Pumpkin v1.1

Orange you glad it's pumpkin season?

I was very unsatisfied with the result of the pumpkin ale brew last year. After much convincing from friends and fellow brewers I decided to try revisiting the the pumpkin ale recipe again this year. I feel like the recipe last year was just 'too much.' Too much pumpkin, too much spice, too much cider flavor from the brown sugar, etc. In the software industry we we call these problem 'bugs.' You don't want bugs in your software and definitely don't in your beer. When you release bug fixes you call that a 'point release.' I'll be calling this batch Pumpkin v1.1 in honor of bug squashing beer nerds everywhere.

This year I decided to kick it down a notch (does anyone ever say that?) and instead of making a pumpkin ale, try to make a decent autumn ale that happens to taste a little like pumpkin. I'll be using half the pumpkin in the mash, half the brown sugar in the boil, and half of the spice additions. If I brew one pumpkin ale per year then I think I'll finally nail down a recipe I like around the year 2030. I'm envious of my future 50 year old self finally enjoying a great pumpkin homebrew.

Recipe Notes
Style: Spice Beer

Batch Volume: 4 gal.
Color: 13 SRM
Target Bitterness: 22 IBU
Target OG: 1.047

Grist
5 lb. 2-Row
1 lb. Crystal 60L
1 lb. Victory
2 lb. Libby's Canned Pumpkin

4 oz. Light Brown Sugar (60 min.)

1.0 oz. Hallertauer 3.2% (60 min.)

1.0 oz. Hallertauer 3.2%(15 min.)

Spices (15 min.)
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Ginger
1/4 tsp. All Spice

US-05 Yeast

Brew Notes
Brew Date: 8/31/14
Mash Temp: 148F
Mash Time: 75 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Fermenter Volume: 4.25 gal
Measured OG: 1.046 (1.044 @ 85°F)
Brewhouse Efficiency: 73%

I planned to mash this recipe a little higher, around 152°F or so but lost more temperature during dough in than usual. I think this is part of the learning process when moving from 5 gallon to 4 gallon brewing. I didn't roast the pumpkin in the oven this year. I just plopped it in with the rest of the mash.

It was a hot summer day so I only had patience to cool the wort to 85°F with the immersion chiller and let the keezer do the rest of the work. After leaving the wort in the keezer for 24 hours the temp dropped to 62°F. Pitched the yeast and aerated.

Update 9/9/14 - Racked to secondary. Gravity reading is 1.006, lower than I hoped but not unexpected given the lower mash temp and the sugar addition. Hydrometer sample is much more drinkable than the pumpkin brew from last year but is still a little too spicy. The spiciness didn't seem to diminish over time in the brew last year but I'm excited to see how this turns out.

Kegging Notes
Measured FG: 1.006
Attenuation: 87%
ABV: 5.25%
Calories:149
Carbonation: 2.3

Update 10/5/14 - Kegged today. Gravity remained 1.006. Spiciness was good warm but the malt backbone started to disappear as it cooled.