#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