So tomorrow will be the day my first Homebrew will be "officially drinkable" (you can guess, right, that I've already had a few of them along the way in the name of testing/monitoring progress?) I'm eager to share this thing with friends and family, hopefully no one will be too disappointed with the results! The "Old Druid", as I've dubbed it, wasn't just my first brew but my first attempt at an original recipe. Fairly ambitious, admittedly, for a novice- but what the hell, I'm having fun.I've gathered all the ingredients for my next challenge... a Pumpkin Ale. I researched a lot of pumpkin recipes for this and never found any satisfying results because the homebrewing resources online can get a little muddled when it comes to consistency and reliability of recipe styles. Once again I had to gather up as much relevant info as I could and proceed with making my best judgement... and now I will brew my first Spiced Holiday Beer according to my own recipe. (Mental Finger-Crossing Engaged.)
The Pumpkin Ale Project (which I have dubbed "Grinning Jack") will make use of 4 different specialty grains (and they smell wonderful) on top of the light extract, 3 types of hops (including the homegrown, of course), Spiced Roasted Pumpkin, and Oregon Oak soaked in Spiced Rum(!). The Oak will go into the secondary fermentation stage along with cinnamon sticks to accompany the dry hopping. The hops have been selected not for bitterness and citrusy pungency, but to accommodate a more earthy, spicy balance and allow the spicy, pumpkiny goodness to (hopefully) shine through! (And the Rum and Oak!) I'm reasonably confident I can pull this off... with that small reserve of doubt I always keep in check as a reminder not to get too cocky!Ingredients-wise, this has been a spendy project... new Oak chips, the Rum, The Pumpkin and Spices, all the Grain and I almost forgot to get the necessary new steeping bags (ant those are not cheap, either!) I think it is all worth it. This is a hobby I have been wanting to participate in for a long time and the experience of creating a unique Holiday Ale is immensely enjoyable. I've been an avid Beer drinker since the days that a can of Lucky Lager and Flav-O-Rite Cheese Flavored Snack Crackers constituted breakfast, but now I'm enjoying a whole new realm of great Beer and the thrill of creating my own! (That's got to be worth at least enough XP to get me close to leveling...)
Cheers!
