Pumpkin Brew Day Turns into a Nightmare

This has been by far the longest, most frustrating brew day to date.

But I guess it is apropos for a Halloween beer to turn into a horror story.
I'll post the recipe and then explain what happened:

Hellish Halloween Harvest Beer
4.53 ^KG 10 ^LB Domestic 2 row pale
.43^KG1^LB Biscuit (Melanoiden) Malt
.22^KG1/2^LB Crystal Malt
2 small sugar pumpkins baked in the oven at 350 for one hour
2 orange sweet potatoes baked in the oven at 350 for one hour

I chose to mash the veggies instead of including them in the boil.
18 Grams / 1/2 Ounce Nugget Hops 60 mins
29 Grams / 1 Ounce Hersbrucker 5 mins
Wyeast 1275
(I bottled my British Mild tonight, and will rack on top of the yeast slurry)
I picked up my grains this morning and had my boys gut the sugar pumpkins and they had a great time doing it.

Everything went according to plan until it was time to chill the beer and that's where it all fell apart. The immersion chiller sprung a leak and gave the beer about 3 extra gallons of cold water. There was a lot of swearing. The only choice I thought I had was to boil to reduce back down to 5 gallons. Well, 4 hours later, I was finally able to put it in the bathtub full of cold water. I didn't dare try fixing or using the immersion chiller ( that would be just asking for more trouble).

I didn't know what to do regarding the hops or what the best method would be so I threw in 18 grams of nugget at 60 mins left in the boil and 29 grams of Hersbrucker at flameout. I wonder what the double dosing of the wort with the additional hops will lend to the beer? I tried the sweet wort and it tasted like a baby bitter but unfortunately, I didn't get any pumpkin notes. Of course, you shouldn't judge a beer on the first day so I will wait and find out.
Well, it is 4 AM and I think it's finally reached its pitchable temperature. Then, I'm off to bed. This was my first 14 hour brew day. I hope that never happens again.

SPLIT BREW (PORTERS)

I have decided to make two beers this weekend. One regular 5 gallon Mint Porter and one 1 gallon Vanilla Porter. I am using the same recipe for both and will be augmenting the grain bill to reflect a 6 gallon batch. I will put the mint/vanilla bean in after primary fermentation is complete.

MINT PORTER / VANILLA PORTER

4.87 KG / 10 LB 12 OZ Domestic 2 Row
.39 KG / 14 OZ Chocolate Malt
.39 KG / 14 OZ Oats (Quaker - cooked before I added it to the mash)

29 G / 1 ^OZ Golding Hop 60 Min
29 G / 1 OZ Golding Hop 20 Min
They were out of Golding so I picked up some nugget instead. It's pretty intense at 12.2 AA so I am just going:
20 G of Nugget 60 mins

1335 reharvested Wyeast

1.5 Oz of Vietnamese Mint from the garden
1/4 bean Vanilla Bean.
I will soak each adjunct in some Vodka or Bourbon 24 hours before placement in primaries.

Mango Wheat Beer

I was going to make a Strawberry Wheat beer, but my wild strawberries did not fruit this year. They took over my garden, flowered and then went to seed. I was a little disappointed, but decided to go another route and bought a box of mangoes. I have 6 mangoes cut up and waiting patiently in the freezer for their time in the secondary.
This is my first time using wheat and I hope my gravity reading is not too low. I will have some sugar or honey near by just in case.
From my research, I learned that you should mill the barley and wheat grains separately because the wheat is a small grain and might not get an adequate crush.
I had a difficult time figuring out what flavour route I should take. Mango is a subtle, delicate flavour that might not always shine through. So, instead of trying to make it the big taste, I decided to try to complement the fruit with something else. If I was to use a German Wheat yeast, I would probably get some banana notes (if I fermented at a higher temperature) and mango banana is a tasty combination. Citrus also goes well with mango. After much deliberation, I decided on a neutral American wheat yeast and Amarillo hops. I wanted to do Citra Hops, but they were not available at the beer store. It has been said that Amarillo can taste mangoey so the combination should really bring out the mango.

