Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[absoluthamm]

Mashing at the moment, for some reason I can't get my mash temp high enough. Keep on having to add hot water.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Mashing at the moment, for some reason I can't get my mash temp high enough. Keep on having to add hot water.

Odd. Had that been a problem before?

What temp was the pumpkin when you added it?

 

[absoluthamm]

No, I think I narrowed it down to a bad thermometer though because adding hot water wasn't raising the temp. Although the domino effect happened and adding that water screwed me up later. After I drained the first wort and added the sparge, I started to drain the sparge into the same pot(usually I don't do this, but I was in the kitchen mashing today instead of outside where the propane is) but walked away and came back and it was filled to the brim, like 7.5 gallons(all because of the extra water added during mash and unaccounted for...), and I had nowhere near the amount of time needed to boil down to 5 gallons, so I went ahead as normal and my beer just won't have the nice alcohol content. My OG was ~1.047. Still smells amazing and the wort tastes good, it just won't have the alcohol =/

If it sucks because of the mistake, then I'll still have plenty of time to brew another batch before fall

 

[robrob]

Decent results but crazy day.

Did a 10gal batch so I could keep it around a day or two this time.

I baked the punkin for an hour at 350 but did not get the carmelization I was hoping for. Wife needed the oven or I would have hit it with a broil for a bit.

I made a change to the recipe but a minor one.

Instead of the 2lb of brown sugar (10gal) I used piloncillo for 3/4 of my total and then used another 8oz of light brown sugar to complete it...not sure how that will impact it. If you are not familiar with this is it a mexican sugar that is unprocessed and hard as a rock. It has a very "molasses" flavor...if you try and use this be careful tossing it in the pot. It takes a while to melt and I suspect easy to scorch.

I used an lb of rice hulls and it was not near enough. I have never had a stuck sparge in all my years of brewing and have even done this beer 1once prior but man what a day. No matter what I tried I could not get more than a trickle...took like 3+ hours to do a batch sparge...good thing it was a beautiful day!

All in all I only managed to get .060 out of it but it is quite tasty...going to start fermentation at 63 for a couple days then bring it up a little...looking forward to the 05 vs the 04 yeast I did last time. I am disappointed with the 060 but honestly after this session I am just happy to have a beer going...I am expecting it to be a little tepid in taste but who knows.

...more to come.

In any case...9.5 gal are in the tank.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

absoluthamm: Bummer. But I'm sure it'll taste fine. It's just a session version you made for the end of the summer while it's still warm. So now you can brew the stronger one for the chilly months ahead

robrob: If the piloncillo has a strong molasses flavor it should work just fine.

 

[Phockeybuker]

I brewed this as my first "not straight out of a kit" effort, and I've got to thank you all for the good info and insights (I think it went pretty well). I'm still a few weeks away from bottling, but what do you guys recommend in terms of priming/bottling for this pumpkiny goodness? I've used maple syrup and honey in the past, but thought I'd ping the pros to see what works well and makes sense for this brew.

 

[Gduck]

I made a 5 gallon batch of this last night. Considering last time I made a pumpkin beer it was awful I figured I'd follow someone else's recipe. Only changes I made where to compensate for what I had on hand. Ended up using Maris Otter instead of the pale, and used S-04 for the yeast.

Tis morning i had to replace the airlock with a blow off tube. I saw foam coming out of it so I went to grab and sanitize a blow of tube, I came back just in time to watch it erupt and the airlock get shot a couple feet away. The foam smelled like pie. Can't wait for this one to be ready!

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[FalkyBrew]

I came back just in time to watch it erupt and the airlock get shot a couple feet away. The foam smelled like pie. Can't wait for this one to be ready!

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

That's awesome!!!

 

[Tizzomes]

I'm brewing the partial mash recipe on Saturday and had a question. This would be my first pumpkin ale attempt and thought to add the pumpkin to the mash rather then the boil any thoughts? ?? Would I still get the full effect? ?

