Pumpkin something

[BRENTMAN]

Sounds yummy Brentman. How much did you lose? I'm thinking I may lose 1 gallon. I have a large nylon grain bag or even a strainer I could use when transferring from kettle to fermenter. Might help filter some of the gunk. Any thoughts on what you may have done differently? I am planning on brewing this weekend. Picked up some of the supplies today.

I lost well over a gallon this time, close to 2. Pretty unfortunate, but the racking became unbearable, so I cut my losses. Siphon tubing got clogged a lot. Last time I brewed a pumpkin I only lost about a gallon. The extra can of Libby's with the addition of graham crackers caused this greater lost, I assume. I think next year I'll try using pumpkin purée. And/or perhaps dabble with a strainer or cold crashing it for 24 hours before each time I need to rack it. Still, it's tasting phenomenal, so I'm not too sad. It'll be a special reserve batch, aka not too much sharing will commence! Good luck with your brew, do post on how it goes. When are you doing it?

 

[opus345]

I lost well over a gallon this time, close to 2. Pretty unfortunate, but the racking became unbearable, so I cut my losses. Siphon tubing got clogged a lot. Last time I brewed a pumpkin I only lost about a gallon. The extra can of Libby's with the addition of graham crackers caused this greater lost, I assume. I think next year I'll try using pumpkin purée. And/or perhaps dabble with a strainer or cold crashing it for 24 hours before each time I need to rack it. Still, it's tasting phenomenal, so I'm not too sad. It'll be a special reserve batch, aka not too much sharing will commence! Good luck with your brew, do post on how it goes. When are you doing it?

Take a look at the BIAB process. I use it for my AG and my Extract Mini-Mashes. Most of the trub gets left in the bag. Significantly reduced the amount of loss on batches.

 

[BRENTMAN]

Sounds good, I'll do some reading!

 

[BansheeRider]

Hey guys I'm brewing the MWS recipe in a couple hours. I doubled the spices in the recipe and I'm going to dump 45oz of canned pumpkin in the last 5 min of the boil. Can't wait to see how it's going to turn out. I'm also going to add some left over DME to bring up the ABV a bit.

 

[GuyBob]

So hey. I brewed Monday. It went pretty well. I used 60 oz of canned pumpkin. I put the pumpkin pie filling in baking dish, w/ 1# of brown sugar, 12 oz orange blossom honey, 6 oz maple syrup, 1 cup of gram cracker, tbsp vanilla extract and a little cinnamon and nutmeg. Baked for 30 mins. Added to boil at 30 mins. I followed the base line of MW pumpkin recipe. I did add more brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, pumpkin spices and last of hops at 2 min mark. Coiled down below 90 and pitched s-05 and stuffed in 50 degree fermenter chamber. Let sit for a few hours and then set to 62 degrees. She's bubbling like crazy right now (vent hose) multiple bubbles every 1/2 second. OG 1.070. Tasted pretty good. Will see what happens. Brentman, took your idea of gram cracker. Not sure if 1 cup was enough tho to taste. We will see. Thanks for reading.

 

[BRENTMAN]

Sounds good! How was the color? 1.070 is a lot higher than mine. Have fun with the siphoning. You'll have to post updates on everything. I'm going to be bottling my pumpkin in a few days.

 

[GuyBob]

Color looked to be pretty orange. Yea the gravity was high but I wanted something that had some kick to it plus all the sugars should keep it pretty smooth. I used Mt Hood and Cascade hops. Ill let you know progress. I did siphon from kettle to fermenter and ended up with about 6 gallons. Time will tell. I will cold crash this and will either keg or bottle. Not sure yet. Please do the same and update.

 

[opus345]

Oh my. OG = 1.080. Two weeks SG = 1.010. I think I need to call it the Imperial Smashing Pumpkin.

 

[GuyBob]

Update if any one is still following. Cold crashing pumpkin ale now and will be transferring to keg tomorrow night. Will let you know gravity and how much I lose from pie filling. Hope it tastes good.

