Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[hawgwild81]

Rager or Tinseth?

What???

 

[Haputanlas]

Did you use the Rager or Tinseth formula for IBU calculation?

I'm sure beersmith can switch.

 

[trent]

Fly sparging now. Even with .5lb rice hulls, very slow. I'm not worried just letting it run it's time.

 

[hawgwild81]

Did you use the Rager or Tinseth formula for IBU calculation?

I'm sure beersmith can switch.

Oh...didn't know what that meant. I don't know for sure, but I'll be sure and check that. Thanks!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Fly sparging now. Even with .5lb rice hulls, very slow. I'm not worried just letting it run it's time.

Yup. Did yours start running crystal clear quicker than normal like mine did? I even used a full pound!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Oh...didn't know what that meant. I don't know for sure, but I'll be sure and check that. Thanks!

IIRC, in preferences or tools or settings or whatever there is bitterness option and you can choose which equation you want to use. Maybe that will make the difference you're experiencing.

 

[Sean0301]

I made this on Saturday and everything seemed to go pretty well. I stuck to the recipe to the letter and ended with a gravity 1.062 which I was pretty happy with.
It tasted outstanding going into primary and I cooled down to about 59 degrees before pitching. I decided to make one change and use American Ale II yeast from Wyeast just because I have been curious about the yeast itself and it seemed that this would be a good time to try it. I plan to bring up the temp to about 66 over the next week or so.

Thanks again Reno for posting your recipe and I will let you know how it ends up!

 

[FalkyBrew]

So is it rice hulls, pumpkin, then grains in that order to the mash tun? And it's ok to have the pumpkin still warm?

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[Sean0301]

That order worked fine for me. I had the Pumpkin still at about 115 degrees and it seemed to be fine. I still hit my target temps.

 

[absoluthamm]

As long as you watch your temps and have cool water on hand if you go over, you should be fine.

 

[FalkyBrew]

Would it make a difference to put the pumpkin on top? Maybe that would help it drain quicker?

 

[vtron]

I made the partial mash version of this recipe yesterday (my first partial mash!). It already tastes awesome. I can't wait for the yeasties to do their job so I get this bad boy on the keg. Thanks for the recipe and all the help, Reno.

 

[DustBow]

Gonna do this for a Labor Day brew session.
Has anyone ever taken the canned pumpkin puree and tossed it in a blender to really thin it out? I was thinking about filling half the blender with pumpkin, half with water and cranking the blender until you got a thin "pumpkin water."
Doing that for all 60oz of pumpkin and then adding the resulting "pumpkin water" to the strike water for the mash.

Comments? Is this a dumb idea?

I know everyone is saying to cook the pumpkin but doesn't that happen during the puree and canning process?

Just thinking out loud here....would the pumpkin eventually just bind back up and get thick again?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Would it make a difference to put the pumpkin on top? Maybe that would help it drain quicker?

The heat of the oven and mash will gelatinize the pumpkin starch and so once you mix it in it will evenly disperse.

Gonna do this for a Labor Day brew session.
Has anyone ever taken the canned pumpkin puree and tossed it in a blender to really thin it out? I was thinking about filling half the blender with pumpkin, half with water and cranking the blender until you got a thin "pumpkin water."
Doing that for all 60oz of pumpkin and then adding the resulting "pumpkin water" to the strike water for the mash.

Comments? Is this a dumb idea?

I know everyone is saying to cook the pumpkin but doesn't that happen during the puree and canning process?

Just thinking out loud here....would the pumpkin eventually just bind back up and get thick again?

In response to the bolded statement: yes. When you drain the water some will be lost by the pumpkin by connective forces exhibited by water/water-like-solutions. Then it's all beta-glucans, proteins and general gunky crap.

Baking caramelizes and gelatinizes, thus thining it out.

 

[trent]

Yup. Did yours start running crystal clear quicker than normal like mine did? I even used a full pound!

It was crystal clear before sparge, I continually recirculate so it was clear after 5-10 minutes during the mash.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Ah, gotcha. I'm a batch sparger

 

[SmokingDog]

Great post Reno, glad to see it alive for a couple years.

Looking to convert this over to a scottish-style version. A little higher gravity, special-b and a scot ale yeast. What do you think that would do to your recipe's flavor profile?

 

[absoluthamm]

Made my starter for this tonight, getting excited for brew day.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Great post Reno, glad to see it alive for a couple years.

Looking to convert this over to a scottish-style version. A little higher gravity, special-b and a scot ale yeast. What do you think that would do to your recipe's flavor profile?

Probably some currant/raisin notes from the Special B and more malt from the high gravity + yeast.

Made my starter for this tonight, getting excited for brew day.

Awesome! Are you just waiting for your order to come in?

