First original recipe: critique wanted

[lane19d]

Pumpkin Wheat

3lbs Briess Bavarian wheat LME
3 lbs plain light Muntons dme
2 lbs wheat Muntons dme
1 oz of hallertun hops
1 tsp of pumpkin spice
Bavarian Weizen yeast WLP351

53 oz of pumpkin purée in 2 gallons of water
Heated till boiled for 20 min.
Add lme and dme for 30 min
Add 1/2 oz of hops in bag for last 30 min and other 1/2 oz at 15 min till flame out
Added tsp of pumpkin spice
OG 1.152

 

[Pie_Man]

What are volumes? Do you know your estimated IBUs? If you're going for a pumpkin weizen, you may want to consider replacing the light DME with wheat extract. Wheat extract is typically a 50-50 blend of light and wheat, although this ratio varies a little by manufacturer.

Also, 1.152 OG seems way too high. I am not sure this is accurate (depends on your batch size). If it's a 5 gallon batch I'm calculating 1.060 from the extract, not sure about the pumpkin addition, but pumpkin doesn't add much. If it is accurate (you're planning a smaller batch), I think it's very high and I think you will have difficulty fermenting a wheat based extract beer with such a high OG. Meaning, I think there's a good chance this beer will be too sweet and too cloying. I think drinkability is more important than super strong alchohol, so I'd consider reducing your OG.

 

[lane19d]

The beer is already in the primary, it's got good action in the bubbler. It's a 5 gallon batch. I may have taken the gravity reading while the wort was above 70 degrees. Whic might have thrown it off

 

[lane19d]

If it is too sweet when I transfer to secondary, could I just dry hop it?

 

[Pie_Man]

If it is too sweet when I transfer to secondary, could I just dry hop it?

No, dry hopping adds hop aroma and very little in the way of bitterness to offset the malt sweetness.

 

[lane19d]

So what should I have done differently? More hops to offset all the malt? Do you foresee alot of unfermented sugars? Is there anything I can do to fix it in the secondary?

 

[Pie_Man]

I don't think there's any way your gravity reading was correct. It's probably the addition of top off water that skewed the reading, or maybe the pumpkin.

DME adds about 40 gravity points per gallon, LME adds about 34 ppg, pumpkins contribution is relatively minimal.

Lbs PPG GP
5 X 40 200 DME
3 X 34 102 LME
Total 302
Volume 5
OG 1.060 (total gravity points / volume)

So, basically a 1.060 OG is far more managable which should avoid the overly sweet and cloying characteristics.

In the future, it's good to estimate your OG before brewing which is pretty easy to do with extract brews and is usually a more reliable way to determine your OG when top off water is involved. This might help: http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-3.html

 

[lane19d]

I don't think there's any way your gravity reading was correct. It's probably the addition of top off water that skewed the reading, or maybe the pumpkin.

DME adds about 40 gravity points per gallon, LME adds about 34 ppg, pumpkins contribution is relatively minimal.

Lbs PPG GP
5 X 40 200 DME
3 X 34 102 LME
Total 302
Volume 5
OG 1.060 (total gravity points / volume)

So, basically a 1.060 OG is far more managable which should avoid the overly sweet and cloying characteristics.

In the future, it's good to estimate your OG before brewing which is pretty easy to do with extract brews and is usually a more reliable way to determine your OG when top off water is involved.

Okay, thanks a ton for the input! I need to learn the brewers math for next time! This is the first time I've ever remembered to take a gravity reading, lol. I was so proud do myself, haha. It's only my 5th brew.

 

[lane19d]

So after looking around, I found a brewculator and it has my ibu at 3.75, the style calls for 6 - 8. Could I boil some hops and add to the secondary? Additionally, I added .5 oz of the hops and left the in the beer, no hop bag. Does that affect the ibu's?

 

[jro238]

Consider a 60 minute addition next time to help get the ibu's up a little bit without having to add a lot more hops.

I would probably just leave this batch alone. I don't see why you couldn't boil/add some hop tea to your secondary but is it really worth trying to get another 3-4 ibu?

edit: did you take your hydrometer reading before adding top off water by chance?

 

[lane19d]

Yes, my reading was pure wort now that I think about it.

 

[Pie_Man]

Ah ha. That'll explain it

 

[jro238]

That would make one hell of a 2 gal. batch :rockin:

 

[lane19d]

Lol, yes it would! Thanks again for the feedback