Welcome to the Higgins House Homebrew Section (continued)

The excitement started with at 9:00am with a 45-minute mash at 165 ° F. We then re-circulated the wort for one hour to set the grain bed and to extract the desired color, as seen in Figure 2. The first wort measured at 23.0 degrees Plato (prior to boil).

Figure 2 - Sparge Color

Upon completing the re-circulation, we began the 90-minute boil. At the very start of the boil, we added the 38-lbs of caramelized pumpkin, the first hop addition and the first spice addition. The boil was rigorous with a powerful pumpkin pie aroma that filled the brew room, and the restaurant.

Figure 3 - The Boil

With time to kill, I proceeded to the restaurant where I devoured an awesome burger that was the size of half a Texas Cow. Not only has the Hops beer gotten better in the past few years, thanks to Matt, so has their food.

When lunch was over, we got right back in the thick of it. During our intense labor, a farther son team came to the brewery for information on the 'chemistry of brewing.' The 10th-grader was working on a chemistry paper for school, and due to the goodness/kindness/enlightenment of his father, he decided to write the paper on beer. It was a treat to discuss the 'chemistry of brewing,' as they diligently took notes. I wouldn't be surprised if the dad showed up at one of our CFHB meetings in the near future. Besides plugging our club, I sent the dad racing off to Hearts to pick up some Cantillon Grand Cru (thanks Tom Moench ) and George Fix (God rest his soul) book, "The Science of Brewing," two basic essentials in learning about the 'chemistry of brewing.'

Time progressed and we added our flavoring hops and spice with 20-minutes left in the boil. At the 15-minute mark, we added refining agents and yeast nutrients. At the very last two minutes, we added our final dose of aroma hops and spices to the brew. By this time, the restaurant was filling with an intense pumpkin pie aroma and causing me to quiver with joy over what we have created. The final brix was 18.2 Plato leaving Matt fearful of the power we have unleashed with this potentially high alcohol beer.

We completed the brewing process at about 4:00pm , when I had to kindly excuse myself and leave Matt to whirpool the wort for 20 minutes. After whirpooling and extracting the coagulants, Matt cooled the wort prior to introducing it to the fermentation tank where a healthy colony of 1056 Yeast awaited its presence.

Now over one year later, both the bottled and kegged version of the beer improved over time. Flavors are complex and balanced, and the spice and pumpkin character is noticeable, and in harmony with the beer. I managed to stash a 5-gallon keg of it away and all those present are welcomed to indulge and enjoy.

Homebrew Recipe
This recipe once resembled the version found in Hearts catalog. Over time, I have tweaked it based on experience and personal taste. Also, this is not the same recipe as the one made at Hops. In the homebrew version, I recommend using small amounts of crystal malt with a healthy dose of Munich and Vienna malts for color, head retention and character. The "biscuit" flavor from the Vienna/Munich malts will provide the pie shell flavor similar to pumpkin pie. I also don 't recommend adding ginger. I have never cared for the character of ginger in beer and don 't think it extracts desirable flavors in any stage that it's added during the brewing process. In its place, I recommend coriander in the finish only, as it adds to the spice complexity in the aroma.

Homebrew Recipe - For a 5-gallon partial mash batch:

Grains/Malt/Pumpkin

•  6-lbs dry light malt

•  6-lbs to 8-lbs of canned pumpkin (without preservatives)

•  ½-lb carapils

•  1-lb Munich malt

•  1-lbs Vienna malt

•  ½-lb crystal malt 60L

Hops
•  1 -oz Chinook at 90-minutes (beginning of boil)

•  1/2-oz Willamette and 1/2-oz Cascade at 20-minutes left

•   1/4-oz Cascade at 2-minute left

Spices
•  1-tbsp Cinnamon and ½-tbsp Nutmeg at 90-minutes

•  1-tbsp Cinnamon and 1/1-tbsp Nutmeg at 20-minute

•  1-tbsp Cinnamon, 1-tbsp Nutmeg and 1tbsp crushed Coriander at 2-minute

•  1-tbsp Irish moss for clarifying

Caramelize the pumpkin on cookie sheets by baking at 350 degrees for about 1-hour. The pumpkin will turn a dark brown color on the top layer. While baking pumpkin, follow standard procedures for mashing and sparging grains. Take the sparge water (wort) to a boil while adding the caramelized pumpkin and first hop/spice addition. Note, this will be a 90-minute boil in order to produce melenoidins and provide a more dextrinis wort. At the last 20-minutes, add the second hop/spice addition. With 15-minutes remaining, add the Irish moss. At the last two minutes, add the remaining hops/spices and remove from heat. After 2-minutes of steeping, cool wort as quickly as possible, add to carboy diluting to a full 5-gallons, and pitch yeast when below 90 degrees. Let ferment for about 4 days. There will be a tremendous trube on the bottom of the carboy. This is common due to the pumpkin and grains. It will be challenging to rack as it may clog the rack tube several times. Rack the beer and let sit about 1-week. Another large trube may develop as there is a lot of things floating around in this beer. Rack again and let sit in carboy for about another 2-weeks. This beer is not a hurry up and ferment. It may take a few rackings to get it to clear out and eventually stop fermenting. When you're confident fermentation is complete, rack, prime and bottle/keg. Most importantly, enjoy.

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Matt Glass , Hops, Scott Houghton, Jeremy Cross, Luke Scott, Tom Moench , George Fix and Hearts Homebrew Supplies for the inspiration.

Regards,

Steve DellaSala

General Manager of the Higgins House
Senior Meadmeister and Home Brewer,
Vice President of Central Florida Homebrewers
BJCP Beer Judge

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