The Brew-Q Pumpkin Ale Brew Session!

[@JeremiahT]

It's my favorite time of year and one of my favorite styles of beer. I'll be brewing mine within the next week.

[@TheBrewQ]

Nice! I hope it turns out well. Happy fall, bro!

[@Mlite834]

never thought about putting brown sugar in. Have to remember that next year.

[@sideshowtink]

Pumpkin Ale!! Best time of year!! This brew is going to me stellar! Love the Halloween type music throughout! And FYI on SiriusXM the channel for the Halloween station should be 145 when they finally do air it, I know you wanted to know that! Very nice color to that. That’s a lot of work! Truly mad science!! Pumpkin Pie in a glass! Lol!

[@TheBrewQ]

Hey, Tink! Thanks for that info. Yep, I’ll be shooting a couple of bottles your way to try out. I hope you like them. I’m gonna try and get them to you before Halloween! The brew has 2 more weeks of clarifying in the fermenter before I cold crash and carbonate in the keg. Cheers, friend!

[@tommyboy19671]

love this video...but ya gotta include a tasting section at the end!

[@TheBrewQ]

Thanks. I have some later vids of this same brew. Check them out! Cheers!

[@scottalton7925]

Going to brew this this weekend. A few questions for you. What is the alpha acid content of the hops that you use? Did you use light or dark brown sugar? And what type of yeast did you use. Thanks in advance. Can’t wait to try this.

[@TheBrewQ]

The alpha acid can range but typically for this brew it’s 3.5%. I use dark brown sugar due to it contributing a deeper molasses’esque flavor in the profile although subtle, it’s there. I used good Ol’ US-05 but California ale yeast will work as well. You just need something that leaves the beer profile balanced without any added flavors to it. Those two yeasts always leave a nice clean profile. Hope that helps! Cheers and hope the brew goes well!

[@scottalton7925]

@@TheBrewQ awesome! Thanks for the quick reply. I always have plenty of packets of US-05 on hand . Thanks again. Cheers!

[@gavinschneider1607]

Looking to brew this. What was the hop addition at the beginning of the boil? Also Hallertau? And how much?

[@TheBrewQ]

Hallertaur 1 oz 60 minutes then 1 oz for 15 minutes

[@slhoxy9792]

Great vid! Have you ever tried or thought about smoking the pumpkin purée on your traeger for a smoked pumpkin ale? 🎃

[@TheBrewQ]

🤔 I haven’t actually but that would be interesting! I’ve never really been into smoky beers like smoked porters though. Cheers!

[@graymalkin26]

Brewed a PA myself Friday OG was 1.064, they are absolutely ghoulish and great for Halloween.

[@TheBrewQ]

Its a must for me every year. It has become sort of a tradition in my household although I’m the only one that drinks it haha! Cheers!

[@martystamplecoskie4804]

good video

[@GraveyardGrog]

On my old (pre grainfather) system with the mash tun I built out of a cooler with a cpvc pipe for manifold, I never had a SINGLE issue doing my spiced pumpkin ales. Doing them on the grainfather, I never had NOTHING BUT ISSUES!!! Every. Damn. Time. In fact, I renamed my Pumpkin ales to 'Doomed Voyage' as that's how it felt every time making them...a doomed voyage. lol

[@TheBrewQ]

LOL... same here. I love making it but in the grainfather it was always a very slow sparge. I’ll be doing the next one on the clawhammer system and don’t anticipate any issues.

[@GraveyardGrog]

@@TheBrewQ My Clawhammer 240v 20g should be in Tuesday or Wednesday. I am thoroughly excited! I think one thing that realllly drew me to Clawhammer was the fact that the basket strains from alllll around along with the bottom. Grainfather, it's just one route...down through the bottom...isn't a screen, if all those holes get blocked...you're screwed. Another annoyance was doughing in and stirring around the middle rod. That got tiresome. Oh...and let's not forget (shudders at the mere thought) Setting up the silicone bands that go into the inner basket. I know there are ways to make it easier (water and such) but still a pain! Scary story, there was one time I had to stir the grains while it was resting on top due to a stuck sparge and while stirring (this was like my 2nd or 3rd brew into using the system) the grains the basked shifted, fell off the support rack, back into the hot wort splashing up and onto me. Thankfully I moved out of the way mostly but was still hot as hell.

[@TheBrewQ]

I had that happen before where the support ring came out on me. Learned never to do that again lol. You’ll love the clawhammer system. Takes a few brews to get a process down pat but you’ll get it. They have a BeerSmith profile for the system available for download from the clawhammer site.

[@GraveyardGrog]

@@TheBrewQ Yup! I had already applied thei correct profile to my Beersmith. Just need to get reacquainted with the program. Been a hot minute since I used it seeing as how I been using the Grainfather ap for the past few years. lol

[@TheBrewQ]

Not sure what part of the country you live but at 100% boil power I was getting 2 gallons per hour on a 5 gallon batch. I now have the boil dialed down to 60% power and get about 1.4 gallons boil off on a 5 gallon batch. Hope that’s helpful

[@LouB3rt]

Man, that's a lot of rice hulls- I have never used more than a few hand fulls. Maybe I need to see what adding more would do- but I would suggest maybe a pound or less next time. Great video as always- I am glad to see more brewing videos. I enjoyed you showing the steps on this video. cheers man

[@TheBrewQ]

Yeah I either need to use a pound less or add a couple quarts of water extra. More brewing vids coming! Cheers! 🍻

[@allanbrand]

How much pumpkin pie spice did you use?

[@TheBrewQ]

1 tbsp

[@NorthTexasBBQAddicts]

I think our collab should be in person! Lol

[@jeffhaynes1890]

Could you have added the pumpkin during the boil and gotten the same results?

[@TheBrewQ]

I’m not sure but I hear mixed conversations on that but I really love how this beer turns out by adding it to the mash lol. Even if that means fighting stuck sparges...

[@jezo-matic991]

One recipe I read (on beer & brewer) suggested that the baking process was enough to convert the starches to sugar and as such it was fine to just add to the boil. But of course it's all a matter of taste and what you enjoy!

[@TheBrewQ]

This is a great point. I guess either way those sugars make it to the fermenter. Cheers!

[@jezo-matic991]

@@TheBrewQ I'm doing a pumpkin ale brew this weekend, if I remember I'll take a grvity reading after the mash then after I add pumpkin during the boil, but before I add the brown sugar.

[@jezo-matic991]

@@TheBrewQ www.google.com/amp/s/beerandbrewing.com/amp/perfect-pumpkin-ale-recipe/ 1.035 after the mash, 1.040 after adding the sugar (might have taken the reading too quick?) 1.080 (yikes) at the end of the boil. Had to water it down a bit to get to the target gravity of 1.060. A lot more water was lost on the boil than expected though so I can't necessarily blame the pumpkin for that huge spike.

[@RockonBeerBlog]

Wow that mash looked scary thick!

[@TheBrewQ]

Yessir! If you brew with the grainfather brewing system, the mash is already, typically, a thick one but with the added pumpkin and rice hulls, it gets even thicker. I'll probably add more water next round for flow purposes but it worked out at the end of the day. Cheers!

[@RockonBeerBlog]

Yeah I also brew with a grainfather and I know the mash gets thick without any extra adjuncts. Very cool, actually have never seen anyone brew a pumpkin beer in a grainfather. Nice to know it works :)

[@felixm5215]

Lets Go STROS!!!!!

[@Mlite834]

Go Stros