Autumn Seasonal Beer Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale (AG and Extract versions)

[jeepinjeepin]

Extract... Hmmmm.... "Mash" the pumpkin by itself with Amylase enzyme. Bring to boil. Add extract. After fermentation rack off of the compact cake of pumpkin. What does y'all thunk?

 

[Slyko]

Being the lazy sloth I am.................... can somebody please upload a beersmith recipe file ................. somewhere?

I searched this thread................ I searched the BeerSmith recipe forum.............. Nothing. Ugh!

Thank you!

 

[BigB]

Being the lazy sloth I am.................... can somebody please upload a beersmith recipe file ................. somewhere?

I searched this thread................ I searched the BeerSmith recipe forum.............. Nothing. Ugh!

Thank you!

Here you go... I'm pretty sure I didn't change anything other than the name:

http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/8008/the-great-pumpkin-ale

 

[Slyko]

Yuri Rage has got to be proud. There are YouTube videos, blogs, you're recipe is on multiple beer forums, etc! :cross:

Thanks BigB. I didn't search for the ingredients, only the name. Wow! Now I gotta go shopping! I love HBT!

Google produced over 4300 hits. Yuri, you're everywhere!

I just brewed this yesterday. The yeast starter really makes this ferment like gangbusters! Make sure to use a blow off tube the 1st night or you're going to have a mess.

 

[Itsott]

How much water do you start with in the extract recipe?

 

[Slyko]

Conclusion:

This stuff is awesome! Tastes like pumpkin pie! Holy Smokes! It blows away the pumpkin beer you can buy in the store without question. Very Pumpkiny!

 

[tuckferrorists]

just ordered my ingredients to brew this next weekend! so excited!

 

[tuckferrorists]

Conclusion:

This stuff is awesome! Tastes like pumpkin pie! Holy Smokes! It blows away the pumpkin beer you can buy in the store without question. Very Pumpkiny!

How long did you condition it for? Keg? bottle? did you do AG or extract? followed the recipe exactly?

 

[demuzik]

I brew a modified version of this recipe every July (for the past 4 years) - I brew in July so it gets a full two months of conditioning time before I tap the keg in mid september... just in time for fall. I'm lucky if it lasts long enough to enjoy on Halloween I think two months is a perfect amount of time (especially if you do the spiced-tea, like i do) to let flavors meld and let the beer clear up nicely - even with all the pumpkin it can still clear up to near lager quality.... nothing prettier than a crystal clear, ORANGE fall beer

 

[jdraker62]

how does this compare to the midwest pumpkin kit. I did that last year and it was great. Trying to decide to try this one or do the midwest kit again. Anyone done both??

 

[MMJfan]

just ordered my ingredients to brew this next weekend! so excited!

My ingredients to brew two batches of this arrived on Monday. Have three beers going in fermenting buckets now but should be ready to brew batch one sometime around the 1st of August. Can't wait!

 

[tuckferrorists]

My ingredients to brew two batches of this arrived on Monday. Have three beers going in fermenting buckets now but should be ready to brew batch one sometime around the 1st of August. Can't wait!

Just got my stuff today. Gonna brew Saturday. I guess I have to read past page 3 by the.

 

[MMJfan]

Just got my stuff today. Gonna brew Saturday. I guess I have to read past page 3 by then.

I read several pages of this thread, but nothing really helped me past the first 3 posts from Yuri Rage. I'm using the extract recipe which he's been updating any changes he's made over the years and there are also directions in making the spice tea in the 3rd post. Pretty much all I'm going by to make this brew.

Save yourself some time because I don't really see any need to read this entire thread. Most of what I've read is that those that have followed Yuri's recipe seem to always turn out a good brew and I see no reason to tweak anything.

 

[tuckferrorists]

I read several pages of this thread, but nothing really helped me past the first 3 posts from Yuri Rage. I'm using the extract recipe which he's been updating any changes he's made over the years and there are also directions in making the spice tea in the 3rd post. Pretty much all I'm going by to make this brew.

Save yourself some time because I don't really see any need to read this entire thread. Most of what I've read is that those that have followed Yuri's recipe seem to always turn out a good brew and I see no reason to tweak anything.

Thanks for the heads up. I could be wrong, but I'm still a little confused by some of the changes over the years. I guess the biggest questions I have are:

1. If I'm doing the extract version, should I mash the pumpkin with the grains, then leave in with the boil, then try to strain out before loading into the fermenter?

2. Based on the updated recipe, Should I top off to 6 gallons of water including the pumpkin taken out, or left in?

Thanks for the heads up.

Tuck

 

[moscoeb]

Quick question, I have a brewers best 5gal bucket but u could fit 6.5 gal in, but would need a blow off tube. I've also got a better bottle 6 gal. Should I primary in the better bottle and secondary(sorry Yuri, clarify!) in the brewers bucket? Would I still need a blow off tube? Would this work?

