Canned Pumpkin Puree?

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jmoore77

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I'm going to attempt a 5 gallon batch of an All Grain Pumpkin Ale (Pumking Clone) this weekend and the recipe I found calls for 5 lbs of cooked pumpkin, however I'm going to mash with canned puree instead. So my question is does 5 lbs of cooked pumpkin equal to using 5 lbs of canned puree? I assume the canned stuff is more condensed so I didn't know if I should dump all 5 cans in my mash or cut it back some. I was planning to add rice hauls to my mash to prevent sticking...any other tips for mashing with puree?

My grain bill also includes:
17.5 lbs of 2 US 2 Row
1 lb of Car/Cry Malt 60L

1/2 oz Magnum Hops
3/4 oz Saaz (Sterling Alternate)

Various spices added to the boil and vanilla extract.

2 Packs British Ale 1098

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!


Cheers
Jason
 
5LBs is a lot to add to your mash...it is going to cause a serious mess/sparge issues.

I brewed up an imperial pumpkin ale last weekend that was also a take on Pumking and only used 1 29oz can of Libby's pureed pumpkin that I baked with spices in the oven prior to adding to the mash.

If I were you, I would go with no more than 2 29oz cans since the pumpkin isn't going to impart much flavor to your beer anyway but the 2 cans will be enough to give you the pumpkin 'mouthfeel' you are looking for.
 
I put 75 oz of pumpkin puree in my batch last week. I used a lb of rice hulls, and I didn't have any lautering issues. The wort was a great orange color and had intense pumpkin aroma/flavor. I used a bunch, because I'm hoping some of the pumpkin aroma/flavor will come out in the final product....
 
Most of the pumpkin flavor in beers like this come from the pumpkin pie spices and not really the pumpkin itself. In fact, there is a guy in our homebrew club who brews a decent pumpkin recipe using no pumpkin at all, just the spices.

If you plan to mash with any kind of pumpkin (fresh or puree), I would recommend mashing in with all your grains first, let it sit for a minute, then carefully add the pumpkin to the top of the mash. This will help prevent the pumpkin from settling next to your manifold and causing drainage problems.
 
I plan on baking in the oven, then dumping the baked puree in my strike water before adding to the mash. I'm hoping that helps with temp issues.
 
I did up my pumpkin ale last week with 60oz of canned pumpkin and a pound of rice hulls... Definitely a slow sparge, but not a super big deal.

To the OP, I'm not entirely sure how the conversion of fresh to canned would work, but I don't think you'd have a major problem with another 15oz of pumpkin beyond what I used, especially since you've got a bigger grain bill to boot.
 
Not that I can be of much help since I'm still new to brewing but I used canned pumpkin in my pumpkin ale that called for 10lb's of fresh roasted pumpkin but since its out of season I used 8lb's of canned pumpkin puree. This was an extract brew so I can't comment on the issues you may have doing all grain as I am not yet familiar with the entire process.
 
I brewed a PumKing clone a couple weeks ago. I used about 4 pounds of Libby's puree, and a pound and a half of rice hulls; all in the mash at the same time. No issues with sparging, and my wort came out very clear. I stirred the grains in before the pumpkin, so maybe that had a little to do with it. By the way, 4 pounds should be the minimum if you ask me :)
 
I think people get really dissapointed becuase they get. onfused between pumpkin spice ale and pumpkin ale. In michigan we have screaming jack which is a pumpkin spice ale. Then we have harvest moon which is more of a pumpkin ale. For mine i like a nice in betweener. I use one can of puree and one can of spiced puree. both are libby's 30oz cans. Just a tip though make sure you age that sucker. i always brew mine in may and let it sit until october first. it makes a world of difference. I find the hops block the pumpkin taste if you drink it young.
 
caioz1jp has a good point. I also used spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, clove, nutmeg - basically "pumpkin pie spice"), and a lot of the flavor of 'pumpkin' is actually in the spices. Not all, so still do pumpkin, but the spices impart a good amount of that traditional flavor.
 
I saw a recipie recently that had some of the puree added both the mash and the boil...

I guess the idea is to not boil off all the pumpkin flavor... I would think you could add to the boil around 15-20 minutes sionce the stuff is already "sterile"

At least that is my plan for a 11 gallon batch...

Two cans in the mash and one can in the boil...