Here is my recipe:

Mickey Mango Wheat beer
2.72 KG / 6 LB of Domestic 2-row
2.00 KG / 4 LB 8 Oz of Wheat malt
.34 KG / 12 OZ of Crystal 10L

21 Grams / .75 OZ of Amarillo 60 mins
21 Grams / .75 OZ of Amarillo 1 min
15 Grams / .50 OZ of Amarillo dry hopped 7 days

Wyeast 1010 (American Wheat)

6 Mangoes in Secondary.

BEER #5: Orange Copper Ale (Citrus City Ale)

I found this recipe at brewingkb.com. It is a very well-received recipe that has gotten a lot of rave reviews and recommendations. So, I figured I give it a try. I don't really care about replicating a brewery beer so if it is not like the African amber, I could care less. I have made two changes; I used a lighter colour crystal and added a pound of base malt. My beers have been on the darker side as of late and I want to add some latitude in my colour spectrum. The crystal 45L will give it some colour but hopefully not too much.
The two things that I haven't done yet are: add orange and dry hop.

Citrus City Ale: 5 gallon batch
4.53 KG / 10 LBS 2 row pale
.45 KG / 1 LB Munich
.22 KG / 1/2 LB Crystal 45

29 G / 1 OZ Centennial 60 min
29 G / 1 OZ Dried Orange peel 30 min
29 G / 1 OZ Cascade 1 min
29 G / 1 OZ Dry hop Cascade 7 days after primary
1098 Wyeast British Ale

In hopville.com, it states the OG should be 1.058 and the F.G 1.015. I've always had problems with my efficiency so I'll be focusing on extracting as much sugar as possible. I also haven't decide whether I'll dry hop in the primary or rack it to a secondary and then dry hop. I do plan on reusing the yeast because it is very cost effective that way.

Brew #4: My Own Recipe

Exciting times when you become confident enough to create your own recipe. This doesn't adhere to any style that I know of but me just wanting to try different malts.
This time, Dark Munich and Honey Malt are the stars of this bill. Honey malt is a crystallized malt that should add an intense sweetness to the brew. I am only using 6% HM so it shouldn't be too overbearing which is good because I am not a big sweet fan (I love black coffee). The Dark Munich will not give you a dark beer but will enhance the aroma and taste of these beers. Some descriptors that I have researched are: biscuit, honey, nut, and caramel. As it stands, it looks like this is going to be a sweet, full bodied gold-copper coloured beer.

UPDATE: Things change during brewday and this is no different. I added Basil and 1/2 Oz of Mt Hood hops at 5 min left. I blogged about experimental beers earlier and a honey basil idea was included in that blog. So, what the hell.

Basil Ganglia Ale (musician I knew)

9LB / 4.08 KG Domestic 2 row
1.5LB / .67 KG Dark Munich
12OZ / .34 KG Honey Malt
8OZ / .22 KG Flaked Barley

1OZ / 29G Goldings 60 Min
1OZ /29G Goldings 20 Min
.5OZ /14.5G Mt Hood hops 5 Min
a bunch of Cinnamon Basil 5 Min

I will be reusing 1335 yeast from the Irish Red. Reusing yeast (if it works) is awesome because it reduces the costs considerably. This is also the first time I am attempting this.

Wah! Wah! Sassafras Red

It's almost an Irish red but I decided on using domestic Manitoba malt instead of the traditional Maris Otter or UK malt and it is .75 cents/kg cheaper than MO. This time I am using Flaked Barley and chocolate malt to give it some head and body. The flaked barley supposedly will give the beer a grainy taste and will lend excellent head retention. The chocolate malt is my 'character' malt that should impart complex vanilla/caramel flavours. The Irish moss that I will be adding will add clarity to the brew. However, the flaked barley might give it a hazy appearance.
I am making this for a party that is happening in about a month. Hopefully, it will be conditioned enough for the event. I also have a 2 liter bottle of my California Bastard saved for the event.

