I finally did it. Ultra high mash yield, too high actually. Strong Pumpkin Ale

[Chadwick]

I did it. My mash yield was off the charts! I have been suffering from very poor mash yields for some time now. Today, I brewed a strong pumpkin ale. I was hoping to have 1.080 OG when all said and done. Now that I have my own grinder I was hoping to see an increase from my past yields (35-50%) so I went forward with a grain bill based on an expectation of 70%.

After cooling the wort and getting it in my fermentation vessel I took an OG reading. I about fell over. I have a wort with an OG of 1.100. If my calculations are correct, I'm upward of 90% with this. Good Times! This has forced me to reconsider the yeast I'm going to pitch. I was going to pitch either S-04 or S-05. Now I'm thinking that Nottingham would be the best choice. I used Nottingham in an English Barleywine I brewed earlier this year that had a stupid high OG and it plowed right through it without a problem.

I'm setting up the blow-off now. This one is gonna is gonna be a violent fermentation.

Here is the recipe I used for this.

12lb Pale 2-row
3lb Hickory smoked Pale 2-row (cold smoked myself on my smoker)
2lb brown sugar
1 10lb pumpkin roasted in the oven for an hour at 350F and then chopped and added to the mash

2 oz Amarillo hops - 1oz 90 minutes, 1 oz flameout
2 Tbsp ground nutmeg - 30 min
2 Tbsp ground cloves - 30 min
3 Tbsp ground cinnamon - 30 min
2 Tbsp pumpkin spice - 10 min

All grains finely ground a bit courser that cornmeal. Most bits were between 1-3mm in size. Mash at 145F for 60 min. Then heated up to 160F for 30 min and allowed to cool back to 145F within an hour. Then heated back up to 170 and removed from heat and allowed to cool off naturally. No sparging, just drip dry from BIAB and then squeezed after it cooled off. 7 gallon batch, yielded 6 gallons of wort in the end.

 

[bobeer]

I did it. My mash yield was off the charts! I have been suffering from very poor mash yields for some time now. Today, I brewed a strong pumpkin ale. I was hoping to have 1.080 OG when all said and done. Now that I have my own grinder I was hoping to see an increase from my past yields (35-50%) so I went forward with a grain bill based on an expectation of 70%.

After cooling the wort and getting it in my fermentation vessel I took an OG reading. I about fell over. I have a wort with an OG of 1.100. If my calculations are correct, I'm upward of 90% with this. Good Times! This has forced me to reconsider the yeast I'm going to pitch. I was going to pitch either S-04 or S-05. Now I'm thinking that Nottingham would be the best choice. I used Nottingham in an English Barleywine I brewed earlier this year that had a stupid high OG and it plowed right through it without a problem.

I'm setting up the blow-off now. This one is gonna is gonna be a violent fermentation.

Here is the recipe I used for this.

12lb Pale 2-row
3lb Hickory smoked Pale 2-row (cold smoked myself on my smoker)
2lb brown sugar
1 10lb pumpkin roasted in the oven for an hour at 350F and then chopped and added to the mash

2 oz Amarillo hops - 1oz 90 minutes, 1 oz flameout
2 Tbsp ground nutmeg - 30 min
2 Tbsp ground cloves - 30 min
3 Tbsp ground cinnamon - 30 min
2 Tbsp pumpkin spice - 10 min

All grains finely ground a bit courser that cornmeal. Most bits were between 1-3mm in size. Mash at 145F for 60 min. Then heated up to 160F for 30 min and allowed to cool back to 145F within an hour. Then heated back up to 170 and removed from heat and allowed to cool off naturally. No sparging, just drip dry from BIAB and then squeezed after it cooled off. 7 gallon batch, yielded 6 gallons of wort in the end.

Good stuff! Hope it turns out. What was your mash volume?

 

[Epimetheus]

Very nice efficiency for BIAB! What size starter do you use for a batch like that? The starter might be so large, it drops the OG a few points.

 

[Chadwick]

I'm using Nottingham yeast. I'm not going to use a starter. I'm waiting for the temp in the fermentation vessel to drop to 70F and I'm going to pitch 2 packets.

It may not be the best plan, but based on past experience, it will work fine.

 

[irishrover32]

this should be interesting keep us posted and good luck

 

[DocScott]

Gonna be highly spiced!!

Great job with the efficiency.

 

[RM-MN]

Be sure to rehydrate your dry yeast before pitching. It's going to need all the live cells it can get.

 

[Riot]

Might be worth it to chill to 60 ish before pitching. I have a feeling when that thing takes off its gonna produce a lot of heat relatively quickly

 

[Chadwick]

The brew has lift-off. It started slowly bubbling at a typical "bloop-bloop" pace yesterday at about 8pm. This morning it is a roaring ejection vent of CO2. I have a blow-off in place and the bucket lid is swelled up a bit with a constant roar of gas flowing out into the blow-off jug. LOL, I mean constant. It isn't just big bubbles. The fluid level inside the gallon jug at the end of the blow-off tube has risen about 2 inches. (I started with an inch of water in the jug). I hope it doesn't rise much more. I'm leaving for the university today and nobody will be home to check it until this evening. I'm sure it'll be ok though. I haven't had one pop off on me yet and I do a lot of BIG beers.

