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

[tmoney1224]

Thanks Yuri, can I just boil it with my priming sugar and add it that way?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

That's exactly how I would do it.

 

[tmoney1224]

Rock on, thanks again

 

[rossrainey]

I might have read past this at some point, but what would be the benefit of the spice tea at clearing over just adding the spices in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the boil in the extract version. I'm planning on trying to brew this next week and was just wondering if I could just add the spices to the boil. I plan on a boil volume of 3 gallons and then topping off to 5 gallons. Thanks

 

[liquid_courage]

what about baking the spice with the pumpkin like a pumpkin pie

 

[Yuri_Rage]

If you bake the pumpkin with the spices, then you'll be boiling the spices which may result in flavor loss or tannin extraction.

 

[Beau815]

I'm thinking that perhaps fresh pumpkin is the way to go for those of us who use a SSB.

If baked and cut into chucks its a lot less likely to stick the sparge then goopy canned pumpkin.

I agree. What im going to try is getting a whole pumpkin and using a potato peeler and peel the whole pumpkin and add to mash. Or possibly chopping it into small chunks. I think big chunks would waste alot of the pumpkin flavor. Ill brew this in a couple months but doing my research now so im well prepared.

 

[Beau815]

I just made this today; I put 3 cans of pumpkin in the mash and one in the boil. One pound of rice hulls in the mash, and not even a hint of a stuck sparge. The wort is a beautiful orange color and tastes just like pumpkin and cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg and allspice. Recipe: highly recommended!

I was thinking the same thing. I will put most in the mash and some in the boil as well. If I use canned Ill probably go with 3 and 1 like you did. Thanks!

 

[Stunna980]

I just brewed this today, it tasted awesome, but man it was a LOT of work.

I used a fresh pumpkin, cut it open, cleaned it, and then boiled it for 20 minutes. After boiling I cut the skin off the pieces and then baked them for about 45 minutes at 350 ºF. I then steeped the following grains for about 25-30 minutes at 155 ºF:

1 lb Caramunich
1 lb Crystal 20L
1 lb Crystal 40L
1 lb Flaked Wheat

After steeping I sparged, then brought to a boil and added:

5 lbs Extra Light DME
0.75 oz Goldings Hops
The baked "meat" from a soccer ball sized pumpkin.

I boiled for 45 minutes, then added about 1 oz Ginger root that SWMBO sliced up for me. After 55 minutes I added 3/4 tsp Nutmeg, 1.5 tsp of Cinnamon, 1 tsp Vanilla, and 3/4 tsp Irish Moss. Everything had gone great so far, but I knew i was in for trouble because I had tried to put the pumpkin in my grain bag, and it clogged it up, so I dumped the pumpkin straight into the wort.

Even after tediously straining out about 8 quarts of pumpkin, I had some more trouble. When I added the wort to the carboy, I tried taking an OG reading and it came out very wrong (1.030). I knew my efficiency couldn't be that far off and that's when I looked at the carboy and saw some strange layering going on:



So apparently, even after my tedious straining, a LOT of pumpkin made it into the wort. I know that my OG was not accurate b/c I could easily tell the top layer that I had pulled from with a turkey baster was significantly lighter than others. I'll probably have to use the OG that beersmith gave me and see what my FG is. I'm excited for this to finish, should be very tasty.

I was going to make this and put the pumpkin in a grain sock also. Is that not recommended then?

 

[BornInaHoller]

I've had a batch in the primary for about 5 weeks. I still haven't added the spice tea. Should I rack it to a secondary and add the spice tea. Or, should I just add the spice tea to the bottling bucket with the priming sugar and bottle it? I am going to let it age until October anyway.

 

[HellenicHomeBrewer]

I'm guessing for bitterness you are adding this at 60 mins?

.75 oz Goldings (5.0% AA) 13 IBU

 

[maui808]

Does the pumpkin in the boil effect the head at all?

 

[BeerBudha]

Just when I think I'm starting to learn all the terms I find a new one. Whats the clearing stage? I'm making this delicous sounding brew today and I'm a little confused. As always any help is appreciated.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'm guessing for bitterness you are adding this at 60 mins?

Yes. Edited the offending post.

Does the pumpkin in the boil effect the head at all?

Not really. If anything, I'm inclined to believe that it actually helps head retention.

Just when I think I'm starting to learn all the terms I find a new one. Whats the clearing stage? I'm making this delicous sounding brew today and I'm a little confused. As always any help is appreciated.

