Autumn Seasonal Beer Punkin' Ale

[Izzie1701]

Just an update. Less then 12 hours after pitching the yeast it was going crazy. 24 hours later it has about 4" of krausen in the fermenting bucket so clearly no effect from the sulphites

 

[Izzie1701]

How long is everyone letting this age for the best brew. Brewed yesterday hoping for xmas to be drinkable

Update: wow this stuff ferments fast. I used safale 04 as the LHBS was sold out of 05. Pitched Saturday night at 1.063. Already down to 1.020 this morning. Smells fantastic. Not as spicy smell as I thought but has a banana/fruity smell. I did use butternut squash rather then pumpkin. I can't wait to taste it. The airlock is still bubbling like mad. Contemplating moving from primary to secondary and batch aging for a couple weeks in there before bottle conditioning. Hoping for it to be ready by Xmas.

 

[castillo556]

This turned out awesome. Finished really high (10.22) which gave it a great sweetness.

I threw a 1/4 tbs of nutmeg and allspice, half a cinnamon stick, and an oz of vanilla extract into secondary.

Only thing I might change next time is add some rolled oats for a bit more body.

This is going to be my base recipe from here on out! Thanks!

 

[Izzie1701]

This turned out awesome. Finished really high (10.22) which gave it a great sweetness.



I threw a 1/4 tbs of nutmeg and allspice, half a cinnamon stick, and an oz of vanilla extract into secondary.



Only thing I might change next time is add some rolled oats for a bit more body.



This is going to be my base recipe from here on out! Thanks!

Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?

It might be chilling speed. Around this time of year our ground water is really cold so it takes no time. Plus the high altitude messes with the boil.

 

[castillo556]

Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?

Obviously it depends on your own taste. I like a strong pumpkin pie spice flavor. "dry spicing", if you will, is going to give you more pumpkin pie flavor and aroma since nothing is getting boiled off or fermented out. If you aren't getting any spice aroma than I would think about adding some to secondary. I am very happy with it.

My vanilla extract is home made. I take a bunch of vanilla beans, slice em and scrap out the seeds and throw em in a bottle of vodka.

 

[Izzie1701]

Was it lacking spice at transfer. I am almost to the point of transfer. I don't use a chiller so I'm worried that I may have heated a lot of the spice and smell off of it. My primary doesn't have a smell of pumpkin pie spice. Smells a little sweet but not spicy. Thinking of adding as you did but I don't want to over spice. I'll taste it and make a decision then. I think I may do a little rum and vanilla to it rather then extract. Any thoughts?

Ended up adding 1/2 tbs more pumpkin pie spice and 1tbs of vanilla extract and half a vanilla bean from the home made extract. Tried it and was lacking aroma and flavour of the spice. I suspect that I boiled the aroma and flavour off. Hopefully adding this to secondary will help out. Had a very nice banana smell to it though much like a wheat ale.

 

[mattsearle]

Had my first bottle of this tonight to see how it's coming along, only had 2 weeks in the bottle so far and was in primary for a month before that. Really happy with it! Nice sweetness over any real hop flavour which is to be expected, & the spice level is bang on. I had a new burner so boiled off a bit more than planned and ended up about 8% abv, but there not an overpowering alcohol flavour either so another month or so in the bottles and it should be a blinder.

 

[spikestheclown]

Was going to get this started for an early brew to make sure it was completely finished by October. Any advice for BIAB brewers? I already planned on upping my grain bill by 25% all around and instead of using rice hulls was going to use 3 lbs of minute rice.

 

[juggaleo]

Just wanted to let everyone know, I inadvertently aged this for 3 years and man... it's good

View attachment 1463706315676.jpg

 

[Izzie1701]

I may age a lot of bottles that long. Had one at 2 months and wasn't good. Almost had off flavors. Had another the other day at 6 months. Taste WAY better. At 2 months I almost dumped it all. So if 4 months makes a big difference I can't even imagine 3 years.

 

[Double_D]

I usually only get mine aged for about a month before friends and family get tired of waiting. Brewed up a batch last month and have it kegged and ready for tapping the first of September. Going to brew again around July so we can have it through the holiday season.

 

[rbach2]

Brewed mid-May and went with Maris Otter. Just moved to keg this afternoon. FG was a little low at 1.010. Tastes fantastic! Spice is perfect. I plan on keg conditioning at room temp for a couple months before I move to the kegerator in late September.

 

[BrewSavage]

I brewed this yesterday, my first attempt at a pumpkin ale. I never have more than one or two pints a season, but my friends enjoy the style so I'm trying my hand at it.

