Pumpkin Porter

This past weekend, I brewed what has become my favorite beer - pumpkin beer. This time I'm experiementing with a modified recipe from the book Extreme Brewing by Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head. Here's how my recipe went:

1 gallon of water
60 oz of pure Libby's pumpkin
Boiled it for 20 minutes
Let sit for 2 hours (not by choice, the kids were acting up)
Added 1 gallon of water
Brought to 156 degrees and added crushed grains in grain bag:
1 lb Briess Chocolate Malt - 6-row Lovibond 350
1.5 lb Briess 2-row Pale Malt Lovibond 1.5
Added 2 tsp of gypsum
Maintained the heat between 153 - 157 degrees for about 45 minutes
Removed the grain bag and strained some of the pumpkin out (as best I could)
Added 4 gallons more water and brought to a boil and added
1 oz Kent Goldings (product of UK) pellet hops A.A. 4.8%
Boiled for 40 minutes, then added
3 lbs Muntons Plain Amber Dry Malt Extract (color 20 EBC)
3.3 lbs Muntons Light Liquid Malt Extract (color 8-12 EBC)
.5 lbs of Lactose
1 oz Ken Goldings (product of USA) pellet hops A.A. 4.5%
2 tsp of Irish Moss
Boiled for 10 more minutes and added
.5 oz Cascade pellet hops A.A. 6.3%
.5 lb corn sugar
1 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Nutmeg
Boiled for 10 more minutes and removed from heat.
It cooled down slowly over 24 hours.
Original Gravity = 1.074
Shook the carboy vigorously and added Coopers Dry Ale Yeast - 7.5 grams

It started fermenting today, so I'll try and keep you updated on its progress. I'm still debating adding 15 oz. more of pumpkin and 1/4 teaspoon of each of the spices to the secondary. Your thoughts?

Update on Beers

I realize it's been awhile since I've posted, so I thought I'd give you an update on the last few beers. The Hefewiezen turned out not too bad. My experiement with the Schlafly Hefe yeast was a good one, as there was a very notable difference with the taste. The Schlafly Hefe yeast had a much smoother finish and mouthfeel than the other. The dry yeast was a little sharp. The Raspberry was OK... it was my first experiment at putting raspberry in the secondary and I don't think I'll do it again. It added a bit of tart to the taste. Whenever I've added raspberry at the end of the boil, it's turned out much better, both in terms of taste and aroma.

I also brewed the GAC IPA and the Initiation Day IPA. Both IPAs were pretty good. For the amount of alcohol, they are pretty smooth. Both had a bit of a hoppy taste, but it wasn't as pronounced as most IPAs I've had before. Perhaps next time I brew these I'll try a bit more hops, especially in the secondary.

Bottled the Hefeweizen

I bottled the Hefeweizen and Raspberry Hefeweizen this week. It smelled, and even though it wasn't carbonated yet, tasted pretty good. I'll let you know how the final product turns out in 2-3 weeks after bottle conditioning.

I couldn't come up with an interesting name for either of these brews, so they're generically named by their style.

As far as labels go, I've been printing these off on my inkjet printer, cutting them out and then applying them with clear packing tape. So far they've worked well on beers right out of the fridge, but I haven't tried submersing them in a cooler full of ice and water yet.

Brewed a Pale Ale

I bottled the Hefeweizen and the Raspberry Hefeweizen and brewed a Pale Ale this past weekend. It might be close to an IPA, but I'm not sure. Here's the recipe...

Steeped .5 lb of Crystal 40L for 24 hours in 5.75 gallons of hot water from the tap
Brought up to 155F and let sit at that temp for 30 min.
Brought to a boil and removed grains.
1 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3%
Boiled for 30 min.
.5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3%
2 cups of corn sugar
2 cans of Alexanders Sun Country Pale Malt Extract
1 tsp Irish Moss
Boiled for 15 min.
.5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3% Boiled for 10 min.
.5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3%
Boiled for 5 min. and removed from heat
Cooled the wort and added Muntons Gold yeast at around 79F
Gravity = 1.066

I'm planning on dry hopping (my first experiment with dry hopping) with .5 oz. Cascade hops A.A. 6.3% after a week in the primary and let sit for another week in the primary before transferring over to the secondary. Again, I'll let you know how it goes.

Hefe moved to Secondary

Last week was busy and I had a wedding this past weekend, so I finally moved the hefeweizen over to the secondary after 2 weeks in the primary. Again, I'm experimenting a little... I went to a local flea market and bought a 5 gal. carboy for $6. This allowed me to split the 6 gallons into 2 carboys - 1 with 2.5 gal. and one with 3.5 gal. In the secondary carboy with 2.5 gallons, I added 1 can of Oregon red raspberries with juice to make a raspberry hefeweizen. Again, I'll let you know how it turns out when I bottle it in a week.

I've already purchased the ingredients to brew an IPA this weekend... This is partly because of my excitment that my local homebrew shop finally has a new supply of hops. I bought several packs of Cascade hops for my upcoming IPA recipe. I'll post the recipe next week after I brew.

Brewed a Hefe Weizen

Brewed a Hefe Weizen. Here's the recipe...

