Muddy pumpkin beer

I brewed a modified extract version of the Thunderstuck pumpkin ale about 3 weeks ago. I believe I made a couple of mistakes while brewing it, but wanted to get some people's feedback.

First off, in no way did I try to contain the 60oz of pumpkin in the boil, nor did I strain it out when pouring it into the primary. I racked to the secondary, and found about a 4" deep layer of pumpkin/trub/yeast cake. Unfortunately some of the trub got into the secondary. I have since added gelatin and began cold crashing. At the moment it kind of looks like muddy water, but it's only been in the fridge for two days now.

What I would like to know is if people have had similar results when making a pumpkin ale? I plan to let it sit in the fridge for a while hoping most of the crud will drop out of solution.

Next time around I'm planning on putting the pumpkin in a grain bag of sorts, whirlpooling and leaving most of the trub out of the fermenter and possibly straining, cold crashing, adding gelatin, and letting things go longer all together.

One more quick question about gelatin, when you dissolve it, do you add it hot and then mix (no splashing of course) or do you just pour it into the carboy and let it sit?

Thanks for the help!

I've dealt with the same issue. I did everything I could to strain the wort before it went into the fermenter, but the pumpkin was clogging my strainer to the point where nothing was coming out.

When racking to keg, I just did my best to siphon off the top, but I definitely had some cloudiness issues. For the first week +, every first half-glass was cloudy. After about two weeks, it's crystal clear.

Never used gelatin, so I would be remise to speculate on its proper use. I make too many belgians and hefes to need it much.

So it's been several days after adding the gelatin to the secondary, and it's been sitting in the fridge around 38F. There's no noticable improvement in the clarity. This weekend I'll take a taste and probably bottle cloudy if it seems ok.

Does anyone else have any other input on what I could do differently next time?

Thanks!

I have been making this recipe for years. The key is to not rush it and to expect less than 5 gallons.

I try my best to not bring too much pumpkin traub into my primary by siphoning off the top. Then, I let it sit for two-three weeks in the primary. Because it is a fruit beer, I transfer to a secondary for at least a month. I made two extract batches of this for Thanksgiving this year. I brewed them on October 2nd and kegged them one week before thanksgiving. Both kegs came out crystal clear.

i recently finished a pumpkin ale(by finished i mean i drank all five delicious gallons). if you used actual pumpkin pieces i think it would be easier to keep the muddiness down. but i didn't. i just used the canned stuff and i was cloudy. (there weren't chunks or anything in my finished beer.) i cold crashed for like two days and all of the thick stuff fell out of solution. but it was still real cloudy. maybe more time would have let it clear better but i was ready to drink it. it was one of my best beers so far. unless your entering it in a contest i wouldn't worry about clarity to much. if its good thats whats important. none of the family minded that it was cloudy. its got pumpkin. thats just part of the deal. if anyone doesnt want to drink it because its cloudy then they're being a sissy. also more beer for you.

i was just thinking about what i said and wanted to clarify (how appropriate for this post). it's not that i think you shouldn't take pride in every brew. and if your going for a crystal clear beer, then by all means tweak your recipe and your methods or whatever you need to do. i just meant that, for me, clear beer comes second to deliciousness. and thats what i would be worried about more than anything.