Fall treat

[NoCalRed]

Thought since I don't believe I have ever started a thread or really said much of anything, more of listener/reader type I guess, might as well share something that I've really come to look forward to this time of year. Also I do believe there are some other home brewers out there that may want to give this a try. This is an old pumpkin ale recipe I started making several years ago, thought it would be a good fall/ Thanksgiving type brew. Over time I have adjusted it quite a bit adding things here and there. As a matter of fact the recipe has not been stable since I started making it, always have a new idea about what to do. This recipe is what I started with and is quite good, but if I may say so it has got a lot better since. As a matter of fact, if I may toot my own horn here a little, it is so good that more friends, co-workers and family of my wife and I have come to expect it every year and I have not been given a bad review yet. Now I have to make 10 gallons of it just so we can have some at the house , however this recipe is only written for 5 so if you need bigger just adjust some. Some of my calculations may be off especailly figuring out the gravity and alcohol content.

Nothing like Turkey, football and some good brew.

Any other fall treats folks out there like to make?

Batch Size: 5gls

O.G. 1.062

FG: 1.017

Alcohol: About 5.4% v/v (4.3% w/w)

Grain:

9lbs American 2 row.
1lbs Briess Caramel Malt 90L
8oz Detrine Malt Cara pils (for head retention)
4oz Belgian Cara Vienne
2lbs Pumpkin

Mash:

84% efficiency I used 2 small pie pumpkins which yielded about 2 lbs of pumpkin. Cleaned and cut into 3 inch cubes. Baked in oven at 350° for 90 min. or until outside is caramelized, cool and mash slightly with potato masher. Add to MLT with grain.

Single step infusion @ 156° for 60 min or iodine test shows conversion complete.
Batch sparge to get 6 gal. Use 1 to 2 tsp of lactic acid in the sparge to bring the ph balance of the mash in to the acid range.

Boil:

70 minutes SG 1.054 7 gallons 8 oz. Honey Add 1/2 teaspoon Irish Moss with 15 min. to go.
Add 1 tsp Cinnamin, 1 tsp Nutmeg, 1/2 tsp Ginger with 5 min. to go.

Hops:
1/4oz. Cascade (5.3% AA, 60 min.)
2 oz. Willamette (4.7% AA, 60 min.)
1/4 oz. Cascade (5.3% AA, 30 min.)
1/2 oz. Cascade (5.3% AA, 15 min.)

Yeast:
WL051 California Ale pitchable tube bumped up to a 1 pint starter.

Log:
Ferment 7 days @ 65° in primary.
Rack, ferment 7 days @ 65° then bottle.

Carbonation:
2.2 volumes Corn Sugar: 3.95 oz. for 5.5 gallons @ 68°F and 1 to 2 tsp of Vanilla extract in the bottling bucket

[westofyou]

And here I was making my pumpkins into pie... see ya got the Hops all picked out...mmmm hops...

[Yachtzee]

Oh to have the time and energy to homebrew. Looks like a great recipe.

Do you have a rig for the all-grain brewing, or is this all done in the kitchen? I used to dream of having my own rig for some good all-grain brewing. Right about now would be a good time to start a Christmas bock as well. A month to ferment and a few weeks to chill in the bottles/keg and you'll have some tasty beer. Once I get a full-time job, I'm going to celebrate by setting up an appointment with one of the local "Brew-your-own" facilities.

[NoCalRed]

Oh to have the time and energy to homebrew. Looks like a great recipe.

Do you have a rig for the all-grain brewing, or is this all done in the kitchen? I used to dream of having my own rig for some good all-grain brewing. Right about now would be a good time to start a Christmas bock as well. A month to ferment and a few weeks to chill in the bottles/keg and you'll have some tasty beer. Once I get a full-time job, I'm going to celebrate by setting up an appointment with one of the local "Brew-your-own" facilities.

I have a 10 gallon brewing system with three individual burners that does make it a lot easier than how I used to do it, which was a Gott cooler systems. I brewed once in the kitchen a long time ago when I first started and never again it's hard to get rid of that malt smell. Here is a link to the system I bought, by the way this store is very good if you are interested in starting a hobby in anything fermentation.http://store.thebeveragepeople.com/pgi-PRODUCTSPEC?PB09

Lastly there is always time and energy for brew.

[SunDeck]

What is all grain brewing?

[Yachtzee]

What is all grain brewing?

Brewing the natural way, no extracts.

[NoCalRed]

What is all grain brewing?

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/index.html

The advantages of all grain brewing, in beer sense, is that you have more control over the brewing process. With extract you are relying on someone else to do the mashing. Also while the intial investment of a brew system may be costly, there are ways around that too if you are interested, the over all cost per batch is cheaper than extract. For example a 22oz bottle of good beer at the store may cost up to $3 with extract I think I was able to get the same quality for about $1.50 a bottle with all grain I think I hover around the $1 mark.

[SunDeck]

Thanks,
I brew from kits, and I have friends who are more like you. They are quite into it and they talk about all grain brewing all the time. I've just nodded like I know what they are talking about.
I think eventually I'll try getting under the hood of my mash, but for now, I'll settle for someone else's product. Even without being an all grain brewer, I like the product better than the beers I buy locally, which includes a couple of real good micros.

Thanks for the link- very informative.

[NoCalRed]

While I'm thinking about it I'll also say that not only does all grain brewing give the brewer more control over the finished product, but also more opportunities for problems or hiccups. For instance this weekend I brewed my pumpkin ale, made some pretty significant changes this year by the way, and during the process I ended up getting what is called a stuck mash. This basically means that the wort cannot flow through the piping in the bottom of the mash tun, which is a big problem. I had to be very careful handling the wort so I didn't get anything in the mash while I fixed the problem which is a pain. However with some experience these problem are avoidable with some planning, I've been a little rusty lately, busy year. I've been brewing for 8 or 9 years and this is only the second time this has ever happened to me. The after boil pre-fermented wort tasted fine so I did save the beer, thankfully. Update on the taste in about a month, can’t wait.

As far as Christmas beer I had thought of doing something different like a smoked porter. Probably will not be able to do it though because I would consider that a specialty brew and I usually put those kinds of beers in bottles having already made pumpkin, another specialty brew, my bottles are pretty much all used up. So if I do make another sometime soon it will have to be something that I can keg and have regularly such as my double IPA.

Didn’t mean for this to turn in to an all brewing thread, I do like talking about it though. Just thought it would be interesting to share something that I like making for the holidays and thought someone else would like to share. I know it is a little early to start thinking about the holidays, but I had brew on the brain and if I wanted it to be ready in time I had to start now.