I've been thinking about the pumpkin ale some more and something started getting me nervous: when do I have to start brewing it?
My typical brewing schedule goes: 2-4 weeks primary, 2 weeks secondary, 4 weeks bottle carbonating. And that's if I secondary. For this beer, I think it will be worth it.
So according to that schedule, if I want to be absolutely sure it is ready for Halloween night, I have to brew it before the end of August.
Brewing in August is problematic for me. I had to give up my fermentation fridge to my wife's new tattoo shop:
Liquid Jade Tattoos. That means I'm at the mercy of my basement and cellar temperatures for fermenting. My basement is currently 76F and my cellar is currently 78F and neither is likely to change substantially until mid to late September.
Solution: Switching to a saison base and yeast for the Pumpkin Ale. It should work. I've never had a bad fruited, spiced, or herbed saison.
Here's the new recipe:
Fermentables
9lb of pilsen malt (mash)
8oz of 20L Crystal malt (mash)
12oz of Wheat malt (mash)
8oz of Biscuit malt (mash)
1lb of clear candi sugar (boil)
4lb of roasted pie pumpkins (mash) (I will substitute an equal amount of canned pumpkin because fresh pumpkin is not available)
Rice Hulls
Spices (added at flameout)
0.5oz Coriander
0.25oz Allspice
0.07oz Cinnamon (1tsp)
0.07oz Clove (1 tsp)
0.07oz Nutmeg (1 tsp)
Hops
1oz Hallertauer 60 minutes
1oz Citra 5 minutes
(edit: my local home brew store was out of hallertauer, so I substituted 2oz strisselspalt)
Yeast
White Labs 566 - Saison II
Step Infusion Mash
120F for 30 minutes
153F for 60 minutes
168F for 10 minutes
OG = 1.067
FG = 1.019
ABV = 6.3%
IBU = 21
Color = 13L
