Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[Brewshock]

Maybe I missed it in the 51 pages. What's the reason for baking the Canned pumpkin? Is it to dry it out and add a roasted flavor?

 

[Option]

Brewed this today and ended up with 5.50 gal of wort in the fermenter at 1.066, had to boil a extra 15min trying to get down to 5 gal. Overall good brew day, first time ever mashing with anything besides grain.haha First I added 4.75gal of water to mash as beersmith calculated but the mash was super thick with the pumpkin and the lb of rice hulls I used (but no stuck sparge). So I added another gal of water to make about 23quarts (per recipe) and it looked a lot better to me, although I think that is why I ended up with some extra wort in kettle after sparge. Anyway re-hydrated 2 packs of US-05 on the stir plate and let her go. Just got home and already have airlock activity within 2 hours!!! Should turn out good, hydrometer sample tasted quite good and smelled like pumpkin pie! Thanks for the recipe!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Let's say I want to mash everything besides 10lbs Pale Malt, I don't have pot that is big enough.

You're going to have to go partial mash or extract. The pale malt is necessary to convert the other grains as well as itself.

Maybe I missed it in the 51 pages. What's the reason for baking the Canned pumpkin? Is it to dry it out and add a roasted flavor?

Adds roasted and caramelized flavors, as well as thins it out so it doesn't get the mash super stuck.

 

[Brewskii]

Sorry few a newbie question, but but I can't figure it out what "#" stands for in Partial Mash.
Let's say I want to mash everything besides 10lbs Pale Malt, I don't have pot that is big enough.

They put that there so you can play tic-tac-toe if you get bored whilst mashing.

..... Bring a SHARP pencil! : )

 

[banjanti]

You're going to have to go partial mash or extract. The pale malt is necessary to convert the other grains as well as itself.

I'm going with partial mash then according to 1st page of your recipe
I want to use as much grain as possible, I've already done some partial mashes and I know that using grains against extract changes everything.
I hope it will work as good as full grain! I would love to try mashing everything from scratch but I just don't have a proper pot :-(
My I ask why you have to lower amount of Crystal and Victory?
And yeah, I've just noticed that there are 2# of Pale 2-row to the mash, first I though you just replace it with LME totally.
I will mash it for sure.

They put that there so you can play tic-tac-toe if you get bored whilst mashing.

..... Bring a SHARP pencil! : )

LOL, sorry about it, cultural difference...I'm European and I'm used to call this symbol "hash"...After explanation I've just figured that any call centre is asking to hit "pound sign" that is # of course!

 

[CCS813]

So this will be my first pumpkin brew. I just cooked the pumpkin & now I'm heading to lhbs to get the grains. I'm going to bottle it so I'm hoping it's ready by Halloween so I can enjoy it as a MCM celebration beer.

 

[Medevac_Chief]

So I am trying this one again this year but going to do the partial mash version of the original recipe. And this question has probably been asked before, but what LME do you suggest using?

 

[kroach01]

Brewed this recipe on Aug 18th, bottled sep 8. Ferm temps were around 74 to start (moved into a new place and was figuring out how to use my tub), and got it down to 68-70 after a day. Was worried that the S-04 would be putting out some serious esters at this point, but I can detect no off flavors.
I have had this bottled for about 3 days and I decided I had to try one. The amount of junk at the bottom of the fermenter was unbelievable, but understandable given the amount of pumpkin put in the recipe.
The color is a beautiful golden orange, almost like an IPA. The nose smells precisely like Pumpkin Pie. Delicious!!! I can't imagine this getting better with time, even after only three days in bottle.
The pumpkin provides the initial taste, which dissolves into the very well balanced spices. It also tastes just like pumpkin pie. I did use 8.1# ex-light DME instead of the called for 6.6# to provide a warmer alcohol feeling and taste. Hey, it's going to be fall soon, right? Already dipping down into the fifties here in Brooklyn. Regardless, the added DME I found to be a good choice though I have nothing to compare it to. It isn't dry from the added fermentables and is in fact fairly sweet and medium-bodied.
I don't do gravity readings when I brew extract, so I have none to give here.
Fantastic recipe. I have tried dozens of commercially available pumpkin beers and this one is, far and away, better than any I have thus far tasted. Many thanks.

