Babbs 2011 Mash Paddle "pumpkin Beer"

[argon]

Without intending to criticise the committee at all, as this is a very interesting comp, I tend to agree with you Paul, and this was the first thing I thought when I head about the mash paddle style for this year. Personally, I would have liked to have seen something more along the lines of a "bush tucker" theme. ie native spices, fruits, witchetty grubs, etc....

That said, I am looking forward to trying some of the results of this year's comp (not that I will be competing, owing to half my brewing gear getting flushed down the Brisbane river :angry: )

Cheers - Snow

I disagree in regards to specialty ingredient selection... It seems to me that an opportunity arose to enter a pumpkin beer in a local pumpkin festival. Makes sense. If there was a festival (or whatever) showcasing Indigenous Australian ingredients, then, yes, i can see how that argument could be made.

In saying that, the only way one would know if an American Style pumpkin beer is to be favoured will be in the results of the judging.

 

[Snow]

You could always borrow a rig Snow. Mine for example, if you want a primative setup.

Thanks for the offer Perry, but to be brutally honest I don't really have the time to brew atm, even if I did have all my gear. And, given my kegging setup was destryed, I would have to bottle the beer and I so hate bottling!

- Snow.

 

[bum]

Not related - I find it interesting that many people are automatically associating pumpkin with US/halloween.
I realise in beer terms it is, but I have always considered pumpkin a very Australian thing. It has always been a part of my childhood, long before the US influence was quite so strong in Australian life.
I've never had pumpkin pie, but I've been eating pumpkin all my life.

As you imply, I think there are very obvious US connections between pumpkin and beer and that touchstone is always going to be present. As far as the fruit itself goes, I have never thought of it as a particularly Australian thing (though I've always enjoyed it and jam some into just about any meal I can - my pumpkin chilli was surprisingly good) but I would never ever think of it as being American outside of brewing with it or carving faces in it. If you go there you'll never see it on a menu, in a shop except ones for carving or in tins in late autumn/fall - that's it. Dunno how they ended up pioneering pumpkin ale in the first place as opposed to a deep fried cheese beer.

Sorry for the continued OT. Looking forward to reading more of everyone's experiences here.

 

[Mikedub]

I brewed one last year, added 2.7kg slow roasted pumpkin at flameout ( 22L batch) - chill - everything into the fermentor, , lost about 4.5L to trub. I didn't want spices in mine. IBU around 20, fuggles throughout- tasty and a good fit I thought, strangely some have commented it tastes like Coopers Sparkling ??as you can imagine, a cloudy orange colour, I used 100g carapils thinking it would allow the pumkin colour to come through, thinking now crystal may be better for a deeper hue, if that's what you are after,
does leave a bit of a film on the glass,

 

[clarkey7]

This is 16kg of Pumpkin!



Tomorrow should be an interesting day

PB

 

[winkle]

This is 16kg of Pumpkin!

View attachment 44020

Tomorrow should be an interesting day

PB

I should have asked how it went at the last BABBs meeting.
I'd picked up a Yank recipe off the net and had modified it slightly to suit local ingredients and was geared up for brewing it this weekend. Last nite I decided to ditch that and go with a totally different concept that I think will work better.
Now I just have to reassemble the rigs wiring and its go on Friday. Should I turn up at BABBs next month with a bunch of bottles and try to force drinks upon all-and-sundry, you'll know it wasn't a huge success and I had to fall back on plan B.

 

[Bribie G]

pumkin = jacko lanton = halloween = my birtrhday
make some real beer and leave pumkin to pie

temple roofs colour of pumpkin
pumpkin cranes fly to the sunset
speediely

 

[bradsbrew]

Had a taste of mine last week after a week in the bottle. Tastes ok, I made a few mistakes - 10L brew on the stove. Spices balancing nicely with the malt and pumpkin bit too bitter. Should have made a full batch.

Cheers

 

[clarkey7]

Well,

I've made a Pumpkin Pie spiced ale.

I've tasted another members spiced Pumpkin ale.

I've spoken to 2 other brewers from the club who have had a crack too (no details on their style direction).

All 4 brewers tried different ideas and techniques (and amounts) of Pumpkin to reach there final beers.

