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

[Steve3730]

Haha trust me this one is not awesome.

 

[brewski09]

What do you taste? I made one that was totally starchy and herbal/vegetal. Not good and almost no spice characteristics.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Steve3730]

What do you taste? I made one that was totally starchy and herbal/vegetal. Not good and almost no spice characteristics.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Very Boozy. did not carb up well. pours like a stout.

 

[JohnSand]

I brewed this early September for Thanksgiving. It was decent then, better now. It also had some carbonation issues, low and slow. It's been in the bottles about ten weeks, after three in the fermenter. I like it well enough to drink regularly, but so far I don't think I'll brew it again. I added the spice at flame-out, 1tsp Cinnamon Plus. I'm happy with the spice, noticeable but not dominant. If I made a mistake while brewing or fermenting, I don't know what it is.

 

[JohnSand]

Another today, clearing now, better carb.

 

[LiquidFlame]

Planning on entering mine in a competition soon. I've seen two styles that people are saying the base style is, American Amber Ale and Northern English Brown. For those that have entered their beer, what base style did you choose and what was your feedback. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[copper2hopper]

Can someone help me understand and explain the spice addition on this one. I got through page 10 or so and couldn't find a detailed explanation so I gave up and just jumped here to ask. I noticed one person added the spice at flame out but Yuri says do it a cleaning stage (isn't that the transferring to the secondary stage after 7 days of primary?). I am just doing a 5 gallon batch all grain so can you please tell me what measurement of what exact spice I need and how/when to add it? Also, what temp is good for fermentation on this and is there any special aging process needed in the keg or is this recipe good to go after only 21 days?

 

[Benedetto]

Can someone help me understand and explain the spice addition on this one. I got through page 10 or so and couldn't find a detailed explanation so I gave up and just jumped here to ask. I noticed one person added the spice at flame out but Yuri says do it a cleaning stage (isn't that the transferring to the secondary stage after 7 days of primary?). I am just doing a 5 gallon batch all grain so can you please tell me what measurement of what exact spice I need and how/when to add it? Also, what temp is good for fermentation on this and is there any special aging process needed in the keg or is this recipe good to go after only 21 days?

When I made this, I made a "spice tea" with the following:
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutmeg
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp Allspice
0.5 tsp cloves

and I added it it little bits beginning at 15 minutes til flameout.

In 2ndary, I also added 1 oz on Vanilla extract, and I primed with demerara
sugar instead of dextrose.

 

[Trippel-A]

Most of those spices will still endure very well if not boiled too long. Vanilla, on the other hand, is very volatile and boils away fast, so should definitely not be added to hot wort. In fact, the flavor of natural vanilla is actually achieved from the aroma of it "boiling" right on your tongue.

 

[MMJfan]

For me, I make a spice tea mixing about a tbsp. of Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus spice blend with about a cup and a half of boiling water. I then let it cool and add it to my bottling bucket and then rack the beer on it when I'm ready to bottle...

 

[JohnSand]

I added one teaspoon of Cinnamon Plus at flame-out.
I also found that it needed three months aging to be very good. It scored a 32.5 at Homebrew Alley in NYC.

 

[StrongBad42]

Is the recipe on page 1 still the recipe everyone uses or is there an updated recipe somewhere in there?

 

[nastee_brew]

I am also wondering if the first page recipe is the most up to date recipe from Yuri, not peoples' additions and changes.

Also, has anyone made this without the pumpkin? My pumpkin ales in the past have turned out very well without any pumpkin in them. The pumpkin added to the mouthfeel, but the flavor was still amazing without. Just wondering how this recipe was without any pumpkin addition. Can't wait to make this this fall.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I've kept the page one recipe up to date. It hasn't changed in years, though.

I've tried a batch without pumpkin. Use pumpkin - it makes for a richer beer.

 

[nastee_brew]

Thanks a lot for the speedy reaponse. It's really appreciated. And I'll take your word this fall and use the pumpkin.

 

[Moose_MI]

Holy crap I'm exhausted....this beer kicked my a$$. OG 1.060 and 5.5 gal in fermenter ... Whew

I used 4lbs of Libby's canned pumpkin and 1lb of rice hulls in my 10 gal round cooler mash tun with a SS false bottom.....I'm not sure 10lbs of rice hulls would have helped that sparge. For the love of all that is cold and frosty...if you have this set up I strongly suggest you put the pumpkin into a BIAB bag or something...at least put half the pumpkin in some kind of bag so you can pull it if you do get stuck.

