Pumpkin beer anyone

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chibrewer

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Hi all,
I'm getting ready to brew my second batch (first one was a wheat beer that's been bottled and appears to be coming along nicely), and I figured that if I brew a pumpkin ale now it can be ready for late October/November. My problem is that its still too early in the year to find fresh pumkin, can I use the canned stuff? I've read conflicting information.

Thanks in advance.
 
You can certainly used the canned stuff - look up Yuri's Thunderstruck recipe. (I will be brewing it next week)

Alternatively, you can pick up a kit from Austin Homebrew.
 
We brewed the pumpkin ale kit from midwest a few weeks ago. Took a taste before we bottled last weekend and I think it is going to be pretty good. We used a couple of cans of pumpkin from the grocery store.
 
I used two cans of Meijer brand pumpkin and the pumpkin ale I brewed a few weeks ago (Yuri's Thunderstruck) tastes great so far.
 
My problem is that its still too early in the year to find fresh pumkin, can I use the canned stuff? I've read conflicting information.

Thanks in advance.

Canned pumpkin is fine, are you doing all grain or extract? I baked mine (2 30 oz cans for a 5 gal batch) at 350 for a little over and hour and mixed some of the strike water in to make it runny then just mashed. No problems with the sparge.
I just did mine yesterday and it's a good thing I put on a blow off tube because that yeast looks angry!!!
 
I just finished drinking a batch of Pumpkin Wheat that I brewed a few weeks ago. Basically it's a dunkleweizen extract recipe with four of the 29 oz cans of Libby's pumpkin and a pumpkin spice pack from AHS. Turned out really good! I can post the ingredients if anyone is interested.
Cheers,
Brian
 
The spices give it the taste,not the pumpkin.

I have to disagree. My first experiment with the pumpkin hefeweizen was a half-batch that I did not add any spices to at all. The pumpkin puree was baked at 400F spread out on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes. The beer had a distinct pumpkin flavor to it, just no clove/cinnamon flavors. I do agree that if you omitted the pumpkin altogether and only added the spices, most people would still think it was made with pumpkin, because everyone will think it tastes like pumpkin pie.:mug:
 
vonstigler if your recipe was for a partial grain that i would like to see it, a half batch would be perfect for me to try one
 
Hi deremer,
My recipe is all extract. I have sent you a PM with a few links for you to check out if you want to do a partial-mash.
My recipe for a 5 gallon batch:

Specialty grains
6 oz Crystal 60
4 oz Caravienne
2 oz Honey malt

Extract
7lbs, 8oz Wheat LME

Hops
1oz Mt Hood 6.0 AA (60min)

Yeast
White Labs Hefeweizen Ale WLP300

Steep specialty grains at 155F for 15 min.
I added 7.25 lbs of pumpkin puree for the full 60 min. (4 29oz cans)
The pumpkin spice pack from Austin Home Brew was added for the last 10 min.
I ended up with a LOT of trub, anyone making this may want to top up the primary to 6 gallons.
 
As an addition to my last reply, I was reading through Yuri's recipe, and I was going to make it my first all grain recipe.

Reading the replies, the super slow sparge time was going to be a problem for me. I also didn't want to test out my setup with something that was going to be that slow to drain.

So I decided to try the extract version of the recipe this coming weekend.
 
Sounds like good advice to me, and that recipe looks pretty tasty too, so I think I'll take it with or without the salt :)

Although I promised my wife I would brew some DunkelWeizen for her first. Between the simple mash and the quick turn around, I may be able to slip this one in first. It would be a good test for the setup. Not to mention my beer closet is pretty bare.

Thanks for the suggestions phatuna!
 
I brewed Yuri's Pumpkin recipe (extract version) last night, and it's just going crazy in the bucket. I know the airlock is no real indicator of fermentation, but in this case It's a non stop rush of air.

My brew pot is a thin stainless steel turkey fryer, and I was worried that I would have a big gob of pumpkin goo stuck to the bottom. I'll tell you what, that pumpkin was just absolutely assimilated by the water. A couple of good stirs with a wisk took care of it.

Just a few notes though, I meant to use the 3/4 ounces of hops that it called for, but a mishap when pouring them out of the bag they came in ended up with the whole ounce in there. I also used 7 LBS of LME instead of the 6.25 DME that the recipe called for.

For my final mistake, I forgot to put in the Irish moss.

I'll report back when I have more findings.
 
i used canned pumpkin (libby's) baked in the oven with extra spices. it seems to have a LOT of flavor (which i love).

pumpkin brews just had a sudden uproar on these forums it seems :lol:
 
I used Libby's too, but no extra spices. I actually plan to go a little light on the pumpkin spice.

I'm glad that someone mentioned the Pumpkin brew, otherwise I would have forgotten. My beer will be ready the weekend before Halloween.

Hmm... I always like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, maybe I should brew another batch so I can make sure to have enough.
 
I just racked that Pumpkin Ale, and holy cow at the trub! I was trying to wash the yeast, with very little hope of actually doing it, and I ended up grabbing a half gallon of pumpkin. It would seem that the pumpkin floats on top of the yeast.
 
In case anyone was interested in fresh pumpkin I actually ended up finding some at Whole Foods, despite the fact that its a little early in the season. I roasted it in the oven for about an hour before I did my mash and my wort smelled amazing. If this turns out well I'll post some pics, if not I'll hang my head in shame and drink it anyways.
 
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