Pumpkickin Ale -

A quick retrospective on the Pumpkin Ale.  Overall disappointing taste, bitter overtone with sweetness from un-fermented molasses, but a fun brew to make.  Another great cooperative brewing experience with K&J this time... who will be brewing on their own before long.

This recipe was the basis for the brew The Brew Site - pumpkin ale recipe.  We didn't deviate too much from the original.  The pumpkin came directly from our Halloween pumpkins, which the industrious Mrs H baked, blended, and froze:

We are still pretty new to using the specialty grains.  I think we may be agitating the grain too much, this youtube video brewer only stirs the grains every 5 minutes or so.  We were tea bagging the grains continually for the entire time.  Since the husks are full of tannins, this technique may have caused too much bitterness to get into the beer...

Also, still havent' been able to successfully siphon the beer from the primary to bottling bucket successfully.  I think the we need to buy new equipment (maybe an auto-siphon), but a careful pour doesn't seem too bad anyway, just needs two people to pull it off.

A drinkable learning experience.

- Holmestarr Brewing Co-op