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

[moscoeb]

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

I personally did not as I didn't have the time or a grommet to even make a starter. So I just pitched my yeast. I used WLP002. Good krausen and lots of activity in less than 24hrs.
I do plan on trying starters and see if I notice a difference. I know almost everyone on here recommends a starter for all fermentations.

 

[HootHootHoot]

I personally did not as I didn't have the time or a grommet to even make a starter. So I just pitched my yeast. I used WLP002. Good krausen and lots of activity in less than 24hrs.
I do plan on trying starters and see if I notice a difference. I know almost everyone on here recommends a starter for all fermentations.

Thank you. I never brew two at once, my buddy is getting some gear so we will be making a second batch. I plan on using starters for all my recipes from here on too after reading about how much better it is fro the taste and overall quality

 

[tuckferrorists]

I didn't use a started either, and I had activity much earlier than I usually do. pretty excited to spice and keg. I plan on transferring to a secondary after ten days, then holding for three weeks before I keg.

 

[Dmatson89]

I'm going to try a recipe somewhere between the thunderstruck pumpkin ale and it's big brother lady rumpkin pumpkin rum ale. So here's what I came up with after reading both threads. Let me know what you think



SMASHED RUMPKIN: PUMPKIN RUM ALE (PM)

6 gallon batch OG around 1.066

MASH:

(mash @154 degrees 60 min)

2 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L
1 lb Belgian Biscuit Malt
8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked
1 lb Floor Malted Mars Otter, ( pre-toasted on a cookie sheet for 20 min @ 350 degrees)

FERMENTABLES:

6 lbs organic light LME (60 min)
1 lb Brown candy Sugar (60 min)
58oz Pumpkin, Canned, baked (see notes, half 60 min and other half 30 min)
¼ cup Molasses (baked with pumpkin)

HOP SCHEDULE:

1.5 oz Goldings (5.0% AA 60 min) 15 IBU
0.5oz Goldings (4.0% AA 5 min)
0.5 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)

NOTES:

Pumpkin "pie": 2x29 oz cans of pumpkin baked at 350 for an hour with 1/4 cup molasses and two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

Pumpkin spice tea: 1.25 tsp of quality pumpkin pie spice mixed with 6 ounces of spiced rum prepared on brew day but added at secondary along with a vanilla bean or two that has been split and soaked in rum for few days.

 

[tuckferrorists]

Update after 72 hours since fermentation began, this is what the trub has settled to.

 

[HootHootHoot]

When I plug the AG recipe fermentables into BeerSmith, and convert to what I am looking to brew (only 3.0 gallons as a test run), I get:

OG Est 1.053
FG Est 1.014
ABV Est 5.11%

The Color, IBUs are spot on though

I obviously didn't add the pumpkin to the recipe, so I think this is where I am missing some sugars? I don't really see how to add it so I am curious if this is an Actual OG/FG or if I am just not as savvy with BeerSmith

 

[HootHootHoot]

I'm going to try a recipe somewhere between the thunderstruck pumpkin ale and it's big brother lady rumpkin pumpkin rum ale. So here's what I came up with after reading both threads. Let me know what you think

I like the idea of the spiced rum. I highly doubt you'll get much flavor of it in the beer, but maybe that'll turn out very nicely with just a hint of spices

Seems like it will be high in alcohol content, which might take away from the spice flavors. You should be modeling this off of an Amber, which it's highest OG should be 1.060, I would even see if you could get down to 1.055. I would just worry that when you taste all you'll get is a strong alcohol/somewhat cinnamonny beer. You don't want to overpower what you're trying to do: bottle pumpkin pie! The alcohol is just an added bonus

I would take out the candied sugar, which would lower your OG estimate. I'm not a big fan of using it in the first place. I've used it once and I think it should only be used if you're shooting for a very high ABV, and even so, there are other (better) ways to get sugar present. I just don't like the flavor it seems to put into the beer.

Good idea with the molasses. I may try that with my pumpkin ale.

