Pumpkin Ale question

So I brewed my first pumpkin ale (Midwest supplies, extract kit) yesterday with 2 29oz cans of Libby's pumpkin.

I was going to strain it while pouring into the primary, to clean up a lot of the pumpkin sludge. It clogged up the strainer almost immediately, so I just poured all the wort into the primary, there was a TON of pumpkin sludge.

Obviously it's all going to settle out over the next 2 weeks in the primary, at which point I will rack to a secondary to clear it up. Is there a good way to strain it from primary to secondary to prevent me from losing a lot of beer?

Thanks!

Rack on top of it,your going to lose the rest,plan on accounting for the volume loss when figuring you priming sugar calculations otherwise your going to overcarb.You have a racking cane,or auto siphon right? It will taste amazing though but less of it

+1

If it clogged up before it will do the same thing so just try to siphon off as much as possible. For your next batch try buying a regular pumpkin and roasting it in the oven until its soft then cutting that into manageable pieces-this way you can just pull them out with a pair of tongs then have no problem straining

I think there may be a difference with pulling out and leaving it in though.Not that ive tested it but keeping it in will only meld the flavor contribution i would think.I actually tried to strain it but the puree went right through my single mesh strainer, if i was using a grain bag i could have gotten alot of it out as i have in the past so i got less. I actually topped off my fermenter and lucked out that i didnt have a vigorous ferment.
Make shure you keep some of those to try next year, I think my 8 month bottled first pumpkin may have been my favorate out of a dozen commercial pumpkini have tried this season. Shure is fun trying them though. Shipyards smashed pumpkin is my winner so far commercially,maybe until i can get my hands on DFH pumpkin,maybe not though.

I thought Smashed was way better than the DFH punkin. Of course I like more in your face flavors for a pumpkin and DFH was a little to subtle for my liking.
Oh and I didnt strain any pumpkin when I put it in my primary, when I racked to secondary I was left with only 4 gallons.

You could try a large grain bag (big enough to hold all the pumpkin extract) attached securely to the opening of your secondary. Let enough hang into the secondary to be able to catch all your trub. Then, after racking is complete (trying to avoid the yeast cake, naturally), pull the bag up and let it drain over the secondary. Kinda of a secondary application of the BIAB technique. I would think a large caterpiller drive hoseclamp (for a glass carboy or BB), or a couple of them together (for a bucket) would do the trick. I wish I had personal experience with this, but it works awesome in my head!

in the future, to avoid the pumpkin sludge, first roast the canned pumpkin in the oven at 350 for 45mins or so, then scoop it out of the baking pan and into a muslin bag. that will keep the overwhelming majority of the pumpkin in the bag when you lift it out of the boil. I did the same kit you did, with libbys pumpkin, only i put the pumpkin in a grain bag and got most of it out of there, very little sludge in the primary.

Guys, is it better to steep the canned pumpkin with the grains or add the pumpkin to the boil? I read both methods are used, but which one produces a better result?

AU_Bob said:

Guys, is it better to steep the canned pumpkin with the grains or add the pumpkin to the boil? I read both methods are used, but which one produces a better result?

Click to expand...

I actually did both. I first baked the 2 29 oz cans at 350 for 30 mins (emptied onto cookie sheet, spread about 1 inch thick layer). I added half the amount while steeping, than the other have the last 5 minutes of the boil.

Just don't make the mistake I did with not putting it into a bag. Put it into a bag as listed in previous posts.