Update on the Amber Ale

I promised to give you an update on how the Amber Ale turned out.  Well it started out with tons of promise.  I was very excited about this batch.  At two weeks, when Tala and I tried it (see post on 8/25), I really like the hop balance and it had just the right amount of malty sweetness.  But when I tried it a week later, it had really dried out!  Most of the sweetness had disappeared leaving only a harsher alcohol feel and a slight bitterness typical of malt beverages.  Sounds terrible, but it actually is still  quite good.  Just not as good as I had hoped.  So, what happened?  I wish I knew.  If you have any ideas, please leave a comment.

In the primary fermenter I'm trying out my first beer that has something other than just hops, grains, and  yeast.  I roasted two cans of pumpkin, that's nearly 4 pounds of pumpkin puree, and boiled it along with the hops in the wort.  In a couple of days I'll transfer it to the glass carboy where I'll add some pumpkin pie spices.  It should be ready mid October, plenty of time for Halloween and Thanksgiving.  I can hardly wait to get my first taste!  Even if it turns out tasting like broccoli, I've enjoyed the experimentation, as with all my batches.  Below is a rough outline of the recipe I used.  It's more of a list of ingredients than a full recipe.  Any brewers out there?  I'm happy to go into more detail if you're interested.

Grains/Sugars

2-row

30L

Cara-pils

Chocolate Malt

Liquid Malt Extract

Brown Sugar

Molases

Hops

Northern Brewer

Hersbrucker

Yeast

SafAle, S -04

And some pumpkin pie spices!

Should go perfect with a slice of pumpkin pie!  You know, after every brew day I've got ton's of spent grain.  At first I just put them into the compost.  The grain served me well, but it still felt like a waste.  So what do you do with 5 lbs of spent grain?  That's a story for next time.