Pumpkin Ale

Finally.

Pumpkin Ale

Recipe Specs
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Batch Size (G):           5.3
Total Grain (lb):         8.5
Total Hops (oz):          1.00
Original Gravity (OG):    1.058
Final Gravity (FG):       1.009
Alcohol by Volume (ABV):  5.70 %
Colour (SRM):             10.1
Bitterness (IBU):         28.2  (Rager)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 73
Boil Time (Minutes):      60


Grain Bill
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3.000 lb Maris Otter Malt (35.29%)

2.000 lb Dry Malt Extract - Light (23.53%)
2.000 lb Liquid Malt Extract - Munich (23.53%)

1.000 lb Munich II (11.76%)

0.250 lb Crystal 120 (2.94%)

0.250 lb Crystal 20 (2.94%)

Hop Bill

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0.50 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)

0.50 oz Northern Brewer Pellet (9.6% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (0.1 oz/Gal)

Misc Bill

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112.00 oz Pumpkin @ 60 Minutes (Boil)

1/8+ tsp Allspice @ 5 Days (Primary)

5/8 tsp Cinnamon @ 5 Days (Primary)

1/8 tsp Ginger @ 5 Days (Primary)

Multi-Step Mash (in a bag)
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115°F for 20 minutes.
135°F for 30 minutes.
148°F for 45 minutes.

Recipe Generated with BrewMate.

Fermentation
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10/15/11

Brew day.  Roasted 7 lbs fresh pie pumpkins for 60 minutes at 350°F.

Again, having trouble hitting mash temps.  Maybe I actually need to spring for some brewing software, not just recipe formulation/tracking.  I wanted to do a 104/140/154° schedule, but maybe it will work out better this way and I'll have higher fermentability.  I was a little worried, because after 30 minutes of my final mash temp, the wort was still tasting pretty starchy and not very sweet.  So I let it go for another 15 minutes, which helped.  Added pumpkin pulp in a mesh bag at start of boil.

Cooled wort after the boil by placing in ice bath in the sink and stirring intermittently.  Topped up to 5.3 gallons with 40°F water, which probably put the wort at about 55°F.  For fermentation temperature control, I use a Rubbermaid bin filled with a couple gallons of water and ice packs.  Filled with water and ice packs to ~60°F.  Pitched 11.5 grams of rehydrated Safale US-05 at a cool mid-50s.

Held temperature of water bath fairly steady  in the low-60s until fermentation began to slow on 10/19.  Let free rise in water bath to room temperature of 66-68°F.

10/20/11

Removed beer from water bath and set in the corner to finish.  Bought 50 mL of Zyr vodka.  Took a nip off the top, just to see what sort of quality I was going to be adding into my beer: wow.  This stuff is really good.  I added the spices to the bottle of vodka to let it steep for a few days before adding to the finished beer.

11/03/11

Checked the specific gravity (1.009) and added spice tonic.  Flavor was nice and clean.  Very promising.

11/19/11
Bottling day.  Checked gravity (1.008) and added 5 g dextrose to bottling bucket with ~1 cup water.  Had broken autosiphon tip during bottling of Funky Saison, and had trouble maintaining siphon for last 2 quarts or so.  May have induced significant aeration attempting to get the last half gallon in the bottling bucket.  Yield was 2 bombers (22 oz.) and 40 bottles (12 oz.).