Homebrewers - Fall = Seasonal brews. What's in YOUR fermenters?

We love fall for the cooler weather, beautiful foliage, football games and BEER!!
Fall/Oktoberfest/Pumpkin brews are in order, so what compelling concoctions are you making or planning to make?

Today I'm brewing my pumpkin ale (yeah..a little late) with 2 fresh pumpkins, a crap-load of spice (nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar, allspice) but I'm leaving out the cloves. For some reason they assault my olfactory and taste sensors a bit. I'm basing the ale off of a simple Oktoberfest recipe made with Munich, Vienna, Caramunich malts and sticking to the nobles (Tettnanger, Saaz). I don't have a fridge to lager in so I'm going to use an Irish Ale yeast (White Labs)

Conditioning in the pantry and ready to drink next weekend is a Chocolate Coconut Stout I came up with using organic cocoa nibs, organic coconut flakes (I toasted em) and a butt-load of specialty malts in addition to 2-row and chocolate malts. My hydro-sample of that one totally blew my mind. I'm considering trying it warm if simply not room-temp.

What's in your kettles??

last time I tried adding chocolate to the fermenter, the flavor was really weak.
I think I'm going to try adding it in the last 5 mins of the boil next time.

15 gals of my 'hop stewpid-er' in the fermenter..

Have a mate a hand making cider a few weeks ago. Should have over 100 pints at 7% did consider turning some into calvados ! Any body ever tried ?

More of a mead man. I've got 3 six gallon tanks aging at present. 5 pounds of honey per gallon of water, apples, vanilla beans, and Grand Couvier champagne yeast. The last batch I made was about 14% alcohol and absolutely delicious.

5 gallon Amber Ale, 5 gallon Pale Ale, 5 gallon Pumpkin Ale, 5 gallon I.P.A,
This weekend I'm gonna make stout

a reply to: skunkape23

I've been wanting to try a mead. How long do you ferment and is it pretty easy to source that much honey?

a reply to: TXRabbit

Big fruit harvest this year for fruit and chili in the Valley. thus...

Apple Jack, cherry beer and chili beer

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: TXRabbit

Big fruit harvest this year for fruit and chili in the Valley. thus...

Apple Jack, cherry beer and chili beer

I'm in Vermont they brew up here so well Im not even going to bother but u do have something to chili beer I'd love to try that

originally posted by: TXRabbit
a reply to: skunkape23

I've been wanting to try a mead. How long do you ferment and is it pretty easy to source that much honey?

I used to work on a bee farm so I got honey pretty cheap.
I usually let it age and ferment for at least three months and up to a year.
I'm thinking about trying a batch with peaches and pecans and maybe a touch of smoked jalapeno.
I'm not sure how the oils in the pecans will break down, but I guess I'll never know unless I try.

a reply to: Brotherman



www.instructables.com...

For our chili beer we use all different types of hot peppers from red chili, green chili, halapenos, and even habaneros.

Very spicey!!!

originally posted by: olaru12
a reply to: Brotherman



www.instructables.com...

For our chili beer we use all different types of hot peppers from red chili, green chili, halapenos, and even habaneros.

Very spicey!!!

You gotta get your hands on some Trinidad Scorpions. I have a bush growing.
They make habaneros taste like cotton candy.

Just pitched the pumpkin ale and the entire house smells like Thanksgiving :-)

OG came in just under 1.07 (1.068) so this should turn out pretty big.

Besides the roasted pumpkin, I added the following:

1 TB Allspice (fresh ground)
1 tsp Cloves (fresh ground)
1 TB Cinnamon powder
1 TB Nutmeg
1 C Light Brown Sugar


If I don't go blind from tasting this in a month, I'll report back the results

originally posted by: olaru12


www.instructables.com...

For our chili beer we use all different types of hot peppers from red chili, green chili, halapenos, and even habaneros.

Very spicey!!!

Sounds fantastic. We juice a lot (veggies/fruits) and it's amazing the complex flavors those little peppers can impart

My roommate and I brew almost every weekend. I just bottled an imperial pumpkin ale. British ale and dry English ale yeasts. 9 pounds 6 row, 3 Vienna, 1 victory, 1 biards malt, rice hulls,brown sugar, almost 14 lbs of roasted pumpkin, clove, nutmeg, and cardamom. Heavy cinnamon. .4oz German tradition and .6 uk target. Came out to 10.5%.

I love the beer because it hits you very sweet pumpkin but one second later the boozy taste cleans that sweet. Also if you use fresh roasted pumpkin mash out for 8 hours. The fibers are hard to break down.


I just brewed a rye ipa. We have a cherry sour working long term, maybe six more months. We also have bees in the backyard, so we have quite a bit of mead working. One of my favorites is made with champagne yeast. It is super sweet and around 21%. Turbo yeasts tend to lead to a dryer finish around 17-19%. It takes a long time tho. About 3-6 months fermenting, up to a year to clear, and well maybe a few more to age. I have been trying to speed up the clearing process using isinglass. It's a work in progress.

I hope your beer turns out well