Beer Tasting: Andy's Pumpkin Ale 1.0

Before this beer got too far along, I wanted to do a critical tasting of my pumpkin ale. I've only got a few bottles left, and have been enjoying these through the winter months. Pumpkin ales (and pumpkin spice anything) are a bit of a trend these days, which has resulted in no shortage of commercial examples that (in my taste opinion) range from mediocre to delicious. Not one to dodge a beer bandwagon, it seemed like a good idea to brew one. As you'll see below, yes, it was a good idea!

• Basics
• Original gravity = 1.060; final gravity = 1.012; abv = 6.3%
• Aroma
• A hint of nutmeg and pumpkin (the savory vegetable aroma from freshly cooked pumpkin). Very nicely balanced--not a "spice bomb."
• Appearance
• Thick off-white head with excellent staying power; a creamy appearance and feel to the head. The beer itself is brilliantly clear, with a rich golden hue (the picture really doesn't do it justice). This is about as beautiful as it gets.
• Flavor
• Hard to describe, in a good way. Very lightly malty, with a pleasant but not overwhelming bitterness. I definitely pick up the nutmeg--distinct, but not overpowering--but the cinnamon is much more subtle; basically, just a little zing on the finish. 
• Mouthfeel
• Perhaps a touch overcarbonated. That aside, the mouthfeel is pretty smooth, just as I'd hope for something with pumpkin.
• Would I brew this again?
• Absolutely! I might dial back the carbonation just a notch, but otherwise this is pretty much the perfect pumpkin ale. The vegetable, malt, and spices are well balanced, and the body is full enough that it's not like a lager with spice added. This recipe is going into the yearly rotation. I'll also note that it has aged very well, and is just as tasty (if not more) after two months.
• Overall rating
• 8/10

Andy's Pumpking Ale 1.0 Update

I only recently realized that I didn't post details on the fermentation and bottling of my pumpkin ale.

After brewing on 13 October 2014, and ~2 weeks of fermentation and conditioning, I bottled on 26 October 2014. Final gravity was 1.012, down from a starting gravirty of 1.060. This works out to 6.3% abv.

I primed a mini-keg (5 L) with 1.5 tbs. of corn sugar, and filled up the keg. I had 3.5 gallons left, and wanted to aim for 2.4 volumes of CO2. Thus, I carbonated with 3 oz. of corn sugar boiled in 2 cups of water. The end yield was 18 12-oz. bottles, 5 22-oz. bottles, and 6 18-oz. bottles.

After a few weeks of conditioning, I sampled some bottles. The beer is more carbonated than I like--I suspect this may be due in part to not stirring the beer sufficiently after adding the priming sugar. I also suspect some secondary fermentation is involved, due to the high carbonation in the keg, too.

I took a bottle to my local homebrew club meeting, and the brew overall got pretty decent marks from the crew. Our club president deemed it as nicely balanced, and I would tend to agree. This is definitely a recipe I'll be trying again!

A formal tasting evaluation will follow later.

Andy's Pumpkin Ale 1.0

In the continued quest to expand my brewing repertoire, while also focusing on styles that I like to drink (sorry, lambics and barleywines), today I took aim at a pumpkin ale. This was inspired by the efforts of my paleontological brewing colleague Penny Higgins, as well as by a recent issue of Brew Your Own (BYO) magazine.

Grinding the Cinnamon

The recipe itself was based on BYO's recipe for a Smuttynose Brewing Co. Pumpkin Ale clone. I tweaked the hops a bit based on my supply (and the desire not to open an extra bag if I didn't have to). Additionally, I decided to increase the amount of pumpkin over the original recipe; 4 oz. of puree just didn't seem like much, and I wanted a distinct pumpkin flavor. We had some homemade pumpkin puree in the deep freeze, so I thawed that out for this recipe.

So the spices...the recipe called for 0.14 oz. each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg, with a pinch of ground cloves. I grated up the appropriate amount of nutmeg from a fresh nut, and decided to grate up a stick of cinnamon bark too. However, after "grating" ended up more as "shredding", I elected to use the trusty mortar-and-pestle for the cinnamon as well as the cloves. The result was a whole pile of absolutely delicious smelling (and fresh!) spices.

Andy's Pumpkin Ale 1.0 (modified from Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale Clone)

• 10.75 lbs. 2-row malt
• 0.9 lbs. Carastan malt
• 0.25 lbs. 60°L crystal malt
• 12.5 oz. (0.78 lbs.) homemade pumpkin puree
• 0.5 lbs. rice hulls
• 1.25 oz. Cascade hops (whole; 75 minute boil)
• 0.25 oz. Liberty hops (4.5% alpha, 3.5% beta; pellets; 15 minute boil)
• 0.75 oz. Cascade hops (whole; 10 minute boil)
• 0.75 oz. Liberty hops (4.5% alpha, 3.5% beta; pellets; added at flame-out)
• 1 tsp. Irish moss (10 minute boil)
• 0.14 oz. ground cinnamon bark
• 0.14 oz. ground nutmeg
• 2 cloves, ground
• 1 vial California Ale yeast (White Labs #WLP001), in 1.5 L starter
• 1 tbs. of 5.2 pH stabilizer

Procedure

• The day before brewing, I made up a yeast starter. See this post for details.
• I added the rice husks to the mash tun, and then added the milled grains. I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 172°. After this, the temperature was a little high (~160°), so I added an extra 0.25 gallons of cold tap water to bring the mash temperature down a bit, to 158°. After 10 minutes, the mash had stabilized to 154°, and to 150° after 60 minutes. Note to self--next let the mash sit a bit longer before worrying about lowering the temperature with cold water. I probably would have been okay without futzing with it.
• I added 0.5 gallons of water at 195° and let it sit for 15 minutes. From this, I collected ~3.1 gallons of wort over 15 minutes. It had a delicious, sweet flavor--definitely pumpkin!
• Then, I added 3.25 gallons of water at 186°, and let it sit for 15 minutes. The temperature was around 165°. Then, I collected the second runnings.
• I collected a total of 6.5 gallons of wort, with a gravity of 1.051 at 60°. This works out to a mash efficiency of ~77%. I can live with that!
• Once the wort was at a boil, I added the first round of Cascade hops. Additions proceeded per the schedule above.
• Upon flame-out, I added the final addition of Liberty hops as well as the spices. I gave it a good stir, and let it sit for around 15 minutes.
• Next, I cooled the wort using my chiller. I had recently read that siphoning ice water through the copper coil can help drop the wort the last few degrees needed for fermentation. So, I tried this trick, and it worked quite well! I was able to knock another 10° off the wort temperature at the end, quite quickly, down to 74°.
• I pitched the yeast starter, which brought the volume in the fermenter up to 5 gallons exactly. Then, I placed the fermenter in my fermenting chamber, which is set at 68°.
• The starting gravity is 1.060 (at 60°). I brewed this batch on 13 October 2014.
• The wort is a gorgeous orangish color, with a distinct yet not overwhelming spice taste and aroma. I hope that this holds through fermentation!