Autumn Seasonal Beer Imperial Pumpkin Pie Ale

[nofunnatrin]

Brewing this recipe this weekend - I'll likely go for 5 gallons and add the baked pumpkin with the first hops, thanks @teachtim

 

[Ballardinho]

Teachtim....because this is a pretty big beer, did you use a blow off tube on your primary?? I haven't done one before but perhaps this is the time to rig it up?

 

[teachtim]

Yes on the blow off tube. I have a ferm fridge on a temp controller so the temp is always perfect. The fermentation was so vigorous that we could here the bubbles with the door closed. There was a good amount of funk left in the the bottom 3" of the blow off tube but that will clean right up.
We took a gravity reading tonight and it's at 1.020. Based on other posts in this thread it may be close to finished. We'll check it again on Saturday and compare. Sample tasted amazing, so much so we aren't going to add the pumpkin pie spice at kegging.

 

[nofunnatrin]

5.5 gallons, 1.090 OG. Very vigorous fermentation. Smells delicious

 

[vanvlack]

Made some minor tweeks to the recipe, but my buddy and I just finished up, each doing a 5 gallon brew of the same. 17 lb 2-row, 2lb 20L, and 1 lb of Victory.

I brewed this on Sunday. Unfortunately had horrible efficiency, coming in around 60%, with OG 1.081 in 5.5 gallons. I'm thinking it was likely due to my batch sparging.

Should still be good, but not as big as others here. Even with that, samples tasted good and should be a winner to try and get better with next time.

Either way, excited to drink this.

 

[Oophaga]

I never saw this addressed were all the spices ground measurements? Cloves in particular?

 

[John53189]

I am brewing this for sure

 

[danomyte]

"At bottling - 1.25 tsp of Pumpkin Pie spice was added per 5 gallons as well as
~4 oz of real vanilla extract"

confused by this wording; i know this is a 10gal recipe...so 8oz of vanilla total? or is the 4oz for the whole 10 gal?

 

[danomyte]

One more thing I'd like to get clarification on, the recipe says 75 minutes of boiling at the top, but doesn't list anything into the boil until 60 minutes. Why boil for 15 minutes with nothing added?

Boiling Time (Minutes): 75
2.00 oz Magnum [13.10%] (60 min) Hops 36.2 IBU

 

[myndflyte]

One more thing I'd like to get clarification on, the recipe says 75 minutes of boiling at the top, but doesn't list anything into the boil until 60 minutes. Why boil for 15 minutes with nothing added?

Boiling Time (Minutes): 75
2.00 oz Magnum [13.10%] (60 min) Hops 36.2 IBU

Most likely to get the volume down to the right spot, otherwise there would be too much wort left after only 60 mins.

 

[fattywaters]

I just brewed this yesterday, all my numbers were just right and it had really taken off today in my basement. And it smells awesome to boot...

 

[teachtim]

Finally tapped the keg last Saturday and we are making 10 more gallons this weekend. Amazing recipe. Thanks to the OP!!!!

 

[Flomaster]

One more thing I'd like to get clarification on, the recipe says 75 minutes of boiling at the top, but doesn't list anything into the boil until 60 minutes. Why boil for 15 minutes with nothing added?

Boiling Time (Minutes): 75
2.00 oz Magnum [13.10%] (60 min) Hops 36.2 IBU

Longer boils give you higher gravity, the longer hops are boiled the more bitter your beer is.

 

[Lgaddy44]

Kegged our batches today and both finished at 1.018. Very surprised the yeast chewed them down so far (guessing my basement hovers around 70 degrees or so), but both mine and my buddy's beers tasted great. Mine ended up around 10.25%, where his was around 9.45%, neither tasting all that hot for being so potent. We added the pumpkin pie spice to the kegs for an extra kick of flavor, but opted not to add the vanilla infused vodka I made. We just didn't think it needed anything else.

Looking forward to this carbing up. I don't expect it to last long.

 

[DoubleDuse]

Just killed 2 hours at work reading this thread....don't tell the boss. Really hoping my temp controller shows up in the mail by Friday so I can brew this weekend. I've never made a yeast starter so I'm planning on using 2 packs of Safale S-04 for a 5 gallon batch, will that work? Also planning on using a real pumpkin so I'll bake that off Friday night. Headed to the LHBS after work. Cheers

 

[jsun]

Would it be ok to use something like Cascade instead of Sterling? I have a lot of Cascade right now, and it seems like the malts and spices determine the flavor more than the hops

 

[jwible204]

Would it be ok to use something like Cascade instead of Sterling? I have a lot of Cascade right now, and it seems like the malts and spices determine the flavor more than the hops

I would just skip the late addition instead of using Cascade, that will contrast with the spices too much.