Out of curiosity, I weighed my pumpkin after baking it: 33 oz, so that is down from the initial 58 oz out of the cans. Good to know in computing strike temp.

 

[jakeasaur]

Pocket posted

 

[treacheroustexan]

Almost time to brew this again! Last year I brewed it and while it tasted amazing,I bottled it and didn't mix my priming sugar completely. This year I'l be kegging the batch hoping for better results!

 

[spikestheclown]

Just bottled, after 6 months in secondary, 7 more weeks of bottle conditioning and be ready just in time for the season!

 

[Double_D]

I brewed this yesterday, my first attempt at a pumpkin ale. I never have more than one or two pints a season, but my friends enjoy the style so I'm trying my hand at it.

Out of curiosity, I weighed my pumpkin after baking it: 33 oz, so that is down from the initial 58 oz out of the cans. Good to know in computing strike temp.

I just let mine cool to mash temp. Then I don't have to do any extra math.

 

[HowlingHog]

Brewed last night. I was very nervous about gumming up my mash, so "thank you" to the poster who suggested muslin bags. I did 2-10 gallon batches - (kind of) which meant 8 cans of pumpkin. I baked them on 2 pans, then double wrapped them in cheesecloth and mashed as directed. Didn't use rice hulls at all. Mid-way through, I stirred and flipped the bags. Imparted good color and flavor. We will see!

I screwed up between sparging, though. Shut my pump off, but gravity continued to push my hot water through and I didn't notice I lost several gallons. It left me a tad short for Boil Kettle #2. Probably 1.5 gallons.

My OG was 1.06

I used Costco Pumpkin Pie spice, as it's what we had.

I pitched 24 oz of sluury I had harvested from the Nut Brown Ale recipe which I kegged on 6/15. It's rocking nicely.

I will be patient...I will be patient....

 

[makisupapolice14]

I'm planning to do this biab. If I steep the pumpkin in a separate grain bag prior to mash in should I completely remove the pumpkin prior to mash or just leave it in for the duration of the mash?

Also what type of water profile should I target for a pumpkin ale? I'll be using 8 gallons of ro water for a full volume mash

 

[makisupapolice14]

Bump

 

[HowlingHog]

I don't know. I soaked mine in the mash the whole hour.

 

[rbach2]

Not sure about the water profile. I left the pumpkin in for the duration of the mash.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I would leave the pumpkin in the mash as well.

 

[Brew_G]

I'm planning to do this biab. If I steep the pumpkin in a separate grain bag prior to mash in should I completely remove the pumpkin prior to mash or just leave it in for the duration of the mash?



Also what type of water profile should I target for a pumpkin ale? I'll be using 8 gallons of ro water for a full volume mash

When I did mine (BIAB), I put the roasted canned pumpkin (58 oz) into a paint strainer bag, which I added to the grains in my bag - basically bag-in-bag. I added the pumpkin at mash-in and left it in for the full 60 minutes.

I only have a 9-gallon pot, so I had to sparge with two gallons, but it worked out perfectly fine for me.

As for water profile, it's all about what you're hoping to get out of it, but I used brown balanced in Bru'n Water. I want a decent amount of maltiness in this kind of beer, so I probably could have gone for amber malty or brown malty. Either way, mine turned out great.

I have two bombers that I let age in my basement from last year, so I'll probably crack them on Halloween weekend. I'm really curious as to how they'll have changed over the last year-plus.

 

[DagoBrewer]

I've brewed this 3 times now and have great results each time. I mix the pumpkin right in with my grains at mash in. I use an ass load of rice hulls, 2pounds per 5 gal batch and have never had a stuck mash. Always a great beer for the fall months!!

 

[StoutNoDoubt]

I'm getting ready to do this pumpkin ale on the grainfather for the very first time. I have made it before in a mash tun cooler but I expect the best version of this yet using the grainfather. Cheers!

 

[treacheroustexan]

I'm getting ready to do this pumpkin ale on the grainfather for the very first time. I have made it before in a mash tun cooler but I expect the best version of this yet using the grainfather. Cheers!

Brewing mine on the grainfather in a few weeks! Lots of rice hulls!

 

[DagoBrewer]

Brewing a RIS tomorrow, and 5 gallons of this on sunday!

 

[makisupapolice14]

Brewing this Sunday biab too. Excited. Any problems if I pre roast the pumpkin tomorrow and put it in the fridge overnight before letting it come to temp on Sunday?