MattC10 Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Hi all, well I may have screwed my first brew (I suppose it has to happen to everyone at some time)... Some of you may remember my posting about pumpkin brews some months back. Well, I concocted one three weeks ago and decided to have a taste tonight. Alas, it has a nice orange color, and a nice head with fairly fine bubbles, BUT it has NO effervescence whatever. I am really disappointed. Do you think I might simply need to let it sit longer? It was bottled on the 2nd of October. I would appreciate your advice because if this batch is ruined, I'd like to start another immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 A couple of questions: 1. At what temp are you storing the bottles? 2. Did you remember to prime before bottling? The last one might seem like a dumb question but it has happened before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattC10 Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Hi Hairy, thanks for responding! I have been storing the bottles at about 24 \u2013 26 C and I definitely dropped the requisite 2 carbonation drops into each bottle before filling and capping. I wonder if my recipe caused the problem. Here are the steps I took: Into a large pot I dropped a pound of unsweetened pumpkin. Then 1 table spoon of allspice, and three tablespoons of cinnamon. Added a liter of very hot water and stirred well. Then the brew enhancer went in, more stirring, followed by the the extract. More stirring before I transferred all to the fermenter. I topped up with cool water to the 24 liter mark, then pitched my yeast at the correct temp. Could any of these steps have been the problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Maximus Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 it has a nice orange color' date=' and a nice head with fairly fine bubbles, BUT it has NO effervescence whatever. [/quote'] I am a little confused that you say it has no effervescence whatsoever but a nice head with fine bubbles? This sounds like half the beers I was served in brew pubs around the US this year. The other half had no head. Perhaps try getting a nucleated glass to induce a bit of visual effervescence. What does it taste like? That is probably the most important thing to consider. If it has a good head and tastes good I would have thought you were more than half way a winner. I assume this brew is driven by Halloween and therefore you only have another week or so to let it condition. If you have primed correctly and conditioned at a suitable temperature then I suspect there is not much you can do before Halloween. Just drop an Alka-Seltzer tablet in it when you serve it.[devil] If you have not primed correctly then it is not too late to open them, re-prime and recap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattC10 Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Hi Hoptimus (great handle!)\u2014 I am with you in that I saw the head and became excited... then was all the more puzzled by the lack of bubbly character of the brew. I have had many mellow ales that the uninitiated could call \u201cflat\u201d... and before I rendered a solid opinion on this batch I opened another beer from the box in which I am conditioning \u2014 both lacked that lovely bottle-conditioned bubbly character. Do you think it needs more conditioning time? Could I open each bottle and throw in another priming drop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Maximus Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 I personally have no experience of pumpkin ales but have read others comments on beer rating sites about pumpkin ales. Often they are described as having a creamy head but low carbonation. Certainly I would be wary of priming more if you have correctly primed for the beer type. Perhaps do a test second prime on a couple of bottles and keep them in sealed plastic bags. If the results are good in a couple of weeks then reassess the rest of them at that time. It may be just a case of giving them all more time to improve carbonation a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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