Brewing first Pumpkin Beer

I have always been a huge fan of pumpkin beers. I have brewed about 4 of the "kit " beers and have gotten the system and a good idea of how everything works. Now i want to try to brew my first either partial or full grain
brew. I know this takes a little research and some trial and errors. are there any pointers that i should know about brewing a pumpkin beer.? I would like to start with an oktoberfest base and go from there.

Biggest tip...add rice hulls to the mash if you do all grain! If you add real or canned pumpkin it will be sticky and could cause a stuck mash. The Rice hulls help prevent that! Second tip..if using canned pumpkin, use a product that is pure pumpkin like Libby's...but don't use ones that are Pumpkin Pie mixes as they have stuff added! Lastly, spread the pumpkin on a cookie sheet and roast it to caramelize the pumpkin for added flavor.

What are rice hulls? I was planning on using a real pumpkin and bake that for a couple hours.

Rice hulls are the cover for the seeds/grains of rice. They are very dry and and help filter the grain bed (if you do all grain) when you are using a sticky substance like pumpkin to prevent a stuck mash. They kind of remind me of dry pine needles but are wider. Here's a pic.

You can use real pumpkin, I used cans for the ease. I recall reading on this forums last year that a lot of people recommend using Sugar Pie pumpkins rather than the big orange jack-o-lantern style because Sugar Pie are a cooking pumpkin and has better flavor. They are much smaller so you would need more. Brewers on this site have also used butternut squash (after all pumpkin is a squash), and even, believe it or not, sweet potatoes will give you a great "pumpkin" flavor.