Pectic Enzyme

Getting ready to brew a pumpkin ale....I'm gonna mash the pumpkin this year, instead of adding to the boil.....Since I'm mashing it, and not boiling it, is pectic enzyme required to prevent haze....

if your not going to boil it how are you going to pasteurize it and prevent an infection?

I meant to say that it will be going in to the mash....

well the pectic enzyme wont hurt if you put it in and its not needed. hopefully someone on here will be able to give you a more definitive answer.

I'm tempted to try this. My motivation is not to clear haze though. I've never brewed a pumpkin ale, but I read lots of stories about stuck mashes. I'm tempted to add the pectic enzyme to help break down the cellular structure of the plant cells

Botany lecture time. A anology to describe the cell walls of plant cells is to think of reinforced concrete. Cellulose (and Hemicellulose) is the re-bar that provides the strength and pectin (and some other compound) are the "glue" that holds the rebar in place.

So in theory, adding a pectinase should facilitate greater breakdown of the cell walls and allow better access of the barley enzymes to the starches inside of the cells.