Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[troyh]

Brew it later next year

This is going on my list of 10-gallon batches.

 

[hunterlab]

Well brew day is past now, what a experience that was for my first all grain. Now I now what equipment I need to be more efficient. My braided hose on my MLT decided to kink at the barb so flow was garbage. I for see a false bottom in the future . I hit the OG spot on and going to left this one clear up for a while as the MLT runnings were dirty as I had to stir the grist to get flow. It is however fermenting away now about 8 hours after pitching.

Dan

 

[RandalG]

This is going on my list of 10-gallon batches.

Use plenty of rice hulls. I learned the hard way.


I'm brewing this tomorrow or Sunday. I was thinking of baking the pumpkin the night before to shorten the brew day. What's your guys thoughts on that?

 

[Waterboy42]

Should be ok to prebake the pumpkin, but let it come close to room temp, or warm it in the oven, or your mash temps will be off.

 

[Doed]

I'm brewing this tomorrow or Sunday. I was thinking of baking the pumpkin the night before to shorten the brew day. What's your guys thoughts on that?

I did that. Turned out fine, I think I had to add just a little extra heat to the mash to compensate for the temp drop. If I remember correctly.

 

[BlakeL]

Could I bottle this after two weeks in primary?

 

[Double_D]

Should be ok to prebake the pumpkin, but let it come close to room temp, or warm it in the oven, or your mash temps will be off.

I did mine the night before and then threw it in the fridge once it had cooled. Then when I started getting set up on brew day I turned my oven on to the lowest temp (170). Once the oven came up to temp I turned it off and let the pumpkin warm that way until it was time to mash.

 

[NMG318]

Should be ok to prebake the pumpkin, but let it come close to room temp, or warm it in the oven, or your mash temps will be off.

I baked mine the night before and put it back in the oven at 160F while I got everything ready to brew the next day. After I doughed in the grain I stirred in the pumpkin. Worked out great.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Could I bottle this after two weeks in primary?

Sure, assuming you have confirmed that fermentation is completely finished. To do this, take a gravity reading and then another one in 3-5 days. If the gravity is the same then you are good to bottle.

 

[mpjay2000]

Reno,

Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! Also thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

I decided to brew this a while back and read the entire thread. Then I went back through it last night and reread the whole thread. I brewed it up today and everything went smooth! The sample I tasted was great!

I can't wait to keg this! I'm already thinking about doing another batch next week to bottle and give away around Thanksgiving.

Thanks again!

Mpjay

 

[Krovitz]

Just finished brewing this up with my lady friend. Long day today. My OG was a bit high at 1.070 but the hydro sample tastes good. Thanks for the recipe, can't wait to see how it turns out.

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

Reno,

Just wanted to say thanks for this recipe! Also thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread!

I decided to brew this a while back and read the entire thread. Then I went back through it last night and reread the whole thread. I brewed it up today and everything went smooth! The sample I tasted was great!

I can't wait to keg this! I'm already thinking about doing another batch next week to bottle and give away around Thanksgiving.

Thanks again!

Mpjay

You should just make a 15 gallon batch this recipe is awesome

 

[troyh]

Weird. I went away for the weekend and came back looking forward to having some of this. I poured a glass and there was absolutely no spice aroma or taste – it completely disappeared. It's like drinking a bland pale ale. What happened??

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Weird. I went away for the weekend and came back looking forward to having some of this. I poured a glass and there was absolutely no spice aroma or taste – it completely disappeared. It's like drinking a bland pale ale. What happened??

Aww crap that sucks. How do you feel about making a spice tincture to add to the keg?

 

[kzimmer0817]

Tonight will be day 7 in the fermenter. I've kept the ambient temp around 61-62. The adhesive thermometer strip on the Better Bottle has been 62-64. There was a lot of activity days 3-5. Minimal bubbling now. I stole a sample from the spigot this morning. Tastes great. My O.G. was 1.066. Today, it is 1.020. So, I'm getting close. Recipe calls for 3 weeks in primary, so I'm assuming that there's still some work for the yeast to do. I shouldn't be in a hurry to transfer it. For the past 2 days, I'm moving the fermenter temp up a bit. Supposedly, that enables the yeast to do a better job of cleaning up.

Looking forward to drinking and sharing this. I'm wondering if I should brew another batch of this as soon as I transfer to secondary in order to have plenty around.

So far so good for my first.
Keith

 

[tre9er]

Tonight will be day 7 in the fermenter. I've kept the ambient temp around 61-62. The adhesive thermometer strip on the Better Bottle has been 62-64. There was a lot of activity days 3-5. Minimal bubbling now. I stole a sample from the spigot this morning. Tastes great. My O.G. was 1.066. Today, it is 1.020. So, I'm getting close. Recipe calls for 3 weeks in primary, so I'm assuming that there's still some work for the yeast to do. I shouldn't be in a hurry to transfer it. For the past 2 days, I'm moving the fermenter temp up a bit. Supposedly, that enables the yeast to do a better job of cleaning up.

Looking forward to drinking and sharing this. I'm wondering if I should brew another batch of this as soon as I transfer to secondary in order to have plenty around.

So far so good for my first.
Keith

I was at 1.020 after a week in primary as well. I'm using a lager yeast, so I'm doing diacetyl rest now for a few days, then I'll cold crash it for a few more days and keg.

Didn't catch much spice to it, but I'll try again after the D-rest/cold-crash. I plan to put a liter of it in a soda bottle and carb it with the carbonator, then try it. If there's not enough spice I'll just make a spice-tea and add it to the keg.

 

[mpjay2000]

Okay, I'm already thinking of making another batch of this but I have a few questions.