DPB
 
You know who else does? SOUTHERN TIER! There is NO pumpkin in Pumpking

body_pumking-22oz-bottle.jpg


Unless they are lying, they use pureed pumpkin in Pumking.
 
So my question is does 5 lbs of cooked pumpkin equal to using 5 lbs of canned puree?

5 pounds is 5 pounds unless you left the rind on, then you will have more in the can. Just don't get the Pie mix. make sure it is just pureed pumpkin.

I have always used whole pumpkins, but I have read that the pie mix is a no-no.
 
body_pumking-22oz-bottle.jpg


Unless they are lying, they use pureed pumpkin in Pumking.

I was reading up on threads for a clone where people claimed to have called Southern Tier and reported back that there was no pumpkin in the beer. I guess the label is a better source lol
 
iskuse said:
5 pounds is 5 pounds unless you left the rind on, then you will have more in the can. Just don't get the Pie mix. make sure it is just pureed pumpkin.

I have always used whole pumpkins, but I have read that the pie mix is a no-no.

Its only a no no if you dont want the spices. Also double check for perservatives. As far as i know Libby's does not use persevatives.
 
I just used 2 29-ounce cans (3.6 lbs total) with 13 lbs of grains plus 1 lb rice hulls, and sparge wasn't any slower than normal. It really seemed like not enough pumpkin, so I wish I had used more. BTW, mashed with 1.5 qt/lb, with steel braid. Baked the pumpkin first, 450 for 45 mins.

So you're at a similar percentage pumpkin as me, so I'd think you'll do fine.
 
Thanks for the replies...I think I'll do 1lb of rice hulls instead of my planned 1/2lb and go for the full 5lbs of Libby's Purée and see what happens. I'm using a 10 gallon mash tun so I should have plenty of room...I'll also do as suggested and stir in most of the grains first before adding the purée and bump my mash water from 1.25 qt/lb to 1.50.

Thanks again for the quick responses... I'll be upgrading my forum membership as soon as I finish this post!!!

Jason
 
You also may want to consider adding the pumpkin late in the mash. There's very little starch in pumpkin, so there's not much need to even mash it. I added mine during the last 15 minutes (just to make sure it didn't interfere in any way with mash pH or anything else) but it probably makes little difference.
 
I threw a lb of rice hulls in with 60oz of Libbys and had zero issues with draining or sparging, everything went 100% as i had hoped...and it was my first AG ever so that should say something.
Considering the rice hulls were like $1.60 i just threw the whole bag in.

This was on the Thunderstruck Pumpkin ale, it has about 10lbs of grain + nearly 4lbs of Pumpkin puree
 
I threw a lb of rice hulls in with 60oz of Libbys and had zero issues with draining or sparging, everything went 100% as i had hoped...and it was my first AG ever so that should say something.
Considering the rice hulls were like $1.60 i just threw the whole bag in.

This was on the Thunderstruck Pumpkin ale, it has about 10lbs of grain + nearly 4lbs of Pumpkin puree

I suggest... Use Rice Hulls as directed because they soak up wort and you can't get it out...

I soak mine in boiling water.
I add them at about 5 minutes fromt he end of the mash
Then go to Mashout

Hoping the above problem does not cause an issue because they already are wet.
 
I suggest... Use Rice Hulls as directed because they soak up wort and you can't get it out...

I soak mine in boiling water.
I add them at about 5 minutes fromt he end of the mash
Then go to Mashout

Hoping the above problem does not cause an issue because they already are wet.

Im using Beersmith, it compensates for the rice hulls if you put them in your recipe and tells you how much water to mash with. I fail to see the need to presoak/preheat rice hulls, seems like overkill. Especially for something thats entire purpose is to be making the mash process easier.
 
Yeah, I don't see much value to baking either. I baked mine, but the only benefit was the preheating prior to mashing. Sure didn't look like it would taste any different. Plus pumpkin adds so little flavor anyway. Just watched the Southern Tier video, and they clearly don't roast their puree first.
 
From the research I did last year, and from what the (reliable) guy at the LHBS told me, baking/roasting the pumpkin puree carmelizes some of the available sugars, thus making them unfermentable, thus helping to leave behind more residual pumpkin flavor in the finished beer. I can definitely attest to the fact that my first attempt at a pumpkin ale was done with un-roasted puree, and there was zero pumpkin character to the beer, while my second (and now third, currently fermenting) attempt was done with roasted puree and had a pleasant and noticeable pumpkin note, above and beyond the spice note.
 