 

[HootHootHoot]

Update after 72 hours since fermentation began, this is what the trub has settled to.


View attachment 69627

Thank you for the picture. It gives me a good idea of what to expect. That's still an awful lot of trub and I wouldn't expect it to go down much further. I think if I brew 3.0 gallons I should be able to get 2.5 out of it. I could go on the safe side and just brew 3.5 too- that way I won't siphon any of the trub during bottling trying to get every last drop!

 

[HootHootHoot]

I don't mean to overwhelm this thread with my postings, but I thought this might be a useful tool for people.

Many have said on here that they've had a hard time finding pumpkin around this time of the year, since it's not really a hot seller at the moment. I went to the website for the product that the OP used for this recipe and there is a store locator for you to see where you can buy it

http://www.verybestbaking.com/General/WhereToBuy.aspx

 

[Dmatson89]

I like the idea of the spiced rum. I highly doubt you'll get much flavor of it in the beer, but maybe that'll turn out very nicely with just a hint of spices

Seems like it will be high in alcohol content, which might take away from the spice flavors. You should be modeling this off of an Amber, which it's highest OG should be 1.060, I would even see if you could get down to 1.055. I would just worry that when you taste all you'll get is a strong alcohol/somewhat cinnamonny beer. You don't want to overpower what you're trying to do: bottle pumpkin pie! The alcohol is just an added bonus

I would take out the candied sugar, which would lower your OG estimate. I'm not a big fan of using it in the first place. I've used it once and I think it should only be used if you're shooting for a very high ABV, and even so, there are other (better) ways to get sugar present. I just don't like the flavor it seems to put into the beer.

Good idea with the molasses. I may try that with my pumpkin ale.

I may cut the sugar by half but I still want it to be a little bigger ABV beer. I'm not exactly sure what the OG was I plugged it in last night but was at work when I put this online today so I'll have to double check when I get home

 

[jdraker62]

What is the AG Mash profile to use? I just went with Medium body and it saying 158* is that correct or is 154* what I should shoot for. I didn't see your mash temps.

 

[moscoeb]

Single infusion mash at 158° F for 45-60 mins
Mash out at 168°F
Sparge with 178°F water to collect 17.5g of wort
Boil 60 mins

From the all grain section,

 

[clydo]

Update after 72 hours since fermentation began, this is what the trub has settled to.


View attachment 69627

Did you just pour your entire boil in or did you try to filter through the pumpkin? I'm going to brew this up next weekend and I'm thinking I'm going to just dump it all in.

Also thinking of adding 1/4 cup or so of Molasses spread over the pumpkin bake? Has anyone tried something similar with success?

 

[moscoeb]

Did you just pour your entire boil in or did you try to filter through the pumpkin? I'm going to brew this up next weekend and I'm thinking I'm going to just dump it all in.

Also thinking of adding 1/4 cup or so of Molasses spread over the pumpkin bake? Has anyone tried something similar with success?

Can't say about the molasses, but I do remember reading that you do want the pumpkin to caramelize some to aid in something or another...I forget! I think it hat do do with making the sugars more usable. So you may want to mix the molasses in or put on after the bake. Hopefully someone who knows better will speak up soon.
As far as filtering, I tried with a filter in my funnel, and didn't get even a half gal in before it was clogged. So I jut pulled it and poured it all in there.

 

[tuckferrorists]

Did you just pour your entire boil in or did you try to filter through the pumpkin? I'm going to brew this up next weekend and I'm thinking I'm going to just dump it all in.

Also thinking of adding 1/4 cup or so of Molasses spread over the pumpkin bake? Has anyone tried something similar with success?

I poured the entire boil minus what you'd typically leave behind of a hop cone.

 

[clydo]

How reliable is the OG reading? I assume it may read way higher than what it actually is due to 60 oz of pumpkin sediment floating in the wort.

