Pumpkin Ale Brew Day

I recently brewed my second batch since moving to my little apartment.  It's a 3 gallon all-grain amber ale with pumpkin and spices added.  The brew day went off without a hitch, and it should be ready to drink once Autumn gets into full-swing (late October here in CA).  The recipe is based on Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale by Yuri_Rage on Homebrewtalk.com and is as follows:

Brew #11: Mostly Organic Pumpkin Ale
Brewed 9/25/11
4.25 gal pre-boil, 3 gallon post, 60 min
Mash: Single infusion @ 153, batch sparge
O.G. 1.063. Pre-boil gravity: 1.052.
Fermentation temp: ~68ºF

Grain Bill 5.6 lbs orgainc 2-row 1 lb orgranic Crystal 60 1 lb organic Victory .35 lbs organic Flaked wheat 1/4 lb Rice hulls Yeast WLP 002 English Ale

Hops .25 oz Warrior 15% AA (60 min) Others 45 oz canned organic pumpkin (in mash) 1 tsp cinnamon (10 min) .5 tsp ground ginger (10 min) .5 tsp nutmeg (10 min) .5 tsp allspice (10 min)

It should be noted that my gravity numbers were higher than expected because I undershot the mash volume by failing to factor in absorption loss to the rice hulls and pumpkin, and boiled down more volume than expected over the hour..  Also, the mash temperature should have been 158ºF but I chose to let it ride at the under-shot temperature of 153.

Pumpkin was baked for 45 minutes at 350ºF

Beutiful amber wort with an orange hue.  Amazing aroma.

Added pumpkin to strike water to dissolve and simplify strike temp 

Boiled outside on propane burner in 5 gallon kettle

Warm CA ground water required an ice bath to go along with immersion chiller.  This worked well and is one of the benefits of small-batch brewing!

You can brew in your apartment

Former brew basement:

Hi there, my name is Adam, and I brew at home.  About a year ago (August 2010) I stepped into this hobby with a kit from Northern Brewer.  Within a few months, I graduated from brewing with extract on the stovetop to all-grain brewing, and I started to collect a lot of stuff related to the hobby.  Every home brewer wants an entire basement and/or garage dedicated to his or her brewery, and I am no exception.  But for some of us, the bug bites before we have the amount of space we think we need.  In my case, I had an entire basement and garage to myself, so amassing a huge cache of gear and beer wasn't a problem.  But the growth of my collection was cut short by a cross-country move from the north east of the San Francisco Bay Area, where rents are astronomical and space is at a premium.  The space allocated to me has shrunk down to nothing more than a closet, but I will NOT let that inhibit my ongoing passion for brewing.  So, for the next year at least, this blog will be all about brewing interesting and delicious all-grain beers in a tight space.

New, neatly organized brew closet:

Not depicted here are my propane burner, tank, mash tun, kettles, and immersion chiller, all of which are out in a little storage hutch in my carport.  Those items have lids and can stand to get a little dusty between brew days.  The stuff in the closet are the essential items that must be kept clean.  On the bottom you see my carboys and 3 gallon corny kegs.  I can potentially ferment two beers at a time and condition two more down there.  I should also mention that those corny kegs can fit in my fridge.  So I can naturally carbonate the beer in them and put them on tap using a keg charger for dispense (more on that to come).  Next up are some bottles which will soon be full of conditioning beer.  I suspect this collection will start to spill up to higher shelves, at which time I'll have to rearrange the upper shelves. Specialty grains, sugars, etc. are also in this closet, along with equipment for sanitation, yeast propagation, measuring, and bottling.

The general strategy here is to brew 3 gallon batches of each new recipe.  The beer will get consumed  rapidly, of course, but that will only encourage me to keep a an efficient pipeline going.  Truth be told, I was producing 5 gallon batches at a faster rate than I could consume, so I used to have cases of homebrew just sitting around getting old.  That's fine for some styles, but just downright wasteful for beers that should be consumed fresh.  The first challenge to get past will be developing a willingness to drink that last bottle of delicious homebrew X.  The goal here is to get really good at brewing and be able to whip up a batch of something I like, not to hang on to things for years for fear that I'll never be able to taste it again.