#13 Pumpkin Stout

The second beer of our double brew day. This beer was made with canned pumpkin and the boil was extremely dark. Thanks to a mix of add-in spices a smell similar to Cinnabon was in the air. Once in the carboy tucked away in the basement we thought we were done with this one for a while. Not so. The next morning I checked on the beer and it had foamed through the airlock and was hissing like an angry snake. I decided to let it calm down a little before attempting to clean and replace the airlock. Within a hour, the airlock must have clogged and it and the stopper completely blew out of the carboy. Black stout hit every wall and even the 8-foot ceiling. What a mess. Since the airlock broke, a new one was fashioned out of a tube which allowed the beer to continue foaming for another day. Day three it finally settled down to a gentle fermentation.

Lesson Learned: Use different airlock for primary fermentation.

During bottling we were unsure of the final fate of this beer. It had an unusual aroma of peperoni. We thought the beer had spoiled, but decided to bottle it anyways.

This beer definitely tasted like a chocolately stout. Here's to rescuing out-of-control beer! -Jeff

The Vitals
Name: Pumpkin Stout
Source: Own Recipe
Add-ins/ons: Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger
OG: 1.064
FG: 1.020
ABV%: 5.8%
Bottled: 11/6/2010
Brewers: Aaron, Dane, Jeff, Steve

Recipe (5-gallon Extract)
6 lbs Dark DME

1 lb Light DME

1 lb Chocolate Malt

1/2 lb Roasted Barley

1/2 lb Black Patent Malt

1 lb Flaked Oats

5 - 15oz cans Solid Pack Pumpkin (boil with grains)

1 oz Magnum Hops (60 minutes)

1 oz Fuggle Hops (5 minutes)

Spices (Cinnamin, Ginger, Nutmeg, Vanilla) - 15 minutes)

Yeast - White Labs WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast

2/3 Cup Corn Sugar for bottling

#12 Octoberfest

Time for the fall beers. This was the first double beer brew day plus we bottled the Pumpkin Ale. BNB established a Twitter account today so all can follow us. Thanks Dane!
-Jeff

The Vitals
Name: Hoptoberfest
Source: Own recipe twist on Brewer's Best German Oktoberfest kit
Add-ins/ons: 1 lb Dark Brown Sugar with LME/DME, 1 oz Cascade Hops (60 minutes), Dry hopped (2 oz Hersbrucker oz)
OG: 1.060
FG: 1.006
ABV%: 7.1%
Bottled: 11/6/2010
Brewers: Aaron, Dane, Jeff, Steve

#11 Pumpkin Ale

When starting the primary fermentation this beer had a ton of solids
-Jeff

This beer was brewed with fresh pumpkin. Three sugar pumpkins purchased and roast for about 30 minutes, then skin removed and put into the kettle with the adjunct grains for pre-boil. The beer smelled great, and the pumpkin was reused to make amazing pumpkin bread and pumpkin bars.
-Aaron

The Vitals
Name: Pumpkin Ale
Source: Own Recipe
Add-ins/ons: Various Spices
OG: oops - hydrometer broke, but wort tested next day at 1.072
FG: 1.014
ABV%: 7.6%
Bottled: 9/25/2010
Brewers: Aaron, Dane, Jeff

Recipe (5-gallon Extract)
7 lbs Light DME

1 lb Flaked Oats

8 oz Caramel 40L Malt

8 0z Munich Malt

4 oz Toasted Malt

5 lbs Pumpkin (prepared as noted above and steeped with grains)

1 lb Dark Brown Sugar (60 minutes)

1 oz Galena Hops (60 minutes)

1/2 oz Tettnang Hops (25 minutes)

1/2 oz Tettnang Hops (5 minutes)

Spices (1.5 tsp Nutmeg, 1.5 tsp Allspice, .5 tsp Cinnamon, .5 tsp cloves) - 15 minutes

Yeast - White Labs WLP002 - English Ale

2/3 Cup Corn Sugar for bottling