In the Fermentor: Power-Outage Pumpkin

About this time last year, I declared that I didn't particularly care for Pumpkin Beer. My niece convinced me to brew her one anyway and Flaming Pumpkin was born.

I liked the beer, but saw room for improvement. Since harvest season is here, I'm brewing an updated batch.

The first big change is the move to a very simple grain-bill. Domestic Two-Row and some Caramel Malt are it. Also, I tweaked the pie spices to get a better balance than I had before.

The amount of pumpkin was bumped because I baked more than I needed. A fresh pumpkin is a pain in the butt to cut into chunks, clean out and bake (45 min at 350F, by the way), so I figured I might as well use it. Personally, I think the flavor and aroma of fresh baked pumpkin is worth the additional work. But I was questioning my sanity for not using canned pumpkin at one point.

Regarding mashing the pumpkin with the grains, I followed Scott Jackson's advice from Zymurgy and did a quick Protein Rest. Apparently the Rest helps break up some of the pumpkin's inherent gummy character.

Now here is where things got interesting.

I boil on an electric stove. Right about the time I was ready to boil, the power went out and stayed out. It wasn't back until around 4:00am the next morning. This meant that my wort sat out all night before it was boiled. The best I could do was seal my pot as tightly as possible and hope for the best. Hopefully the prolonged wait won't be too detrimental to the beer. Thank goodness the power went out before, rather than during my boil.

If everything actually works, this beer should be ready just in time for Halloween.

Here's the five gallon recipe:

Grains:
8 lbs Rahr Two-Row
12 oz Briess Caramel 60L

Hops:
0.5 oz Newport (9.8% a.a.): 60 min

Total Boil Time:
90 min

Yeast:
White Labs WLP008 - East Coast Ale Yeast

Extras:
4 lbs Baked Sugar Pie Pumpkin: Mash
1 lb Dark Brown Sugar: 0 min
1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Ginger: 15 min
2 tsp Cinnamon: 15 min
2 tsp Nutmeg: 15 min
1 tsp Allspice: 15 min
1 tsp Clove: 15 min

Mash Schedule:
Protein Rest: 120F for 10 min
Saccharification Rest: 154F for 60 min
Mashout: 168F for 15 minutes

Original Gravity:
1.063
Estimated Final Gravity:
1.015

IBU: 19
SRM Color: 13

Fermentation Schedule:
2 Weeks Primary
4 Weeks Secondary
2 Weeks Bottle Conditioning

Cost: $15 per case
Commercial Equivalent: Samuel Adams Harvest Pumpkin: $32
Savings: $17

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