SFGiantsFan925
Well-Known Member
Well, got the SWMBO involved, and she has been requesting a pumpkin ale since I started talking about brewing. She loves 'em and I am on the fence. I like them, but I am not crazy about them. Will be good for thanksgiving though! It went a LOT smoother than my first brew (Citra hop based Pale Ale).
Changes I made from my first ever brew:
Used mostly bottled drinking water for the water vs. straight tap water
Steeped grains @ 170 for 30 min vs. adding to water and bringing up to 170
Did NOT squeeze out water from grain bag
Added LME differently. About 1/2 @ 30 minutes. The rest at flameout
Added the whole whirlfloc vs. half the tablet.
And a few other small things that just made it go a lot more smoothly. I think I am really liking this brewing thing
Here is the pumkpin recipe, its based off Mike's American Amber Ale extract kit from MoreBeer.
Steeping grain:
1lb Crystal 40L
4oz Chocolate Malt
Extract:
8lbs LME (Ultralight)
Hops & Others:
1oz Norther brewer @ 60 minutes
1oz Cascade @ 10 minutes
(I wanted to keep hop flavor low, as its a pumpkin beer, not a hop forward beer)
1 whirlfloc tablet @ 5 min
90 oz. Pumpkin (canned) roasted in oven for 30 minutes @ 350 with 1 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice. Added to a large grain bag and added at 30 min left of boil
1 1/2 tsp Pumpkin pie spice @ 5 min
Yeast:
2 vials WLP051 California V Ale yeast (no starter used)
The beer smelled amazing! Tasted a bit from the hydrometer reading and it tasted great. Cant wait to taste this one. The yeast has taken about 38 hours to show signs of fermentation, bt it has a little krausen right now and is bubbling away. I hope the chocolate malt adds a nice dimension to the beer, with the pumpkin puree and spices. I think SWMBO will like it. She also thought it smelled great! Ill report back and let you know how it went. Can only get better from here!
Other details on the brew:
Target grav. - 1.055 Actual - 1.058
Pitched yeast @ 76 deg F. Wort chiller cooled in about 20 minutes.
Preboil vol. - 6.25 gal. Final Vol. - 5.1 gal (about)
Changes I made from my first ever brew:
Used mostly bottled drinking water for the water vs. straight tap water
Steeped grains @ 170 for 30 min vs. adding to water and bringing up to 170
Did NOT squeeze out water from grain bag
Added LME differently. About 1/2 @ 30 minutes. The rest at flameout
Added the whole whirlfloc vs. half the tablet.
And a few other small things that just made it go a lot more smoothly. I think I am really liking this brewing thing
Here is the pumkpin recipe, its based off Mike's American Amber Ale extract kit from MoreBeer.
Steeping grain:
1lb Crystal 40L
4oz Chocolate Malt
Extract:
8lbs LME (Ultralight)
Hops & Others:
1oz Norther brewer @ 60 minutes
1oz Cascade @ 10 minutes
(I wanted to keep hop flavor low, as its a pumpkin beer, not a hop forward beer)
1 whirlfloc tablet @ 5 min
90 oz. Pumpkin (canned) roasted in oven for 30 minutes @ 350 with 1 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice. Added to a large grain bag and added at 30 min left of boil
1 1/2 tsp Pumpkin pie spice @ 5 min
Yeast:
2 vials WLP051 California V Ale yeast (no starter used)
The beer smelled amazing! Tasted a bit from the hydrometer reading and it tasted great. Cant wait to taste this one. The yeast has taken about 38 hours to show signs of fermentation, bt it has a little krausen right now and is bubbling away. I hope the chocolate malt adds a nice dimension to the beer, with the pumpkin puree and spices. I think SWMBO will like it. She also thought it smelled great! Ill report back and let you know how it went. Can only get better from here!
Other details on the brew:
Target grav. - 1.055 Actual - 1.058
Pitched yeast @ 76 deg F. Wort chiller cooled in about 20 minutes.
Preboil vol. - 6.25 gal. Final Vol. - 5.1 gal (about)
