Pumpkin ale!!

Greetings fellow homebrewers!
The harvest season is falling upon u quickly and I am planning on doing a pumpkin ale but I have on simple question: to mash or not to mash?
I have seen multiple videos on YouTube were people have mashed their roasted pumpkin in with the grain, I have also seen people boil the roasted pumpkin with the hops. I am just wondering whom of you has done either/both and what the difference would be.
I also have been given the idea to do both. Mash one roasted pumpkin in with the grain and one roasted pumpkin with hop boil.
Thoughts and comments? Thanks friends!
-J

I think that the jury is out. I have heard from multiple sources that it doesnt even matter if you use pumpkin at all; making it personal preference. People perceive the taste of pumpkin more from the consistency and spice of pumpkin pie than from the taste of pumpkin itself.

From what I have tasted, both with and sans pumpkin, they both remind me of pumpkin but in different ways.

Also, I have heard mashing or roasting makes absolutely no difference.

I guess to sum it all up...it probably doesnt make a difference to mash or not...you are not trying to get sugar just the pumpkin flavor, so mashing wont effect your brew much.
-Jefe-

I use it in the mash and the boil, always comes out amazing! Also throw in cloves,ginger,all spice,cinnamon and a vanilla bean

On Basic Brewing Radio, they recently had a show where they did a side-by-side tasting of an all-grain beer brewed with 10 lbs of pumpkin, and one that was an extract-only beer brewed with no pumpkin. Most of the tasters said that the beer that had NO pumpkin actually tasted more like pumpkin.


Pumpkin will actually ferment out into the beer, leaving VERY little flavor behind. That being said, if I ever make a pumpkin ale I would probably throw in a little pumpkin just for the authenticity. But I would do so knowing that it would have very little effect on the final product, if any.

Thanks for the feedback.
Next question, what do most of you use as a rule of thumb for mashing? I've read 1.25 quarts and also 2 quarts. Difference?

I always do 2 quarts min. per #. I like to mash and boil with the pumpkin that way its not as messy/ less to strain out although you could leave it in the wort if you have the room in your carboy and account for the voulume loss.You may want to bake and carmalize the pumpkin also if you like that.
Keep in mind that people that say pumpkin ferments out and leaves little behind, your still making a beer with pumpkin and barley not just barley same with sugar or whatever.Pumpkin isnt a real flavorafull thing but with spice its enhanced and what we know as pumpkin pie,take it kinda easy on the spices and use more pumpkin.
It would be like if you did a mash with potatoes,im shure you would be able to tell.Depending how much you used.

Right on,
Do you use 2 quarts of water on all your beers or was that directed specifically towards the pumpkin ale?