KG LB
4.08 9 Domestic 2 row
.335 .75 Flaked Barley
.23 .50 Crystal 77 L
.07 .12 Chocolate Malt

30G 1 OZ Goldings Hops 60 min
30G 1 OZ Goldings Hops 5 min
1 1/2 cups honey to raise the poor OG of 1.030
1 TSP Irish Moss 15 min

The photo above is of Flaked barley.

Beer Number Two (Cali Ale/Lager)

For me, the hardest part of brewing is choosing the recipe or style of beer. When I racked my Honey Amber (which I am now calling Buzz Bomb because it is 7.3% ABV)to the secondary, I harvested the yeast. I wanted to use the yeast for another American Amber or Brown but I also wanted to make a California Common. Wyeast 1056 is a nice multi-purpose yeast that can be used for many different styles except a Cali Common (Lager yeast). So, I decided to reuse my yeast, but then everything came to sudden halt while writing this entry. I typed in harvesting yeast in my search engine and found out something interesting: It is not recommended to reuse yeast with an ABV of 6.5% or higher.
Cali Common it is. Here is a recipe I found on Hopville.com:

California Common California Bastard

4.53 KG / 10 LB of 2 row pale
.45 KG / 1 LB of Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
.22 KG / 8 OZ of Biscuit

28.5 Grams / 1 OZ Northern Brewer Hops at 60 Mins
14.5 G / .5 OZ Northern Brewer at 30 Mins
14.5 G / .5 OZ Northern Brewer at 1 Min

WYeast 2112 1056
Est OG 1.058
Est FG 1.018

I think this time I should skip the racking to secondary and just bottle after 3 weeks in primary.

My First Beer Recipe

Brewday is coming up fast (probably March 13th) and I'm pretty sure I have decided on my first brew. I searched many recipe databases such as ratebeer.com, hop-ville.com and brewdudes.com and narrowed my choices down to an Irish Red, a Honey Amber and a Dry Stout. I quickly ruled out the stout because even though I thoroughly enjoy a stout, I wouldn't want to drink one a day. So, a stout should be my second or third beer. It boiled down to the honey or the red so I flipped a coin and the Honey Amber came out on top. I found this recipe at ratebeer.com with only a couple modifications:

HONEY AMBER ALE:

8 LB Domestic 2 row/ Malteurop (Malted here in Winnipeg)
1 LB Vienna
10 OZ 70 L Crystal Malt
12 OZ Biscuit Malt
8 OZ Cara Pils
2 OZ Willamette Hops
.5 OZ Mt. Hood Hops
1 LB Clover Honey
10 Gallons Spring water

Mash at 153 F
Willamette Hops at 60 mins
honey at 20 minutes
Mt. Hood at 5 minutes
6.5 gallon boil - 5.5 gallon batch

I went to the beer calculus at hopville.com, punched in the recipe and received my gravity.

OG - 1.057 ACTUAL OG - 1.060
FG - 1.014 FG - 1.004
IBU- 40.7
ABV- 5.7% ABV - 7.3

I'm almost ready - but still have to make my mash tun.

UPDATE: I brewed this recipe on March 13th and it seemed to work out alright. My mash temperature was lower than I wanted and it was very hard to get it up to the right temp. It mashed at about 146F. Other than that and a little stress and paranoia due to yeast, everything went well. The original gravity was a little higher due to the boil size was 6 G instead of 6.5 and the final batch size was 4.5 Gallons.

This is the colour of the brewed wort. I was going for an amber colour and I think I got it. The wort will clarify over time and not look as murky as it does.

This isn't a very exciting moment of brewing. While it boiled, I spent the time cleaning up the mashtun and getting the fermentor ready.

This was my brewday brew. It was quite nice, medium bodied with a nice flavour. It went down easily.