Pumpkin Ale already reached FG in only 8 days???

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

universalfrost

Keep your stick on the ice.
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
384
Reaction score
143
Location
Belpre, Ohio
I brewed a midwest pumpkin ale 5.5 gal with a few tweaks like twice as much brown sugar 1lb... and 45oz of pumpkin that I baked with extra spices etc...and added at flameout..

The beer was brewed on August 10th and a SG of 1.046 was recorded (high side of the advertised range per midwest..

I did use 2 packs instead of one of the safale us05 and rehydrate before pitching..

I was a bit concerned because of no real activities in the bubbler wryly on but opened the bucket after a few days and saw a nice head of foam.

I closed back up, but the past week still nothing on the bubbler....(my fuggles ipa I brewed a month ago is still bubbling occasionally right next to it)....

Temp is constant 70 degrees and dark room..

This evening I cracked open the bucket and no more foamy head, so I took a siphon and it read 1.006 ...this is below the range of 1.010 to 1.012, but can be explained by extra yeast and double sugars and extra pumpkin.

I tasted it and tasted good...

I'm just scratching my head about it reaching final gravity so fast and with little activity....


Advice is appreciated....

I'm also wondering about racking to secondary to mellow and age or just bottle and let bottle condition to reach a good flavor in a few weeks...
 
I agree day_trippr, my pumpkin ale is done in about a week, it's about a 1.052 SG using Wyeast 1056.
 
1) Reaching FG after eight days isn't unusual in the least

2) Adding a full lb of brown sugar will really dry out a smaller beer (1.046), so it's not surprising that you got to 1.006 from there, especially with 05.

3) Pumpkin ales generally have more body and finish much higher than 1.006, but it's your beer, so do as you please!

4) You didn't need to pitch two packs of 05 into such a small beer. It was a massive over pitch, which isn't a best practice.

Package it and let it age for a bit, as the spice in these beers often need a little time to mellow and meld. Good luck!
 
Agreed, most fermentations are done in 5-7 days. Even the one still bubbling is probably done fermenting and just off gassing co2. A few days after you reach final gravity is good insurance and will allow the yeast to totally finish. There are off flavors that are created during active fermentation that the yeast continue to work on.

I agree that you only needed one pack of yeast.

The pumpkin ale will benefit from a little more time than a simple ale to allow the flavors to blend.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I was using a modified recipe for the pumpkin ale that I found on here.

The addition of extra brown sugar added a bit of a sweetness and not dryness that can normally occur with added sugars.

The addition of 2 packs of yeast was because I didn't want underperformed yeast with do much pumpkin just sitting in the beer and have it go bad before the 1 pack of yeast could convert the sugars.

Based on the taste of it yesterday it's good, but spices need to mellow as you said earlier... I'm going to bottle it and let it sit for at least a month.. orih6had not planned on bottling til mid September and letting sit in bottles til mid October before trying .
 
Thanks for the replies by the way...

Also I am a believer in aging beers....I don't crack a beer until at least 1 month after bottling...with the exception of the aih steamboat ale ...that stuff is good right from the time it hits fg....
 
The US-05 yeast is some vigorous stuff. I've pitched from the packet, straight into the wort and made starters with it, as well. Never fails to impress me how fast it drops.
For my ale, I've let it finish a 5gal. batch after 12-14 days on one 11gr packet of US-05 in a wort starter. I try not to underpitch and keep my temps in the mid- to low 60'sF.
 
Back
Top