Second attempt pumpkin ale

[JTTX80]

So last week after getting the kettle cooled and the wort into the fermenter my BIL accidentally broke the carboy. I will be trying again this weekend and here is the recipe I will be working with, again.

6 lb amber LME
2 lb dark brown sugar
1lb Pale chocolate
1lb Belgian biscuit
60 oz of canned pumpkin roasted for an hour
.5 oz of nugget hops at 60 minutes
1 oz crystal hops at 15 mins
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp Bru Vigor

Safbrew T-58 yeast.

The wort from this tasted awesome last weekend until it ended up on the kitchen floor and in the sink. Wish me luck on an uneventful brew day.

 

[JTTX80]

Pointless reply, forgot an edit button existed. Nothing to see here move on to the next message.

 

[sweed]

Well it sounds good. I want to make a pumpkin ale this year. When did you add the pumpkin and spices?

 

[JTTX80]

I added the pumpkin 40 minutes into the boil and the spices I added at flameout.

 

[JTTX80]

Gonna call this Cursed Pumpkin ale. Broke my hydrometer while cleaning it after taking my gravity reading.

 

[sweed]

Gonna call this Cursed Pumpkin ale. Broke my hydrometer while cleaning it after taking my gravity reading.

Haha, it's a good name for Halloween pumpkin ale for sure. Heard a good name today for a beer the guys made that owb the lhbs.
I just broke my thermometer, need to name the porter i just brewed something because of it. The glass is on the bottom of the fermenter, lol

 

[JTTX80]

Seems like the weekend to break stuff.

 

[JTTX80]

The T-58 yeast is going like crazy, 3 hours after pitching the yeast I had 1 bubble every 3 seconds. 14 hours after pitching I am getting 2 bubbles per second from the airlock. I have the fermenter at 68 degrees using a wet t shirt and switching out frozen 2 liters in a sterlite container.

 

[Anubrious]

That's crazy. I broke my thermometer today while checking temps to transfer to carboy after chilling the wort. Luckily only glass and steel fell in, no mercury! Can't wait to brew a nice pumpkin ale for my wife. Hope yours turns out great!

 

[sweed]

That's crazy. I broke my thermometer today while checking temps to transfer to carboy after chilling the wort. Luckily only glass and steel fell in, no mercury! Can't wait to brew a nice pumpkin ale for my wife. Hope yours turns out great!

Fyi, the food grade thermometers don't contain mercury I have learn since my mishap.

 

[JTTX80]

After two days the airlock bubbling has slowed down to every ten seconds or so. Gonna let it sit in the fermenter till the weekend and check the gravity Saturday when I get a new hydrometer. See what it's at and rack it to a secondary.

 

[JTTX80]

Started with OG of 1.065 after one week it's at 1.014. I racked to a secondary because there was about 2 inches of trub and yeast on the bottom and I want to clear it up a bit. The hydro sample had a nice pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice, not bad at all.

 

[JTTX80]

Since I am leaving town for the week to do some training for work I decided to pop one to see how the carbonation is coming.

 

[Chadh]

Thanks for the info, I will be using your recipe for my own batch. Keep me posted on how yours comes along.

 

[JTTX80]

Thanks for the info, I will be using your recipe for my own batch. Keep me posted on how yours comes along.

No problem. Hope you like it. They need a few more days for carb to finish, right now it's a little light. Has a nice flavor with a little bit of a hop bitterness to the finish. Plan to try to keep some to age but I have some friends who already want some.

 

[Chadh]

Did you find all the ingredients at your LBHS or did you order online? I'm assuming you put all the malts in at the start of your boil? What was your FG?

 

[JTTX80]

Did you find all the ingredients at your LBHS or did you order online? I'm assuming you put all the malts in at the start of your boil? What was your FG?

The only things I got outside my LHBS was the canned pumpkin and the brown sugar. I steeped the grains for 45 minutes. And added 2 lbs of the LME at the beginning of boil and the rest 10 minutes before flame out. My OG was 1.064 and
FG was 1.014.

 

[Chadh]

Any reason I couldn't substitute DME for the LME?

 

[JTTX80]

Any reason I couldn't substitute DME for the LME?

Not at all. Just need to use less DME by weight then LME.

 

[JTTX80]

Only thing I might do differently next time is to add some spice when I rack to secondary.

 

[craigger64]

Interesting thread. Please continue to update us on how this beer is coming along. I'm thinking of doing a pumpkin ale for the fall, myself. I LOVE the color of yours. I like darker, richer pumpkin ales as opposed to the lighter colored ones. I'll be interested to hear how the spices worked.....would you add less or more?

 

[JTTX80]

I would use more but I would add it to the secondary next time. Also I think I should have used Irish moss in the boil. There is a very very slight almost celery flavor at the end and I wonder if that was from not getting all the protein out during cold break.

 

[JTTX80]

This is the beer after two weeks of carbing. Probably need to age it for another month to clear up that slight bitter finish but was kinda impatient to try this since it was the first recipe I came up with.

 

[Zuljin]

View attachment 121364

Since I am leaving town for the week to do some training for work I decided to pop one to see how the carbonation is coming.

I've used pumpkin once. A whole pie pumpkin, gutted, cut into chunks and roasted till it started looking a little roasted. Added it to the mash for the whole time. Did not boil it in the wort. Did not put it into any fermenter.

I also used pumpkin pie spices, and roasted pecans.

It came out tasting like Thanksgiving dessert in a glass.

Nice back splash, by the way.

 

[JTTX80]

I've used pumpkin once. A whole pie pumpkin, gutted, cut into chunks and roasted till it started looking a little roasted. Added it to the mash for the whole time. Did not boil it in the wort. Did not put it into any fermenter.

I also used pumpkin pie spices, and roasted pecans.

It came out tasting like Thanksgiving dessert in a glass.

Nice back splash, by the way.

I will let SWMBO know you like the backsplash. She was the one that installed it.

 

[JTTX80]

So after 2 weeks of carbing and then two more weeks of conditioning the bitterness at the end has gone away and you can taste the spice more now, but its far from overpowering. That celery or grassy taste is gone as well. Guess t just needed to condition out. I admit I was a little impatient when I first started trying these.

 

[Chadh]

I'm inputting all the info into beersmith, I'm curious how long you kept it in the primary and secondary. I was going to go ahead and do two weeks in both otherwise.

 

[JTTX80]

I'm inputting all the info into beersmith, I'm curious how long you kept it in the primary and secondary. I was going to go ahead and do two weeks in both otherwise.

Go ahead and do two weeks of each. I only did a week of each but it would have benefitted from another week in the primary.