Back to Work

It's been a long, hot summer in Sacramento. It is finally starting to cool off a bit, and I am glad. I'm a fair-weather brewer, since I lack equipment to keep a brew cool during the hot summer months. In the rough economic times we are going through, I can't run the air conditioner while I'm away at work, even though the ability to brew beer at home can be a "green" alternative to store-bought beers. So, Autumn is welcome around my house.

To celebrate the fall season, I decided to brew a Pumpkin Ale. A friend of mine had some organic pumpkins, which one of his other friends had requested for his own Pumpkin Ale. He was kind enough to offer them to me, so I took them. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I went on line and found a recipe for a Pumpkin Ale using malt extract. I don't really want to do a whole grain brew just yet, even though that is in the future.

At the local brewers' supply store, I picked up the ingredients. I did the prep cleaning, and filled my kettle with filtered water. I washed the pumpkins and removed the seeds, and cut them into chunks, which I put in the oven to roast for an hour or so. Then, I soaked the pumpkin and the grains in the kettle for another hour. I removed the pumpkin and grain from the water, and added the malt extract syrup, and boiled it for an hour. I added an ounce of Mt. Hood hops at fifteen minutes, and at 50 minutes, I added 1/2 ounce of Cascade hops, and a bag of herb flavorings. I used fresh sliced ginger, cinnamon stick, crushed nutmegs, and whole cloves. They were in a grain bag, and I pulled them out after I cooled the wort.

I usually like to cool my wort really quickly, and so I brought it down to 85 degrees F, and siphoned it into the carboy. It was about five and a half gallons in the big jug. Then, I added a SafeAle American Ale yeast, and shook it up good. When I put the stopper in, it was a spicy-smelling brown liquid with a slight amount of bubbles on the surface, and it was just about getting dark out.

I cleaned up my mess, which was pretty bad by this time, and set the jug in the house. I had other things to do which had been put off by the brewing. The wort started bubbling by bedtime, and when morning came, it had an inch of suds on the top, and was venting gas at a good steady rate. By the time I got home in the evening, it was venting almost constantly. The foam was like a luxuriant bubble bath. When I opened the room, the smell of spices and hops was quite pleasant.

Because of the fact that I had bought the ingredients in non-kit form, I picked up enough extra stuff to do an Amber Ale. This was my first recipe beer not made from a kit. My next one will be not even a recipe, but a rather unique blending of Amber Ale malt extract, with some malted wheat and crystal malt, topped of with Mt. Hood and Cascade hops. I may decide to do another Pumpkin Ale, since the ingredients that I have left are much like the ones I used already. I am not really sure if I did the pumpkin right, either.

I'm down to my last five bottles of my X-Brew Agave IPA. They won't make it past this weekend. I enjoyed the heck out of them all summer long, augmenting with store-bought micro-brews. Next installment will be the brewing of my undecided next beer. Until then, drink in moderation, and enjoy life.