A Pumpkin Ale

Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale. I used this as a model, did all-grain and used BeerSmith2 to scale it down, I then rounded the grains to 1/4 of ounces. I also did not use pumpkin, cause I didn't want to deal with it.

Got to use my JSP MaltMill for the first time. And I forgot some basic physics whilst doing so. I turned my drill on and then poured grains into the hopper, got about 1 lb in and since I was not holding onto the drill, the friction from the grain resulted in the drill spinning around and around until the cord stopped it from turning. My brain took awhile to catch up to the situation and after forgetting to disengage the lock switch on the drill trigger, I plugged it back in and the grain mill hopped off the bucket and spilled an ounce or so of grains. Then my stupid brain caught up and all was good after that. Got a great crush and my efficiency is over 80% with this batch.

Brewed 9/24

7 lb Rahr 2-row malt
1.5 lb 60L crystal malt
1 lb biscuit malt
.5 lb wheat, flaked
1 oz Fuggles for 60 min
1 pack Saf-05

Single infusion mash with 3.75 gallons water at 154° F for 45 min
Mash out at 168°F for 15 min (added ~2 gallons at 205°)
Sparge with 3.75 gallons of 170°F water (pulled off 6.75 or so gallons due to larger than expected boil off in last 2 brews)
Boil 60 mins

BeerSmith est. OG: 1.049
Measured OG: 1.060

I pulled off a little too much wort and ended up with a batch size of about 5.5 gallons in the primary, maybe even 6. I didn't get near the boil off that I've been getting recently.

It's been very active in fermentation and took off like crazy after less than a day. Tuesday (9/27) I saw the krausen came out of the bubble lock, so had to replace that. Wasn't a bad spill, stayed contained on the lid. Still bubbling as of last night every few seconds.

At transfer to secondary, I will add 1 tsp of a pumpkin pie spice soaked in brandy or vodka overnight.

Updates to follow.