Pumpkin beer post brew Qs

[Willys]

Just finished up brewing and listening to the session.

I set out to brew up my first pumpkin beer and did not hit my #s. I didn't hit the preboil gravity but i wasnt too worried because my #s for the pumpkin could have been off. The problem was exaserbated by my boil off rate being lower than expected. Now i wonder of the beer may bee too dry to carry an appropriate level of spice. The post boil wort was super bitter and harsh. I was a bit surprised because i built the water to a munich profile looking for a soft bittering favoring a round malt character.

I was thinking about boiling up some dark brown sugar and adding it once fermentation slows down a bit. Is there another similar sugar that is a bit unfermentable? I have some lactose around but i have only used it in a stout.

I am using wlp090 and beersmith predicts the fg at 1.008. 5*/.abv.


Thanks for any input.



Off the top of my head
3500 g marris otter
400 g caramunich
400 g caravienne
100 g melanoidin
100 g C40
822 g pumpkin puree baked
5 gal
Wlp090 with an appropriate starter
Spice to be added in keg

[captain carrot]

If you are going to use dark brown sugar make sure it says "cane sugar" on the package. Lot of brown sugars are beet or other sugars with molassas added back for color and flavor. It would be helplful to know the target and original gravities. I would take a keep it simple approach to adusting the gravity though a belgian candi syrup might make things interesting and give you the results you are looking for.
If you are adding the spices to the keg you could back off on the quantities and add more to taste.
Good Luck!

[Willys]

Target og was 1.058 i ended up with 1.048

I thought about the Belgian candy but i am not sure i can get it locally.

What would be wrong with beet sugar?

Thanks

[Willys]

I plan on doing a tea or vodka extraction for the spices so that i can add to taste.

Thanks again.

[captain carrot]

Target og was 1.058 i ended up with 1.048

I thought about the Belgian candy but i am not sure i can get it locally.

What would be wrong with beet sugar?

Thanks

Beet sugar is fine. I just prefer to use a genuine form of cane sugar. Most store bought "brown sugars" are beet sugar with molasses added back for flavor. I think molasses lends black licorice flavor to beer. It may or may not give you the flavor results you are looking for in this beer. You could take beet sugar (plain table sugar), add water and carmelize it a sauce pan. Randy Mosier does a good job of explaining this in Radical Brewing or do a web search. To get extra body you might add the lactose but I think you'll be fine without it.
Good plan for the spice extraction.
Good luck!

[brewinhard]

So you don't even know what the final gravity is yet? If not, just wait and see where your yeast takes you. Those software programs don't always predict things the way they go. Let your beer ride out and take a gravity reading after fermentation is complete. You might be happily surprised. You can then adjust from there.

If you want to increase your alcohol level but strive to maintain some body in your beer, then I would suggest boiling up 1# of light DME and add that cooled back to your fermenter (without splashing of course). The yeast will feed on this DME raising your alcohol level and it won't dry out quite as much as plain sugar would. 1# of DME in 5 gallons will give you about 8 gravity points. So this will bring your OG up to 1.056 which is quite reasonable for a pumpkin ale.

If you are making a tincture for your packaging then you can adjust the amount you add as well to better represent the spice profile you are looking for when the beer is finally done fermenting. Best of luck and keep us posted.

BTW, I have brewed with pumpkin many times (mashed, boiled, and both togehter) and have NEVER gotten any noticeable gravity points from it whatsoever. So, next time you brew with it I wouldn't count any points into your overall gravity. That way if you do happen to get a couple points extra, then you can giggle about it to yourself!

[Willys]

BTW, I have brewed with pumpkin many times (mashed, boiled, and both together) and have NEVER gotten any noticeable gravity points from it whatsoever. So, next time you brew with it I wouldn't count any points into your overall gravity. That way if you do happen to get a couple points extra, then you can giggle about it to yourself!

Good idea. I made changes to my system and I am still dialing it back in so I wasn't too perturbed by things being a bit off but I do hope it isn't too thin and bitter in the end.

I don't know the final gravity yet but wlp090 rips for me. It tends to attenuate a little more than 001 and it drops clear in about 60 hours after pitching. I used it because I want this to be kegged and have time to spice and settle the beer before thanksgiving.

Thanks for the suggestions, it smells good in the fermenter right now.