Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[grssmnperez]

Cracked a bottle of this last night. Brewed in september. A little light on carbonation but spices smell great but dont come through in flavor though.

 

[BlackNotch]

Had my first glass of this, and its damn good! Its been kegged for for 5 weeks, great carb and flavor!

 

[PSUSkier]

My first attempt at this went pretty smooth all things considered. I missed my mash temp by about 3 or 4 degrees because of the pumpkin (certainly not used to compensating for that) but no stuck sparges of any kind. The brew smelled fantastic and fermentation took off like crazy. The photo was from 6 hours after pitching yeast and after about 12 hours the krausen forced its way through the air lock which has since been replaced with a blow-off valve. In any event, I can't wait to try this thing.

 

[Inkleg]

First, thanks Reno for the recipe.
Next, brewed this 10/6 BIAB with the pumpkin in a mesh bag while bringing the water up to mash temp. Removed the bag and lost about 1 can (29oz) of pumpkin into the water. Mashed at 156 for an hour, chilled and put on a 05 Centennial Blonde yeast cake (thanks BeirMuncher) and had activity in 5 hours. Been holding temperture at a steady 65 deg. Checked last week and again tonight gravity at 1.030, OG was 1.070. Color is nice and sample is clear.
Is FG high due to the amount of pumpkin lost or stuck fermentation? Taste is great, a little spice forward and not too sweet.
Which way to head next?
Thanks

 

[tre9er]

First, thanks Reno for the recipe.
Next, brewed this 10/6 BIAB with the pumpkin in a mesh bag while bringing the water up to mash temp. Removed the bag and lost about 1 can (29oz) of pumpkin into the water. Mashed at 156 for an hour, chilled and put on a 05 Centennial Blonde yeast cake (thanks BeirMuncher) and had activity in 5 hours. Been holding temperture at a steady 65 deg. Checked last week and again tonight gravity at 1.030, OG was 1.070. Color is nice and sample is clear.
Is FG high due to the amount of pumpkin lost or stuck fermentation? Taste is great, a little spice forward and not too sweet.
Which way to head next?
Thanks

I'm guessing 156 mash temp aided this some, but still shouldn't come out that high. Perhaps your thermometer isn't calibrated or the temp rose above that at some point?

 

[Medevac_Chief]

This one is looking good so far, I had a few hiccups on brew day, but its been 2 weeks since and I'm getting pretty excited for the one.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well tomorrow is going to be week 5 since brewday and I've yet to taste it. The chest freezer ferm chamber smells friggin amazing though. I went to LHBS yesterday and bought a new shank, faucet, and all accompanying accessories to get a third beer in the kegerator (I already have the keg.) I wanted to get the punkin carbed and going but I wasn't willing to take a keg out for the time being, so third tap is the obvious solution.

The overwhelming urge to get my punkin on gas was due to the fact that we went to BJ's and their pumpkin ale had just come out, plus we carved pumpkins while drinking Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale... so yeah, it needs to happen.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I also need to catch up with responses:

I'm going to brew this for my first all grain recipe. My thoughts are though, that I would cut the brown sugar into 2 different steps. I want to roast the pumpkin with a 1/4 cup of it sprinkled on top of the pumpkin, then use the other 3/4 cup during the boil. I also will be using 2/3 cup of light brown sugar and adding a 1/2 tsp of the pumpkin pie spices plus an additional 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon to my bottling mixture. Do you foresee any ramifications to doing this?

Well it sounds like a good plan to me. However, I don't typically do dry ingredients in volume, especially not brown sugar. Brown sugar is very compressible and thus volume is not conserved. So in that case you may have a bit of a different OG (I'd guess lower) but it'll still be beer!

Had my first glass of this, and its damn good! Its been kegged for for 5 weeks, great carb and flavor!

My SWMBO told me to order enough ingredients to make this again. She said it was the best beer I have made so far. She must have liked it, I think I only got about 5 or 6 pints out of the keg. She drank the rest.

In November im brewing 20 gallons of this recipe I just cant get enough of it. Defiantly a sad experience when the keg is empty.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! It brightens my day and SWMBO's day when we hear such awesome things being said about this recipe.

 

[Matteo57]

I had my first taste of the beer fully carbed after sitting in the keg and fridge for 3 weeks now. It's been about 5 weeks since brew day also, this thing is amazing! I wanted to keep drinking it!
I originally brewed it to bottle about half and give away as presents for holiday time, but I might have to do another batch for that or soon there after because I wanted to drink the whole thing yesterday!

 

[mathin]

Cracked the first bottle today (bomber) and split it with my wife ... Both were suitably impressed . The pumpkin was a PITA, but this brew will likely be brewed at my house next fall.

The color of this beer is amazing. Perfect for a pumpkin beer.

 

[jschumacher]

Legged 10 gal of this today. Can't wait till its carbonated. Had a nice pumpkin flavor and a hint of the spices on the finish.

 

[jschumacher]

Legged or Kegged! Which ever you prefer.

 

[Walshy87]

Has anyone skipped secondary and went straight to bottle? I'm at 9 days and it's still bubbling. Im thinking about letting it sit for two or three weeks and bottling.

 

[Medevac_Chief]

Has anyone skipped secondary and went straight to bottle? I'm at 9 days and it's still bubbling. Im thinking about letting it sit for two or three weeks and bottling.

