Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[brew2enjoy]

Kegging 5 gallons now. Snuck a sample and wow it is good. I'll be throwing some gelatin on it after it chills and plan to be serving crystal clear pumpkin ale for football on Sunday. Gotta love kegging!

 

[BlakeL]

I'll hopefully be brewing a batch of this on Saturday or Sunday. I had to adjust my recipe a little since I don't have enough extract but I think it'll turn out great.

http://hopville.com/recipe/1643471

 

[kzimmer0817]

I notice that the original recipe calls for 2pks of US-05 yeast IIRC, US-05 was the preferred dry yeast; US-04 could be used so long as the temps were kept in the low 60s (maybe the other way around). I would greatly appreciate a little more elaboration on this.Somewhere in this thread was a brief explanation for why to use one over the other, and, I think, it had to do with fermentation temps.
<snip>
Thanks,
Keith

I apologize for being persistent. In a popular thread such as this, a "question" can get lost in the many daily postings. I would greatly appreciate it if someone would clarify the yeast issue for me.

Respectfully,
Keith

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I apologize for being persistent. In a popular thread such as this, a "question" can get lost in the many daily postings. I would greatly appreciate it if someone would clarify the yeast issue for me.

Respectfully,
Keith

Sorry, I've been working long days and haven't had a chance to catch up.

04 tends to produce more esters at higher temps. Not a bad thing, but I prefer the neutral profile of 05

 

[kzimmer0817]

Sorry, I've been working long days and haven't had a chance to catch up.

04 tends to produce more esters at higher temps. Not a bad thing, but I prefer the neutral profile of 05

Thanks, Reno eNVy. I realize that we all have to work for a living and can't spend entire days monitoring the forum. I'm excited about trying this recipe.

I'm still trying to find out from folks whether doing No-Chill would alter the hop schedule for this beer.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[kpr121]

Thanks, Reno eNVy. I realize that we all have to work for a living and can't spend entire days monitoring the forum. I'm excited about trying this recipe.

I'm still trying to find out from folks whether doing No-Chill would alter the hop schedule for this beer.

Thanks,
Keith

I did no chill and used the recipe's hop schedule to a T for my first batch of this. Its still in primary but taste testing has shown that it is not overly hoppy or bitter, at least not to me!

 

[Medevac_Chief]

So I am buying the ingredients to give this one a shot again this year. I'm subbing the second addition of hallertau for american northern brewer, and going to use white labe California ale. Only hard spot I'm in right now is timing, being in the military they have me moving the 1st or 2nd week of October. Should I just wait on the ingredients? Or in everyone's opinion will it be safe to move once airlock activity has stopped?

 

[grssmnperez]

So I am buying the ingredients to give this one a shot again this year. I'm subbing the second addition of hallertau for american northern brewer, and going to use white labe California ale. Only hard spot I'm in right now is timing, being in the military they have me moving the 1st or 2nd week of October. Should I just wait on the ingredients? Or in everyone's opinion will it be safe to move once airlock activity has stopped?

I subbed one oz of the hallertau w/.5oz warrior

 

[dwturnernc]

I brewed this recipe last Friday, with one change I used Marris Otter as my base malt(what I had on hand). I did a 11 gallon batch and everything else in the recipe was the same. I have brewed 5 gallon big beers in my 10 gallon mash tun before with the same grain bill with no problems, but I really did not account for the space the pumpkin would take up. My tune over flowed and I had to put foil over it, one minor glitch but I still hit my SG of 1.069. I use 6.5 gallon brew buckets, and both air locks have had so much yeast that I have had to clean and change twice this week. I opened the bucket today and I have a thick foamy sticky mess floating on top of both buckets. I have never seen this before and am scared this is an infection. It smells awesome. Has any one seen this before.

