Pumpkin Ale
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Brew in a Bag.
I thought that is what it was, but when it comes to this hobby, I am taking no chances. thank you
So I brewed my Pumpkin Ale today, everything for the most part seemed to go OK. Hit all the temps and times just right, so I was expecting things to go OK. Just a couple of issues, first, well I pushed my solid plug into the wort when aerating.... I am sure I have read that is no big worry. It was sanitized, so I still not to sure what to think if it. It's still in there, as I cannot get it out and have no other place to ferment the Wort.
Second, my O.G. its as far as I can read about 1.056 @ 70deg. off from what I was supposed to have 1.042-1.046. I am a little new at reading but yeah, that is about what it is.
I did bake the Libby Pumpkin 400deg, 60 min, BIAB. 2x29oz cans for 58oz, maybe that makes the difference in the O.G? Other then that all went well as advertised.
Taste test the Wort, hmmm pumpkin pie.
hope it turns out.
Edit : Did a calibration check on my Hydrometer. Found water reading to be about 1.004, so I suppose that puts me at an adjusted O.G. 1.052
Second, my O.G. its as far as I can read about 1.056 @ 70deg. off from what I was supposed to have 1.042-1.046. I am a little new at reading but yeah, that is about what it is.
I did bake the Libby Pumpkin 400deg, 60 min, BIAB. 2x29oz cans for 58oz, maybe that makes the difference in the O.G? Other then that all went well as advertised.
Taste test the Wort, hmmm pumpkin pie.
hope it turns out.
Edit : Did a calibration check on my Hydrometer. Found water reading to be about 1.004, so I suppose that puts me at an adjusted O.G. 1.052
Good luck! I am still awaiting my kit to arrive in the mail...hopefully its here before the weekend so I can get it started soon. I think I will call it Hurricane Pumpkin Ale as my brew day looks like it will end up being when Irene pays us a visit.
aceinthehole
Active Member
Thats almost exactly what my reading was last weekend. I was at 1.055. As far as I know I did everything right, but my reading was high also. I guess I need to figure out how to calibrate it. I'm your typical noob, so I still have a lot to learn.
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It does have some LME, 6 lbs gold. But as some specialty grains in it to steep.
How long till your yeast kicked off?
The kit I got is mostly extract with some specialty grains. I usually go with a partial mash, but I decided to try the Northern Brewer Smashing Pumpkin Ale kit as the spices to go along with it made a little more sense, and it had a lot of great reviews. I usually buy AHS kits, but their pumpkin spice packet included orange peels, and that seemed a little odd to me.
I recently brewed my first Pumpkin Ale. I did a lot of research and didn't want to get stuck with a stuck sparge. So I decided to add the pumpkin to the boil after about 15 mins. I do 90 min boils, so I added the pumpkin at 75 mins. I also decided to layer the spices like we do hops. Some folks have tried experiments with spices and notice similar things like getting a spice base from hops that go in the boil early and more aroma from those that go late in the boil. I was amazed at how the color of the beer became bright orange as the boil progressed (once the pumpkin was in the kettle). I wanted some "breadiness" from the beer too, so I made sure to craft an appropriate grain bill. After all that, here's what I brewed (it will be kegged in a few days):
Don't worry about the bad efficiency. I was getting used to my new HERMS. Since then I've been able to peg the problems and I hit about 70% efficiency. Also note that this was for a 10.25 gal batch.
My pickup tube inside the keg has no filter/mesh because I whirlpool. But for this, I also put a bag on the end of my pickup tube (inside the keg) because I thought there would be a lot of pumpkin particles floating around. DON'T DO THAT! I don't care how fine the mesh is, it will clog. Best to do one of two things: (1) just collect all the pumpkin and hop stuff, let it ferment, then make sure you leave it behind when racking; or (2) use a mesh bag suspended in the kettle and put the pumpkin and hops inside of it. That combined with whirlpooling or some sort of pickup tube filter/mesh will probably help.
So I decided to add the pumpkin to the boil after about 15 mins. I do 90 min boils, so I added the pumpkin at 75 mins. I also decided to layer the spices like we do hops. Some folks have tried experiments with spices and notice similar things like getting a spice base from hops that go in the boil early and more aroma from those that go late in the boil. I was amazed at how the color of the beer became bright orange as the boil progressed (once the pumpkin was in the kettle). I wanted some "breadiness" from the beer too, so I made sure to craft an appropriate grain bill. After all that, here's what I brewed (it will be kegged in a few days):
Code:
Voodoo Pumpkin Ale
------------------
Batch Size: 10.25 gal (13.55 gal preboil)
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG (actual: 1.050 SG)
Estimated FG: 1.014 SG
Estimated IBUs: 23 (Tinseth; actual: 26)
Estimated Color: 10 SRM (actual: 10 SRM)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65% (actual: 54%)
Boil Time: 90 minutes
Grains:
16.00# Pale Malt (2-Row) US (2.0L) (51.51%)
0.75# Caramel/Crystal 60L (60.0L) (2.41%)
0.75# Carapils/Dextrine (2.0L) (2.41%)
1.75# Munich Malt 10L (10.0L) (5.63%)
1.75# Vienna Malt (3.5L) (5.63%)
1.00# Belgian biscuit (24.0L) (3.22%)
9.06# Pumpkin, canned (5.0L) (29.18%)
Hops:
1.00 oz Chinook (11.0%) @60 min
1.00 oz Willamette (4.8%) @30 min
1.00 oz Cascade (5.3%) @2 min
Yeast:
Fermentis Safale US-05 (Dry Ale)
Mash/Sparge Schedule:
Single Infusion, 154F; Batch Sparge
Fermentation Schedule:
14 days @66F
3 days @ 40F (crash cool)Don't worry about the bad efficiency. I was getting used to my new HERMS. Since then I've been able to peg the problems and I hit about 70% efficiency. Also note that this was for a 10.25 gal batch.
