Help with adjusting this pumpkin ale recipe?

After brewing with extract for 6 months, I finally made the jump to all grain a few batches ago. The simple BIAB method has been perfect for me. Three gallon batches were like an epiphany! Our kitchen is less full of bottles, and I can experiment more.

My next batch is going to be a pumpkin beer. Reno's Punkin' Ale recipe looks great. Normally, I would put the recipe in beersmith, scale to 3 gallons, and have at it. But some friends want to come over and help out on brew day, and I'd like to give them some of the final product. So I need to make 5 gallons, otherwise I'll end up with just a six pack.

I want to keep my method largely the same, which means I'll need to use some extract to bump up the OG, and then top off with water before pitching the yeast. From what I've read, a 5 gallon pot can handle around 8 lbs of grain. To allow room for the pumpkin, I'm going with 7 lbs of grain in the mash.

Here's the original grain bill:
10 lbs Pale 2-row
1 lb Victory
1 lb Caramel 60L

Here's my modified grain bill:
5 lbs Pale 2-row
1 lb Victory
1 lb Caramel 60L
add 3 lbs Light DME after the mash

Will my modifications work? Does anybody have any advice for this method? I'd appreciate any input at all! Thanks!

Looks good. Only one caveat: I recently brewed a pumpkin beer with biab and the pumpkin clogged up my bag.

sudsstud said:

Looks good. Only one caveat: I recently brewed a pumpkin beer with biab and the pumpkin clogged up my bag.

Click to expand...

Amen on the clogged bag. I put the pumpkin in with the mash and lost 2 gallons of water when I pulled the bag. Tried mashing (a.k.a. squishing) the water out and recouped only a little. So I would increase the volume of the strike water and/or consider sparging with additional water. I used a HUGE metal colander with holes I drill in it (hint: drill from the inside) and then gently poured an additional gallon of water over it. Despite all the "on the fly" adjustments it smelled great and had a perfect color. Gonna be a long 6 weeks.