 

[Gduck]

I'm brewing the partial mash recipe on Saturday and had a question. This would be my first pumpkin ale attempt and thought to add the pumpkin to the mash rather then the boil any thoughts? ?? Would I still get the full effect? ?

I added mine to the mash. When I tried a different recipe in the past I added it in the boil and it was a big mess (put it in paint strainer bags but a lot of sediment still got out). So I decided that this time I'd put it in the mash. If you do use rice hulls. Seriously. Even with a pound of rice hulls the run off from my MLT was the slowest I ever had, though fortunately it never got stuck.

As for getting the full effect, pumpkin doesn't have a huge amount of flavor to begin with so I'm not sure flavor wise doing it either way would make much of a difference. A lot of the flavor should come from the spices. Color wise it made my wort a nice orange hazy color.

Sadly I have to wait a few weeks to see how it tastes.

 

[federaleigh]

Thanks for the recipe! I brewed this for the first time last week. As it sits in the primary, I'm curious about how long others have left theirs in the primary and whether or not they used a secondary. Did you follow the recipe or did you shorten/lengthen the # of days? Let me know what kind of results you had.

 

[Rivenin]

well, 2 weeks after brewing i had to move, old roomies said i could keep it there as long as i needed (mini fridge for a ferm fridge) and that was about a month or so ago.... and i prolly wont be able to get to it for another 2-3 weeks, so it'll be about 2 months in the primary haha

 

[Gduck]

My plan is 4 weeks in primary and then 4 weeks in bottles. Though that means I have to scour the basement to find where I out all those swing top bottles from back before i got my kegging system.

 

[trent]

Wow, I just checked my FG and I am at 1.004. Not sure what happened. Doesn't seem like infection, beer tastes great, is just dry. I have a feeling I might have underpitched. I also doubled checked both my hydrometers.

I just pulled another sample, to double check and it is at 1.004. I have never tasted an infection, but its hard to tell with all the spices -- it has a slight sourness, but I don't know if that is the spices. I have never had a pumpkin beer in the first place, I brewed this for the wife. I used 001, so I calculated out almost a 94% attenuation. I don't believe it. I am gonna keg it and chill it and see what happens.

 

[imtrashed]

For those that have done this recipe, what do you think about using WLP051 (Cali V) or WLP090 (San Diego Super Yeast)? I have these 2 on hand. Was planning a Citra Pale Ale with one, and I'm thinking about using the other on this beer. Possibly both beers in the same day for a monster brew day. Which might be suitable for this brew?

Or what about using a saison yeast (Wyeast 3725 - Biere de Garde yeast)? I have some washed yeast that I might not end up using, but could it be good here? I got some tartness from it for my saison and biere de garde, and it finished pretty dry. Would it throw this punkin ale off the mark?

Thanks for any input.

 

[absoluthamm]

This is what happens when you pitch a 2L starter into 6 gal of wort in a 6.5 gal bucket and then forget where your blowoff hose is. It is the stickiest runoff I've ever witnessed

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Home Brew Talk

 

[Reno_eNVy]

SO MANY CONTRIBUTORS!! It makes me oh so happy to see this many people experiment with and enjoy my favorite recipe! ^_^

absoluthamm: Fantastic photos! Hope the clean-up isn't a pain. And yeah, I could have told you that was a bad idea


imtrashed: Cali V sounds like it should work. Biere de Garde sounds interesting, I might try it on this recipe if the gravity was boosted and spiced more (i.e. more clove, some licorice root, juniper, etc)


trent: 1.004 is a bit low... did you hold your mash temperatures the entire time? And the spices don't make it sour... there might be a slight infection. But whatever, as long as it tastes good it doesn't matter The sourness will also likely clear up a bit as you let it sit in the keg. As always, the last pint is the best one!


Gduck: 4 week primary and 4 week bottle conditioning sounds perfect!