 

[Brewskii]

Brewed this recipe on Aug 18th, bottled sep 8. Ferm temps were around 74 to start (moved into a new place and was figuring out how to use my tub), and got it down to 68-70 after a day. Was worried that the S-04 would be putting out some serious esters at this point, but I can detect no off flavors.
I have had this bottled for about 3 days and I decided I had to try one. The amount of junk at the bottom of the fermenter was unbelievable, but understandable given the amount of pumpkin put in the recipe.
The color is a beautiful golden orange, almost like an IPA. The nose smells precisely like Pumpkin Pie. Delicious!!! I can't imagine this getting better with time, even after only three days in bottle.
The pumpkin provides the initial taste, which dissolves into the very well balanced spices. It also tastes just like pumpkin pie. I did use 8.1# ex-light DME instead of the called for 6.6# to provide a warmer alcohol feeling and taste. Hey, it's going to be fall soon, right? Already dipping down into the fifties here in Brooklyn. Regardless, the added DME I found to be a good choice though I have nothing to compare it to. It isn't dry from the added fermentables and is in fact fairly sweet and medium-bodied.
I don't do gravity readings when I brew extract, so I have none to give here.
Fantastic recipe. I have tried dozens of commercially available pumpkin beers and this one is, far and away, better than any I have thus far tasted. Many thanks.

Post is even better by starting first by saying "captains log; star date 2064" and then in the middle somewhere insert " most of the bowling alleys were wrecked, so we spent most of our time looking for beer"

... Yes, much better.

: D

 

[kroach01]

XD, pardon my drunken nonsense, it's one of my few days off.
Do you hail from Williamsburg Brooklyn good sir?

 

[Brewskii]

XD, pardon my drunken nonsense, it's one of my few days off.
Do you hail from Williamsburg Brooklyn good sir?

That's a negative, ghost rider.

We are the Colonial fun-fest Williamsburg of Virginia. You know, Busch Gardens an' all that...

 

[kroach01]

That's a negative, ghost rider.

We are the Colonial fun-fest Williamsburg of Virginia. You know, Busch Gardens an' all that...

Ah the fine state of Virginia. Beautiful place. Never been to Williamsburg though.

 

[Medevac_Chief]

Reno - your my final hope with this site recipe's. I just cant seem to get a good recipe off this site that I like maybe i'm just a snob of only creating my recipe's. Anyways like a tard i am i didn't write down the yeast when I was shopping at my LHBS so I'm using White Labs British Ale. Will this yeast affect the OP recipe?

White Labs British Ale will work just fine. Just be sure to make a starter. 1.5L to 2L should do you just fine.

I hope this recipe can restore your faith in the recipe database.

Will their California Ale Yeast work as well? And if so, should I make a starter for that as well? Or instead of a starter, would 2 vials of the yeast work as well?

 

[Chris7687]

For those brewing a 5.5g BIAB batch, what was your starting amount of water? I have the same grain bill a little different weights. 12.5# 2-Row, 1.5# Crystal 60, and 1# Victory. Beer Review Dude BIAB Calculator gives me a 8.4g strike water, but I calculated on another calculator (can't seem to find it now) and it gave me 9 gallons. I've been missing my 5.5 gallon amount lately, so I want to say the Beer Review Dude calculator is off but just wanted a second opinion. Not sure how to account for the pumpkin either; more, less, or the same water?

 

[kzimmer0817]

I notice that the original recipe calls for 2pks of US-05 yeast IIRC, US-05 was the preferred dry yeast; US-04 could be used so long as the temps were kept in the low 60s (maybe the other way around). I would greatly appreciate a little more elaboration on this.Somewhere in this thread was a brief explanation for why to use one over the other, and, I think, it had to do with fermentation temps.

I have a chest freezer with a Ranco temp control, so I will be able to control my fermentation temps well.