If I brew this on Friday, the first batch will have been in the fermenter for only 6 days. I started the temp at 60 and have been cranking it up 2 degrees every day and was going to stop when I hit 68 and leave it there for the next couple weeks.

Will I screw up the first batch if I drop the temp of my fermentation freezer back down to 60 for the 2nd batch and start the temp schedule over like I did for the first batch?

Should I just do the second batch at 68?

Should I just say "screw it" and go buy a case of Miller High Life?

As always thanks for the help!

Mpjay

 

[Wild Duk]

It will be fine. Temp is not critical after the initial ferment, and having been fermenting for 6 days I would think you are there...

 

[Chris7687]

Hey guys,
Brewed two batches of this... one on 9/15 and one on 9/23, both were double pitched and both are in swamp coolers. The temp of the towel around the carboy is about 68*, so I am assuming with the evaporation it is about 65* in the carboy. Both still have airlock activity! Haven't taken a gravity reading, but just wanted to see if anyone else has this? Don't know how fermentation could still be going on after 2-3 weeks.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

The temp of the towel around the carboy is about 68*, so I am assuming with the evaporation it is about 65* in the carboy.

....what exactly is evaporating?

And if the outside of your fermenter is 68 during the height of fermentation you can assume the beer itself is probably closer to 75. Yeast are living things and thus create heat when they do stuff.

Also, airlock bubbles aren't a sign of fermentation. Gravity reading is the only sure way to know if it's done.

 

[Chris7687]

The water on the towel is evaporating off... swamp cooler. The 9/15 still gives a decent "burp" every now and then. The 9/23 is still burping once every other minute. I'll take a gravity reading tonight.

 

[Medevac_Chief]

Ingredients have been ordered for round 2. Doing an all grain BIAB this time. Hopefully it turns out better than it did last year.

 

[krzewinskibe]

Note to all....blowoff tube is MANDATORY for this. After day 2, lid of my 6.5 gal bucket blew off. crazy active fermentation

 

[tre9er]

Just sampled this last night after 7 days in primary, 2 days diacetyl rest (Lager yeast), and so far one day cold-crashing...I wasn't too impressed. Maybe it will be better after it clears and conditions, because it was like funky, spicy, not much to like. No signs of infection, but I'm not sure if the pumpkin contributed this flavor or what I was tasting.

Anyone try this one "young" and have similar opinions? Does it condition-out well?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Just sampled this last night after 7 days in primary, 2 days diacetyl rest (Lager yeast), and so far one day cold-crashing...I wasn't too impressed. Maybe it will be better after it clears and conditions, because it was like funky, spicy, not much to like. No signs of infection, but I'm not sure if the pumpkin contributed this flavor or what I was tasting.

Anyone try this one "young" and have similar opinions? Does it condition-out well?

Heh yeah never brewed this with a lager yeast so I'm sure there isn't an exact translation. But whichever species of yeast you use, 9 days isn't nearly enough time to get a good idea of what to expect. It's strong, bready, and spiced so there are a lot of variables that need to naturally mellow and marry together. When I make this I don't even taste it until about 4 weeks in primary.

 

[tre9er]

Heh yeah never brewed this with a lager yeast so I'm sure there isn't an exact translation. But whichever species of yeast you use, 9 days isn't nearly enough time to get a good idea of what to expect. It's strong, bready, and spiced so there are a lot of variables that need to naturally mellow and marry together. When I make this I don't even taste it until about 4 weeks in primary.

Yeah, I don't get in the habit of rushing beers, but I also tend to make less complex pales and IPA's, blondes, etc. My method thus-far has always been to get to FG, give it a few more days, then crash it good and keg it. Most basic ales don't get much better than this, especially if you want to maintain the hop aroma.

I'm probably going to leave them cold conditioning in primary for a few weeks if I can keep my hands off of them. That or I may secondary first then lager it for a few weeks. I'm thinking some stuff needs to drop out so the beer mellows.

I used the lager yeast to attempt to get higher FG because my overnight mashes (even at higher temps) tend to attenuate very far down. Add to that I had a leak in valve on my MLT which caused all sorts of scrambling and I did end up a bit low on mash temp...I ended up at 1.008 which is way dry for this beer. Good thing my version has tons of Vienna in it to maintain some malt.

 

[aberry]

I bottled this last night after 4 weeks in primary. Sample was good, a lot of complex flavors, but maybe not as much spice as I had anticipated. I'm curious does anyone garnish these when serving with a dash of pumpkin pie spice? I think it would give it a good look and help aroma/flavor. I'm not sure the finished product will need it, bit curious if anyone has tried it?

 

[fifthcircle]

I bottled this last night after 4 weeks in primary. Sample was good, a lot of complex flavors, but maybe not as much spice as I had anticipated. I'm curious does anyone garnish these when serving with a dash of pumpkin pie spice? I think it would give it a good look and help aroma/flavor. I'm not sure the finished product will need it, bit curious if anyone has tried it?

I plan on garnishing with bourbon whipped cream :-D

 

[Demon]

I bottled this last night after 4 weeks in primary. Sample was good, a lot of complex flavors, but maybe not as much spice as I had anticipated. I'm curious does anyone garnish these when serving with a dash of pumpkin pie spice? I think it would give it a good look and help aroma/flavor. I'm not sure the finished product will need it, bit curious if anyone has tried it?

Give it time. Kegged mine two weeks ago and thought it didn't have enough spice. Pulled a couple pints yesterday and the spice is much better.

 

[troyh]

I plan on garnishing with bourbon whipped cream :-D

That idea is so good it can't be legal.

My batch completely dropped the spices for a week, I waited and they came back a little, not as good as it was but much more drinkable. But there's nothing bourbon (and cream) can't fix.