 

[vnzjunk]

The brew has lift-off. It started slowly bubbling at a typical "bloop-bloop" pace yesterday at about 8pm. This morning it is a roaring ejection vent of CO2. I have a blow-off in place and the bucket lid is swelled up a bit with a constant roar of gas flowing out into the blow-off jug. LOL, I mean constant. It isn't just big bubbles. The fluid level inside the gallon jug at the end of the blow-off tube has risen about 2 inches. (I started with an inch of water in the jug). I hope it doesn't rise much more. I'm leaving for the university today and nobody will be home to check it until this evening. I'm sure it'll be ok though. I haven't had one pop off on me yet and I do a lot of BIG beers.

Maybe you should have notified the Fire Dept before you shoved off......LOL

 

[chickypad]

Congrats on your batch. I was just wondering what your batch size is. Without the pumpkin I get 79% efficiency for a 5 gallon batch with your recipe, so I'm thinking you went bigger? Did you figure any yield from the pumpkin? I haven't found a good answer on that, Beersmith doesn't really give it anything (lists potential 1.001), but in BCS Jamil says to replace 2 lb base malt with 5 lb pumkpin, so it seems like he figures for about 14-15 pts per lb.

 

[grohr]

I brewed a high gravity Belgian ale for my son over the weekend, I used a white labs high gravity Belgium ale yeast and after 48 hours nothing at 60° in my refrigerator, pitched a packet of yeast and within eight hours it took off like a rocket, I had to drop the temperature in the refrigerator down to 50 and just used a standard airlock, Big mistake! I took a peek at my carboy this morning, it look like a volcano exploding in my refrigerator! What a freaking mess! Called work told them I was going to be late, got to make sure the beer is okay, lol

 

[Jayhem]

Not bad at all for a big beer! I routinely get 87-90% on all my AG beers that are OG 1.055 or less. I can't get more than about 80% from my big beers 1.060 and above.

 

[grohr]

I changed my tun from a 1/2" copper rack with holes in it to braided hose and I was finally able to brew bigger beer higher than 1.060 and I would also have to say it increased my efficiency

 

[dranderson]

Cant wait to hear about the results. Any pics?

 

[Chadwick]

I didn't take any pics while I was making it. I should have, that 10lb pumpkin chopped up in the mash was a sight to see. I didn't mash with any expectation of getting any measurable amount of sugars from the pumpkin. Perhaps I did get some, but I'll never know for certain.

Once I get one of these opened and poured I'll take a pic and post it. It will be awhile though. This is a BIG brew and I like to take my time with these. I wish I started on it earlier. It would have made a nice Christmas nightcap. I'll definitely be doing that with one of these next year (2014). The thing I like best about these real big beers is how they really shine with extended aging.

 

[Tutsbrew]

Holy crap that sounds like a monster and a half you had brewing there!

Did it turn out good? ...Do you remember anything at all since you started drinking it? hehe

 

[thadius856]

Still sounds like your crush is large.

You should have a fair amount of flour, and all husks should be separated from the endosperm.

 

[Chadwick]

I've been seeing many people asking about how this turned out. So here it is.

It's very strong (ABV) as expected. The spice profiles are WAY to strong. It's almost choking strong. I've been advised that these flavors will mellow out with time. And with that thought in mind, I'm keeping it stored away with the intention of trying it again toward the end of this year. If I had it to do again, I would have cut back on my spice additions by about 80%.

 

[chickypad]

I've been seeing many people asking about how this turned out. So here it is.

It's very strong (ABV) as expected. The spice profiles are WAY to strong. It's almost choking strong. I've been advised that these flavors will mellow out with time. And with that thought in mind, I'm keeping it stored away with the intention of trying it again toward the end of this year. If I had it to do again, I would have cut back on my spice additions by about 80%.

Actually didn't see that on the initial read, are those really tablespoons? No wonder! I use about 1.75 teaspoon total spices in a 5 gallon batch, or about 15 times less than in yours. Hope it mellows for you.

 

[jrgtr42]

Maybe you should have notified the Fire Dept before you shoved off......LOL

Did anyone else get the mental image from Mythbusters when they did the one about water heaters blowing up?
I can just picture a fermenter blasting a few stories in the air...

 

[Chadwick]

It was a blow-off needy fermentation. I always hook that thing up when using Nottingham. It tends to be a blow-off needy yeast.

 

[Chadwick]

Actually didn't see that on the initial read, are those really tablespoons? No wonder! I use about 1.75 teaspoon total spices in a 5 gallon batch, or about 15 times less than in yours. Hope it mellows for you.

It will mellow. But it will always be strongly flavored. This batch has served me well as a learning experience. Next time I do one of these, I may not even use any real pumpkin. Or maybe I will, I don't know for sure. I do know what I would do differently. I will use less spice, add an enzyme to break down the pumpkin, something like a winemaker might use to break down grape matter. Pectin enzyme perhaps? I drank one tonight for the heck of it. It is already mellowing a great deal. I would think a year of age just might make it something special. We'll have to wait and see.