Pumpkin Ale Bottled

We bottled the pumpkin ale on Sunday Jan 16. It was never put into a secondary fermenter, so it did 2 months in the primary bucket. We primed with 1 1/4 cup dry light malt extract for the batch.

Straight out of the fermenter (warm and flat), the hops come through a little strong and the spices are more subdued than I expected. That being said, appropriate temperature and carbonation have made every previous beer better.

HOWEVER, we did not detect any sourness. I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I suspect the addition of cold socorro tap water to the chilled/chilling wort was the cause of infection in prior batches. Still, we're not positive until it's carbonated and cold. We'll see.

Pumpkin Ale

It is super cold here in NM but it's brewday so whatever. Found straight wall kegs at the scrapyard, but I have to go back later this week once the guys check the going price on 30 lbs of stainless. If anyone wants a bow-walled keg with 1/2" hole drilled in the base and the top cut off just let me know. It makes a sweet hot liquor tun, but a subpar boil  kettle because I can't attach a sight glass to it.

Also, I guess this will eventually be hosted on BeerBase.org, but that might have to wait for Aaron to get back from Antarctica.

Speaking of Aaron, he's currently updating our fermenting fridge to also contain a space heater, which will regulate T when it gets too cool in the house. I think we get down to atleast 40 every night. Trailers just don't have much insulation. Optimum fermenting temperature for an ale is around 62-70 F, depending on the style, so we need to be able to stay up there at night.

To the brewing...

Today's recipe is "Samhain's Pumpkin Ale" from Homebrewtalk.com . Recipe copied below.

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: WY1450PC Denny's Favorite 50
Yeast Starter: yes
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.054
Final Gravity: 1.012
IBU: 22 IBU
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 12 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 30
Tasting Notes: Subtle spice aroma expands to blend with pumpkin and malt notes on palate. Delicious!

Amount Item Type % or IBU

8.00 lb Golden Promise (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 50.38 %
3.625 lb Pumpkin* (2 x 29 oz. cans of Libby pure pumpkin) (3.0 SRM) Grain 22.86 %
1.00 lb British Caramalt (34.0 SRM) Grain 6.30 %
1.00 lb Toasted Malt** (27.0 SRM) Grain 6.30 %
1.00 lb Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 6.30 %

1.00 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 6.30 %

0.25 lb Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 1.57 %

0.50 oz Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) Hops 21.9 IBU

1 t. cinnamon (5 min)
1/2 t. allspice (5 min)
1/2 t. ground ginger (5 min)
1/4 t. nutmeg (5 min)
1/4 t. clove (5 min)

*Pumpkin baked uncovered for 1 hour at 350 degrees to caramelize some of the sugars and gelatinize starches
**Maris otter malt toasted for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven

Mash at 152 degrees for 60 minutes. Pumpkin should be included in mash. Be sure to use rice hulls as the pumpkin will make for a slightly sticky sparge.

9:10 AM:

So, 1 lb of maris otter is toasted and the pumpkin is still baking. Mash starts in 20 minutes. I started heating the strike water at about 8 am I think and just turned the heat off. In the future, we probably only need at 50 minutes of heating at these winter morning temperatures to get to strike temperature (~175 F).


10:00 AM:
Just mashed in. Strike water was at ~163. After the (warm) pumpking and (lukewarm) grain were added, we were at about 150. Added a few scoops of near boiling water to bring it up to 153-154. I'm counting on cooling down to 151-152 since it's still a bit chilly outside. If not I'll just mash a little longer. About 6 gal of water made it into the mash.



12:00 PM:
Lauter and sparge went fine. We ended up leaving a little wort in the MLT, but we got enough at a decent gravity that I didn't bother with fighting a stuck sparge. 1 lb of rice hulls did the trick. Burners cruising, should be boiling in ~30 min.

4:00 PM:
In the fermenter. Got 4.5 gallons. Naptime.