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thick wort
this is my first pumkin ale..also only my 2nd brew..all went well brewingand put in primary. I knew the 5lbs of pumkin puree would settle but when i racked to the secondary i only got 3 1/2 gallons out of my original 5 1/2....is this ok will the beer still be good...should i have added more brewing water? none of the recipies iv seen mentioned this issue.
Need a little more info on the recipe. 5 lbs of pumpkin puree seems a bit much for a 5 gal batch, though I'm sure your beer will be fine. of course, the puree wont disolve in the wort and that's what's leading to such a high loss. The yeast will only eat the sugars in the puree and make alcohol, so when you racked into the 2ndary all the pumpkin sediment plus the yeast sediment made up for a lot of your 5 1/2 gallons (apparently two gallons worth)
I've topped off before with water to make up for loss in the 2ndary, though 2 gallons would be watering it down too much, you could probably add 4-6 cups of water to get you an extra few bottles.
I wouldn't think your beer is ruined par se; the only thing I'd worry about is too much oxygen in the 2ndary allowing for bacteria to build up, if it's still fermenting or fermentation picks up for a day after a day or two no worries though. Next time maybe just try a few cans of the puree instead of a whole 5 lbs, and if the pumpkin is mostly for flavor, than add it to the 2ndary instead of the primary, the yeast should still ferment out the sugars but you'll get less loss of flavor. The primary has a way of fermenting out a lot of additive flavor people look for.
bigwill69 wrote:
this is my first pumkin ale..also only my 2nd brew..all went well brewingand put in primary. I knew the 5lbs of pumkin puree would settle but when i racked to the secondary i only got 3 1/2 gallons out of my original 5 1/2....is this ok will the beer still be good...should i have added more brewing water? none of the recipies iv seen mentioned this issue.
Beer will be fine. you just won't have enough of it to share. next time put puree in straining bag during boil so you can remove the puree before the wort goes into the fermentor. otherwise you will have a hughe turbo on the bottom of the fermentor and lose good beer.
live and learn. love pumpkin beers. might make one. haven't in a couple years. i take a pumpkin, quarter it, sprinkle pumpkin pie spices and sugar on it, roast it in oven for an hour or so at 350, till its easy to scope way from skin, them add it to the grains during mash. i don't boil the pumpkin. or if i do i use a bag as mentioned.
then i add pumpkin pie spices to priming sugar and bottle. need to find the recipe now.
DC
If you track down that recipe and don't mind sharing it, I'd love to have it. it sounds delicious.
this is my pumpkin ale
- 6lbs.Briess Pilsen malt
- 2lbs. Muntons Pale 2 row
- 1lbs. Muntons Cara-Pils
- 1lbs.briess 20l Crystal
- 5lbs Libbys pumpkin
- 1oz. Mt. Hood hopps
- 12 oz. maple syrup grade b
- 1 oz. ginger
- 3 ground cinnomon sticks
- 1 tsp. nutmeg
- 1 tsp Irish Moss
- 2 tsp. yeast nutrient
- wyeast 1056 smack pack
baked pumkin at 350 for 45 min. add vanilla bean and 1 more cinnomon stick to primming surgar
e_mott09 wrote:
If you track down that recipe and don't mind sharing it, I'd love to have it. it sounds delicious.
Recipe is for 5.5 gallons with 3 gallon boil. i like to keep hop bitterness low so it doesn't compete with spices. taste the beer along the way prior to bottling so you don't over do the spices.
OG: 1.058
FG: 1.011
IBU: 27
Alcohol: 6.1%
6 pds light or amber DME
1/2 pd 40L crystal malt
1/2 pd 2 row malt
1/2 pd wheat malt
6 oz light brown sugar
5 oz molasses
1 oz first gold 7.4 % AA boil 60 min 27 IBU
5 lb pumpkin
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice add to boil 15 minutes
WLP 400 liquid yeast
or
US-04 dry yeast
Quarter pumpkin, sprinkle with sugar and pumpkin pie spices. cook at 350 for one hour. scoop meat away from flesh and mash with grains at 152 for 30 minutes.
remove grains and pumpkin and continue as usual.
NOTE: taste before adding priming sugar, if not enough flavor add 1 tsp cinnamon and 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice to priming sugar and boil for 5 minutes. bottle as usual.
Spices were a little strong for 3 weeks and mellowed after that. But that was my opinion. each person will likely have a different opinion.
DC
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