We should be able to fire up a reasonable conversation about what we have learned, throw up some photos of the brewdays and or final beers.

Or are you all hiding your secrets to take out the Mash Paddle? h34r:

I'm sure PPL are sick of hearing from me.....but if noone else bites...I'll have to hit you with my 90 photos :lol:

Anyone?

PB

Edit: I'm planning another one soon. Maybe a Darker beer...or wait....Pilsner......

 

[bum]

We should be able to fire up a reasonable conversation about what we have learned, throw up some photos of the brewdays and or final beers.

but if noone else bites...I'll have to hit you with my 90 photos :lol:

Please do. I can't be the only one keen to hear what comes of this comp.

 

[winkle]

I've been slack, I'll bump it up the list a bit and get it into the kettle next week.
Butternuts PB.

 

[tallie]

I didn't have time to take photos from the weekend's pumpkin milk stout brew - probably due to the amount of time it took to keep the mash unstuck! To make things worse, I didn't get anywhere near the efficiency out of the pumpkin that I navely thought I would, so had to make up for the missing gravity points by chucking some LDME in the boil :angry:

All good stuff to have experienced in preparation for my next brew, which will be a pumpkin wheat ale with various spices. Maybe I'll remember to take some photos for that one to save us from PB's barrage of photos!

Cheers,
tallie

 

[winkle]

I didn't have time to take photos from the weekend's pumpkin milk stout brew - probably due to the amount of time it took to keep the mash unstuck! To make things worse, I didn't get anywhere near the efficiency out of the pumpkin that I navely thought I would, so had to make up for the missing gravity points by chucking some LDME in the boil :angry:

All good stuff to have experienced in preparation for my next brew, which will be a pumpkin wheat ale with various spices. Maybe I'll remember to take some photos for that one to save us from PB's barrage of photos!

Cheers,
tallie

Eeek, I'd forgotten the rice gulls - yet another trip to Ye Ould Rosco Shoppe is on the cards. At least my HLT is now functional and tested, so its all systems go.
No photos of the stuck sparge????

 

[Florian]

Just realised that I could've actually come to the Murray's visit on Saturday as I'd mixed up some dates, but one way flights are now $300+, so it's gonna be a double brew day instead. First up will be my pumpkin pilsener, just pondering over the finer details of the recipe. Am realising that it's no the most obvious style for a pumpkin addition, and time is somewhat against me if I want to do an extensive lagering period, but I'll give it a go anyway.

 

[winkle]

I might be roasting the pumpkin then doing a Cereal Mash with it prior to mashing.
Well thats my thinking ATM.

 

[Screwtop]

Went with a tried and true Yorkshire Pale Ale recipe and added 2Kg of roasted jap pumpkin flesh. Mashed up the roasted pumpkin, then cooked it up (sort of cereal mash). This was added this to the mash for 90 min on the warm side for body enough to match spices added to the boil for 5 min. Did anyone else find that their pumpkin added very little in the way of fermentables, mine contributed around 1.005 ??

Tastes pretty frikkin good from the fermenter, warm mash temp worked FG 1.017 atm. Taste test indicates time to add dry hops and a few other bits and bobs.

Screwy

 

[winkle]

Well after a brewday from hell, a pumpkin beer has emerged.
Brewing while hungover/half cut is never a good idea - cue missing grain addition, the hopper full of grain falling off the mill, stuck sparge, the sink overflowing and the timer stopping working . I might as well ferment at 28 C to finish the job .
Oh well there always next year...

 

[bradsbrew]

Well after a brewday from hell, a pumpkin beer has emerged.
Brewing while hungover/half cut is never a good idea - cue missing grain addition, the hopper full of grain falling off the mill, stuck sparge, the sink overflowing and the timer stopping working . I might as well ferment at 28 C to finish the job .
Oh well there always next year...

Sounds like a normal brewday to me. Did you remember to put the pumpkin in?

 

[winkle]

Sounds like a normal brewday to me. Did you remember to put the pumpkin in?

Yep, hence the stuck sparge.
Didn't clean up afterwards either , so I'll hear all about it after work today .

 

[NickB]

Hope to get mine down this Friday or Saturday. Will go the cereal mash route and see how we fare....

Cheers