Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[Gduck]

Fighting hard not to pop any of the bottles on this one. Decided to bottle rather than keg as I'm not sure I'd drink a keg of it in a timely enough manner and I want to be able to easily bring some for seeing relatives in a couple weeks.

It's been in the bottle two weeks now so I want to leave it alone for at least one more before sampling one. The hydrometer reading came out at 1.012 which I was quite happy with... And the taste from that sample.. Wow... So looking forward to kicking back with a pint or two of this one!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Heck yes! :rockin:

I'd say wait the extra week.. it'll be worth it.

 

[sacrifice]

Finished brewing this one a few hours ago - smells great. Gave me my first stuck sparge - more like a double stuck sparge.

All worked out well though, and am looking forward to trying it.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Glad it worked out. Those stickers can be a real pain.

I've brewed this one enough times that I now have a zen-like approach to the lautering/sparging. It takes as long as it takes. If the protein-gunk gods feel like being ********s then so be it. That just means more down-time for me to RDWHAHB

 

[Faseel]

Hey Reno my man, got any water specs for your area? Mine is rather hard, and I what to figure out how much R.O. water ill need to cut with. Thanks!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Hey Reno my man, got any water specs for your area? Mine is rather hard, and I what to figure out how much R.O. water ill need to cut with. Thanks!

Here's the data. Granted, I did this on an older version of EZ Water calculator... I'd recommend getting EZ Water 3.0.1

Starting Water (values in ppm)
Ca: 11.2
Mg: 3.41
Na: 14
Cl: 11
SO4: 4.1
Alkalinity: 52

Overall it's some really good water for brewing. If I ever wanted to do a pils I wouldn't need very much RO or distilled water at all.

Water Profile (after salt addition)
Ca: 82
Mg: 10
Na: 14
Cl: 43
SO4: 30
Alkalinity: 117

Residual Alkalinity: 53 (pH suitable for 10 - 14 SRM)
Chloride to Sulfate Ratio: 1.44 (Malty)



The "pH suitable for ____ SRM" is not as accurate as you'll get with the v3.0.1 EZ Water where you can add each specific grain so it can really nail down your mash pH.

 

[BarleyOH]

I brewed a 5 gallon batch using an all-grain recipe modified so that I did not have to toast my own grains. (Thanks for the recipe and information by the way.) I experienced the slow sparge, etc. No real problems though. I am in secondary fermentation and have just put in gelatin to clarify.

The issue I have run into is that there is a thick layer of sludgy liquid filling about a third of the carboy. The other two-thirds looks normal. The racking was slow for a long period so this was obviously the case in the primary as well. My plan is to filter this when bottling, but since I filtered after brewing I'm not sure if this will help.

Did anyone else experience this and, if so, what did you do?

 

[Barnzy02]

I lost a lot of volume because of pumpkin sludge. I chalked it up to a lesson learned. Next time I'm either mashing the pumpkin or if I boil it again, I'm going to put the pumpkin into a bag while boiling.

 

[BarleyOH]

I did put the pumpkin in the mash so I'm not sure how to avoid this again. A finer filter perhaps.

 

[Brewskii]

Reno...You da man! this is killer...my "epoxy note" was gone (as expected):rockin: and the vanilla I secondaried on is subtle, cinnamon is prominent at bottling but is sure to mellow with time. This is a definite do again! Oh, BTW I bottled With Brown sugar...Not expecting to get much out of that but I think it may add a little complexity

 

[Reno_eNVy]

That is an awesome photo!

 

[Tizzomes]

I opened my first bottle after 2 weeks and it has some great potential. The mouth feel was a bit under carbonated I'm sure its from the lack of time.It tasted great so far, I got the spice flavor at the end. Good beer I'm hoping it all cones together soon...!

 

[Faseel]

Does this recipe benefit from a cold crash at all?

 

[Faseel]

Here is something weird, anyone have this with no issues? My refractor reading is still 9 at 4.5 gallons sp seems ok. Its just all caked in the middle

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Heh, weird grain bed. But if your refractometer is still giving you good readings then I'm sure it's fine.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Does this recipe benefit from a cold crash at all?

Sure, it makes what you rack to the keg or bottling bucket low on trub (especially if you do pumpkin the in boil without a grain bag or strainer )

 

[KCBigDog]

Tried one of these yesterday after 3 weeks in bottle. Not really carbed yet, but the flavor was pretty good.

I've got high hopes for it, but I'm surprised it wasn't carbed yet.

 

[Faseel]

Hmm what did you prime with and did you cold crash it?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Also, what was your O.G?

 

[KCBigDog]

OG was 1.070

FG was 1.010

Carbed with coopers carb drops, as always. Bottled a 12 pack, rest in naturally carbing in a keg.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Okay, so you have a high gravity beer. The general rule is "Higher OG, longer time to condition"

 

[Mojoe4]

Brewed this last year and just again last weekend. Everything went really well. Used a little more pumpkin this year and 2 pounds of rice hulls.
Gravity came out right on target, and I went with wyeast 1272.
Love it when I have a problem free brew day!

Thanks again for the recipe Reno

 

[Gduck]

Finally tried one and damn it was great! After a couple years of failed experiments with pumpkin I'm glad I stumbled on to your recipe!

As I like mine a little more pie forward I added about another 1tbs of pie spice at bottling (sanitized the spice in a bit of vanilla rum). Really happy with the flavor and the body of the beer. And yeah, it goes great with a big ole slice of pumpkin pie.

Thanks!

 

[Faseel]

Oh hey, I like the additional spice at bottling. How much vanilla rum did you use as well?

 

[Gduck]

Oh hey, I like the additional spice at bottling. How much vanilla rum did you use as well?

Not much. I didn't measure it, but used just enough to cover the spice and thin it out so it wasn't like paste when I stirred it together. It kind of looked like muddy water. So if I had to guess maybe just an ounce or so.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

So what's the verdict on adding another Tbsp at bottling? Personally, I can't stand over-spiced beers so I like it a bit more subdued.

 

[Gduck]

So what's the verdict on adding another Tbsp at bottling? Personally, I can't stand over-spiced beers so I like it a bit more subdued.

You might not enjoy it so much then. It's not so spicy it's liquid pie, but there's no mistaking that pie-esque flavor. Cinnamon stands out in the aroma, but im sure with more time that will tone down some. The flavors from the malt come through, and I think I'm getting some estery characters from the S-04 yeast I used on it. So it's not so much spice that it's over powering the other flavors, but it certainly is on the more dominant side.

If you like the more subdued character I would avoid extra spice additions at bottling time.

 

[beergutguy]

reno.. i am prob going to brew this on Sat. I'm in So. Meadows...want to come by and have some brews? If not, no worries..

 

[Medevac_Chief]

Brewed this up on Sunday, added a half a pound of Crystal 120L, racked to primary over another can of Libby's pumpkin and the yeast is just taking off over the past day and a half. Question is, theres a thin white layer under the crousin....normal or bad??

 

[FightingBob]

Question is, theres a thin white layer under the crousin....normal or bad??

It's just the yeasties having their way with the sugars. A krausen from one beer to the next can look completely different; even if it's the same recipe.