Marc and I brewed again on Saturday. We brewed a rye PA and a pumpkin ale. We brewed a pumpkin one other time back in 2005. We put a lot of pumpkin in it, 15 pounds, and it ended up tasting a bit vegetable-ly. After a aging a while (2-3 weeks) in the keg the vegetable flavor subsided and the spices become more prominent. It was an okay beer, but not quite what we had hoped.
Elysian Brewing makes a really great pumpkin ale. Marc had a chance to talk to the brewer and we got some tips that we incorporated into the recipe this time. We used way less pumpkin, more spices, raw and toasted seeds and changed the grain bill, so, pretty much a whole new recipe. Last time we brewed it earlier in the season and pumpkins were not yet available at the grocery stores, so we used canned pumpkin. This time we got two sugar pumpkins (around four pounds each). I halved them, pulled the seeds out, baked them, shelled them and then broiled them until they started to brown a bit. We used the seeds from both them, toasted seeds from one and raw from the other. The brewing session went well, and I think both beers are going to turn out great. We'll likely be transferring them the beginning of next week. The spices will be added when we transfer to the secondary ferementers.
Stemmed and halved
Gutted and seeded
The toasted and raw seeds