 

[BRENTMAN]

Cool. Eager to hear how it comes out. Started popping some of mine this week. Very happy w it. Pumpkin flavor settled to a perfect level, and i can taste a small hint of the graham cracker. Needs to carb/condition a tad more, maybe another week or so. All who've had a taste so far really like it. Hope yours is a success.

 

[GuyBob]

Glad yours is doing well. I racked to keg last night after cold crashing. I lost a good gallon or so with trub. OG was 1.070 and FG is 1.010. About 8% abv. Tasted pretty good. I added a little more vanilla and pumpkin spice when racking. Put on gas and in kegerator. Will let it sit for at a least week before trying it. Maybe longer. Wii report later

 

[GuyBob]

Pumpkin on gas

 

[tcchris]

I'm thinking of making a pumpkin ale, can someone explain why you cook the pumpkin as apposed to just putting it in straight from the can?

 

[GuyBob]

Tcchris: it brings out more flavor in the pumpkin

 

[bboyeruga]

Just bottled my Chocolate Pumpkin Porter. Tastes like a bar of chocolate and pumpkin pie consummated and had a delicious alcoholic child out of wedlock.

I just used 1oz of pumpkin pie spice in mine and it has a very distinct pumpkin flavor. I definitely don't recommend using any more than that.

I'll report back in a couple weeks when I crack one open.

 

[tcchris]

Thanks GuyBob. I thought it had to do with sanitation , which shouldn't be a problem with canned pumpkin

 

[GuyBob]

Not to mention you will be putting it in 220 degree water. Ha! I baked mine with brown sugar, maple syrup and some other stuff.

 

[BRENTMAN]

I'm thinking of making a pumpkin ale, can someone explain why you cook the pumpkin as apposed to just putting it in straight from the can?

Baking the pumpkin filling crystalizes the sugars which will bring out more of the sweetness/pumpkin flavor.

 

[BRENTMAN]

Just bottled my Chocolate Pumpkin Porter. Tastes like a bar of chocolate and pumpkin pie consummated and had a delicious alcoholic child out of wedlock.

I just used 1oz of pumpkin pie spice in mine and it has a very distinct pumpkin flavor. I definitely don't recommend using any more than that.

I'll report back in a couple weeks when I crack one open.

This sounds amazing. How did you brew this?

 

[BRENTMAN]

Thanks GuyBob. I thought it had to do with sanitation , which shouldn't be a problem with canned pumpkin

By the way, you could definitely put it in the boil straight from the can if you wanted to. I made a 'Halloween' beer that I made up; added 3/4 of a can of pumpkin pie filling to it (un-baked)...came out great with just a small hint of pumpkin in the background.

 

[wpjessie]

I've made pumpkin ale with a Midwest kit, turned out excellently. I add 40oz (+) of pumpkin puree and a ton of extra spices.

 

[bboyeruga]

This sounds amazing. How did you brew this?

I took a basic porter extract kit and added a chunk of baker's chocolate and 1.25 oz of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie spice to the boil with 10 minutes left. I call it Chocolatey Pumpkin Sex

 

[GuyBob]

Week in the keg and gave it a shot. 8% abv. Slight pumpkin, taste slight maple syrup, gram cracker. Added a little more pumpkin spice to keg. Pretty smooth for high abv. Will deff add more to boil next time. Didn't want to add too much. Only added 2 tbsp to boil at flame out. Added 60 oz of pumpkin as well. Very tasty tho. Thanks for the help and feed back. Here's a pic

 

[opus345]

Bottled tonight.

OG = 1.080
FG = 1.007
ABV = 9.58%

 

[BRENTMAN]

My pumpkin ale is gone. Came out fantastic. Gave some to a few pumpkin ale lovers, and every one of them said they preferred it over the ones they've bought. My aunt even did a blind test w 3 of her friends; mine and pumking, they all picked mine. Pretty proud !

 

[GuyBob]

That's awesome! Mine came out ok. I put a lot of different stuff in it. Was yours extract and what was the ingredients? I am curious. I have some family coming into town for thanksgiving and wanted to have a good overall festive beer. Any ideas?