It felt quite good to brew another batch of beer at home and this time a little baking entered the equation.  So far I have mixed feelings on how things are going with this brew, but I am learning to just relax and not worry about my home brews as much.  This is supposed to be fun for me, so there is really no reason to stress out.  There is no failure, only lessons learned.

Speaking of lessons, if you missed any of the process or review for “Practice Makes Porter,” be sure to check out the “Brewing” page above.

Prior to putting any water to boil or getting out the grain bag, there was pumpkin to bake.  The recipe I used had real pumpkin as optional and I decided to take that option.  I cut what turned out to be 3 pounds 9.5 ounces of pumpkin into cubes and baked it at 400 degrees for a half hour.

Pumpkin cubes before

After putting the heat to them

After bringing 2.5 gallons of water to boil, I loaded the grain bag with 1.25 pounds of 2-Row Malt, 1.25 pounds of Vienna Malt, .5 pound of Caramunich, .5 pound of Crystal 60L, and the baked pumpkin.  All of that steeped in the water for 45 minutes while maintaining the temperature at about 155 degrees.  The grain bag was then lifted out and 2 quarts of 170 degree water was poured over it to make sure to get as much of the grainy, pumpkiny goodness out as possible.

Into the grain bag

One final rinse

Next I added the malt extracts.  Pulling the pot off the burner for a moment, I added 4 pounds of Extra Pale Extract and 1 pound of Munich Extract and stirred the mixture until it was all dissolved.  Then it was back to the burner to bring the mix to a boil.

Into the pool with you!

Once at a controlled, rolling boil the bittering hops (.5 ounce of Kent Golding) were added.  After 45 minutes another .5 ounce of Kent Golding was added as the flavoring hops.  After another ten minutes the spice pack consisting of cinnamon, mace, nutmeg, and sweet orange peel was added for aroma.  All of that was boiled for five more minutes before removing everything from the heat.

You will get your turn

Last but not least

From there the mixture was cooled to 80 degrees and then went into the (sanitized) fermenter where water was added to bring the volume up to 5.25 gallons.  A sample was poured off, then the lid was put on the bucket and the airlock was put in place.

Chilling out

The initial hydrometer reading (at 77 degrees) was 1.045, which was slightly lower than what I expected from the recipe description.  Today, five days later, the reading was 1.015 giving me an alcohol content just shy of 4 percent.  Since the initial reading was low I expect a slightly low alcohol content, but perhaps secondary fermentation will bring the final gravity reading down a bit more.

As I wait a few more days to transfer the mix into a secondary fermenter, I realize that I learned a few things from this batch.

• It is time for me to graduate to a bigger pot.  Sure I could continue to brew as is, but the process would be made easier.
• With the bigger pot it would be time to utilize a gas (propane) burner.  The temperature control is OK now, but it could be better.
• The cooling process was extra difficult this time.  It is time for me to build a wort chiller or at least develop a better method. Take a look at what I resorted to for the final few degrees!

My last option

Brewing more often will teach me even more, so I intend to get a few additional fermenters to give me the ability to brew more than one batch at a time.  I really want to refine my process a bit and more practice certainly cannot hurt.  Stay tuned!