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srl135 · 09-19-2012, 07:09 PM

I am brewing a pumpkin ale and am roasting a pumpkin with pumpkin spices on it during its oven time and adding some spices to the boil as well; plan on adding the entire pumpkin during the boil but also have canned pumpkin that i am planning to add later. Question is:
1) when to add? Secondary?
2) Any concerns with adding it? Too much or no results likely? Infection (if added in secondary)?

Just want to soak up the pumpkin flavor as much as possible, looking for this to be a sweet dessert beer similar to the Screaming Pumpkin.

Any input is helpful and yes i have searched the forums.

Hethen57 · 09-19-2012, 09:52 PM

I have had the best luck adding it to the mash. Last year I added to boil and secondary and it left the beer slightly starchy and slimy. You will probably get people all over the board who have had different experiences, both good and bad. The drawback of mashing is it gums up the mash tun (use lots of rice hulls) and by the end of fermentation, there is probably not a ton of true pumpkin flavor in your beer...but it still smells like pumpkin pie because of the spices. Adding to boil may give you a little more pumpkin flavor, but will probably leave more unfermentable starch.

**AZ_IPA** · 09-19-2012, 09:57 PM

In my opinion, pumpkin really doesn't have much flavor at all.

The pumpkin pie flavor you get from spices, not from pumpkin.

Hethen57 · 09-19-2012, 10:07 PM

I agree, I just add a couple of cans of pumpkin to call it Pumpkin Beer, but the flavor of pumpkin is very subtle at best. The spices are what people notice as pumpkin and it smells awesome when you are boiling the wort! I wanted pumpkin flavor so bad last year that I cooked up some pumpkin pie filling with spices on a baking sheet and dry hopped with it.....and ruined my beer.

srl135 · 09-20-2012, 11:36 PM

Good to hear some input. Thanks guys! I brewed yesterday and used a full pumpkin (quartered, spiced and roasted) and a can of pureed pumpkin in the boil along with a small grain bag with (whole) cinnamon sticks, allspice, and nutmeg.

Gotta admit.. got a little drunk since i had friends over during the process so its going to be a bit of a gamble on how this beer turns out. I didnt end up filtering out anything, just threw it all in the bucket with the yeast and wished it the best.

Here's to wishing I dont have my first bad beer...

**BrewPirate** · 09-21-2012, 01:55 AM

I recently made a pumpkin ale with two large cans of pure pumpkin in the mash and then one large can of the spiced pie filling at 60. No baking, just straight from the can. I still added spice at the end of the boil. Came out real nice.

kerant · 09-21-2012, 02:17 AM

I'm going to be doing mine next week and adding 3 cans to mash. should I add this weight to my grain weight for calculating mash and sparge water quantities?

**etrain666** · 09-21-2012, 12:10 PM

I toasted a pound and a half of canned pumpkin and added it to the mash with a healthy amount of hulls. No stuck sparge, actually one of the easiest I have ever had. I also did not want to add any spices as this was an Oktoberfest and I just wanted a hint of pumpkin and the orange color. Well, beer is pretty nice, but the pumpkin is unnoticeable.

srl135 · 09-21-2012, 04:40 PM

I did not do a full mash on this, so adding any pumpkin to the mash stage was not an option. I had debated whether to keep the can of pumpkin for the secondary or to add during the boil and i defaulted to adding during the boil... probably cause i had too much homebrew at the time and thought "more must be better"

I will keep this updated as it ferments out.

kingwood-kid · 09-21-2012, 04:49 PM

Canned pumpkin is already extensively roasted. Re-roasting it yourself won't really do much other than waste energy. You can mash it if you want, but it has almost no starch to convert. Personally, I think its best use is in cheesecake, with a nice roasty stout on the side. But I've heard it makes a nice risotto as well.