My son and I are planning to brew this beer soon. I'm dying to use the keggle I just made from a dented up keg.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/keiths-cut-keggle-353760/#post4406799

We're moving the very end of October, so I would want it out of the fermenter before then. We will be using BIAB and plan to steep the baked pumpkin while heating the water as mentioned elsewhere in here.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[Chris7687]

Keith, will you just be steeping the baked pumpkin? Or will you be mashing it with the grain (60mins) as well? How long will you steep it for, until it reaches the 162ish strike temp?

 

[kzimmer0817]

Keith, will you just be steeping the baked pumpkin? Or will you be mashing it with the grain (60mins) as well? How long will you steep it for, until it reaches the 162ish strike temp?

Chris,

I plan to do what brewmaster12 did. I found his message on Page 25, Post #250 of this thread:

Alrighty then... For anyone thinking about doing an All-Grain BIAB version, here's what went down when I did that last night. I realized in my 8 gallon brew pot there was no way I was going to be able to fit everything in the mash at the same time, because I bumped the amount of pumpkin up to 5 lbs.

Instead, I put all of the roasted pumpkin in a 5-gallon paint strainer and basically steeped it in the water as I brought it up to strike temperature. I was aiming for a stronger version of this brew so I wanted a thicker mouthfeel to go along with the higher ABV so I mashed at 158 for 60 minutes. When the water hit strike temp, I pulled the bag out with all the pumpkin and let it drain for a few minutes before moving on. After removing the pumpkin, the water had turned to a strong orange color, without any of the pulp left behind from the pumpkin. I then went ahead and mashed in as usual with my BIAB set-up. I added one lb of brown sugar with 50 min left in the boil, and then 1 tbls. of homemade pumpkin pie spice mix at 10 minutes left in the boil. Cooled and pitched with US-05 and finished around 11 PM last night. At 7 AM when I woke up, I was getting 2-3 bubbles per second so it was pretty exciting to see it take off that quick! Great recipe, and I'm hoping my changes will still result in a great beer! The color going into the fermenter was fantastic.

So, this will be analagous to doing extract with steeping grains. You steep the pumpkin in a bag while you're heating the water up. Once you reach strike temp (according to the BIAB calculators), you pull this bag of pumpkin, then get your voile bag in place, and put in your grain. From here, it sounds like a typical BIAB brew.

Please understand that I have never done an all-grain brew. I'm going to bite the bullet and try this as my first AG brew. I'm going to be a bit masochistic and do several things for the first time:

1. first all-grain
2. first BIAB
3. first time with the new keggle I just cut
4. first time doing "no-chill" which requires a different hop schedule.
and
5. we'll be moving in 2 months!!

As I've searched around for Pumpkin recipes, there seems to be some debate about the need and purpose for real pumpkin. Some say it doesn't really add the pumpkin flavor; some say it adds a mouth-feel; some say that it's solely the spices that give the illusion that we're drinking something with pumpkin in it. I don't know. I'm going to give this one a try.

Hope this helps,
Keith

 

[kzimmer0817]

I read that a few brewers have brewed this recipe using BIAB, which is what I plan to use. I was also planning to use no-chill instead of using my immersion chiller.

Have any of you brewed this using no-chill? If so, did you change your hop schedule? There is another extremely long thread on this. The link below will hopefully take you to the schedule that was worked out by "The Pol" on page 47, post #461.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/exploring-no-chill-brewing-117111/index47.html#post1542375

Anyway, I would appreciate input from anyone who's done this with no-chill and whether/how you adjusted the hop schedule.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[mathin]

I read that a few brewers have brewed this recipe using BIAB, which is what I plan to use.

I did BIAB. As a warning the pumpkin clogged the mesh cloth and I had to lift all the wet grains plus ~3 gallons of water still in the bag. (lifting just the wet grain isn't usually too bad) Squeezing the wort out of the bag was also difficult and took quite awhile. It was a royal PITA.

If I do this recipe again I will steep the pumpkin in a smaller bag while heating the strike water instead. My back/shoulders are still sore ... And I brewed two weeks ago.

Good luck!

