Needless to say, I will not order another kit from Morebeer until I own my own mill. So, I guess that I will need to run up to the LHBS and see if they will run this last kit through their mill so that I can at least come close to expected recipe. Frustrated, I went to my LHBS shop and picked up some grain for a big beer.
Morebeer is more worried about stuck sparges than they are about having customers actually be able to brew their kits effectively. At first, I thought that maybe Morebeer had let this grain sit around for a long time, but a quick internet search reveals that this has been going on for a long time. I then went back to my basics and ensured that I was following my process precisely. Est OG: 1.056 (13.8° P) Mash Profile: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge. Thanks Morebeer for making me question my process. Then I brewed the Sunset Pale Ale and hit 60% efficiency. I typically average around 76% brewhouse efficiency. Everything appeared normal, but I noticed that the grain was not milled to the level that other HBS shops do. This was the first of the kits that I brewed. I ordered 4 kits from MB because they were on sale. The seeds and goodies are then scraped into 4oz of vodka. This brings up the 5 gallon igloo I use for mashing, but obviously my pot is considerably bigger (I can boil about 7 gallons if I pay attention). For the vanilla bean vodka solution, two vanilla beans are cut in half. If anyone else is messing with this on beersmith I used 'single infusion, medium body, batch sparge' with a cooler and pot 5g/19L.
Brewing with fresh pumpkin might even be worse. The pumpkin should be cleaned and cut into small cubes and baked for 45 mins at 350, then mashed and coated with honey. If you have cooked with fresh pumpkin you are probably aware cooking with fresh pumpkin sucks. So, let me start by saying that I've been AG brewing for a while. The only reason I brewed pumpkin beer in the past is because my girlfriend is a pumpkin lover who could eat a pumpkin muffin 12 months out of the year.