Pumpkin Ale advice

I just purchased a "Smashing Pumpkin Ale" kit from Northern and this is going to be my first attempt at adding an actual vegetable to my brew for flavor.

I'm curios for any tips and or tricks you may have learned through trial and error. My goal is to NOT make any errors.

I also purchased 3 pounds of 6 Row to add to the pumpkin mash. Have any of you tried roasting a 10 pound pumpkin or am I better off going with canned? I would much rather go with the real thing even though its a little more work.

Northern added 1 tsp of pumpkin spice into the recipe and after reading the reviews I think I would like to add more spices to my recipe. Does anyone have any thoughts on that or past experiences you may have had?

Im planning on brewing at the end of August for a 6 week turnaround as the directions suggest. Is there any thoughts on the timing?

Thanks in advance!

Hi I have done it before but I have found with experience that the pumpkin does not impart much flavor if at all. The spices you add are what give the flavor. If you are making a 5 gallon batch 10lbs seems like a lot. Either way, rather if you go canned or real make sure you use LOTS of rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge; the pumpkin will gum up your tun with some seriousness! Roasting the pumpkin in the oven is absolutely essential to help in caramelizing the sugars.

If you go canned, this is exactly what you need: http://www.verybestbaking.com/Libbys/Products/PurePumpkin29oz.aspx

Any other specific questions I'd be happy to help....

Cheers!

I've done it both ways, but the can just seems to be easier. A lot of people talk about getting a stuck sparge when they do a pumpkin beer, but my fix is to put the pumpkin into a five gallon paint strainer bag and then basically steep the pumpkin in my strike water as it heats up. You still get the color and flavor and aroma from the pumpkin without near as much of a mess. As for doing a whole pumpkin, cut it up into chunks, add a little water to your pan and let it roast at 400 for about 45 minutes, or until you can stick a fork through it. Then scrape all the pumpkin off, and smash it all together. Put it back on a cookie sheet, and roast at 400 for another 45 minutes to an hour to get some caramelization going on there.

As for the spice, I added one tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice to mine and after 1.5 months in the bottle it was honestly the best pumpkin beer I've ever had.

Brewmaster12, thanks for the great info. Would you be willing to share your recipe using canned pumpkin? Thanks!

I just throw the pumpkin into the boil, you end up with alot more trub but its better then a stuck mash which i have dealt with twice, it a PITA!

A friend of mine made an imperial pumpkin ale and used a pound of pumpkin per pint in the recipe. The beer was phenomenal. The pumpkin has to be mashed for the same reasons your grains do if you want it to contribute to body and mouthfeel. I'm actually brewing myself a pumpkin in about a week to have ready for September. Don't forget the rice hulls!!

Just don't overdo the spices. If you are thinking about adding more than what the recipe calls for wait until it's finished fermenting or when transferring to secondary. You can add more then after tasting it.

I like to use half to mash and half of it in the boil.It makes it a little easier both ways of straining.It still is kinda messy.Roast your own sugar pumpkin if you can get one.Ive only used canned ,ive used spiced cannned once it has Pumpkin spice/sugar only in it but didnt have other junk in it-account for the sugar for gravity. Prepare for some volume loss also because of all the trub and settleing.
My experience is the more you use the more veg/pumpkin flavor you get,then spice how you want but watch out for overdoing the spices.

Thank you all for the words of wisdom and advice. I will take it all into account as I prepare to make this one. Im still trying to find a sugar pumpkin this time of year is becoming quite difficult. Canned may be my only option right now unless I used another gourd type of pumpkin.

I am making a 5 gallon kit and letting it ferment in a 6 gallon fermenter taking into account for the addition of the pumpkin.

I think 1 16 oz can per gallon is a good start for canned 100% pumpkin. As far as spices well youll have to skim through recipes or have a recipe or get advice. Because spices can get out of hand. Perfect time to make a pumpkin too,i think they age well best for 3+ months.Depending,i guess. Fun beer to make its pretty versatile as far as style too. Cheers!

Mine turned out amazing. I will be making it again shortly...

I went the route of adding the pumpkin in toward the end of the boil instead of the mash. Also I did not use pumpkin spice. I used cinnamon sticks, allspice, cloves, and fresh ginger.

Also make sure if you use canned pumpkin, to use pure 100% pumpkin, not the pie filling or anything with preservatives.

+1 on the fresh ginger,cinn sticks ,clove,even fresh crushed nutmeg.possibly some fresh vanilla-talking flava,its the flava,life sava,its the flava? Yeahhhhhhhhhhh, boyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Sorry ,my bad i like good pumpkin beers,and public enemy sorta.