 

[tuckferrorists]

Ok brewed this tonight and did a full boil. Should have just done the all grain version as I have a mash tun built and everything else, but I had already ordered the extract stuff. My OG came in right on. I just needed to add a little top off water only because I hadn't measured how much I had going into the boil, but it's done. My friend Tmooka (on this forum) and I had a great time brewing this tonight. All the while trying to kill my keg of Abita amber so I can make room for the 5 brews I have in the pipeline.

 

[MMJfan]

Tuck, did you end up mashing the pumpkin with the grains? And did you have much success straining the pumpkin out when you were transferring the wort to primary?

 

[tuckferrorists]

I steeped the grains for 30 minutes in a bag as per the recipe, and I added the pumpkin to the boil after baking on a sheet pan for 1.5 hours at 350. It was completely suspended in the wort and I didn't even try filtering it out. I am kicking myself for not doing that, because even though fermentation has kicked off in only a few hours, it seems as though almost half of my 6.5 gallons is pumpkin sediment.

 

[tuckferrorists]

Also, it was sweet, but I didn't get a lot of pumpkin flavor from my hydrometer sample, I'm sure the bulk of the flavor will come from the spice tea. Oh btw, I bought the pampered chef cinnamon plus online and it smells fricken amazing. Totally worth the $7 + ~$7 for shipping. Plus my wife can use some for her famous pumpkin cheesecake she does around holiday time.

 

[moscoeb]

Also, it was sweet, but I didn't get a lot of pumpkin flavor from my hydrometer sample, I'm sure the bulk of the flavor will come from the spice tea. Oh btw, I bought the pampered chef cinnamon plus online and it smells fricken amazing. Totally worth the $7 + ~$7 for shipping. Plus my wife can use some for her famous pumpkin cheesecake she does around holiday time.

Mmmm pumpkin cheesecake!! That sounds awesome!

Would the beer sitting on and fermenting on the pumpkin sediment pick up more taste than if it was filtered off? Or does it make no difference as all the flavor is imparted during the boil?

 

[tuckferrorists]

Mmmm pumpkin cheesecake!! That sounds awesome!

Would the beer sitting on and fermenting on the pumpkin sediment pick up more taste than if it was filtered off? Or does it make no difference as all the flavor is imparted during the boil?

I have no comparison since I haven't brewed a pumpkin ale before. I'm hoping that it will settle more and really cake down at the bottom and the beer will rise up. It looks like I can only get about 3 gallons of actual beer at this point.

Anybody else who brewed this didn't strain the pumpkin out before putting in the fermenter?

 

[MMJfan]

I've been seriously questioning brewing this beer without pumpkin. That's a hell of a lot of trub and I've read numerous posts that make mention of the pumpkin not really giving off all that much flavor and that most of the pumpkin pie flavors come from the spices added.

Keep us posted if your trub settles down at all. I really would like to brew this with pumpkin, but not at the expense of having that much trub.

BTW, I'm planning on getting that Pampered Chef spice as well. My wife used to sell that stuff so I know how good it is!

 

[tuckferrorists]

It has been about 48 hours after pitching and all that pumpkin that settled is now dancing in the fermenter and my blow off valve is a constant stream of CO2. Not an extreme amount of kreusen yet.

 

[moscoeb]

I just brewed this tonight, I was not able to strain it either. So I just poured it all in there! The wort tasted awesome!! I have high hopes for this one.

 

[HootHootHoot]

So what I read in these last 2-3 pages is that people who are doing the extract version are seeing a large amount of trub at the bottom of their carboy.

I assume since in All Grain, you mash the pumpkin, so do you still get a large amount of trub? I plan on doing this this weekend.

 

[tuckferrorists]

Well, fermentation has been kicking for another 24 hours, no sign of slowing, but a lot of the trub has settled even more and it appears as thought i have closer to 5 gallons of beer again.

 

[ChrisTags]

That's good to know that the trub lowered a bit. Will be brewing tomorrow if I can find some cans of pure pumpkin, pumpkin pie filling is all I can find this time of year. Arghhhh

 

[HootHootHoot]

That's good to know that the trub lowered a bit. Will be brewing tomorrow if I can find some cans of pure pumpkin, pumpkin pie filling is all I can find this time of year. Arghhhh

Ah good point, I'll have to look tomorrow ahead of time to see if I can find some. I'm pretty sure I see canned pumpkin all year, I'll give it to my dog if he's hungrier than usual as a filler

 

[moscoeb]

So what I read in these last 2-3 pages is that people who are doing the extract version are seeing a large amount of trub at the bottom of their carboy.

I assume since in All Grain, you mash the pumpkin, so do you still get a large amount of trub? I plan on doing this this weekend.

Well, fermentation has been kicking for another 24 hours, no sign of slowing, but a lot of the trub has settled even more and it appears as thought i have closer to 5 gallons of beer again.

My trub has already dropped by at least an inch if not more in 24hrs. Looks awesome, tasted good from hydro reading, and smells great! I've got high hopes for this one.

 

[HootHootHoot]

Did you guys use a starter? Mynstarter jug already has lager yeast going for a Munich helles I'm doing Friday, with pumpkin ale on Saturday. I've never had a problem pitching my yeast into ales without a starter. I don't want to do this incorrectly though




Thanks