Bottling the Pumpkin Ale and Pale Ale

Yesterday was a busy bottling day.  Boo-Ya (pumpkin ale) smelled and looked great.  The extra 30oz. of pumpkin definitely paid off.  The end result was forty-two 12oz. bottles and one 2-liter growler.

The pale ale was broken into two bottling sessions: one for the original and one for the dry hopped version.  Obviously, the dry hopped was second, so not to taint the other with fantastic Nugget flavor.  Each of these produced twenty-three 12oz. bottles.

In a few weeks we will discover if Boo-Ya is (yet again) a crowd favorite and whether all-grain brewing lives up to the hype.

Moving the Pumpkin Ale

We moved the pumpkin ale to the secondary vessel and added another 30 oz. of canned organic pumpkin. Additionally, I added 1/2 tsp. of pectic enzyme, hopefully, to help break down the pumpkin and add more flavor to the finished beer. Adding the pumpkin was no easy task. Unlike fruit puree that just slides in through a funnel, the pumpkin was thick and needed to be prodded into the glass carboy. Messy and time-consuming.

Finishing gravity: 1.012 (about 4.3% ABV)

Brew Day - Pumpkin Ale

Forethought is the key to good seasonal beer brewing. Seasonals often contain spices, fruit, or other unique flavors. Without the benefits of aging, these flavors don't get the chance to mature. As such, time is the brewer's friend in these beers.

Today we brewed our Boo-ya Pumpkin Ale. Our last version two years ago was not as "pumpkin-y" as I would have liked. This time I added 30 oz. of canned organic pumpkin to the boil and I intend to add another 30 oz. to the secondary. Hopefully, I will achieve my flavor goal this time.

O.G. - 1.045

Ingredients:

6 lbs. Gold LME
8 oz. Carapils and 8 oz. Caramel 10L speciality grains
1 oz. Mt. Hood hops (bittering)
1 oz. Cascade hops (aroma)
30 oz. canned organic pumpkin
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Moving the Amber, et al.

Today I moved the amber-based experimental beers into two secondary aging vessels. Half of the beer went into a smaller, 2.5 gallon carboy - this half will be the amber "control" beer and Old Tjikko #2 (when I add the spruce essence at bottling). The other half went into a 5 gallon carboy - I first added just over 3 lbs. of sweet cherry puree and then siphoned the beer on top of it. Since the cherry puree is full of fermentable sugars, this should renew fermentation and, thus, there needs to be a little more room than the other half of the brew (which is done with active fermentation).

Right now the "finishing" gravity is 1.010, meaning about 3.7% ABV for the amber beer and Old Tjikko #2. The cherry beer half should ferment a bit more so we shall see it's final gravity in a few weeks.