Pumpkin, Rosemary and Bay Ale

We always have a ready supply of rosemary and a great bay tree so we use them to add some variety to our Pumpkin Ales.  Pumpkins seem to be in ready supply from the end of August through till the end of January the following year . 
Pumpkin, Rosemary and Bay ale has that same fruity/caramel aftertaste and good head retention but also has that slight tang from the bay leaves and a faint flavour of rosemary which gives it a unique flavour which is difficult to pick out if you don't know what's in it.  Again, if you are expecting a crystal clear beer then this isn't the one for you but don't let that put you off, we love this one.  It takes a couple of days to get into the keg but it's worth it.

Ingredients for a 14Ltr batch

1.8kgs of pumpkin chopped into 1-2 inch square and deseeded
3 bay leaves
5 sprigs of rosemary
1kg spray malt
300g sugar
200g golden syrup (substitute with Honey but up the Hops to 30g if you do)
20g hops (fuggles pellets)
Ale yeast (half an 11g pack S-04 Ale Yeast)

Instructions

Pre-heat your oven to 200c.  Hack the pumpkin into chunks and drop into baking trays then roast in the oven for about 30 minutes.  They should be just starting to crisp and not too soggy.  Let them cool then cut off the skin and feed it to your pigs.  We normally time this brew for when we have the oven going anyway, roast the pumpkin then make the beer the next day.

Send K out in the blizzard to pick the rosemary and bay while you decide which beer to sip on and watch her through the window.  In the biggest pan you can fit on your hob, boil 6ltrs of water and get yourself mentally prepared to add the malt.  We consider it to be very bad luck not to have a beer in your hand when making beer but that's just us, you can drink hot milk if you want, you big girl's blouse.  Adding malt can be a tad tricky to say the least, when the water is boiling get K standing by with the bag of malt while you stand vigilant with your long stirrer.  To start, turn the heat right down and add a fraction of malt then stir to dissolve.  Believe me, the first time we did this we added too much malt at once and required an immediate change of underpants as well as a sense of humour transplant, K's was rejected by the way.  It will suddenly decide to explode out of the pan and redecorate the surrounding area in a sticky, very difficult to remove mess.  How we guffawed and danced around the kitchen, well Jarvo did, K was stuck to the floor and spitting bricks.  After the initial excitement you can speed up the process of dissolving the rest of the malt.  When complete, take K to ER to have the sticky malt bag surgically removed from her hands and the chip removed from her shoulder and immediately proceed with the rest of the ingredients.  Drop in the bay leaves, the pumpkin and strip the rosemary sprigs on top. 

Raise the heat and get it to a low boil for 20 minutes stirring frequently then drop the hops. After a further 10 minutes still stirring away and after a couple more beers, pour in the sugar and dissolve whilst stirring then attempt to get the golden syrup in there as well without welding it to either your face, hands, genitals (don't ask) or the side of the pot....it ain't friggin easy believe me. Then turn off heat and warn K what's coming next. This is a good time to clean and sterilise your keg with Chemipro OXI. Position the sieve and muslin over the keg and in a seemingly reckless but actually quite controlled manner, pour the skin meltingly boiling liquid over K's hands while the steam covers your glasses that you stupidly forgot to remove beforehand rendering you almost blind. K's screams will let you know if you are missing the sieve. Resist the temptation to squeeze the liquid out. Instead be patient, have a sip and let it drip til you're bored. Put the slops to one side for the chickens after removing the bay leaves, heave the keg onto a suitable counter top and top up to 14ltrs with cold water. Check the temperature, if you can comfortably stick your finger in the liquid without losing your fingerprints, then it's ok to pitch the yeast. We use S-04 Ale Yeast which is great, all you have to do is stir the hooch, sprinkle it on top in a pretty pattern, seal the top and fit the airlock. Remember to label the keg with what's inside and the date. After a week or so depending on the room temperature it should either have stopped bubbling or indicate as being ready when you test with the Hypnosis thing or whatever it's called (see Beers Ales and Ciders home page). Then you can proceed to the bottling phase.