Ceci n'est pas une pumpkin thread

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

Ha! Fooled you! It IS a pumpkin thread.

Anyway, here's my recipe. I forgot the Irish Moss, but it's in the recipe.

I also have inherited one vanilla bean- I might put half of it in at secondary- any thoughts on that?

Homebrew Recipe - For a 5-gallon partial mash batch:
Grains/Malt/Pumpkin
• 8-lbs liquid light malt
• 7-lbs of canned pumpkin (without preservatives)
• ½-lb carapils
• 1-lb Munich malt
• 1-lbs biscuit malt
• ½-lb crystal malt 60L
Hops
• 1 ½ -oz Challenger at 90-minutes (beginning of boil)
• 1-oz Willamette and ½ -oz Cascade at 20-minutes left
• ½ -oz Cascade at 2-minute left
Spices
• 1-tbsp Cinnamon and ½-tbsp Nutmeg at 90-minutes
• 1-tbsp Cinnamon and 1/1-tbsp Nutmeg at 20-minute
• 1-tbsp Cinnamon, 1-tbsp Nutmeg at 2-minute
• 1-tbsp Irish moss for clarifying

 

[Cap'n Jewbeard]

OK- so it's been about 5 days, things have settled out (a lot- they aren't kidding when they say there's a lot of trub!), and I'm getting ready to put it in secondary and maybe let it sit in the basement. I have 3 questions:

1) HOW THE BLEEP DO I RACK THIS THING? And will there be any beer left when it's done?

2) I have a vanilla bean my mom brought me from a caribbean island. I was thinking a little vanilla taste in the pumpkin might be nice (in the interest of making it more pie-y). I will likely add it to the secondary (for "dry-hopping' purposes). How much do I add? (The whole bean? Half a bean?) And I guess I scrape it first?

3) I want to give this thing a good amount of time in secondary (like a month- bottle at end of September, drinking mid-to-end-of October). I don't have a fridge that will work, but my basement is probvably in the mid-60's, with a nice cold concrete floor. Will that be okay?