Secondary.

 

[BeerBudha]

Thanks Yuri, I've been reading about this all week and never thought to ask.

 

[BeerBudha]

I just got this into the primary and it taste delicious so far. Both my roommate and I got huge grins on our faces when we tried it.

 

[tokolosh]

Hey Yuri - -
On page 11 (I think) you posted a recipe for a 6 gallon batch with only 1 tsp Cinnamon Plus and no other spices... is that right or should I still go off the spice concoction you have on page 1? Thanks man, can't wait to try this one out!

EDIT - - It's on page 10. My bad.

 

[rjvanden]

So I didn't see the pg 11. change until after mine was in primary. So rather than use a spice tea (which didn't work anyways...i'll get to why in a second) I just threw the cinnamon plus into the secondary.

But, the problem I have with the cinnamon plus is that it doesn't mix well, at all. It just coagulates... is this normal?

 

[StickyWicket]

I'm ready to make this (extract version), but don't you have to mash the biscuit malt? I thought steeping did nothing for biscuit malt. Mini-mash perhaps?

 

[McBrewski]

1. Will a 6.5g pail be large enough for primary without using a blowoff tube?

2. Does the roasted pumpkin go into a grain bag before being added to the boil or do you just toss the **** right in?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Technically, you should mash biscuit malt. Steeping it around 150° F will actually allow some of it to convert. IMHO, just use it.

I put the pumpkin in a grain bag when I made the extract version. I still had a ton of trub. It's messy stuff!

 

[corvax13]

Hey Yuri

Just wanted to say thank you from a new homebrewer. Just read through this entire post (which I guess gets revived at around this time every year), and your constant improvements and patience with all these questions is very admirable.

I am looking forward to brewing this at the end of the month.

Thanks!

 

[StickyWicket]

Thanks, Yuri! Tomorrow is brew day for me. Wish me luck!

 

[aeonderdonk]

Definitely going to give this a try. I plan to add pumpkin to the mash after baking, spice additions at 5 mins. Here is what a 5.5G batch is looking like:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.2 %
2 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 16.9 %
1 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
0.5 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 3.4 %
1 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 13.4 IBU
0.75 tsp Ginger Root (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.75 tsp Cloves (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.25 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.25 tsp Allspice (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.75 tsp Cinnamon Ground (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
66.00 oz Pumpkin (Mash 90.0 min)

 

[aeonderdonk]

Should I include the pumpkin's weight when calculating mash/sparge volumes?

 

[rjvanden]

Definitely going to give this a try. I plan to add pumpkin to the mash after baking, spice additions at 5 mins. Here is what a 5.5G batch is looking like:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.5 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 71.2 %
2 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 16.9 %
1 lb Biscuit Malt (23.0 SRM) Grain 8.5 %
0.5 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 3.4 %
1 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00%] (60 min) Hops 13.4 IBU
0.75 tsp Ginger Root (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.75 tsp Cloves (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.25 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.25 tsp Allspice (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.75 tsp Cinnamon Ground (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
66.00 oz Pumpkin (Mash 90.0 min)

Seems like alot of spice, no? I'm just hoping mine turns out... 1.5 weeks in secondary so far

 

[aeonderdonk]

Seems like alot of spice, no? I'm just hoping mine turns out... 1.5 weeks in secondary so far

A lot of other pumpkin beer recipes have around this much spice (even more in some cases). Figured I would scale it up a bit.

 

[amishland]

Two questions:

Can I use hallertau mittelfruh in place of EKG?

Would this be a canidate to FWH? and have no kettle additions? just use the amount of HalMit that beersmith tells me via FWH?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Should I include the pumpkin's weight when calculating mash/sparge volumes?

Since pumpkin isn't likely to absorb much liquid, you probably don't need to account for it when calculating the amount of liquor for the mash/sparge.

Two questions:

Can I use hallertau mittelfruh in place of EKG?

Would this be a canidate to FWH? and have no kettle additions? just use the amount of HalMit that beersmith tells me via FWH?

You can substitute any hop you like. Hallertau sounds like a fine idea. I don't recommend FWH for this one. You don't want hop flavor, just a little bitterness to balance the brew.

 

[Talloak]

Yuri, in your 2008 6 gallon recipe you used a tsp of Cinnamon Plus instead of all those assorted spices. Would this be the recommended route to take?

Did you still bake your pumpkin on a cookie sheet? If so at what temp for how long.