Awesome color...can't wait for it to clear...I'm thinking in 2018. :cross:

 

[Bent-Brewer]

Finally finished reading through the entire thread... Had a few questions:

Several people have mentioned that the spice contributes the bulk of the flavor and the pumpkin isn't necessary. Others say that it contributes a more full character to the beer. In my opinion, you can't brew a pumpkin beer without pumpkin. My question is: what about reducing the amount of pumpkin and slightly increasing the DME to balance out with the increased water volume? Do you anticipate that this could noticeably change the taste?

Has anyone modified the spice tea to incorporate bourbon instead of water? I've seen several people mention vodka, rum, or spiced rum, but never any bourbon. I feel like it could really add a great taste, but am hesitant to throw it into my first batch unless someone (with more experience than myself) says "huh, that could actually work pretty well." I've done bourbon pumpkin pies before and they turned out awesome.

 

[corypedia]

Just finished this and my prefermentation gravity is 1.069. :/

i calculated BS2 at 70% efficiency and slightly up'd my SG so i could get closer to 1.055. Well, it appears according to BS2 my efficiency was closer 87%. (allegedly)

What should I do?

 

[Purdue22]

Enjoy it. Was that real question?

 

[BrewCityBaller]

Just finished this and my prefermentation gravity is 1.069. :/

i calculated BS2 at 70% efficiency and slightly up'd my SG so i could get closer to 1.055. Well, it appears according to BS2 my efficiency was closer 87%. (allegedly)

What should I do?

If you absolutely want it to be per the recipe, you'd have to water down the wort, but that will thin the body and it probably won't be the same.

Enjoy it. Was that real question?

I would do this.

 

[corypedia]

Touché. Works for me.

 

[Moose_MI]

Holy crap I'm exhausted....this beer kicked my a$$. OG 1.060 and 5.5 gal in fermenter ... Whew

I used 4lbs of Libby's canned pumpkin and 1lb of rice hulls in my 10 gal round cooler mash tun with a SS false bottom.....I'm not sure 10lbs of rice hulls would have helped that sparge. For the love of all that is cold and frosty...if you have this set up I strongly suggest you put the pumpkin into a BIAB bag or something...at least put half the pumpkin in some kind of bag so you can pull it if you do get stuck.

Awesome color...can't wait for it to clear...I'm thinking in 2018. :cross:

Ok...after 2 weeks in primary I racked this over and added the 1/2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice after steeping in a cup of hot water. Gravity right now a bit higher than recipe ...I'm at 1.022. I've not racked a beer to anything other than bottling bucket for a long time but glad I did this one. It's really cleared nice already so I will be in good shape for bottling in another couple weeks.
Hydro sample had a lot of pumpkin flavor...not sure why some folks say pumpkin doesn't add much flavor. It came through really nice for me. Really looking forward to final product

 

[corypedia]

I have the opposite issue. It's been in the primary for a week and is sitting at 1.005, where the starting gravity was 1.069. My quick calculation says that's almost 8.5% ABV.

I tasted the wort and the alcohol content is VERY noticeable. Possibly even overpowering. Should I go ahead and rack to secondary after a week?

Anyone experienced this?

 

[Moose_MI]

I have the opposite issue. It's been in the primary for a week and is sitting at 1.005, where the starting gravity was 1.069. My quick calculation says that's almost 8.5% ABV.

I tasted the wort and the alcohol content is VERY noticeable. Possibly even overpowering. Should I go ahead and rack to secondary after a week?

Anyone experienced this?

Where r u located.....I think we could blend these into something perfect! [emoji3]

 

[corypedia]

Where r u located.....I think we could blend these into something perfect! [emoji3]

I like you're thinking. I'm in Northern Kentucky. Let's meet halfway.

 

[copper2hopper]

What's the turn around time on this recipe from grain to glass? Wanna time it oh right for Halloween time to have on tap roughly a week beforehand.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Ok, I picked up grains for this and when I got home the LHSS sold me CaraAmber and I was wanting biscuit... Is that essentially the same??

 

[Purdue22]

Not the same, caraamber for color mainly and biscuit for flavor...

 

[copper2hopper]

Anyone? Turn around time? Grain to glass?

 

[sfgoat]

Anyone? Turn around time? Grain to glass?

About 4 weeks if you keg or 5-6 weeks if you bottle. You could probably push it faster but you might lose some clearing and conditioning time.