Clearing up pumpkin ale?

I brewed an AG pumpkin ale about 3 weeks ago, I put 2 cans of pumpkin purée in at 90. The wort was pitched with wlp001 and hit 1.009 pretty easily. I racked it off the sludge earlier this week in another carboy in hopes of clarifying it some more. I had a bunch more yeast drop out, but the beer is rather cloudy still.

Is there any way to clarify it anymore? Or should I just accept that it's cloudy, get over it, and bottle it. I don't really have cold crashing capabilities. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Thanks

I just bottled mine today and it was cloudy even after a cold crash. I think the pumpkin acts similarly to wheat in respect to haze, so its probably just how its going to be.

mine takes about 3 weeks in a secondary to clear.

amandabab said:

mine takes about 3 weeks in a secondary to clear.

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How much pumpkin are you using?

Never brewed a pumpkin ale with pumpkin...but unflavored gelatin can do some heavy clarifying.

Do a search and read up on the specifics.
I do it all the time with great results.

RainyDay said:

How much pumpkin are you using?

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3 30oz cans
all baked, 2 in mash, 1 in boil
6 gallons to start, 5 gallons at bottling

I'm going to give it another week in secondary or so then bottle it. Most of my beers are a little cloudy / have a chill haze anyway. It does kind of have the haze of a wheat beer at the moment.

Pectin haze me thinks. Every brew I've done with fruit in it has had it. I've even gotten the problem from juices that are crystal clear before fermentation. Pectin is a water soluble carbohydrate, in homebrew it hazes the brew. This is especially a problem for anything containing citrus fruit or juice, though it applies to pretty much all fruit. I have not done a pumpkin brew, but I would think a little bit of pectin enzyme would be a good idea. It will break the pectin into it's component sugars. You can even add it post-fermentation and it still works just fine. Since the result is a slight increase in sugar, you may want to do it a few days before you bottle. Otherwise you could end up over carbonating.

An update...it cleared up a bit in secondary, but I started to get a white film on the top of the beer in the carboy, so I tasted it, was fine, and then bottled it. The wlp001 attenuated a little too well it seems, down to ~1.004. It's more hoppy than I expected, and drier as well. Going to see how it goes after 2-3 weeks in the bottle.

Great information y'all. Brewing my first Pumpkin Ale this afternoon. The folks at my LBS put me onto the pectin enzyme and instructed me to add it to the wort post boil/cool. He recommended that I use 1/4 tsp to the 5 gallons. I'm0 putting my recipe here for feedback from some of the seasoned brewers. Any and all comments appreciated.
10# Maris Otter
1# Crystal 60L
1# Special Roast
2# Pumpkin puree (added to mash)
1/2# Rice hulls
1 oz Cluster pellet @ 60
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
WLP001

FWIW, I accidentally allowed my pumpkin ale to freeze to a slush while cold crashing and it turned out to be crystal clear after I kegged it.

1/4 tsp for a whole batch? Pumpkin might not be as high in pectin as I thought. The typical dose for fruit is 1/2 tsp pectin enzyme per gallon. Then again, your pumpkin puree may only come out to about a 1/2 gallon by volume.

EDIT: Nevermind, a 1/4 tsp is about right. The dosing for fruit puree is 1/10th tsp/lb.

I would question that film and that lowering gravity, If you bottle it for and extended period keep your eye out for overcarbonation. May have something to do with not pasterizeing the pumpkin@90 degrees and the loss of the co2 blanket in headspace from opening it.