My pickup tube inside the keg has no filter/mesh because I whirlpool. But for this, I also put a bag on the end of my pickup tube (inside the keg) because I thought there would be a lot of pumpkin particles floating around. DON'T DO THAT! I don't care how fine the mesh is, it will clog. Best to do one of two things: (1) just collect all the pumpkin and hop stuff, let it ferment, then make sure you leave it behind when racking; or (2) use a mesh bag suspended in the kettle and put the pumpkin and hops inside of it. That combined with whirlpooling or some sort of pickup tube filter/mesh will probably help.
brew2enjoy
Well-Known Member
I just kegged my first pumpkin ale and it was delicious when I sampled it. I used three cans of pumpkin in the boil. I couldn't really pick up any pumpkin taste but I could taste the spices. I have heard that it is hard to get the actual pumpkin flavor.
aceinthehole
Active Member
I'm not exactly sure, but if I had to guess, around 12 hours maybe. I pitched at 3:00pm sunday, and when I went to check on it before leaving for work at 6:00 the next morning, (monday) the airlock was bubbling very good, about 1 bubble per second i would guess.
BrewinBigD
Well-Known Member
Careful on the pumpkin!
i just racked my punkin ale to secondary last night, was a 5 gallon batch with about 60 oz of pumpkin in it,, i ended up with the bottom 1.5 gallons of my fermenting bucket ALL PULP! clogged my siphon and everything. youll probably end up like me and only end up with 4 galons or so in your secondary.
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
A couple things:
1) Yes, from what I understand - particularly if you mash with it, Pumpkin will yield a few point of gravity in your brew. Part of why you bake it first is to ensure that at least a few of those points of gravity are unfermentable, so you'll still taste the pumpkin - so expect your FG to be a little higher than your kit tells you too!
2) As for a calibration check with your hydrometer: make sure you're checking at or near the temperature your hydro is calibrated for (should be listed on whatever instructions came with it), and make sure to use distilled water. Tap water could very well have enough impurities in it to throw off your measurement by a little bit.
cimirie
Well-Known Member
BrewinBigD said:
Big reason why I don't advocate putting pumpkin in the boil. Too much loss. Mash it instead and let the enzymes extract even more flavor AND let's you keep more of it to drink!
heeler
Well-Known Member
Dude..thats so funny, cause I brewed a 15 min pale ale this am and I'm gonna call it Hurricane Pale Ale for the obvious reasons. We are getting wind gusts now -- good luck.
Hopefully it turns out great! Good luck and stay safe...I don't think it will hit us quite as hard as it may down south, but the last time I experienced a hurricane, I was 9 years old, and all I remember is that we had no electricity for a week, and we lost 2 giant pine trees near the house.
mjperry24
Well-Known Member
I brewed my pumpkin ale on Tuesday. I used about 45oz of canned pumpkin direct in the boil. I had VERY little in terms of chunks, etc. carry over into my primary. That's not to say there's not a lot of pulp.
Was fermenting at a pretty good pace from shortly after I placed it into the primary until last night.. Has slowed some this morning... But it's giving off an unbelievably pleasant pumpkin / beer smell. Absolutely can't wait to try this one...
Was fermenting at a pretty good pace from shortly after I placed it into the primary until last night.. Has slowed some this morning... But it's giving off an unbelievably pleasant pumpkin / beer smell. Absolutely can't wait to try this one...
aceinthehole
Active Member
Thats an interesting observation. Maybe I will let it sit in primary for an extra week (3 weeks total), and then rack it to secondary for a week.
Did you use actual pumpkin, or the pumpkin with the spices in it? I also wonder if letting it sit in primary for an extra week will help all the extra stuff settle out??
aceinthehole
Active Member
I will have to keep this in mind for next year. I am new to all this, so everything for me is a learning curve.
BrewinBigD
Well-Known Member
my recipe was for canned pumpkin and spices were saigon cinnamon, nutmeg and clove, the third being the smallest amount due to its strength.
upon opening the fermenter, i had a strong smell of all the spices, and tasted it but only got the clove. when i got to the sludge, it was ALL pumpkin,, but smelled of cinnamon and nutmeg. so in secondary, i soaked a few cionamon sticks in vodka and tossed them in, along with some freshly grated nutmeg. hopefully the clove will mellow a bit and let the more gentle spices shine through,, if not i may add lactose to make it a little sweeter to offset the spicy clove.
Thanks I was just a little worried there. Mine is now currently fermenting. Nothing to crazy, but it is going. this morning I checked it about 5am, nothing, 11 hours since pitch. but I think it is just picking up speed.
Thanks, I did not know that. I will check again as you advised. Thank you.
LarryO1970
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This was after adding the WYEAST nutrient. For some reason, this was taking it's sweet time (I'm probably not patient enough, was approx 38 hours) to ferment. I was thinking of racking it after a week, but am thinking of letting it sit for the full two. Any insight and/or advice?
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