Pumpkin ale plate chilling question!

So i am an all grain brewer and use a Colandria type system so essentially just a herms with a therminator as my chiller/HE. I am going to brew an extract pumpkin ale recipe because im afraid the dead space under my FB on my keg mash tun will make it a difficult mash. My question is, if i brew a full boil pumpkin ale extract, how well will the cooked canned pumpkin mix in the boil? Would it give me any trouble pumping it through my therminator? I dont know how well the pumpkin will dissolve? I do not have a FB or bazooka screen in the boil kettle i wanted to use, i do have a 7.5 keg with a bazooka. Would you recommend using the Bazooka? And will i have trouble trying to plate chill it? (Would it get stuck because it is "to thick") Sorry for the rambling!

I can just say Ive done both extract and all grain pumpkin ales and there has been a ton of pumpkin sludge in both. I ran into a slight stuck sparge with my all grain and when I was doing the extract and pouring the wort through my nylon bag as a filter going into the carboy it was getting pretty stopped up.

I put my pumpkin in the boil using no bag or anything. I personally don't have a therminator but if I did I would not pump it through it. I think it might be good to have an immersion chiller on hand for brews that might have a fair bit of particulate matter in the wort.


Rev.

Ya im thinking i may be screwed : ( i feel like i do need an immersion as well as a cooler mash tun for when i want to do. . . . pretty much only a pumpkin ale lol. Im hoping someone who has a plate chiller will chime in saying do or dont do!

Well, if you do other beers with adjuncts that you typically throw right in the wort like a Belgian Wit (coriander and orange peel) you only have to worry about straining going into you fermenter, not also while chilling. So for these types of beers an immersion chiller, while not as effecient, may be more convenient. Of course you can always just contain everything in the boil but that too can be a pain.


Rev.

Ya, i decided im going to just make another cooler mash tun, im thinking that just doing an all grain batch with my cooler most of the pumpkin trub will stay in the cooler and then the rest wont be enough to really clog my chiller (Im praying!) Thanks for the advice guys, once i can find some cheep copper i will put together another chiller.