Punkin Ale

Pumpkin Season!

Let's keep the streak going. Fourth brewing weekend in a row. Today I brewed with my buddy Greg Robbins at his place. He brewed a complex Flying Dog Fear clone and I brewed this recipe I found on HomeBrewTalk that emulates the DFH Punkin' Ale. Started off with four pounds of pumpkin puree baked in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes. Let it sit in the oven to cool slowly for the next 30 min. Came out a nice warm amber color. Also had to buy my second 50lb. sack of two-row today for this brew's grist. I feel like working your way through your first 50 lb. sack should earn you an intermediate brewer's badge. I'll ask the wife to make one.

Malt Contains no Dinosaurs

Watching Greg mash in a Rubbermaid cooler and sparge with stove top heated water looked so much simpler than the BIAB that I may heavily consider upgrading to a cooler based mash from the BIAB method. Especially for bigger winter beers like this that are a bit more unwieldy in a bag.

Brew Recipe

Brew Date: 8/24/2013
Style: Spice Ale
Batch Volume: 4.5 gal.
Type: All Grain
Color: 13 SRM
Target Bitterness: 20.2 IBU
Target OG: 1.067
Estimated FG: 1.017

Grist
8 lb. American Two-Row
1 lb. Crystal 60L
1 lb. Victory
4 lb. Baked Pumpkin Puree

1 oz. Hallertauer (60 min.)
1 lb. Brown Sugar (60 min)
1 oz. Hallertauer (5 min.)
2 tbsp. Pumkin Pie Spice (5 min.)
    - 1/2 cinnamon, 1/4 ginger, 1/8 nutmeg, 1/8 allspice

1 pkg. Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

Brew Notes

Mash Temp: 155 °F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Pre-Mash Volume: 5.5 gal.
Post-Boil Volume: 4.5 gal.
Mash Efficiency: ?
Measured OG: 1.067
Measured FG: ?
ABV: ?
Calories: ?

Marble Orange Hot Break

Dough in at 157 dropped the temperature way below target to about 145. After adding all 10 lb. of grain and 4 lb. of pumpkin the brew kettle started overflowing and was at its absolute limit. Heated the mash on the burner to reach a temp of 157. After a 72 minute mash I squeezed the hell out of the giant grain bag and collected 4.5 gal. of wort. Put the bag in a bucket and 'sparged' another 1/2 gallon through it to collect 5 gal. total for boil. Used the wort chiller to cool down to 90 degrees and immersed pot in water bath for a while to get down to 85. Poured beer into fermenter and will wait until temperature drops below 80 before pitching US-05 yeast. Measured gravity was 1.067 which is AMAZING. Even with so many variables I can't believe I've been hitting my target gravity this consistently.

After bringing all the equipment home and avoiding cleaning because I hate cleaning the living room has a little pumpkin and graham cracker smell. I can only hope this is echoed in the brew six weeks from today.

Update 8/30/13 - Gravity reading is 1.010. Finishing way lower than the recipe predicted. Maybe because dough in brought the temperature too low for a few minutes? Regardless it tasted fantastic. Very excited to move this one along and get it in my belly ASAP.

Update 9/21/13 - Bottled 4 gallons of the pumpkin ale today with 3.5 oz. of priming sugar yielding 40 bottles in total. Finishing gravity was 1.008. Somehow I liked the taste a little more three weeks ago. It tastes a little too spicey and just a bit hot out of the hydrometer tube. If this guy smooths out a little with age it'll be a winner.