 

[mrgstiffler]

I did BIAB. As a warning the pumpkin clogged the mesh cloth and I had to lift all the wet grains plus ~3 gallons of water still in the bag. (lifting just the wet grain isn't usually too bad) Squeezing the wort out of the bag was also difficult and took quite awhile. It was a royal PITA.

If I do this recipe again I will steep the pumpkin in a smaller bag while heating the strike water instead. My back/shoulders are still sore ... And I brewed two weeks ago.

Good luck!

I didn't have that problem at all. It wasn't any different from all of my other batches.

 

[brew2enjoy]

Kegging 5 gallons now. Snuck a sample and wow it is good. I'll be throwing some gelatin on it after it chills and plan to be serving crystal clear pumpkin ale for football on Sunday. Gotta love kegging!

 

[BlakeL]

I'll hopefully be brewing a batch of this on Saturday or Sunday. I had to adjust my recipe a little since I don't have enough extract but I think it'll turn out great.

http://hopville.com/recipe/1643471

 

[kzimmer0817]

I notice that the original recipe calls for 2pks of US-05 yeast IIRC, US-05 was the preferred dry yeast; US-04 could be used so long as the temps were kept in the low 60s (maybe the other way around). I would greatly appreciate a little more elaboration on this.Somewhere in this thread was a brief explanation for why to use one over the other, and, I think, it had to do with fermentation temps.
<snip>
Thanks,
Keith

I apologize for being persistent. In a popular thread such as this, a "question" can get lost in the many daily postings. I would greatly appreciate it if someone would clarify the yeast issue for me.

Respectfully,
Keith

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I apologize for being persistent. In a popular thread such as this, a "question" can get lost in the many daily postings. I would greatly appreciate it if someone would clarify the yeast issue for me.

Respectfully,
Keith

Sorry, I've been working long days and haven't had a chance to catch up.

04 tends to produce more esters at higher temps. Not a bad thing, but I prefer the neutral profile of 05

 

[kzimmer0817]

Sorry, I've been working long days and haven't had a chance to catch up.

04 tends to produce more esters at higher temps. Not a bad thing, but I prefer the neutral profile of 05

Thanks, Reno eNVy. I realize that we all have to work for a living and can't spend entire days monitoring the forum. I'm excited about trying this recipe.

I'm still trying to find out from folks whether doing No-Chill would alter the hop schedule for this beer.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[kpr121]

Thanks, Reno eNVy. I realize that we all have to work for a living and can't spend entire days monitoring the forum. I'm excited about trying this recipe.

I'm still trying to find out from folks whether doing No-Chill would alter the hop schedule for this beer.

Thanks,
Keith

I did no chill and used the recipe's hop schedule to a T for my first batch of this. Its still in primary but taste testing has shown that it is not overly hoppy or bitter, at least not to me!

 

[Medevac_Chief]

So I am buying the ingredients to give this one a shot again this year. I'm subbing the second addition of hallertau for american northern brewer, and going to use white labe California ale. Only hard spot I'm in right now is timing, being in the military they have me moving the 1st or 2nd week of October. Should I just wait on the ingredients? Or in everyone's opinion will it be safe to move once airlock activity has stopped?

 

[grssmnperez]

So I am buying the ingredients to give this one a shot again this year. I'm subbing the second addition of hallertau for american northern brewer, and going to use white labe California ale. Only hard spot I'm in right now is timing, being in the military they have me moving the 1st or 2nd week of October. Should I just wait on the ingredients? Or in everyone's opinion will it be safe to move once airlock activity has stopped?

I subbed one oz of the hallertau w/.5oz warrior

 

[dwturnernc]

I brewed this recipe last Friday, with one change I used Marris Otter as my base malt(what I had on hand). I did a 11 gallon batch and everything else in the recipe was the same. I have brewed 5 gallon big beers in my 10 gallon mash tun before with the same grain bill with no problems, but I really did not account for the space the pumpkin would take up. My tune over flowed and I had to put foil over it, one minor glitch but I still hit my SG of 1.069. I use 6.5 gallon brew buckets, and both air locks have had so much yeast that I have had to clean and change twice this week. I opened the bucket today and I have a thick foamy sticky mess floating on top of both buckets. I have never seen this before and am scared this is an infection. It smells awesome. Has any one seen this before.