FWIW, here's my recipe (sharing it since it came out very nice; spice level was just right imo). My step-mom grew the pumpkins I used; they were a PITA to clean, roast and prep for brewing, but worth it in the end. Only changes I plan to make for next time are to up the victory to an even 2lbs, and put the roasted seeds in the boil, not the mash:

This was for 12 gallons:
Grains:
20lbs 2-row
2lbs crystal 40L
2lbs munich
1.5lbs Victory
0.5lb carapils

Hops:
60min: 2.5oz Willamette

Mash: 2 roasted pumpkins (~4.5lbs + seeds)

5min: 1/2tsp cinnamon
1tsp nutmeg
1tsp allspice

1lb ricehulls in mash

15min: whirlfloc tablet

safale 05 yeast

jwalker1140 said:

Brewmaster12, thanks for the great info. Would you be willing to share your recipe using canned pumpkin? Thanks!

Click to expand...

Absolutely! I'll put it on tomorrow when I'm on my computer.

Scratch that. Got it right here...

5 gallon batch

10 lbs 2 row
10 ounces C60
8 oz flaked oats
8 oz Victory malt
6 oz Vienna malt
4 lbs Roast pumpkin
1 lb brown sugar at 45 minutes
1.25 oz willamette at 60
1.25 oz willamette at 45
1.25 TBLS pumpkin pie spice at 10
2.5 oz bourbon at bottling
1.5 oz vanilla extract at bottling

OG- 1.076
FG- 1.020
7.5% ABV
34 IBU

Here's the tricky part. I take the canned pumpkin, all 4 lbs of it and spread it out on a cookie sheet and roast it at 375 for 45 min stirring it every 15 minutes. Then I take a 5 gal paint strainer (get it from lowe's) and put all the pumpkin in there and place the bag inside my HLT while I bring my strike water up to temp. Once I hit my strike temp I pull the bag out and let it drain for a few minutes before continuing like normal. I bag keeps all the junk out but you still get the flavor, color, and aroma from the pumpkin. Oh and I mash at 158 to get that really chewy mouthfeel on this one,

Thanks for the recipe! I bet it's awesome on a cool fall evening. I already have a couple of those paint strainer bags since I mainly do partial mashes. Do you use something like WLP001 or 1056?

jwalker1140 said:

Thanks for the recipe! I bet it's awesome on a cool fall evening. I already have a couple of those paint strainer bags since I mainly do partial mashes. Do you use something like WLP001 or 1056?

Click to expand...

I used 1056 last time but I think I'm going with an English ale strain this time instead to get a little fruitiness out of it, but the 1056 really makes the spices stand out perfectly. I'm brewing mine next week cause it really benefits with time in the bottle

Check out this thread link

Brewed one of my all time best beers with the help of this recipe.

Tips: Roast pumpkin, lots of rice hulls, lots of time and less is more with the spices

A few things specific to pumpkin ales that I've learned over the last 5-6 batches:

Real pumpkin doesn't really add much flavor, maybe none at all, depending on your palate. But it's easy to cook some and throw it in, so why not?

If you like a sweeter ale (My wife and sister-in-law do) find a recipe that uses some brown sugar, like the above mentioned "Punkin Ale" recipe. The brown sugar adds some flavors that go very very nicely with the pumpkin spice. But it does add sweetness, so if that's not your thing, it's not mandatory.

The pumpkin spice fades over time. It melds first into a very pleasant flavor, but over 3-4 months it does fade noticeably. Time your brewing accordingly.

Oh, and if you're mashing your cooked pumpkin, watch the temperature. No brewing software can account for adding sticky 300 degree pumpkin pulp into a mash. The temperatures go all over the chart, up then down, then back up. It's a nightmare to mash. Then it gets stuck all through the sparge.

Have fun.

I've been told to put the pumpkin puree in the strike water so there are no issues with temperature. Thoughts?

FWIW, a friend of mine that's been brewing about 20 years told me to add the pumpkin to the mash last after mashing in the grains. Seemed to work well for me. Make sure to grab a pound of rice hulls too.

Ferment your pumpkin beer INSIDE of a pumpkin.

Do it!

I just did mine yesterday. Baked 60oz of canned pumpkin with a bit of brown sugar and pumpkin pie spice for an hour at 350.

I then mashed in my grains first, then added the pumpkin, didn't use any rice hulls and didn't have any problems with my sparge. Everything went great, smelled amazing in the mash tun and the wort actually was very pumpkin-y.

I just bottled some and kegged the remainder tonight. Dropped into the keezer and hooked up the CO2, bled off the air and letting it carb up. Cant wait to try this one in a couple days..Ill report back with the results :0