between the first picture I posted to the second, and you can see how much of the head fell. Not horrible, but could be better.

The only other thing I was truly disappointing with was the color. It started out a brilliant orange and has become much more brown over time. Maybe a simple fix of replacing the 8 oz Briess 2 Row Caramel 80 with Caramel 60 or less.

I might even bump the spices up a little bit.

Anyway, I'm very happy that you are enjoying the beer. I would still like to swap a bottle or two, but I'm sort of broke at the moment, and I'm afraid how much it might cost to ship. Any idea? I've never shipping beer before.
 
Hi onipar,

I'm not sure about the legality of shipping alcohol to and from Pennsylvania - the little research I did shows that it may not be legal at all, but I'm not certain.

I'm in Washington State where it is legal to ship alcohol to certain states, however you have to be licensed to do so, which is not really something handed out to individuals. However, I recently figured out how to legally ship alcohol just last week when I shipped a couple of bottles to a brewery in Oregon to test a clone I made of one of their beers. I just went to a specialty beer supplier (Malt & Vine) who was able to ship my homebrew on my behalf. It cost me about $20 for the service.

To make a long story longer, onipar, I'd suggests calling up your local beer specialty store and seeing what they can do for you.

_________________________
Planning: Anniversary Coconut Milk Stout, Everything Must Go Oktoberfest, Tempest Kolsch, Harpoon Winter Warmer, But The Kitchen Sink
Primary: Wasted Apple Hard Cider
Bottled: Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale, Magnifera Indica Belgae clone (Belgian Strong fermented w/ mango and bourbon-soaked oak)
 
Hey man, I told ya I'd post some notes as I tasted this beer, so....
I'm trying this beer after 3 weeks of conditioning and a few days in the fridge. Like you experienced, it's pretty hazy at this point, chill haze for sure so I'm guessing that'll subside. Color's amazing, like an amber-orangish, great fall color. Head and retention is minimal, but judging from your pics that won't be a problem in another week or so. The aroma's great, pumpkin and spice up front with bready/bread crust malts behind that. The flavor is where this beer shines! I know my batch is still a bit green, but I really think this is one of the better pumpkin beers I've tasted. There's enough pumpkin and spice to let ya know what you're drinking, but it's perfectly balanced with a great sweet bread crust-like malt flavor. Well played, Onipar!
I'm gonna let these sit for another couple weeks before trying another one. I'll post back with more thorough tasting notes then.
 
Awesome! I'm glad you're liking the brew. I really appreciate all the tasting notes as well. I'm on the fence about toying with this recipe for next year, or leaving as is.

Thanks again, and enjoy the beer!
 
so a few weeks later, and i just decided to crack a bottle that i've had chilling for at least a week. the beer is much clearer now, only a slight chill haze. i used 1056, and this is pretty common for a lighter ale that i used 1056 on. the one finger head didn't last too long but left a nice little cap and spotty lacing. the aroma is much more developed now, nutmeg and cinnamon play nice off the mild bread and dry caramel. the taste is about that, nice pumpkin and spice flavors with a nice, off sweet bready malt flavor. the mouthfeel's a bit thin, but that's all on me, i'll mash a bit higher next time. the carbonations about perfect, but i think i'd use DME instead of corn sugar. again to help with the mouthfeel. i used the co2 vol. calculator on BrewPal and set it to american amber ale for this beer.
overall i think this is a great beer, and that's coming from a guy who's found all of one commercial pumpkin beer that i really like (brooklyn brewery). i'm thrilled that i can make a great seasonal like this and i plan to brew this again with the few minor changes in process i stated. but this time i'll brew it in time for october/november, instead of IN october! thanks for the recipe, man. great beer!! :mug:
 
Thanks a lot for all the feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed this brew. I think another brewer mentioned that th4e body was a little thin for their liking too, so that might be something I can improve upon. I'll probably read over all the feedback I've gotten here and try to make a few variations to the recipe for next year. If you have any suggestions as the next season approaches, feel free to post here and I'll try to incorporate it.

