Mellowing into Fall ~ Pumpkin Ale

We brewed our first Pumpkin Ale of the year on Sept. 23rd. We use fresh pumpkins, so the anticipation and wait for them to be in season is an event all it's own. Here are some photos from this past brew session.


~The set-up, with the pureed pumpkin and rice hulls~


~Shannon stirs while Justin adds the grain~


~Tristan watches~



~Tristan and Shannon take turns stirring the pot~


~And, finally, the pumpkin is stirred in~

We must confess here, this didn't turn out quite like we had hoped. To quote Carrie's step-father "it didn't blow our skirts up." So, ingredients have been ordered and we hope to brew another batch this next weekend. That's one of the little hiccups with brewing seasonal ales, if you're not quick enough, you only get to brew once a year! And, we expect our seasonals to blow our skirts up!!
We're also still working on a good name for this brew. Some have come to mind, but we worry about copyright infringement and stuff like that. If you have any good ideas you'd like to suggest, please leave a comment ~ we'd love to hear from you!

Character & Beer

"There can not be good living where there is not good drinking" - Benjamin Franklin
We were told by Seven Bridges that they would call the winners of their contests that night. We never received a call. We weren't really expecting to win - this was certainly a "learning beer" for us, it was our first organic beer and there were new varieties of things to acquire an understanding of. We will try again. Failure builds character.
Just because we didn't win though doesn't mean the days are dismal around here! "Decadence" has been bottled and is almost ready to drink. It needs some more time to mellow, not a bad thing. Our Imperial Porter was bottled this past Friday evening. It is truly a magnificent brew as well. And finally, our first batch of Pumpkin Ale was bottled last evening. Justin used fresh sugar pie pumpkins for flavoring, along with the various spices to really fill it out. And there are still many bottles of our organic "Rainy Day Pale Ale" around for consumption. They're a constant reminder to keep trying, to keep striving.
We may not have won, but we certainly have not lost. This holiday season there will truly be good drinking here at The Blue Nymph. Mr. Franklin, I believe, would be satisfied.

Hard Waiting

The seasons are changing and the days are growing shorter, but they sure seem to be stretching themselves out around here. Waiting is a hard thing to do!
We've entered our first competition (judging on 10/19), Carrie submitted an entry into Seven Bridge's Quarterly Contest, under the "Why Brew Organic" (judging on 10/15), we've bottled our Imperial Stout "Decadence", have the Imperial Porter in the secondary fermenter soaking up the goodness of vanilla beans & oak chips, and this weekend we brewed our first batch of Pumpkin Ale.
We're foaming at the mouth trying to hold ourselves back from getting into Decadence and drinking it down. Ok, Carrie is at least, Justin is much better at being calm! We're also both salivating over the Imperial Porter ~ even the kids are quite nosy about it!
Speaking of the kids, they were quite pleased that they got to help brew the Pumpkin Ale this weekend. Of course, in reality they mostly play on the deck (in the sandbox) while brewing occurs. They are allowed to help dumping in grains, stirring mash, and in the process of cleaning up. Most importantly though they get to learn step-by-step what is going on and what we're doing. They love feeling like and knowing that they are being included, that they are learning what is going on and why each step is important. The pride that radiates from within them is even better than the beer itself.
But, we're still in the LONG days of waiting. Made especially difficult during football season!!