 

[grssmnperez]

I subbed one oz of the hallertau w/.5oz warrior

Im miltary too i heard they have brew club here at lackland. I work @ wilford hall so my co workers look at me funny when i tell them i home-brew. You dont happen to get the same response do you? By the way i will also be moving on the 18th.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I opened the bucket today and I have a thick foamy sticky mess floating on top of both buckets. I have never seen this before and am scared this is an infection. It smells awesome. Has any one seen this before.

Yup, that's called krausen, a sign of fermentation

 

[BlakeL]

I'm not going to have time this weekend to cook the pumpkin, do a partial mash, boil and then clean up. Should I throw the uncooked pumpkin directly into mash or cook it tomorrow and refrigerate until i'm ready to use it?

 

[CCS813]

So I just brewed this beer last night and it smelled great! I started the fermentation at around 53 degrees and then moved it to 70 degrees. I can't wait to taste this.

 

[dwturnernc]

Yup, that's called krausen, a sign of fermentation

Thx for the reply and i figured it was krausen but it appears different than the 30 others batches I have done. I guess the pumpkin and brown sugar has something to do with it. I just have never seen it this foamy, thick and sticky before. I'm glad to learn that it's okay. First, pumpkin beer and it's for a party so I want it to be good.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Thx for the reply and i figured it was krausen but it appears different than the 30 others batches I have done. I guess the pumpkin and brown sugar has something to do with it. I just have never seen it this foamy, thick and sticky before. I'm glad to learn that it's okay. First, pumpkin beer and it's for a party so I want it to be good.

Yeast are living organisms and thus are going to adapt to their environment. There are many variables to think about. Different yeast strains act in different ways visually, high gravity beers often have huge krausen, proper yeast pitching amount can get them active enough to make a huge krausen, and even ingredients can have an effect such (i.e. lots of hop oil can subdue foaming/krausen, or certain grains increase foaming/krausen/head-retention.)

I've had two batches of the exact same recipe and temperature act completely different: one had a krausen of about 1", the other clogged my blow-off tube and blew the lid off.

 

[grssmnperez]

Would it be wise to cold crash after 3 wks in primary @ 68f? If so, how low and for how long? Secondary necessary?

 

[ETOHonboard]

Just wanted to say that I brewed your recipe today and it came out awesome. All my numbers were spot on and the smell was heavenly. I figured I can't go wrong with this one since people are still talking about it almost three years later. Thank you sir!

 

[fifthcircle]

Wow, this thread is long
This will be my first real seasonal. Hopefully the first one I keg too!

I wasn't thinking, and got 3cans of pumpkin totaling 45oz. Should I go get another?

Also, I only have 1/2lb of rice hulls on hand. Frakin brew store is on the other side of town....that gonna be enough?
I suppose the 30min in the car is much better than a stuck mash!!

 

[Medevac_Chief]

Im miltary too i heard they have brew club here at lackland. I work @ wilford hall so my co workers look at me funny when i tell them i home-brew. You dont happen to get the same response do you? By the way i will also be moving on the 18th.

Well I live in Heidelberg, Germany and will be moving to Wiesbaden which is an hour away from where I live now. I get a few strange looks being that im in the so-called "mother land" of beer, but the varitey of beer just isnt here i.e IPA's, Stouts, Porters, and fall type seasonals.

But I just wanted to know if I brewed this now if it would be ok to move after airlock activity has stoped. I feel like I rushed this last year, and really want to give it time to mellow out.

 

[G_Force_5]

So I had the chance to brew this today. Smells and looks awesome. Thanks for the recipe Reno. I made the mistake of forgetting the brown sugar. This would explain why I missed the o.g. But I did hit 1.057. Any suggestions for correction? Secondary or at kegging?

So upon a Cheif Ferminators advise......I mixed stirred sanitized brown sugar directly into my fermenting wort ......fingers crossed.

 

[Francis]

Transferred mine to secondary last night. FG was at 1.014. Looks and tastes great! Only 2 weeks in secondary and 2-4 in the bottle to go. Can't wait!