Thanks again for posting, and enjoy!

so a few weeks later, and i just decided to crack a bottle that i've had chilling for at least a week. the beer is much clearer now, only a slight chill haze. i used 1056, and this is pretty common for a lighter ale that i used 1056 on. the one finger head didn't last too long but left a nice little cap and spotty lacing. the aroma is much more developed now, nutmeg and cinnamon play nice off the mild bread and dry caramel. the taste is about that, nice pumpkin and spice flavors with a nice, off sweet bready malt flavor. the mouthfeel's a bit thin, but that's all on me, i'll mash a bit higher next time. the carbonations about perfect, but i think i'd use DME instead of corn sugar. again to help with the mouthfeel. i used the co2 vol. calculator on BrewPal and set it to american amber ale for this beer.
overall i think this is a great beer, and that's coming from a guy who's found all of one commercial pumpkin beer that i really like (brooklyn brewery). i'm thrilled that i can make a great seasonal like this and i plan to brew this again with the few minor changes in process i stated. but this time i'll brew it in time for october/november, instead of IN october! thanks for the recipe, man. great beer!! :mug:
 
I know this is a peculiar post for this thread, but I wanted to mention that I've finally released my horror story collection, Welcome to Moon Hill (the namesake of this beer). I actually even decided to include the recipe in the appendix of the collection, as a nod to homebrew.

Additionally, there's a story in the collection that is about home brewing: "Struck by Golden Lightning."

MoonHill_thumbnail-198x300.jpg


Welcome to Moon Hill: A collection of 19 stories, and a couple surprises.

Moon Hill is a forgotten place that few purposely visit, and even less leave. Once you arrive, the deep dark of the forest creeps into your mind and will not relent. Strange flowers that grow from deer carcasses, murderous lunatics, talking ravens, wriggling parasites that induce eruptive confessions, and demons of every variety: they all live here too.

Even so, the residents of Moon Hill can feel, beyond the fear and distress, that this land is special and they are lucky to live here. Most everyone feels that way right up until the day they come a little too close to the magic of this place. When dusk's light leaks through their carefully locked doors and rips holes in their minds.

Then, they pray for release.

--Welcome to Moon Hill.
 
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I know this is a peculiar post for this thread, but I wanted to mention that I've finally released my horror story collection, Welcome to Moon Hill (the namesake of this beer). I actually even decided to include the recipe in the appendix of the collection, as a nod to homebrew.

Additionally, there's a story in the collection that is about home brewing: "Struck by Golden Lightning."

MoonHill_thumbnail-198x300.jpg


Welcome to Moon Hill: A collection of 19 stories, and a couple surprises.

Moon Hill is a forgotten place that few purposely visit, and even less leave. Once you arrive, the deep dark of the forest creeps into your mind and will not relent. Strange flowers that grow from deer carcasses, murderous lunatics, talking ravens, wriggling parasites that induce eruptive confessions, and demons of every variety: they all live here too.

Even so, the residents of Moon Hill can feel, beyond the fear and distress, that this land is special and they are lucky to live here. Most everyone feels that way right up until the day they come a little too close to the magic of this place. When dusk's light leaks through their carefully locked doors and rips holes in their minds.

Then, they pray for release.

--Welcome to Moon Hill.

that's very appropriate for your thread.... i'm thinking pumpkin ale and some horror stories on a chilly fall afternoon. works well in my mind! :mug: and that's awesome that you got your book published, are you a writer by trade, or was this just something you decided to do? either way, congrats, man! :rockin:
 
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Thanks!

I'm an English professor and horror writer. If you wanted a sample of some of my other writing (free) my website's link is in the sig.

This collection is a self-published venture, something I've been curious about trying ever since the Kindle became big. But I do have a novel being published by an actual publishing house (Bad Moon Books) coming out in print sometime early this year.

The beer (Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale) was first inspired by my second novel, which I'm still working on. I then created the recipe and brewed it. Not long after, the beer appeared in the short story I mentioned above, and shortly after the idea for this collection was conceived.

Moon Hill has become the unofficial setting for a number of my stories, and I liked the idea of collecting them all together.

:mug:
 
Thanks!

I'm an English professor and horror writer. If you wanted a sample of some of my other writing (free) my website's link is in the sig.

This collection is a self-published venture, something I've been curious about trying ever since the Kindle became big. But I do have a novel being published by an actual publishing house (Bad Moon Books) coming out in print sometime early this year.

The beer (Moon Hill Pumpkin Ale) was first inspired by my second novel, which I'm still working on. I then created the recipe and brewed it. Not long after, the beer appeared in the short story I mentioned above, and shortly after the idea for this collection was conceived.

Moon Hill has become the unofficial setting for a number of my stories, and I liked the idea of collecting them all together.

:mug:

i remember you mentioning something about the beer being inspired by a story or visa versa. i'll definitely check out your website and give it a look. :mug:
 
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