I just hit 2 weeks in primary yesturday, and mine still has some bubbles every so often. I am skipping the secondary and going to cold crash the last few days. I think im going to go with a 3 and half week primary just so itll still have about 3 weeks to carb in the bottles.

Reno posted on here a calculator for measurements of sugar used to carb in bottles a few pages back.

My only other question to this is should I put the sugar directly into the bottleing bucket or disovle it in water first then pour the water into the bucket?

Anyways I am really getting excited for this one. Last years was not so much a success, so im really hoping to be one of the ones to be able to say that this one is amazing just like everyone else.

 

[cublue]

Reno posted on here a calculator for measurements of sugar used to carb in bottles a few pages back.

My only other question to this is should I put the sugar directly into the bottleing bucket or disovle it in water first then pour the water into t

I have always dissolved it in boiling water, then let cool before adding. I always just pour water from a tea kettle over the sugar, mix til clear, cover it and then put in fridge.
Also, if you cold crash, let it come back up to room temp before racking it onto your priming sugar... The sugar has a possibility of not mixing properly at too cold a temp. Had this happen once on a blonde.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I have always dissolved it in boiling water, then let cool before adding. I always just pour water from a tea kettle over the sugar, mix til clear, cover it and then put in fridge.
Also, if you cold crash, let it come back up to room temp before racking it onto your priming sugar... The sugar has a possibility of not mixing properly at too cold a temp. Had this happen once on a blonde.

This.

Unless it's been soaked in liquor, you always always boil stuff if you're adding it after you've done your main boil and yeast pitching. Not only does it ensure that you have a homogenous solution in which the sugar is evenly dispersed, but it kills anything on the sugar that could potentially cause infection. And infection plus bottles equals BOOM!

 

[Matteo57]

No need for secondary in this one. Just leave it for 3-4 weeks then transfer to keg/bottle! Enjoy!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

No need for secondary in this one. Just leave it for 3-4 weeks then transfer to keg/bottle! Enjoy!

Yup. Only use a secondary if you're using gelatin or something of the sort.

 

[tre9er]

I'm losing some of the pumpkin/spice of this beer the longer it's in the keg. I'm betting that bottled versions would retain this far longer, especially from an aroma standpoint.

 

[Matteo57]

I'm losing some of the pumpkin/spice of this beer the longer it's in the keg. I'm betting that bottled versions would retain this far longer, especially from an aroma standpoint.

Same with mine. I am pondering the idea of boiling another .25-.5 tblsp with like 1/4 cups water and throw that in to add a bit more spice. Will probably make that decision in about a week or two

 

[brew2enjoy]

I ended up adding an additional 1/4 tsp of pumpkin spice to the keg after a few weeks and it was awesome! Do it!

 

[cryhav0c]

Put a variation of this in the fermenter on 10-22 with a gravity of 1.072 and did a gravity check yesterday on 10-30 with a gravity of 1.016. Aroma was superb and sample flavor was great as well. I plan to rack to secondary in about a week over some mexican vanilla extract that my wife has. I tested it yesterday with this and it was very good. I will ad some polyclar to assist with clearing while it ages in secondary.

 

[tre9er]

I ended up adding an additional 1/4 tsp of pumpkin spice to the keg after a few weeks and it was awesome! Do it!

did you make tincture or just add spice directly to keg?

 

[Tubbster85]

Just tapped my first keg for my first all grain, and this stuff is awesome. Mine came in at 7.6%, so it's a bit hot, but nice and bready with a nice aftertaste of spice and pumpkin. Very good!!

 

[fifthcircle]

Served some last night to the parents of trick or treaters. It was a hit! I also had my jack O lantern, atop my keezer. Had a couple people taking pictures. Good times!

(trying to add pics, but the app crashes every time??? Pics are up at buikurt.blogspot.com )

 

[brew2enjoy]

did you make tincture or just add spice directly to keg?

I just tossed it right into the keg. I'm sure making a "spice tea" would have worked better but I like the result I got.

 

[tre9er]

Reno/All:

Last night I served a few big plastic cups to a few moms that were walking around with us doing trick or treat with our kids. They told me they'd pay for this beer if it was on the shelf. Granted I changed up the recipe a little based on what I had, I wouldn't have known how much pumpkin or spice to use if it weren't for this recipe! Kudos!

 

[Brewphish]

Brewed this on 9/29, left in primary for about 3 weeks, then another week or so in secondary with gelatin added. Kegged and carbed for about a week. Tapped a few days ago and it's fantastic. I'm planning to do another round with a little more everything next time around to kick it up to a 'double'. Thanks for the great recipe!
I was a little unsure about how much spice to use - teaspoon vs Tablespoon, ended up going with 1.5 Tablespoons worth for a 5gal batch, was just about right and certainly not overpowering. Going to add 2.5T next time around for the double version.

I rarely secondary, and this was the first time I've used gelatin. Very pleased with the results and will be doing this more in the future when appropriate for the style.

 

[cbehr]

Mine will be in the primary for 3 weeks monday. Was hoping to have it ready for Thanksgiving but I'm a bit nervous I'm rushing it.

 

[tre9er]

Mine will be in the primary for 3 weeks monday. Was hoping to have it ready for Thanksgiving but I'm a bit nervous I'm rushing it.

Nah, started drinking mine at week 4 and it was great. Halloween I received a few compliments on it, that was about 5 weeks old.