Begin Brewing!

Although there are a few pumpkin spice ales on the market that I enjoy (Hoppin' Frog's Double Pumpkin, Samuel Adams Fat Jack, and Heavy Seas Great'r Pumpkin come to mind first), I've yet to brew a pumpkin spice ale that I have been happy with.  Either I didn't feel like the base beer was quite right, or the spice mix was too "something" (insert random pie spice there) forward, it was too hop-forward, or it was wrong in some other way.  This year, I decided to try the kit from Great Fermentations in Indiana to see if I liked that any better than previous brews. Ingredients 9 pounds 2-row Brewer's Malt 1 pound Munich Malt 8 ounces Crystal 40L Malt 15 ounces Canned Pumpkin (not included in kit) 1/4 tsp. Brewtan B (my addition to kit) 1 ounce Glacier Hops 1/2 tsp. Brewtan B (my addition to kit) 1 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.) 0.5 tsp. Ground Cinnamon (not included in kit) 0.5 tsp. Vanilla extract (not included in kit) 0.5 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice (not included i...

The finished pumpkin ale My wife and I enjoy a good pumpkin ale. My personal favorite is Hoppin' Frog's Frog Hollow Double Pumpkin Ale. I also enjoy Heavy Seas Great'r Pumpkin (a barrel aged pumpkin ale) and Southern Tier's Pumking. I found a recipe recently that looked promising , so I scaled it down to fit the Zymatic and ordered the ingredients. Tonight, I brewed it. Ingredients 4.25 pounds of Two-Row Pale Malt 7 ounces of Munich Light Malt 7 ounces of Belgian Caravienne 4 ounces of Carafoam 2 ounces of Biscuit Malt 4.5 ounces of Wildflower Honey added to mash water 15 ounces of canned Organic Pumpkin 0.5 ounces of Crystal hops @ 3.5% AA (60 min.) 0.5 ounces of Crystal hops @ 3.5% AA (20 min.) 0.25 ounces of Crystal hops @ 3.5% AA (10 min.) 5 grams pumpkin pie spice at 20 min. 5 grams pumpkin pie spice at 10 min. 1 packet Safale US-05 yeast 1/4 tsp. Yeast Nutrient 1/8 tsp. Super Irish Moss (20 min.) 1.5 tsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer in the grain at t...

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...

My wife is a big fan of pumpkin ales. Some time ago, I purchased the ingredients for one that I never got around to making until today. If you look at the Northern Brewer web site, you may recognize this as being similar to their Smashing Pumpkin Ale recipe. That was my starting point. I added Butternut Squash to it because we had one in the kitchen that we had no plans for. I also added Melanoidin Malt to give it a little bit of the crust/biscuit flavor that you find in Southern Tier's Pumking. I could have added Victory Malt like they do, but I am hoping the Melanoidin will give a more subtle crust-like flavor and some added sweetness to accentuate the pumpkin pie flavor profile. I bought the grain for this recipe over a year ago and hadn't used it. I decided to get it out and make it, not knowing if the age of the grain would ruin the result or not. Even if it did, I figured it would be good practice to make it. The Recipe 7.5 pounds 2-Row Pale Malt 2.5 pounds...

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...