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

[BenS]

Has anyone ever just left this in a primary for 3 to 4 weeks instead of putting it in the secondary? I'm wondering if leaving it on the pumpkin trub for a bit longer would help or hurt the final taste and mouthfeel. Any thoughts?

 

[Indy418]

Just looking for an up/down vote from folks on two issues:

Spice tea or add spices at boil?

Different spice mix (ginger, nutmeg, cinna., etc) or just pumpkin pie spice? And how much?

 

[JamesM]

I used 2 teaspoons of pumpkin spice boiled for the last 10 min of a 2.5 gal batch. It made a Very light but still noticeable spice flavor. I thnk I'm going to add a bit more tea before bottling.

 

[barracudamagoo]

When brewing the extract version of this receipe, has anyone filtered out the pumpkin first; or, do you let it sit in the primary, then transfer to the secondary?

 

[JamesM]

When brewing the extract version of this receipe, has anyone filtered out the pumpkin first; or, do you let it sit in the primary, then transfer to the secondary?

I strained it using one of those hops boiling bags, the pumpkin fiber clogged the bad pretty well, it tool a long time and a lot of squeezing to get all the fluid out, there were hops leaves and pellets in the bag too so i"m sure that didn't help at all. Even after that there was still a lot of sediment in the bottom of the primary, I haven;t opened up the secondary yet.

 

[barracudamagoo]

Excellent! I may skip the CFC to cool this down, and just put it in an ice/water bath outside (temps in the 40's-50's) in order to cool it down. I appreciate the advice.

 

[Sacdan]

When brewing the extract version of this receipe, has anyone filtered out the pumpkin first; or, do you let it sit in the primary, then transfer to the secondary?

I let it sit in the primary. When I racked to the secondary, it all stayed behind. It was unbelievably clear too. On a side note, we bottled this two days ago and it tatses fantastic. Can't wait to taste the finished product.

 

[Joe C]

Does anyone have a picture of the final product? I'd love to see some poured into a glass!

 

[dracus]

Mine was pretty clear in the primary after sitting for a week or so. I cooled mine with my immersion chiller. Even after throughly rinsing it. I found it sticky. I had to wash it twice. I can only imagine the inside of an CFC.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

uh oh I just realized something bad... I was so excited to brew this beer that when I made it I wrote down ounces instead of the correct measurement... I only had about half of what was required on hand and only put about half of that in... I tasted it the other day... Its very tastey but spicy as all hell... Certainly drinkable... however I screwed the pooch on the spices area.... oops.... It also stopped at 1.017 which I am fine with...

Hmmm... I's gots to get my eyes checked.... lol

 

[Joe C]

Well, I'm cooling down my 15g batch, and I will also emphasize that your sparge will SUCK!

I started getting the brew situated at 7am and it's now almost 3:30 and I'm finally cooling. I can say that it smells great, and should be a pretty kick arse beer.

 

[Joe C]

Side note - I hit 10.58 today, and I didn't even end up sparging through my cooler... We ended up using a strainer and sparging the grains (ALL OF THEM) like someone would for a PM batch. It sucked, but we still ended up with 14 gallons of beautiful beer!

 

[conpewter]

Side note - I hit 10.58 today, and I didn't even end up sparging through my cooler... We ended up using a strainer and sparging the grains (ALL OF THEM) like someone would for a PM batch. It sucked, but we still ended up with 14 gallons of beautiful beer!

Got me scared now Did you use any rice hulls?

 

[Joe C]

That I did.

 

[conpewter]

Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggiiiiiiiinnnnnnnggggggggggg

Gonna be a late night... looking forward to drinkin it in a couple months though!

 

[Joe C]

hahahahaha

 

[Spyd3r]

First pull...like a champ! haha

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Looks good! Now go punch that bag.

 

[Spyd3r]

Looks good! Now go punch that bag.

With my ever-expanding waistline...that's not the first time that I've heard that.

lol

 

[cryptonic84]

brewing today! (extract) very optimistic for this brew

 

[corvax13]

I am just now drinking this brew - Very Tasty!

I did a couple minor changes - as a bit of an experiment, I "continuously hopped" - added a bit of hops every 10-5 minutes during the entire boil (DFH-inspired move). I also added the full oz of hops.

3 weeks in the bottle and this tastes great - very nicely balanced, the spices are present but not overwhelming. Looking forward to brewing this again.

 

[bhatchable]

into hour four of 7.5 gallons of this recipe. the sparge was so slow! it smells amazing though. almost done with the boil. with ten minutes i added ginger, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, sweet orange peel, mace, and cardamom. I mashed the pumpkin (9 lb) and added a teaspoon of amalyse to assist the mash and hit OG dead on with 75%-ish efficiency (1.058). I am going to ferment with WLP013 London Ale. I can't wait, thanks for the legendary recipe Yuri

 

[cryptonic84]

mine is sitting in my primary... 5 hour lag time. unfortunatly my hydrometer broke last night before i got my SG, luckily i still have a sample in my test tube sealed and waiting for a new hydrometer. Oddly enough there is a micro crack somewhere in the hydrometer and it let water into it... even with the water on the inside i still had 1.28 as an OG, even though it will be much higher with a new hydrometer.

note on brewing extract, don't even try to put the pumpkin into a grain bag, just throw the pumpkin right in.

 

[Sacdan]

I put the pumpkin in the boil. Just ended up with more trub in the primary. I wouldn't try it in the Mash. It would have taken way too long. It came out fantastic.

 

[bhatchable]

I put the pumpkin in the boil. Just ended up with more trub in the primary. I wouldn't try it in the Mash. It would have taken way too long. It came out fantastic.

yeah, the sparge took forever

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Just finished brewing mine. The sparge really was uneventful for me and took the normal amount of time. However, I used a full pound of rice hulls in a 12 pound grain bill. I figured my time was worth the money. Thanks Yuri for the great recipe. Smelled great and made me want to eat a pie.

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

This beer was great! So good that less than two weeks after taping the keg its almost gone! Good thing the wife bought twice the amount of pumpkin needed! So I guess this weekend I will be making this again for Christmas. This time I am thinking of adding a little more hops and also some orange peal.

 

[bhatchable]

orange peel is a great idea. I added it to mine along with cinn, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, and clove

 

[jajabee]

Mine's been in the bottle for a week now, and wow, I think I went a little overboard on the spices!! I added 1 tsp of Pumpkin Pie Spice at flameout and 1tsp at bottling, and dang, it tastes like a Cinnamon Ale. Heh. The head's pretty weak, too, even though I added head retention powder. Think another month in the bottle will mellow out the spices and improve the head?

 

[dracus]

Well 1 week in the bottle is at best barely time enough to carb a beer.

I suspect more time will increase head and mellow flavors.