 

[aberry]

I'm not going to have time this weekend to cook the pumpkin, do a partial mash, boil and then clean up. Should I throw the uncooked pumpkin directly into mash or cook it tomorrow and refrigerate until i'm ready to use it?

I brewed this last weekend and forgot to bake the pumpkin. It absorbed more water then I thought it would, but still turned out great. I used rice hulls and didnt get a stuck sparge.

 

[fifthcircle]

Brewing right now. Sparging... Smells and tastes great. Not that every beer being brewed doesn't ;-)

I was going to attach pics, but the app crashes when I try. Bummer. It's pretty!

 

[grssmnperez]

Well I live in Heidelberg, Germany and will be moving to Wiesbaden which is an hour away from where I live now. I get a few strange looks being that im in the so-called "mother land" of beer, but the varitey of beer just isnt here i.e IPA's, Stouts, Porters, and fall type seasonals.

But I just wanted to know if I brewed this now if it would be ok to move after airlock activity has stoped. I feel like I rushed this last year, and really want to give it time to mellow out.

I would suggest moving it carefully and not removing the airlock. Try to get it into the secondary before moving as to nit kick up the trub.

 

[BlakeL]

I brewed this last weekend and forgot to bake the pumpkin. It absorbed more water then I thought it would, but still turned out great. I used rice hulls and didnt get a stuck sparge.

I was going to exclude it but I watched Northern Brewer's video about their pumpkin ale and they don't cook it either.

 

[hyperboarder]

Brewed this today, plugged everything in to Beersmith to get proper sparge volumes (I fly sparge) and for reasons I have yet to determine, I hit an OG of 1.085 . Just over 5 gallons of strike water, just over 4.5 gallons sparge water. Didn't use rice hulls, used 4 small cans of pumpkin (a bit cheaper) for a total of 60oz, and used biscuit instead of victory. Sparge didn't stick, but was flowing slow enough towards the end, so I cut it off a bit early. A bit shy of 5 gallons in the fermenter. Any ideas? Still smelled and tasted wonderful.

 

[rewski]

Brewed this today, plugged everything in to Beersmith to get proper sparge volumes (I fly sparge) and for reasons I have yet to determine, I hit an OG of 1.085 . Just over 5 gallons of strike water, just over 4.5 gallons sparge water. Didn't use rice hulls, used 4 small cans of pumpkin (a bit cheaper) for a total of 60oz, and used biscuit instead of victory. Sparge didn't stick, but was flowing slow enough towards the end, so I cut it off a bit early. A bit shy of 5 gallons in the fermenter. Any ideas? Still smelled and tasted wonderful.

I also fly sparged and hit 1.081. I bet you were just more efficient with the fly sparge. No complaints. Higher gravity = more fun.

 

[NMG318]

I brewed this recipe using a long neck pumpkin scaled to a 6 gallon batch. I think using real pumpkins is the way to go if you can find them since they are less mushy (more stringy) and less likely to create a stuck sparge. I also stir it in after the grain and only stir it in the top third of the mash. I use 1.75 qt/lb of water and the pumpkin pulp kind of floats on top. My OG was 1.074. This was partly due to a measuring error in my brown sugar where I added .25 lbs more brown sugar than I should have. I brewed this as my first brew using my new Blichmann Tower of Power. I posted a short video on YouTube.

 

[fifthcircle]

I used 1/2lb rice hulls and had no issues at all with sparging.

I didn't think the canned pumpkin was bad at all once mixed with the mash, and it seemed to settle on top of the grain bed... or at least that's what it looked like post sparge.

 

[Tfurey7]

Brewed this today. Only my second AG. Achieved 65% eff. (have to work on that). Real good flavor on the hydrometer. Hoping this will be ready for Halloween. Question; I am doing a batch sparge, should I be drawing it off at a slow rate or just open the valve and drain it off fast?