Pumpkin Ale gone wrong

[BrosBrews]

The wonderful fall season had me itching to make a pumpkin ale, and as a rookie brewer only 3 or 4 batches into my career I knew this could pose some challenges...the image attached shows a pour from a 22 oz bottle - the left glass containing the first pour, the right glass containing the second pour.

As you can see there is obvious haze and visible sediment floating around, not to mention severe color difference. I have looked into the yeast sediment issue and can understand how/why it might have happened with this batch. However, there is a TON of discoloration here and a heavy yeast/sour taste. I used 1 can pumpkin in the boil for the remaining 5 minutes as well as 1 oz nutmeg and 1 oz pumpkin pie spice. Fermentation was 2 weeks at 68 degrees. For the carb I used 4 oz brown sugar, tbsp of vanilla extract, and another tbsp of pumpkin pie spice.

Had what seemed like way too much trub collected when bottling, and therefore had to stop siphoning well before where I wanted to. Carb lasted 3 weeks overall.

Anyone have an idea of what's going on here? Was the whole can of pumpkin overkill?

Thanks!

 

[kh54s10]

It looks like you stirred up the sediment from the bottom of the bottle and poured it in the right glass. Let the beers sit a while longer and the sediment will pack down more tightly. Then when pouring, go gently so you don't stir up the sediment. Leave the last 1/4" in the bottle.

 

[Yooper]

It looks like you stirred up the sediment from the bottom of the bottle and poured it in the right glass. Let the beers sit a while longer and the sediment will pack down more tightly. Then when pouring, go gently so you don't stir up the sediment. Leave the last 1/4" in the bottle.

That's one of the issues with 22 oz bottles, if you don't have a 22 oz glass.

Pour your beer in one motion, into a pitcher or something if it won't fit in the glass. The "up and down" of starting and stopping and restarting the pour made the sediment from the bottom resuspend in the glass/beer.

Maybe more time in the fermenter next time, and more careful racking to avoid picking up trub, will make a cleaner less trub-filled brew going into the bottling bucket next time. And that will mean less trub in the bottle.

 

[freisste]

That's one of the issues with 22 oz bottles, if you don't have a 22 oz glass. Pour your beer in one motion, into a pitcher or something if it won't fit in the glass. The "up and down" of starting and stopping and restarting the pour made the sediment from the bottom resuspend in the glass/beer. Maybe more time in the fermenter next time, and more careful racking to avoid picking up trub, will make a cleaner less trub-filled brew going into the bottling bucket next time. And that will mean less trub in the bottle.

+1 to everything she said.

Also, did the glass on the left taste bad or only the one on the right? If only the one on the right, no issues, just be more careful. If it was also the one on the left, we will need a little more info to determine where you are getting weird flavors.

 

[BrosBrews]

+1 to everything she said.

Also, did the glass on the left taste bad or only the one on the right? If only the one on the right, no issues, just be more careful. If it was also the one on the left, we will need a little more info to determine where you are getting weird flavors.

The glass on the left tasted O.K. The ale came out quite spicey with something to be desired in terms of hop flavor. If I were to do it over again I would ditch the can of pumpkin and use a low AAU hop in addition to the 1 oz. of Northern Brewer I used. Personally, I think that relying on pumpkin pie spice and vanilla extract may work just fine for a pumpkin style brew.

 

[Adrenaline-Junkie]

It just looks like you managed to get a ton of sediment and stuff into your bottles. I would suggest letting your brews ferment a bit longer to let things settle out and when you transfer to a bucket to bottle be careful not to suck up the yeast and stuff from the bottom. I did a pumpkin pie ale as well recently and when you add a bunch of stuff to the wort you have to let it all settle out or itll show up in the bottle/glass at some point.

 

[CJPala09]

Did you do a "tertiary fermentation" in order to allow the pumpkin sediment to drop??

The pumpkin beers I do I use a special blend of pumpkin pie spices and vanilla bean in the boil. The "pumpkin" flavor from canned pumpkin or roasted pumpkin is hardly worth the headache. And, yes I've done it both ways roasted and not roasted.

 

[Adrenaline-Junkie]

A secondary isnt necessary to let everything drop out. Normally i transfer to a secondary and didnt for my last 2 brews and they turned out great. I agree that pumpkin doesnt add the pumpkin flavor people usually associated with pumpkin items but thats because everyone associates spices when it comes to pumpkin food items. To put it simply you arent making a pumpkin beer if you arent using pumpkin, youre making a spiced beer. Im not saying a spiced beer isnt good, but there is (at least to me) a very distinct difference between the two.

 

[SteveHeff]

I've had great success with using only a primary on some of my beers. You have to be a bit careful when transferring from your boil pot to your primary, though. I've poured mine through a 5 gallon paint strainer bag that I have inside of my primary bucket. After pouring all the contents into the bucket, simply pull the bag out with your boil sediment. It greatly reduces the amount of trub you might have in your primary.

If it's just yeast that you're pouring, the posters above nailed it. There are not too many 22 oz glasses out there and the back-and-forth motion really stirs up the second half of the bottle. Pour slowly and gently. Good luck with your future brews.

 

[BrosBrews]

Thanks all! Some great information here.