This past weekend I brewed my first pumpkin ale, an all-grain job based on the "Pumpkin Spice Ale" recipe in Jamil Zainasheff's and John Palmer's book "Brewing Classic Styles".
I used 5 15oz cans (4.69 lbs) of pumpkin pie pulp (Libby's), baked for 1 hr at 330F and mashed for 90 minutes. I also used 1/2 lb of rice hulls.
The mash was a disaster. The pumpkin pulp pretty much liquified, only to bond with the grain and create what I believe is the brewing equivalent of freaking concrete. I had an extremely hard time getting any of the liquid out, at one point almost giving up on the whole thing. Eventually I was able to get about 4.5 gallons of wort out and adjusted the procedure using Brewsmith to produce a beer similar to the original in OG.
I did a good bit of research before doing this brew and apparently I missed any warnings and war stories that may be out there about stuck sparges. Nowhere did I find anything about how chaotic it can be. I mean, the 10-gal round cooler mash tun's output tube was totally clogged. I had to take it apart to unclog it.
I have some thoughts about the possible issues.
So, OK, how do *you* do it? Clearly there are people out there successfully brewing these recipes. What's the trick?
I used 5 15oz cans (4.69 lbs) of pumpkin pie pulp (Libby's), baked for 1 hr at 330F and mashed for 90 minutes. I also used 1/2 lb of rice hulls.
The mash was a disaster. The pumpkin pulp pretty much liquified, only to bond with the grain and create what I believe is the brewing equivalent of freaking concrete. I had an extremely hard time getting any of the liquid out, at one point almost giving up on the whole thing. Eventually I was able to get about 4.5 gallons of wort out and adjusted the procedure using Brewsmith to produce a beer similar to the original in OG.
I did a good bit of research before doing this brew and apparently I missed any warnings and war stories that may be out there about stuck sparges. Nowhere did I find anything about how chaotic it can be. I mean, the 10-gal round cooler mash tun's output tube was totally clogged. I had to take it apart to unclog it.
I have some thoughts about the possible issues.
- 75 oz (5 15 oz cans) of pulp is waaaay too much.
- 1/2 lb of rice hulls is not nearly enough for a 19 lb grist (~14 lbs of grain + ~5 lbs of pulp)
- Instead of leaving the rice hulls undisturbed at the bottom of the mash tun, I mixed it in with the grain
- Instead of leaving the pumpkin pulp on top of the grain undisturbed, I mixed it in with the grains
So, OK, how do *you* do it? Clearly there are people out there successfully brewing these recipes. What's the trick?