Style: Belgian Dubbel
Batch size: 5 gallons
Brewed: November 11, 2012
Bottled: December 2, 2012
OG: 1.092  FG: 1.022
IBUs: 26  ABV: 9.2%

Grains
12 lbs Belgian Pilsner Malt
1 lb Caramunich Malt
0.5 lb Special B Malt
0.5 lb Belgian Aromatic Malt

Sugars
1 lb Dextrose Malto-Dextrine
(This was a mixup, we'll see how this will affect the beer.)

Hops
90 min: 1 oz Styrian Goldings (5.4% AA)
30 min: 1 oz Saaz (4% AA)

Yeast
64oz starter of Belgian Strong Ale (Wyeast #1388)

Style: Imperial Bohemian Pilsner
Brewed: September 30, 2012
Bottled: November 9, 2012
OG: 1.065  FG: 1.012
IBUs: 45  ABV: 6.9%

Grains
6 lbs Rahr Pale Malt
6 lbs German Pilsner Malt
1.5 lb Vienna Malt
1.5 lb Cara-Pils

Hops
60 min: 1 oz Northern Brewer (10.6% AA)
30 min: 1.5 oz Saaz (3.5% AA)
20 min: 0.5 oz Saaz (3.5% AA)
10 min: 0.5 oz Saaz (3.5% AA)
0 min: 0.5 oz Saaz (3.5% AA)

Yeast
2 liter starter of Czech Pilsner Lager (Wyeast #2278)

Note to self: Don’t walk away during the sparge. Even if everything seems like it’s running smoothly on it’s own, that damn hose has a mind of it’s own sometimes, and can unclip itself and pour your precious wort on the ground.

Style: Spiced Winter Ale
Batch size: 2.5 gallons
Brewed: October 14, 2012
Bottled: November 4, 2012
OG: 1.042  FG: 1.004
IBUs: 30  ABV: 5.0%

Grains
4 lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt
5 oz Caramel 40L Malt
2 oz Chocolate Malt

Sugars
4 oz Honey
4 oz Brown Sugar

Hops
60 min: 1 oz Fuggles (4.5% AA)

Spices
3 Cinnamon Sticks
2 Orange Peels
1 oz Ginger Root
0.5 tsp Ground Cardamom

Yeast
American Ale (Wyeast #1056)

We made two batches out of the same mash…spiced, hopped, and fermented differently.
It did attenuate a bit further than expected, most likely the mash temperature was too low.

Style: Belgian influenced Christmas Ale
Brewed: October 14, 2012
Bottled: November 3, 2012
OG: 1.085  FG: 1.014
IBUs: 16  ABV: 9.3%

Grains
11 lbs Maris Otter Pale Malt
14 oz Caramel 40L Malt
6 oz Chocolate Malt

Sugars
1.5 lbs Honey
11 oz Lyles Golden Syrup
3 oz Molasses

Hops
60 min: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5% AA)
5 min: 1 oz Fuggles (4.5% AA)

Spices
10 Cloves
10 Whole Cardamom
8 Cinnamon Sticks
0.5 Orange Peel

Yeast
Belgian Abbey (Wyeast #1214)

Style: Pumpkin Ale
Brewed: September 23, 2012
Bottled: October 13, 2012
OG: 1.083  FG: 1.010
IBUs: 28  ABV: 9.6%

Grains
10 lbs Rahr Pale Malt
2 lbs Flaked Oats
0.5 lb Biscuit Malt
0.5 lb Caramel Malt 60L

Hops
60 min: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA)
30 min: 1 oz East Kent Goldings (5.6% AA)

Additions
4 lb Roasted Pie Pumpkin
10 oz Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Ginger
0.5 tsp Ground Cloves
0.5 tsp Ground Nutmeg
0.25 tsp Ground Allspice

Yeast
2 liter starter of American Ale (Wyeast #1056)

This pumpkin ale should be ready in time for Thanksgiving, and be a perfect compliment to a slice of pumpkin pie. Both the residual sugar and spice level were lower than I had anticipated, but it certainly tastes like pumpkin!

A few additional things to remember when doing a pumpkin pie beer again:

1. Roast the pumpkin a day early…the roasting itself is a very long process, that will only add to your brew day.
2. Use a bunch of rice hulls to help with the sparge, probably around a pound.
3. Give yourself a lot more time on the sparge than you’re used to. The sparge on this brew was around 3 hours. Never stuck, but never flowing the way I wished it was.
4. The pumpkin will introduce more fermentable sugars. The 4 pounds of roasted pumpkin that I added increased the gravity quite a bit, around 20 points! I’ll probably need to do some more research on the subject, see if someone has a good calculation. Although the next pumpkin brew will be a barley wine, so I’m certainly in no rush to lower the ABV.
5. Add more spices, or maybe add a second round of spicing to the fermented beer as a “tea”.
6. A bit more caramel malt would be good, to increase the sweetness…or mash a bit higher in temp. Then again, my 3 hr sparge may have had something to do with how fermentable the wort had become.