Homebrew | I've Been There

10th Annual Great Pumpkin Ale

Ever since the second year I started brewing (2003), I’ve brewed a pumpkin ale. It started when I was still brewing with a Mr. Beer kit and found a recipe for it. At the time, there weren’t many commercial pumpkin beers (the only one I could find at the time was Buffalo Bill’s). Ever since then, I’ve brewed my Great Pumpkin ale every year (and actually brewed a porter or stout version as well the last couple years). The recipe usually varies, depending upon what ingredients I have at hand, however, some things never change – like adding pureed pumpkin and spices both after the boil and in the secondary.

Great Pumpkin Ale 2012

21-A Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer

Author: Kevin Kozlen

Date: 9/16/2012

Size: 10.5 gal

Efficiency: 75.0%

Attenuation: 80.5%

Calories: 223.28 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.067 (1.026 – 1.120)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.013 (0.995 – 1.035)

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Color: 8.0 (1.0 – 50.0)

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Alcohol: 7.14% (2.5% – 14.5%)

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Bitterness: 19.0 (0.0 – 100.0)

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Ingredients:

2.0 lb (10.5%) Pale Ale Malt – added during mash

1 lb (5.3%) Crystal Malt 40°L – added during mash

2 lb (10.5%) Vienna Malt – added during mash

2.0 lb (10.5%) White Wheat Malt – added during mash

10.0 lb (52.6%) Pilsner DME – added during boil

2.0 lb (10.5%) Lactose – added during mash

1.5 oz (42.9%) Willamette (4.8%) – added during boil, boiled 60 m

1 oz (28.6%) Willamette (4.8%) – added during boil, boiled 30 m

2 tsp Irish Moss – added during boil, boiled 15 m

1.0 oz (28.6%) Fuggle (4.0%) – added during boil

2 tsp Cinnamon (ground) – steeped after boil

2 tsp Allspice – steeped after boil

2 tsp Nutmeg (ground) – steeped after boil

29 oz Pumpkin (canned) – steeped after boil

2.0 ea White Labs WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F

Source Water: 60.0 °F

Elevation: 0.0 m

Notes

Mash temp of about 150F
Added spices and pumpkin after chilled to around 100F
Ended with about 9.5 gallons in fermenters
Gravity reading in the fermenter is brix=17 or 1.068

Started fermentation in basement at approximately 68F

Transferred each carboy over to the secondary after 2 weeks on top of: 1 large 29oz can of pure pureed pumpkin, 1 tsp each of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice

Tags

Abundance of Victory Malt

I was looking for an alternative to an Oktoberfest, and wanted something with a nice bready-malty-toasty flavor. So, I thought I’d do this full-scale experiment and see what would happen if I used an abundance of Victory Malt. Well, as you can see in my notes at the end, it didn’t turn out at all like I was hoping. Perhaps it was a bad yeast cake from the previous beer, or something with my rest, but it turned out very fruity (instead of bready or toasty). I’m trying to save it by adding dry hops.

Dark Bready Lager

4-A Dark American Lager

Author: Kevin Kozlen

Size: 10.24 gal

Efficiency: 88.72%

Attenuation: 75.0%

Calories: 187.13 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.056 (1.044 – 1.056)

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Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.008 – 1.012)

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Color: 11.94 (14.0 – 22.0)

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Alcohol: 5.53% (4.2% – 6.0%)

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Bitterness: 40.6 (8.0 – 20.0)

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