Begin Brewing!

Some time ago, perhaps more than a year back, I purchased a Great Pumpkin Ale kit from Adventures in Homebrewing.  The kit's been sitting in my basement in the original double-bagged container ever since.  This weekend, I decided to brew it, though I held out little hope that it will taste very good - not because I think Adventures in Homebrew didn't make a good recipe, but because it has to be at least a year old. There's a good chance the grain has oxidized and gone bad. But rather than throw it out, I decided to brew it anyway. The worst case scenario is that I'll have to dump it later. The original recipe made for a very weak beer compared to most pumpkin ales I've had. It was estimated to have an ABV of 4.3%.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a pumpkin beer that low. I was also concerned that given the age of the grain it might not yield much sugar. I decided to put my own spin on the recipe. If it turns out to be terrible, it won't be Adventures in Ho...

Today I brewed the " Shades of Gourd " pumpkin spice ale kit from Adventures in Homebrewing. They describe the beer as a light and elegant pumpkin ale. The kit arrives with all the grain in a plastic bag. The hops and spices are in other bags, combined with priming sugar and/or yeast depending on how you order the kit. The Recipe The kit contains the following: 7 pounds of 2-row Pale Malt 1 pound of Honey Malt 12 ounces of Crystal 60L Malt 12 ounces of Crystal 10L Malt 8 ounces of Carafoam Malt 1 ounce of Tettnang hops pellets (marked as 2% AA in my kit) 20 grams of Pumpkin Pie Spice I added the following: 1 packet of Safale US-05 yeast 1/4 teaspoon of Super Irish Moss, rehydrated in water 1/2 teaspoon of Wyeast Yeast Nutrient Campden tablet added to mash and sparge water to remove chlorine and chloramine The yeast matches with the Adventures in Homebrewing options, but I already had it on hand. The other two items were designed to clarify the bee...

Adventures in Homebrewing makes a number of all-grain and extract recipe kits for homebrewing.  During a sale earlier this year, I picked up their Peanut Butter Conspiracy Stout extract kit (on sale for $26.99 as of this writing in November 2015).  The kit includes: 6 pounds of Pale LME 1 pound of Flaked Barley 1 pound of Carafa II 4 ounces of Black Patent Malt 1 dram of Peanut Butter Flavoring 1 ounce of Willamette Hops (5.4% AA) It is recommended to use Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale, White Labs 004 Irish Ale, or Danstar Nottingham.  Since I ordered the kit during the warmer months, I settled for Danstar Nottingham dry yeast. Brew Day The brewing process was: Heat 2.5 gallons of water to 150-160F.  I used The Grainfather to do this. Drop the bagged grain into the water and steep for 20 minutes. Remove the grain from the water and let it drain, then discard. In my case, while doing the above, I heated 3 gallons of water in a kettle on my kitchen...

Adventures in Homebrewing (AIH) is a brewing supply store located in Southeast Michigan.  They offer a full range of homebrewing products, including equipment and ingredients.  I learned about them relatively recently through sales they were doing that the brewing bargain site Homebrew Finds shared.  I decided to check out their Gingerbread Brown Ale kit and their Peanut Butter Conspiracy Stout kit, as both were on sale at the time (priced around $27 each). AIH shipped the kits very quickly.  I had them only a few days after I ordered them.  They were packaged well and made the trip without harm.  Since it's the summer, I opted for dry yeast with these as there was a good chance that standard yeast packets or tubes would get too warm in shipping. Ingredient Kit Packaging The kit arrives in a small box, imprinted with the AIH logo and slogan "I would walk the plank for a homebrew" in back. The ingredients come sealed in plastic bags, along with...