Let me know how the BIAB session goes. What's your strategy with the pumpkin?
Let me know how the BIAB session goes. What's your strategy with the pumpkin?
Going to toss the pumpkin in the grain bag with all the grain. Should be fine, right?
Going to toss the pumpkin in the grain bag with all the grain. Should be fine, right?
Wow, this is probably the best Pumpkin ale recipe I have ever had.
I used fresh pumpkin that I cooked up and then did another round in the oven to roast it after the initial scooping and puree. I mashed at 156-157 (took a lot of stirring to get the temp uniform due to thickness of the pumpkin) and used Denny's Favorite 50 yeast (which seemed perfect for this kind of ale, IMO). I bloomed the spices in a pyrex measuring bowl with some wort I removed from the kettle and let cool to about 150 degrees or so before throwing the spices in for 15 minutes... adding them at flameout. I also freshly ground my own spices (either shaving the nutmeg, grinding the cinnamon in my spice grinder, or using the mortar & pestle). I let it sit in primary for 3 weeks since Denny's yeast takes it's time and is not a rapid flocculator.
That process seems very similar to mine. I freshly roasted the spices (except the ginger), and put them all in my spice grinder. I didn't steep them, but added them at flame out. I'll be kegging this Wednesday.
Curious to hear how yours turns out. I haven't tapped the keg yet but couldn't resist popping a few bottles given the holiday yesterday. Which yeast did you end up using? I was surprised to not find (via search) that anyone had used Wyeast 1450 for this brew, so gave it a shot and it is a definite winner.
Let me know how the BIAB session goes. What's your strategy with the pumpkin?
I'm doing a hashed up version of this. I see it was simplified later to just regular pumpkin pie spice. I added spices to the pumpkin mush and it seems to have gotten lost. I will probably add the spice tea later on. I also put two tea bags of green tea in with the pumpkin while I was boiling it down to try and start the starches to break down. Yuri seems to think that will cause the pumpkin flavor to fade away. I hope not.
It Will be beer.
I added mine at flame-out and I am starting to think they also are fading a bit. Still a very good beer, but I would prefer a bit more spice. Balance of spices is nice though.
Going to toss the pumpkin in the grain bag with all the grain. Should be fine, right?
This is what I've done twice now. I put the pumpkin in a grain bag with really fine meshing/holes. Some of it dissolved and leaked out of the bag but the bag kept enough of it intact to keep me from getting a stuck sparge.
I entered my version of the recipe in a competition recently and got two scores of 40. :rockin: Amazingly, I didn't place. Stiff competition!
There is lots of discussion as to how to add the spices and how much spice to add. I think it is 100% personal preference. But since my beer scored so well in the competition (and both judges noted a very nice balance of spices) I thought I would share what I did to my 5 gallon batch....
I added 1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice at flameout. After fermentation was complete, I tasted a sample. I really debated on whether to add more spice and ultimately decided to add 1 additional tsp (steeped in a cup of hot water) to the secondary. This resulted in a beer that has a very clear and distinct spice smell and taste. No mistaking that it is a pumpkin ale. However, the spices are not at all overbearing (IMO).
The stuff disappeared quickly. 10 gallon batch next year for sure!!
I'm doing a hashed up version of this. I see it was simplified later to just regular pumpkin pie spice. I added spices to the pumpkin mush and it seems to have gotten lost. I will probably add the spice tea later on. I also put two tea bags of green tea in with the pumpkin while I was boiling it down to try and start the starches to break down. Yuri seems to think that will cause the pumpkin flavor to fade away. I hope not.
It Will be beer.
says to just steep the grains, but would it be better to use a mini sparge and steep like you would in a partial? or would it not really make much of a difference?
second, my brew pot is your basic 4 gallon so i was thinking about only doing a partial boil of 2.5, maybe 3 gallon boil (if i can fit it with the amount of pumpkin added). then just top off in the fermenter to the 5 gallon mark. does anyone think this would have any major effects on the outcome of this recipe?
and my final question, when bottling, what would the recommend amount of priming sugar be for this beer? the usual 5 oz?
I've got a quite a few pumpkins that I've been trying to figure out what to do with. All of a sudden realized I should make beer with them. How do you use real pumpkin for this? I know how to make pumpkin puree, do I just boil that like does the canned pumpkin in the recipe?
Also, if you guys don't know already, pumpkins stay good all winter in a cool place. I keep them in the garage, we got these pumpkins before halloween.
I've never read anything about "dry pumpkining." My gut says that adding pumpkin directly to the fermenter will add starch haze and vegetal flavors. I'd love to know for sure, though. Wanna be the guinea pig, August?
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