Rivenin: 2 month primary? Nice. Just be prepared for the clearest, cleanest brew you've ever had. What temperature is it at? Is the temperature constant?


federaleigh: I typically do a 4-6 week primary, no secondary. Then it's straight to the keg. The original numbers are my old techniques and I don't think I can change them. However, 21 days primary and then 3 days secondary will yield good results as well. Also, it should be noted that the 3 day secondary really means I kegged it and left the keg out at room temperature for 3 days before putting it in the kegerator and hitting it with CO2.

 

[Rivenin]

Rivenin: 2 month primary? Nice. Just be prepared for the clearest, cleanest brew you've ever had. What temperature is it at? Is the temperature constant?

Was between 65-70 on safale 05 for about a month, then about a week ago i dropped it off to 45 to let everything crash, i'm really wanting to sample this, but i haven't the time during a remodel as well

 

[trent]

trent: 1.004 is a bit low... did you hold your mash temperatures the entire time? And the spices don't make it sour... there might be a slight infection. But whatever, as long as it tastes good it doesn't matter The sourness will also likely clear up a bit as you let it sit in the keg. As always, the last pint is the best one!

Since I am HERMS I hold my mash temp perfect -- 154 the entire time. I had about 85% efficency, I wonder if I was just too efficent? I am going to rebrew and try 04 this time, and probably mash higher. 158?

T

 

[FalkyBrew]

Wow it's foaming like a mofo! Its been a day since i looked at it. When I made it to the cellar all i see is foam coming up into the airlock. So I just had to make an impromptu blow off valve.

 

[rloc]

Just started my mash on this now. Threw in 2 pounds of rice hulls just in case. Making 11 gallons. Recirculating the mash now and so far so good! I was worried about all of that pumpkin getting stuck in the mash...

 

[jacobmarley]

Awesome! My Punkin ale foamed like crazy as well

 

[FightingBob]

Something similar to this will be my next brew. I'm going add 4 oz of chocolate, use Wyeast 1272, and ferment on the cool side.

I love autumn and this will be ready just when the leaves are peaking.

 

[SkylerChaBro]

This thread has blown the eff up since I last visited. I ended up going with a recipe influenced by this and the Thunderstruck version. Played with Beersmith for a good while and brewed up a fresh batch that is now at the end of life within the better bottle.

I luckily had some McCormic's on hand so that is what I used, measured as per your recipe. The only problem we had was the OG falling short due to some sparging issues. We generally BIAB, but this time the LHBS lacked the bag! Next time I'll have to make sure I buy what I need well before the brew day.

Oh, and I let fermentation reach 72 for a solid 10+ hours. Slapped my own wrist for that one.

 

[Canadabrew]

Just brewed 10 gallons of this. Smells amazing.

Putting in fermenters now!!

 

[Canadabrew]

Ended up splitting my 10 gallons into 2 and pitched us-05 into one and us-04 into the other.

Will be interesting to see the difference.

 

[Blackhawkbrew]

Just mashed in! 20 quarts, mash now sitting a bit low at 152* but not worried. Had to stir a bit longer than thought because of the pumpkin clumps. Smells awesome! Second go around with this recipe. First one was fantastic. In fact, this was commissioned by my BiL. Ya have to like when people like your brew

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Just mashed in! 20 quarts, mash now sitting a bit low at 152* but not worried. Had to stir a bit longer than thought because of the pumpkin clumps. Smells awesome! Second go around with this recipe. First one was fantastic. In fact, this was commissioned by my BiL. Ya have to like when people like your brew

Music to my ears :rockin:

 

[icebrain]

Just crushed my grain for this one this afternoon, going to make it for the second time tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll have better efficiency after crushing it myself this time. Will try to take pictures.

 

[Tizzomes]

I'll be doing the partial mash version and wanting to do a full boil for the first time. Should I mash in with the full amount if water?Also does 7 gallons seem like the right amout ( mash, boil, chill )