Dissolve pumpkin in sparge water?

I am getting ready to do my pumpkin beer and after research I have seen mention of doing this. Has anyone done it? Does it work?

campbelldm1 said:

I am getting ready to do my pumpkin beer and after research I have seen mention of doing this. Has anyone done it? Does it work?

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I have never heard of anyone dissolving in the sparge water. For a Southern Tier Pumking clone, I roast two whole pumpkins (gunk removed) in the oven for about 2-3 hours at 250 Deg F. I then cool it down, scoop out all the meat, and mash it directly with the grain. It wouldn't seem to me that you would get much out of dissolving in the sparge. You need it to be part of the mash to extract the flavoring and very small amount of diastatic power. If you go the mash route, I recommend using rice hulls. You will suffer through many a' stuck sparge trying to get through this. Also, it's worth noting that Southern Tier doesn't piss around with whole pumpkins. They use the canned pumpkin puree. "Food" for thought...

If you are putting it in the mash tun anyway, you may as well get it in there from the start. Just get a bunch of rice hulls and plan on worse efficiency than usual.

Thanks for the response. I had previously just gone the mash route but was curious when I read about dissolving. Will stick with the normal plan.

I am planning a pumpkin ale but was going to add the pumpkin after fermentation - similar to dry hopping. Any drawbacks to this approach?

Dissolve it in your strike water first. Then add the grain. Fewer clumps that way. Plan on sticky. It's sticky.

Definitely definitely definitely use Rice hulls. A stuck sparge sucks and the time you spend trying to extract whatever you can will drive you nuts.

I used 15 lbs of the canned pumpkin puree and in the mash it liquefied and I had a stuck sparge. Rice hulls should solve that issue next time.

samandbekah said:

Definitely definitely definitely use Rice hulls. A stuck sparge sucks and the time you spend trying to extract whatever you can will drive you nuts.

I used 15 lbs of the canned pumpkin puree and in the mash it liquefied and I had a stuck sparge. Rice hulls should solve that issue next time.

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Pumpkin is no joke. That crap turns into a nightmare when mixed with hot water. It really is like sludge.

TyTanium said:

Dissolve it in your strike water first. Then add the grain. Fewer clumps that way. Plan on sticky. It's sticky.

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This is exactly what I did when I brewed my first pumpkin beer just a couple of weeks ago, matter of fact I kegged it just the other day. For my 5 gallon all grain brew I put 2 cans of roasted pumpkin in my strike water and whisked it up with an aerator I have that attaches to a drill.

When using this method you dont have to let your pumpkin cool after roasting just add to striker water and heat up. No temperature adjustments needed either.

There was almost no visible pumpkin trub in the fermentation carboy after fermentation was complete using this method. I have read through a lot of pumpkin threads where people say be ready for 4 inches or so of pumpkin trub. I have been thinking I had no pumpkin sediment due to how thoroughly the roasted pumpkin was mixed with the strike water. I dunno?


Also, I used a whole pound of rice hulls and had a slow sparge that had to be stopped, re-mixed, and re-vorlaufed a couple of times but managed to get the job done.

I have been very much terrified of the mess in the tun, so I use a 5gl paint strainer bag, and steep (and stir like heck for a few min) the pumpkin in the strike water for 45min before I mash. to compensate for what flavor I might lose by not using the pumpkin in the mash I use almost 8lb of pumpkin for a 3gl batch. I also account for absorption of the pumpkin and start off with more strike water than needed for the mash. The bag then goes into the sparge water pot, and repeat. So I have pumpkin in the mash water and the sparge water.

Sounds like a whole lot of work to me. I don't add any pumpkin, just the spices. People swear they can taste the pumpkin.

I have made two pumpkin ales now, AG, and both times I put the pumpkin meat in the boil. A bit messy to clean up when done and I do lose some liquid volume but both times those beers were almost too good when ready. Just my two cents.

I used a 5pd pumpkin skinned deseeded, cut into cubes and baked for 20min around 300.
Then i put the peices in the blender with some honey and a touch of brown sugar.
Smeered the paste on a cookie sheet and stuck it back in the oven for about 10minutes, at which point i had my strike water heating.

Doughed in, let it sit for about 5 minutes then straight from the oven i slid the entire "sheet" of pumpkin puree right into the mash.
Didnt stir much, but when i added my sparge it really mixed things up, no stuck sparge after a dose of rice hulls!!

mytommygundont said:

Sounds like a whole lot of work to me. I don't add any pumpkin, just the spices. People swear they can taste the pumpkin.

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What I get from it is a starchy pumpkin mouthfeel (in a good way) to the beer... with that and spice the two compliment each other. The mouthfeel is different than just using wheat. (just my uneducated opinion with my beer)

Gixxer said:

What I get from it is a starchy pumpkin mouthfeel (in a good way) to the beer... with that and spice the two compliment each other. The mouthfeel is different than just using wheat. (just my uneducated opinion with my beer)

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FWIW I use maltodextrin in my beer to get the chewy mouthfeel.

Gixxer said:

What I get from it is a starchy pumpkin mouthfeel (in a good way) to the beer... with that and spice the two compliment each other. The mouthfeel is different than just using wheat. (just my uneducated opinion with my beer)

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Bingo. It does add a heavier mouthfeel, especially if you mash high (156ish). The spices help too, but I feel that without the pumpkin, it often tastes like a [insert base malt variety] with cinnamon and allspice.

waldzinator said:

Bingo. It does add a heavier mouthfeel, especially if you mash high (156ish). The spices help too, but I feel that without the pumpkin, it often tastes like a [insert base malt variety] with cinnamon and allspice.

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Allright I'm convinced. I hope pumpkin junk cleans out of my pumps well.