 

[grssmnperez]

I subbed one oz of the hallertau w/.5oz warrior

Im miltary too i heard they have brew club here at lackland. I work @ wilford hall so my co workers look at me funny when i tell them i home-brew. You dont happen to get the same response do you? By the way i will also be moving on the 18th.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I opened the bucket today and I have a thick foamy sticky mess floating on top of both buckets. I have never seen this before and am scared this is an infection. It smells awesome. Has any one seen this before.

Yup, that's called krausen, a sign of fermentation

 

[BlakeL]

I'm not going to have time this weekend to cook the pumpkin, do a partial mash, boil and then clean up. Should I throw the uncooked pumpkin directly into mash or cook it tomorrow and refrigerate until i'm ready to use it?

 

[CCS813]

So I just brewed this beer last night and it smelled great! I started the fermentation at around 53 degrees and then moved it to 70 degrees. I can't wait to taste this.

 

[dwturnernc]

Yup, that's called krausen, a sign of fermentation

Thx for the reply and i figured it was krausen but it appears different than the 30 others batches I have done. I guess the pumpkin and brown sugar has something to do with it. I just have never seen it this foamy, thick and sticky before. I'm glad to learn that it's okay. First, pumpkin beer and it's for a party so I want it to be good.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thx for the reply and i figured it was krausen but it appears different than the 30 others batches I have done. I guess the pumpkin and brown sugar has something to do with it. I just have never seen it this foamy, thick and sticky before. I'm glad to learn that it's okay. First, pumpkin beer and it's for a party so I want it to be good.

Yeast are living organisms and thus are going to adapt to their environment. There are many variables to think about. Different yeast strains act in different ways visually, high gravity beers often have huge krausen, proper yeast pitching amount can get them active enough to make a huge krausen, and even ingredients can have an effect such (i.e. lots of hop oil can subdue foaming/krausen, or certain grains increase foaming/krausen/head-retention.)

I've had two batches of the exact same recipe and temperature act completely different: one had a krausen of about 1", the other clogged my blow-off tube and blew the lid off.

 

[grssmnperez]

Would it be wise to cold crash after 3 wks in primary @ 68f? If so, how low and for how long? Secondary necessary?

 

[ETOHonboard]

Just wanted to say that I brewed your recipe today and it came out awesome. All my numbers were spot on and the smell was heavenly. I figured I can't go wrong with this one since people are still talking about it almost three years later. Thank you sir!

 

[fifthcircle]

Wow, this thread is long
This will be my first real seasonal. Hopefully the first one I keg too!

I wasn't thinking, and got 3cans of pumpkin totaling 45oz. Should I go get another?

Also, I only have 1/2lb of rice hulls on hand. Frakin brew store is on the other side of town....that gonna be enough?
I suppose the 30min in the car is much better than a stuck mash!!

 

[Medevac_Chief]

Im miltary too i heard they have brew club here at lackland. I work @ wilford hall so my co workers look at me funny when i tell them i home-brew. You dont happen to get the same response do you? By the way i will also be moving on the 18th.

Well I live in Heidelberg, Germany and will be moving to Wiesbaden which is an hour away from where I live now. I get a few strange looks being that im in the so-called "mother land" of beer, but the varitey of beer just isnt here i.e IPA's, Stouts, Porters, and fall type seasonals.

But I just wanted to know if I brewed this now if it would be ok to move after airlock activity has stoped. I feel like I rushed this last year, and really want to give it time to mellow out.

 

[G_Force_5]

So I had the chance to brew this today. Smells and looks awesome. Thanks for the recipe Reno. I made the mistake of forgetting the brown sugar. This would explain why I missed the o.g. But I did hit 1.057. Any suggestions for correction? Secondary or at kegging?

So upon a Cheif Ferminators advise......I mixed stirred sanitized brown sugar directly into my fermenting wort ......fingers crossed.