 

[KozHops]

Just bottled this tonight. I added the 1.5 tbsp of pumkin pie spice during the last 15 mins of the boil. The spice was hardly noticeable at bottling tonight so I added .5 tbsp to the bottling bucket. I hope it doesn't overpower this brew but so far so good. Looking forward to this one in a few weeks.

 

[absoluthamm]

Awesome! Are you just waiting for your order to come in?

Nah, the grains came in last week, but I haven't had any free time. I'm actually going to be brewing it on Monday, but since I'll be gone from tonight until Sunday night, figured now would be the better time to make the starter and just keep it a little cooler.

 

[robrob]

Getting ready to brew this on Monday. Last batch was good. Not as much pumpkin flavor as I thought it would have but a brew that "floated" in short order. Going to do 10gal this time to keep it around longer. It was one boozy beer if I remember correctly. I had some missteps along the way so hoping I can get this one closer to the design. Will def use -05 on this one. More to come. Will post mid brew pics if there is an interest. Cheers!

 

[dustinp]

Oh that's because it was calculated using a certain starting temperature of my grain. I was able to set it then, but now for the live of me I can't figure out how to change it again. The strike temperature for less mash liquor is going to be higher anyway, considering you're using less of it to heat up the same amount of grain.

But personally, I'm going to step up to 24qts this time around away. I'm using a bigger cooler and need to fill more head-space.... that and the pumpkin absorbs a lot. BeerSmith shows me "24.00qt at 161.5*F (154*F step temp.) Mash thickness of 2.0 qt/lb... this of course is not including the pumpkin.

Reno,
Looks like a great recipe and very similar to another I found for a clone of the DFH Punkin Ale! Very excited to get this going and just ordered the bill! My only question is: have you figured out about how much extra water you would use for sparge with the extra absorption of pumpkin in the mash?
Thanks for the great recipe and will try to write back after all said and done!

 

[dustinp]

Reno,
Looks like a great recipe and very similar to another I found for a clone of the DFH Punkin Ale! Very excited to get this going and just ordered the bill! My only question is: have you figured out about how much extra water you would use for sparge with the extra absorption of pumpkin in the mash?
Thanks for the great recipe and will try to write back after all said and done!

One more question for everyone: I do not have a fermentation chamber/cooler so it is hard for me to get the primary temp down to low 60's. I was going to try Wyeast American Ale, but then thought maybe White Labs California Ale may be better and more clean since I will be fermenting around 68-70 degrees. Any thoughts/input on this?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Getting ready to brew this on Monday. Last batch was good. Not as much pumpkin flavor as I thought it would have but a brew that "floated" in short order. Going to do 10gal this time to keep it around longer. It was one boozy beer if I remember correctly. I had some missteps along the way so hoping I can get this one closer to the design. Will def use -05 on this one. More to come. Will post mid brew pics if there is an interest. Cheers!

There is always an interest for brew photos

Reno,
Looks like a great recipe and very similar to another I found for a clone of the DFH Punkin Ale! Very excited to get this going and just ordered the bill! My only question is: have you figured out about how much extra water you would use for sparge with the extra absorption of pumpkin in the mash?
Thanks for the great recipe and will try to write back after all said and done!

Actually the 24 quarts of strike water is what I eventually figured out works on my system with the two big cans (totaling ~60oz) of pumpkin. YMMV

One more question for everyone: I do not have a fermentation chamber/cooler so it is hard for me to get the primary temp down to low 60's. I was going to try Wyeast American Ale, but then thought maybe White Labs California Ale may be better and more clean since I will be fermenting around 68-70 degrees. Any thoughts/input on this?

I'd say go for the California. It can handle higher temps without throwing off too many esters/phenols. Just do everything in your power to keep the temperature constant. That is the key to temperature control. Make a water-bath for it or search for "swamp cooler" on the HBT search bar.

 

[FalkyBrew]

The punkin is in the oven!

Just an idea? What would happen if I put some of the spices in the mash? I should be mashing in about an hour or so.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well you'd probably drive off a lot of the aroma and flavor from a full 60 minute boil as opposed to adding the spice at the end of the boil.

Pumpkin looks great though!

 

[Old_E]

Brewed this today. Beer smith had the estimated O.G. at about 1.080... my actual hit 1.082. This stuff should be POWERFUL. Smelled great and had beautiful color. Pretty cloudy stuff. Hoping it will settle and clear some. This one may benefit from some gelatin. Thanks for the recipe!

 

[KCBigDog]

Finally got around to brewing this today. OG of 1.070.

Very smooth brew day, and the sample tasted great. Best part was my garage smelling like a pumpkin pie.

 

[FalkyBrew]

Here are some pics.



Mash



Run off



Adding the spice



1.062 @ 84* so I figure OG 1.065

It's smells great!