Well this brew didn't quit go as planned...Because it took so long to stir in the grains and purée I missed my mash temp by 10 degrees low. I also ended up with a stuck mash after about 1 1/2 gallons of draining. My OG was also .011 low giving me a 59% efficiency which I assume because of my low mash temp and sticking issue. Then to top it off after 3 days of fermenting the lid blew off my fermenter and made a nice mess to clean up in my fermenting cooler lol...So I cleaned the lid and recapped it and hoping for the best!!!
 
Racked my pumpkin ale off to secondary today, I used 3 30oz. cans of Libby's pumpkin mix, and 1 pound of rice hulls also. One thing I didn't account for when mashing was the temp. of the pumpkin mix, ended up undershooting my mash temp by 10 degrees. I raised it to 152, and I think that this made me a little more easily fermented sugars and put my FG at 1.006 instead of 1.011 that was expected. The Original Gravity was 1.053, gave me around 6.2% abv.
To note the taste of the pumpkin was awesome, I ended up spicing it with the usual pumpkin spice in the secondary so will see in 2 weeks how it tastes then. Can't wait for this beer to finish!
Used US-05 for the yeast.
 
Well this brew didn't quit go as planned...Because it took so long to stir in the grains and purée I missed my mash temp by 10 degrees low. I also ended up with a stuck mash after about 1 1/2 gallons of draining. My OG was also .011 low giving me a 59% efficiency which I assume because of my low mash temp and sticking issue. Then to top it off after 3 days of fermenting the lid blew off my fermenter and made a nice mess to clean up in my fermenting cooler lol...So I cleaned the lid and recapped it and hoping for the best!!!

Well that "blows". At least you had it contained. If it had happened to me, it would have repainted the walls and I'd probably be divorced.
 
So i have a question for you guys doing pumpkin beers, what the hell is with the stuff in the beer!

My Thunderstruck Ale has aged in the primary for 2 weeks, then transferred into the secondary and its been a week and i just noticed yesterday almost nothing is settling, but there are hundreds of bits of something(yeast?) just floating suspended not moving at all in the beer. I was careful not to get too much sediment from the primary, but of course your always going to get some.

My plan is to cold crash it down to like 40f starting tonight in hopes all of that drops out?
 
Did you boil pumpkin, if so it could be pumpkin particulates. And I don't think, they will settle. Sorry. My pumpkin recipe begins with 6 pounds of pumpkin, I use a baking pumpkin. I follow Alton Brown's directions for roasting. I mash with the pumpkin and to avoid temp loss heat the puree with the strike water. For spices I use fresh whole spice not a blend. I use cinnamon, all spice, cardamom, nutmeg, ginger and 1 whole clove. I add it at the 5 minutes left in the boil. When it comes to spicing its always better to under spice than over spice.
 
I used baked pumpkin puree in the mash, and I didn't have any strange floaters in my primary. It proceeded exactly like any other beer.
 
I'm going to be working on a batch of what I hope will be a pumpkin beverage of some sort. I've got some cans of Farmers Market organic pumpkin and some Eden barley malt syrup from the store, and hoping to use this with some sugar cane and danstar windsor yeast.
 
So i have a question for you guys doing pumpkin beers, what the hell is with the stuff in the beer!

My Thunderstruck Ale has aged in the primary for 2 weeks, then transferred into the secondary and its been a week and i just noticed yesterday almost nothing is settling, but there are hundreds of bits of something(yeast?) just floating suspended not moving at all in the beer. I was careful not to get too much sediment from the primary, but of course your always going to get some.

My plan is to cold crash it down to like 40f starting tonight in hopes all of that drops out?

Didn't notice any floaters while transfering but today I did stick a light in there and after I secondaried it last night and added some more spice, I did see some spice clumps, let us know how the cold crash turns out, I also planned to cold crash mine just to clear it a bit more.
 
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I brew an imperial pumpkin ale, this being the second year with the same recipe. For a 11g batch I use 9lbs of canned pumpkin.puree and add rice hulls to the mlt. I have a rectangular mlt with a cpvc manifold and have never had a stuck sparge. I heat the puree to mash temp in the oven and then stir it into the mash. The pumpkin pretty much liquifies if you stir it well.
 
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