Pumpkin Ale using.....real pumpkins?

Anyone brew a pumpkin ale using real pumpkins instead of canned?

I work at a farm/nursery and we have lots of pumpkins coming up, not to mention those growing in my back yard.

I am very well aware of the different types of pumpkins, I am thinking about using the Rouge Vif D Etampes, Amish Pie, or Sugar Pie Pumpkin. All suitable for baking. ( I am partial to the french Rouge pumpkin myself.)

So.....any thoughts? The gist of my question isnt to not buy the canned pumkpkin, but to make something unique.

Lots of folks use real pumpkins. Cut them into a few big pieces, roast them in the oven and add them to your mash and you can convert starches from them as well as get the flavor. Some folks also just add it to the boil after roasting. The pumpkins themselves don't really add that much flavor to the beer that you relate with a pumpkin ale. It's more the spices that do it.

I agree about the pumpkin usually providing little flavor so to speak.
One of the reasons I hoped to use the Rouge pumpkins was because of their flavor. Many pumkpins suitable for halloween decorating usually have little flavor to them when it comes to cooking. They are usually hybrids, and lack any real flavor weather used for baking or beer brewing.

So, clean the pumpkin out, cut the body into sections, roast it, then add it to the wort of my recipe?

NTOLERANCE said:

I agree about the pumpkin usually providing little flavor so to speak.
One of the reasons I hoped to use the Rouge pumpkins was because of their flavor. Many pumkpins suitable for halloween decorating usually have little flavor to them when it comes to cooking. They are usually hybrids, and lack any real flavor weather used for baking or beer brewing.

So, clean the pumpkin out, cut the body into sections, roast it, then add it to the wort of my recipe?

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You can, but many folks just chop it up and throw it in the mash. Either way. I always leaned to the mash, but Revvy puts it in the boil so it must work.

Throw the pumpkin in the oven for a bit to toast it. MUCH better flavor, IMO.

I've never used real pumpkin for one reason...

I want to brew my pumpkin ale about a month before you can get pumpkin locally so it's ready when the pumpkins start hitting the shelf! If you have access to them now I say go for it!

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Brewing with Pumpkin: Tips from the Pros -

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Good tips in that article, thanks for the link.

I am going to put it in the mash. I am thinking about making a larger tun, due to the size of the pumpkins. Perhaps that will help with flow.

I am planning on growing pumpkins semi-professionally next fall. So, I will be buying some left over pumpkins from this year to aquire more seeds for next year. I will start a number of them in the greenhouse specifically for beer brewing. This year, I got some to germinate in April, and have a half dozen basket ball sized pumpkins in the garden right now. Three of them are almost orange. SO I could have pumpkin ale before halloween.

Lots of good recipes out there, gotta narrow down my choices.

A professional pumpkin grower, huh? Pretty cool...

But you will have to change you handle on here to something cooler, and that reflects that....

Your real name wouldn't be Pete, would it?



Cool! Good luck with that...now you really have to perfect your pumpkin ale.

Spices should be made into a "spice tea" to extract the flavor, then added to the boil at flameout...adding to the boil can create undesireable flavors. Not to say it won't work, but the tea works amazingly well.

DeathBrewer said:

Spices should be made into a "spice tea" to extract the flavor, then added to the boil at flameout...adding to the boil can create undesireable flavors. Not to say it won't work, but the tea works amazingly well.

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I think I might try that this year.

I cut them up 5-7 baking pumpkins bake @ 350 for an hr or so and add them to the mash

Revvy said:

A professional pumpkin grower, huh? Pretty cool...

But you will have to change you handle on here to something cooler, and that reflects that....

Your real name wouldn't be Pete, would it?



Cool! Good luck with that...now you really have to perfect your pumpkin ale.

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LOL, SEMI-professional......Have to secure the land first.

No, I am not Pete......But "Patricks Pumpkin Patch" has a nice ring to it.

NTOLERANCE said:

LOL, SEMI-professional......Have to secure the land first.

No, I am not Pete......But "Patricks Pumpkin Patch" has a nice ring to it.

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So you are a "P" name? ANYTHING beginning with a p will have great alliteration!!!

Pete's semi-Pro Pumpkin Patch, Purveyor of Perfect Pure Pies, and Prime Pumpkin Ales!!!

NTOLERANCE said:

So, I will be buying some left over pumpkins from this year to aquire more seeds for next year.

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I am not sure I would do that.

Unless you know your buying heirloom types, you may very well be buying hybrid fruits. If they are hybrd, you have no guarantee they will bear the same thing next year. Many hybrids tend to 'revert' to the parent unless harvested at just the right moment. Squash (pumpkin is a squash after all) is very susceptable to reverting.
Like you, I am planning on growing pumpkins for brewing next year. I will source heirloom seeds looking for high sugar contents, ie: more fermentables, but really looking for good pie varieties. Then I can save the seeds for next year. Not all pumpkins are the same eh?

I hope to catch the early pumpkins at the farm stands for something maybe ready for Thanksgiving. Then, a latter brew that will be the "Best of the Season" which will go into bottles & storage for 2010.

I would post my recipe but it is still in flux and probably will be until brew day.

To be continued...

there is always this fantastic set of pictures i will never fortget: brewing IN a pumpkin

Somebody posted on here once that they cut up the pumpkin, then grilled it on their grill and added it to the mash. Anyone have the link to that thread?

after losing 1.5gallon to pumpkin guts and other trub, i think i need a better mechanism for keeping pumpkin out of the fermenter

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Reusable-Paint-Strainer-Bag-2AJT4