Oct 01
One hobby that I’ve steadily picked up over the past year or so is that of homebrewing. To date I’ve made a pale ale, an oatmeal stout, an amber ale and a raspberry wheat. At the moment, I’ve got a Belgian brewing in my studio. Today I brewed my first Pumpkin Spice ale, and here’s how I did it.
Prerequisites
Before I go on, I’ll define some terms that–if you haven’t brewed before–you’re likely unfamiliar with:
- wort: unfermented beer; the soupy stuff with which yeast will react and create alcohol from sugars.
- gravity: measure of how much solids are in a liquid in comparison to how much water is in it
- fermentation: the process by which yeast breaks sugars down into carbon dioxide and alcohol
- alcohol by volume: the percentage of a liquid that is alcohol; this can be calculated by subtracting the final gravity (after fermentation) from the original gravity (before fermentation) and multiplying by 131.
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb crushed Vienna Malt
- 1/2 lb crushed Crystal 60 L
- 5 1/2 lb Extra Pale extract
- 1 lb Munich extract
- 1 oz First Gold hops [6.9% Alpha Acid] (1/2 oz bittering, 1/2 oz flavor)
- 3/4 oz Pumpkin Spice mix (Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Mace, Sweet Orange Peel)
- 1 vial White Labs British Ale 005 yeast
Procedure: Creating the Wort
- Sanitize everything.
- Bring 2.5 gal water to 150 degrees F in stainless steel stock pot, remove from heat.
- Steep Vienna Malt and Crystal 60L for 20 minutes.
- Bring to boil, remove from heat.
- Add Extra Pale extract and Munich extract.
- Bring to boil with continuous stirring (without stirring the wort will burn)
- Remove from heat when foam develops and boil over is imminent.
- Repeat steps 6-7 until foam ceases. Keep rolling boil.
- Add 1/2 oz First Gold hops (bittering).
- Boil 45 more minutes.
- Add 1/2 oz First Gold hops (flavor)
- Boil 12 more minutes.
- Add pumpkin spice mix.
- Boil 3 more minutes.
- Throw some ice in the pot and place bot in bath tub of cool water until wort temperature drops to 80 degrees F. This took about 20 minutes.
- Pour wort into primary fermenter, and add cold water to bring volume to 5.25 gal.
- Check gravity of wort. I was shooting for 1.055; actual gravity was 1.051 at 76 degrees F.
- Pitch the yeast: vigorously shake vial that has sat at room temperature for about five hours, open, pour into wort, and stir with sterile spoon.
- Place airtight lid on fermenter, add airlock to allow CO2 to escape without letting in outside air.