Steeped
.5 lbs Briess Wheat Malt crushed 6 row (lovibond 2.2)
.5 lbs Briess Dextrine Malt crushed 6 row (lovibond 1.5)
for 4 hours in 6.25 gallons of hot water from the tap
Brought water to 155-160 F and let rest for 30 min. and brought to full boil and removed grains
1 oz. Vangard pellet hops A.A. 4.4%
1/2 cup of Malto dextine
2 cups of corn sugar
Boiled for 30 minutes
3.3 lbs Briess Bavarian Wheat LME
3 lbs Munton's Plain Extra Light DME (7 EBC)
1 cup of corn sugar
.75 lbs Munton's Plain Wheat DME (55% wheat/45% barley, 9 EBC)
Boiled for 15 more minutes
.5 oz Willamette pellet hops A.A. 4.6%
Boiled for 10 more minutes
.5 oz Willamette pellet hops A.A. 4.6%
Boiled for 5 minutes and cooled
Pitched Munton's Gold Yeast directly into Wort at 68F

This made about 6 gallons, and I forgot to measure my original gravity before pitching the yeast. I think I'm going to add a half can of Oregon canned raspberries to 1 gallon in the secondary for a raspberry hefe. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bottled the Weizen

I'm still not sure if it would be considered a dark hefe weizen or a dunkel weizen, but anyway, I bottled what I'm calling a Dunkel Weizen today (I always put the month it's ready to serve as the month it was bottled on the label so friends don't think it's too old). I decided to call it "1474 Dunkelweizen" in honor of an upcoming fraternity event at the end of July at which time I hope to finally crack one open. It's currently being aged in basement at around 65F. It smelled and tasted pretty good when I checked final gravity. Based on some very basic calculations, I'm estimating the final alcohol by volume to be around 6.5%.

I'm also experimenting with a different way to label my bottles. The logo to the right is my label for the Dunkelweizen. I printed it off on the computer on regular paper, cut it out and then covered the entire thing on the bottle with packing tape. Hopefully the packing tape won't stick too much when trying to take the labels off, but will prevent water from getting to the label if I decide to put these on ice. I'll let you know how that goes.

Brewed a Hefe or Dunkelweizen

This weekend I brewed a very wheaty wheat beer. I think it's too dark to be called a Hefe, but too light to be a Dunkel. It's my first use of my new turkey fryer (my wife wanted me out of the kitchen and it allows me to do full boils). Here's the recipe...

.5 lbs of Briess Dextrine grains
.5 lbs of cracked wheat
Steeped and brought 6.5 gallons of water to 155F and set at 155 for 30 minutes
Brought water to a boil and removed steeping bag
3.3 lbs Briess Bavarian Wheat LME
1 cup of corn sugar
1/4 cup of malto dextrine
1 tsp of Irish moss
1 oz of Tradition hops (A.A. 5.8%)
Boiled for 30 minutes
3.3 lbs Briess Bavarian Wheat LME
3 lbs Muntons Wheat DME (55% Wheat/45% Barley)
.5 oz of Willamette hops (A.A. 4.5%)
Boiled for 15 minutes
.5 oz of Willamette hops (A.A. 4.5%)
Boiled for 15 minutes and cooled

Here's the interesting/experimental part... I'm fermenting 5 gallons in my carboy with Munton's Gold Ale dry yeast, and then I'm fermenting 1 gallon in couple half-gallon growlers. In the growlers I've tried my first attempt at yeast harvesting (from a Schlafly Hefe). The original gravity is 1.070. I'll let you know how it turns out.

St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival 2008

This past weekend I went to the St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival (well, in St. Louis, obviously). There were 8 breweries (Alandale Brewing Company, Anheuser-Busch, Schlafly, GriesedieckBros. Brewing, Augusta Brewing Co., O'Fallon Brewery, Square One Brewery, and Morgan Street Brewery), with over 60 beers to sample. Unfortunately, I was only able to try about half of the beers. I'm only disappointed that I was not able to sample beers from Alandale, Square One, or Griesedieck (in all fairness, Griesedieck only had 1 beer to sample). One interesting thing about the festival is that the brewers did not give the "brand name" of their beers, only the brewer and the style. That's why I made fun of my wife, since the first beer she "tried" was A-B's "American Light Lager" (Bud Light).

I did enjoy the Schlafly beers alot, in particular the Bavarian Style Dark Wheat (which my friend who went with us tells me is their "#15") and their Kolsch (for a winter day, I'd go for the Schwarzbier). I only tried two of Morgan Street's beers, and one was good (the Dusseldorf Altbier) and one was terrible (Vienna Lager). Although each brewer brewed a St. Louis Dark Lager (with the same ingredients) and I have to say that my favorite there was Anheuser-Busch's version. In the Witbier/Wheat Beer category, I enjoyed Schlafly's (#15) and Augusta's Blegian Witbier (A-B's version was a little too lemon-orangy for me, and O'Fallon's was a little bland). In the "alternative" (fruit beer) category, I still like Schlafly's Pumpkin Beer. Although the version they had at the festival seemed to have more spices than the one i had at "The Tap Room" (their restaurant) last October. As far as "hoppy beers" I'd have to go with O'Fallon's American IPA (I think it's their "3-Day IPA") which kicked in a minute or two after I drank it - followed closely by Augusta's American IPA which had a little bit of grassy taste. The surprise of the day for me was A-B's Sorghum Beer. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't bad - quite barleyey. Overall, if I had to choose a "Best of Show" I'd have to go with Augusta's German Pilsner... but only because it was a Pilsner kind of day. Each beer was pretty good on it's own and it was a pretty good day... and props to the staff at the festival for handing out huge soft pretzels and bottles of water as we left. I hope we'll be able to go again next year.