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posted September 28, 2009 7:54 AM PDT

Yesterday's Brew

I brewed some beer for the first time since early September of 2008. It wasn't as painful as I remember, so chances are I'll pick it up again soon. I think the only reason I got burnt out is because I brewed 40 gallons of beer in three weeks. This was out of necessity though, because I wanted it all to be ready at the same time for my wedding. And ready it was... that was some of the best beer I've made, and I'm glad that it worked out. But if you've never brewed beer before, let me explain something to you: Brewing is about 10% actual brewing, and 90% cleaning. Cleaning up after five batches of beer within a time frame of three weeks is enough to make even the most avid homebrewer leery of doing it again any time soon.

My friend had been bugging me to brew some beer with him for a while now. Finally I agreed. Anyway, I'd let my equipment sit for so long that I actually developed some verdi gris on my copper wort chiller. Not good, since that shit is toxic. Thankfully, the price of copper has dropped from where it was a few years ago when I bought my first copper chiller, so it wasn't too expensive to replace.

Since the beer that we brewed yesterday is going to be ready between Halloween and Thanksgiving, we decided to do something for the season. I'd already brewed one Pumpkin Ale with mixed results, and wasn't too excited about doing another... In fact, that was one of the beers I made for the wedding. I decided not to serve it at the last minute, because I didn't like the flavor it had developed. But my friend had an interesting suggestion: "How about a Pumpkin Wheat Ale?"

The main problem I had with my own Pumpkin Ale can probably be blamed on the combination of yeast, hops and spices that I used. Going with a wheat ale would change at least two of those variables. Not only that, but the idea for making a good pumpkin spiced ale is to use a relatively neutral and light base beer. That's exactly what wheat beer is. My friend doesn't really know anything about brewing, but his suggestion was actually a good one. So I ran with it. Here's what I came up with:

Pumpkin Spiced Wheat Ale

8.5 lbs Munton & Fison dry wheat malt extract
1 16oz can of organic pumpkin
1oz of Willamette hops for 60 minutes of boil
.3oz of Willamette & .3oz of Centennial hops for 20 minutes of boil
Wyeast #1968 London ESB yeast
Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger & Allspice


I went with the London ESB because I wanted a fruity profile, but wanted to avoid the tartness of most wheat specific yeasts. This particular yeast also has noticeable diacetyl production. Diacetyl has a buttery taste to it. In fact, it's what they make artificial butterscotch flavoring out of. Normally that's a no-no in beer... But I'm wondering if just a hint of it will benefit the overall flavor profile. Since I plan on leaving the beer in the fermenter for about a month, most of it will get cleaned up by the yeast before I bottle the beer anyway. But it's impossible to rest a beer and have it all cleaned up. Plus, a little bit more will be produced when we bottle condition the beer.

I haven't plugged the numbers into a calculator yet, so I don't know how strong it's going to be. But I'm guessing that we're looking at a low 6% at least. Should be ready to bottle in 3-5 weeks, and drinkable two weeks after that. I'm a little nervous that my first beer out of the gate after a year long hiatus is going to be a gimmicky spiced beer... but hopefully it will be good.

last updated September 28, 2009 8:38 AM PDT