Best way to make a pumpkin ale

Ó Flannagáin · 10-08-2007, 01:50 PM

I feel like I struck gold, and I know some of you here have done it this way already. But, it's a new discovery for me. I decided to buy a pumpkin yesterday instead of using canned, since we needed a jack-o-lantern anyway. $2.99, definintely cheaper than buying canned.

I gutted the pumpkin, then carved maybe 1/3 of it's inside flesh without disturbing the outside. I cut that into chunks and placed on a baking sheet. I cooked at 325 for maybe 30 minutes or so, til it smelled toasted, but didn't look burnt.

I threw those chunks into my mash for the full 60 minutes. I now have about 6 gallons (I had to drain almost a gallon of beer to make it fit in my fermenter

) of some really tasty wort that has a full on pumpkin flavor and aroma. I mean it's stronger then using 4lbs of canned pumpkin. And, the best part? NO TRUB! Absolutely no trub, I mean, maybe a 1/2 inch. I have less trub than when I don't use pumpkin.

Anyway, thought I'd share

EDIT: I used to boil canned pumpkin and get about 1 to 1.5 gals of trub

Professor Frink · 10-08-2007, 02:21 PM

That sounds like it's gonna come out awesome. They started selling pumpkins here about a week after I did mine with canned pumpkin

Ó Flannagáin · 10-08-2007, 02:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Professor Frink

That sounds like it's gonna come out awesome. They started selling pumpkins here about a week after I did mine with canned pumpkin

Canned pumpkin makes a great beer, I've used it. I was just so happy to find a way to avoid the trub that it caused me last time!

coyotlgw · 10-08-2007, 07:12 PM

For comparison, I just did Dogfish Head's Pumpkin Porter from the Extreme Brewing book. It called for two pounds of fresh pumpkin, skinned and cut into one-inch cubes. You boil the cubes for half an hour and then puree, adding the results to a partial mash.

I will let you know how it turns out, but with half of a pumpkin left I am wondering what else to do with the leftovers...

davefleck · 10-08-2007, 07:25 PM

FYI,
the pumpkins grown for carving aren't the same as whats used for eating and baking pies. You might have to hit up a farmers market for those. I'm not sure all the diffrences but guessing it's on the sweetness. Most pumpkins not used for carving end up as animal feed.

Ryan_PA · 10-08-2007, 07:34 PM

What is said above is true. I have actually heard blue pumpkins are best for flavor. That said, my pumpkin ale does not even use pumpkins. Truth be told, the actual pumpkin lends very little flavor to the end product, and it is not worth the hassle to me.

**Edcculus** · 10-08-2007, 07:40 PM

I did a similar thing as Seefresh, except I used canned pumpkin in the mash. The combination of mashing the pumpkin, plus using a hop bag for hops and the spices resulted in a virtually trub-less beer for me also.

I didn't bake the pumpkin, which I'm hoping won't be a huge problem. I just bottled it, and it tastes amazing though.

I think the pumpkin in the mash improved the efficiency of my sparge too. My fly sparge ran a LOT slower than usual, but I ended up hitting a slightly higher OG than beersmith predicted. I'm sure thats also partly because the pumpkin imparted some fermentables that I wasn't able to account for in beersmith.

Ó Flannagáin · 10-08-2007, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davefleck

FYI,
the pumpkins grown for carving aren't the same as whats used for eating and baking pies. You might have to hit up a farmers market for those. I'm not sure all the diffrences but guessing it's on the sweetness. Most pumpkins not used for carving end up as animal feed.

That may be, but my beer has a huge pumpkin aroma floating through the airlock.

EinGutesBier · 10-08-2007, 09:51 PM

Somehow I think this will help explain my post a bit: I live in North Dakota.

Getting a hold of a pumpkin here is no big deal. But. I've noticed that in many cases, pumpkin here is substituted with sweet potatoes/yams. For example, sweet potato pie is a big thing here. Which gets me to thinking...

Pumpkin beer has been done before, but why not try sweet potato beer? In my experience, sweet potatoes are very similar to the earthy taste a pumpkin has but it has more sweetness to it. I mean, hey, a pumpkin is a squashy, why not use a potato? However, I wonder if it would be better to make a pumpkin-sweet potato beer combo or do just exclusively sweet potato beer?

Either way, great thread.

Ó Flannagáin · 10-08-2007, 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EinGutesBier

Somehow I think this will help explain my post a bit: I live in North Dakota.

Getting a hold of a pumpkin here is no big deal. But. I've noticed that in many cases, pumpkin here is substituted with sweet potatoes/yams. For example, sweet potato pie is a big thing here. Which gets me to thinking...

Pumpkin beer has been done before, but why not try sweet potato beer? In my experience, sweet potatoes are very similar to the earthy taste a pumpkin has but it has more sweetness to it. I mean, hey, a pumpkin is a squashy, why not use a potato? However, I wonder if it would be better to make a pumpkin-sweet potato beer combo or do just exclusively sweet potato beer?

Either way, great thread.

Actually, I believe quite a few people on this board have made sweet potato beer. It actually sounds quite delicious to me, not to mention you can get quite a bit of fermentable sugars from potatoes.. look at vodka. I'm not sure how you get those though, I guess through normal mash temps?

I wonder if the pumpkin added a lot to my OG? Didn't even consider that.

Some people on this board have actually recommended some sort of squash in place of pumpkin, can't remember which kind though.