 

[jwible204]

Just killed 2 hours at work reading this thread....don't tell the boss. Really hoping my temp controller shows up in the mail by Friday so I can brew this weekend. I've never made a yeast starter so I'm planning on using 2 packs of Safale S-04 for a 5 gallon batch, will that work? Also planning on using a real pumpkin so I'll bake that off Friday night. Headed to the LHBS after work. Cheers

2 packs of 04 will be fine.

 

[jsun]

I would just skip the late addition instead of using Cascade, that will contrast with the spices too much.

Cool, thanks

 

[DoubleDuse]

It's smells so good in this house right now. Bumped my grain bill down to 12.25 lbs. don't think I could have fit all 17 pounds in my tun. Cheers

 

[danomyte]

tons of sugar in this, it blew my airlock off. hope the few hours it spent fermenting in the open will be ok!!

 

[fattywaters]

Kegged and drinking it. It tastes really good, I will be brewing this one again.

 

[nofunnatrin]

tons of sugar in this, it blew my airlock off. hope the few hours it spent fermenting in the open will be ok!!

Mine did the same but the airlock was only off for about an hour. After a few weeks fermenting, I didn't see our taste any signs of contamination. Don't worry too much

 

[COEBRA]

Mine did the same but the airlock was only off for about an hour. After a few weeks fermenting, I didn't see our taste any signs of contamination. Don't worry too much

When it's that active, the amount of Co2 gas the yeast is making quickly expels any contaminates. Especially ones that need air to live. As long as you put the airlock back on after it settled down your golden. With high gravity beers like this one, I don't snap my ale pail lid on but rather kind of just set if on top for about 48 hours until it calms down.

 

[peejaynj]

Just curious, what was your water to grain ratio in the mash? Like usual 3ish gallons at 152 and then another two/3 at sparge?

 

[peejaynj]

For a 5 gallon batch that is

 

[COEBRA]

Just curious, what was your water to grain ratio in the mash? Like usual 3ish gallons at 152 and then another two/3 at sparge?

I used 19 lbs of grain in a 10 gallon cooler with a ratio of 1.35 qts per lb. That's 6.4 gallons. Remember all that grain will absorb a lot of water. Sparged at 168 until I reached me needed boil volume. My pre boil gravity was 1.076 which ended up prefect. I boiled 7 gallons for 15 minutes and then started the additions and 60 minutes timer. Added 60oz of baked pumpkin pie mix to the boil with 20 minutes left and it came out amazing! Nailed the gravity to the fermenter at 1.093! I do a SLOW batch sparge to convert the maximum sugar. About 45 minutes to gather 6.5-7 gallons. Hope this helps.

 

[Adirondack47]

For those of you that have used vanilla beans with this recipe: how much and when?

My water and pumpkin loss calculations were way off on my first BIAB and I think I'm only going to end up with about 3-3.5 gallons of packaged beer. I brewed on 10/11 and (2) Sachs of US-04 have already brought it down to 1.016 as of this morning (my first gravity reading).

I'm not looking for a vanilla bomb but more of a layered/accompanying vanilla aspect. I have a few cut and scraped whole beans that have been sitting in 4oz of Captain Morgan's rum for a week and am thinking that 1 whole bean in my carboy a few days before bottling (maybe while I cold crash) would get me there.

Having never used vanilla beans in any kind of brew before, any input or advice is very welcomed.

 

[COEBRA]

For those of you that have used vanilla beans with this recipe: how much and when?

My water and pumpkin loss calculations were way off on my first BIAB and I think I'm only going to end up with about 3-3.5 gallons of packaged beer. I brewed on 10/11 and (2) Sachs of US-04 have already brought it down to 1.016 as of this morning (my first gravity reading).

I'm not looking for a vanilla bomb but more of a layered/accompanying vanilla aspect. I have a few cut and scraped whole beans that have been sitting in 4oz of Captain Morgan's rum for a week and am thinking that 1 whole bean in my carboy a few days before bottling (maybe while I cold crash) would get me there.

Having never used vanilla beans in any kind of brew before, any input or advice is very welcomed.

I haven't had good luck soaking beans. I'm going with vanilla extract this time and using the recommended amount of 4-5 oz at bottling. We'll see if the flavor is there. It should make it taste like whipped cream on the pumpkin pie! Lol

 

[nofunnatrin]

Just measured final gravity and calculated 10.5% after secondary fermentation. Bottling later this week. It tastes and smells delicious. Excite.