 

[tuckferrorists]

I did a mini mash and mine was dead on, so I don't think I could have messed up that much with dme and missed my og

 

[ChrisTags]

I did the extract yesterday at it was .052. Blow off tube is going nuts still. Smells amazing!

 

[moscoeb]

My OG was also .052.

 

[HootHootHoot]

Is anyone using the AG approach getting a stuck sparge? I've read this can be a problem mashing pumpkin...

 

[tuckferrorists]

Is anyone using the AG approach getting a stuck sparge? I've read this can be a problem mashing pumpkin...

Seems as though the solution is a pound of rice hulls

 

[dallasdb]

Subscribed for reference.

 

[tuckferrorists]

The bubbling as slowed tremendously and I plan on transferring to secondary and adding my spice tea next Tuesday after 10 days although I might wait till Saturday and make it a full 2 week primary. I kind of want to take my time with this brew so it'll be on tap for my Christmas party, but I could also keg it and have another ready by then too.

 

[demuzik]

Is anyone using the AG approach getting a stuck sparge? I've read this can be a problem mashing pumpkin...

I have brewed this 4 times AG style, and have never had a stuck sparge. SLOW sparge? heck yes - plan for at least an hour to drain your mash, then another 30-45 min to drain the sparge.

Well worth it - haven't tried the non all grain version, but the AG version provides plenty of pumpkin flavor and is one of my favorites.

 

[ChrisTags]

I'm partial to a clean fermenting strain that will leave a bit of residual maltiness - WLP002 is a great strain for that, but 1056/US-56 or 1098 will do just fine if you can't get WLP002.

I guess this was dumb on my part but LHBSS was out of the recommended yeast in this thread. So I started reading packages and decided to go with Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale. After reading a lot of reviews on 1332, it sounds like its some bad stuff, and turns out decent for beers with high levels of hops. Just wondering anyone use 1332 in this brew, or a similar brew?

Chris

 

[MMJfan]

Did you just pour lyour entire boil in or did you try to filter through the pumpkin? I'm going to brew this up next weekend and I'm thinking I'm going to just dump it all in.

Also thinking of adding 1/4 cup or so of Molasses spread over the pumpkin bake? Has anyone tried something similar with success?

I'm planning on spreading a layer of brown sugar over the spread pumpkin during the bake fwiw...

 

[HootHootHoot]

I brewed this AG today. I added some pure maple syrup to the pumpkin bake, a little more than 1/4 cup drizzle over the top. I also used a different type of ale yeast, just for preference. And I added some rice hulls for the mash.

I did get a stuck sparge when I was about half way done, even with the rice hulls. I ended up pouring the wort back in and sparging again after a good mix. I found that if I mixed just the top of the grain bed periodically during my sparge, it went much better (not sure if this is standard practice). And yes, I went very slow with my sparge.

I did a 90 minute boil. This only added about 1 IBUs which you can't detect in taste

My OG was at 1.051, which seems about as close as I could with the issues I had sparging. I figure .001 won't be much of a difference in the end.

Initially I was not counting on doing a secondary, but I think this might be better for the beer with the amount of trub that will form. Also, I forgot to add a whirfloc tablet, so I may want to try a secondary.

I will also post some updates to this as it goes along. But overall for my first pumpkin, or any additive to the mash for that matter, I think it went pretty well.

Brewing a lager tomorrow. Will be a fun couple of weeks watching these two go!

 

[clydo]

Has anyone tried bottle priming this recipe with brown sugar?

 

[tuckferrorists]

Just racked this over. Added my spice tea. I tasted it before the spice tea addition and thought the body was great and while you didn't taste the pumpkin per se, you can tell what it was. After the spice tea, (1 and a half teaspoons of pampered chef cinnamon plus) it wasn't over spiced. I thought it was very mildly spiced. I kind of hope it comes out more as it ages.

Here is a picture of the final trub settled in a 6.5 gallon carboy.




And here is a picture of the actual beer racked into a 5 gallon carboy.

 

[MMJfan]

Looking good tuck. Hoping to brew this beer this Sunday...