Pumpkin Puree = serious trub?

I am planning on brewing a pumpkin ale here pretty soon and I have been reading some pretty horrible stories about pumpkin leading to stuck sparges and a crazy amount of pumpkin in the fermenter. I was planning on adding 16 oz. of the puree during the boil at 15 min. I was not planning on using a bag of any kind but now I am am thinking that maybe if I put all the puree in my big strainer and put the strainer at water level and let all the pumpkin boil while staying in the strainer that would give the flavor and keep the pumpkin out!

What do you guys think?

P.s. I have also noticed that people use alooooot more than 1 16oz can. More like 5-6 lbs

In the boil????? Mash it! I dont think adding starches in your boil is a good idea.

I would need to buy some rice hulls for the mash huh

Yeah just reading all the bad stuff people are saying online about stuck sparges I really don't want to deal with that. My last brew day was a real pain and I want this brew day to actually be somewhat enjoyable. From what it sounds like I will not get as much pumpkin flavor as if I would in the mash. I think that either way most of the flavor you get in a pumpkin ale is going to be from the spices and vanilla.

I used 5lbs of Libbeys puree in my mash a few weeks ago. Just mash thin and use 2lbs of hulls instead of the normal 1lb. (I actually only used 1# but better safe than sorry. I have supreme confidence in my false bottom) Not even a hint of a stuck sparge. Don't fear the puree.

I mashed 8 lbs of pumpkin this weekend in 13lbs grain, 1/2 lb oats, 1/2 lb flaked wheat, 1/2 lb rice hulls. Thick mash batch sparge. Was slow but steady and did not stick. 90 min mash to give enzymes best shot at the pumpkin.

But why put it in the mash vs the boil?

I used 60oz of Libby's pumpkin, baked for an hour at 350, in my boil last week. It certainly adds some to the trub, but I think it adds some good mouthfeel and flavor that way. My batch last year was enjoyed by those who don't really like pumpkin beers.

I did a pumpkin 5 weeks ago. 45 OZ (3 cans) of pure pumpkin in boil. Before hand I spread the pumpkin on a cookie sheet, sprinkled some brown sugar and baked at 450 for roughly an hour to caramelize and bring out the sweetness. There are many recipes online suggesting this method as an option to mashing, etc.

Basically, the pumpkin liquefies So it will all end up in your fermenter. No worries. After 3 week in primary I checked and it was still largely suspended. I cold crashed it at 40 degrees for 48 hours. It all fell out and was clear at bottling.

The amount of trub? Lets say "significant". I've boiled 5 gallons batches so far (three under my belt) the first two ended with 46 - 48 bottles. The pumpkin was around 39-41.

All said...it tasted great and still improving. Pumpkin can cause challenges whether mashed or boiled from what everything I've read. Either way its worth it and go for it.

twistr25 said:

I used 60oz of Libby's pumpkin, baked for an hour at 350, in my boil last week. It certainly adds some to the trub, but I think it adds some good mouthfeel and flavor that way. My batch last year was enjoyed by those who don't really like pumpkin beers.

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Yeah I was thinking about dumping it all into my giant beer strainer and then setting the strainer water level. I'm not sure of it will lessen the flavor extracted, I just had a bad time with my last batch (mostly because of the Hassle of racking with tons of trub and leaf hops) and want to try to keep things simple. I was thinking of doing a whirlpool and racking from pot to primary this time, last time I just poured everything into my primary and had tons of trub. I came up about 10 bombers shorter than expected sure to trub and Damn hops clogging my bottling wand

I would definitely get a nylon bag or something for the hops. You can get some large paint strainers for pretty cheap and they'll allow them to spread out still. I used a nylon bag to dump the pumpkin in as well. Helps hold a lot of it anyway, but some gets through.

Personally, I too put it in the boil, putting it in the mash is a pain in the ***. I did a secondary fermentation after 5 days to remove all the pumpkin pie mix. It settled at the bottom and my bear was quit clear. For a 5 gallon batch, I put 3 cans of pumpkin mix

I brewed a pumpkin ale last week. Roasted 4lbs of pumpkin puree for 30 min at 350F then put it in the mash. I used 1lb of rice hulls. Runoff was slower than normal despite the thin mash and rice hulls, but pulled off enough liquid. My efficiency was lower than normal. Not sure if it was the pumpkin or something else. My hope is that most of the pumpkin stayed in the MT or the bottom of the BK, although I am sure some is in the fermenter. I don't have the ability to properly cold crash and precipitate out the suspended pumpkin but I may try to cool with an ice bath prior to racking over to the bottling bucket.

I bought Muslim bags for the hops. My recipe only calls for one small can of pumpkin but I think I am going to do three cans to really get some pumpkin flavor and mouthfeel. The recipe is supposed to be 6% so I'm not sure if tripling the pumpkin week affect the abv

My recipe says to add at 10 min left in the boil, do you guys think I will get more flavor adding it at 60?

I added it at 60

Add it at 60, it will caramelize more, hence more mouthfeel and less abv. Cook it on a cookie plate is also a good idea, as suggested by others

baking the puree, 350° for an hour, stir every 15 min

then bagging and steeping with the heating strike water, taking out the bag & draining when it reaches mash-in temp

GrogNerd said:

I'm bagging mine and steeping with the heating strike water, taking out the bag & draining when it reaches mash-in temp

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That's an interesting idea... Be curious how this affects flavor and I can't think of any reason, but if it would affect conversion for good or bad

i'm looking at it more to add the color and some starches/sugars, prevent a stuck sparge and to limit trub going into the fermenter (only a 2.5 gallon batch, gotta get every last bottle out of it)

a lot of the pumpkin flavor (or what we perceive of as pumpkin flavor) of a pumpkin ale comes from the spice anyway.

When I brew with pumpkin, I add ~60 oz puree (roasted at 350 on a cookie sheet) to the mash with a helping of rice hulls... it's still a slooowwww sparge but, the work comes out orange/amber and crystal clear.

After a week in the fermentor, roast another can of puree then ooze that into the fermentor and mix it in giving it a swirl once a day for a week. After it's settled, I end up with about a half gallon of trub. The finished beer does get some chill haze but ends up with a nice, creamy head that lasts and a full, but not chewey mouthfeel... tastes pretty good too..!

corpsman619 said:

But why put it in the mash vs the boil?

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The theory of pumpkin in the mash is to convert starches into sugars.

Seems lots of people are happy with pumpkin in the boil but all I was saying is it works well in the mash. Tastes very good, slows but doesn't stick the sparge, trub in kettle and fermenter is similar to what you see with regular beers. Do what you want, I'm going to stick with putting it in the mash.

Not sure how many gravity points 1lb (or even 4lbs) of pumpkin will add. I did notice that my mash tun (10gal cooler) now has a nice orange tint and the wort had a bit of an orange hue. I am hoping for enough pumpkin flavor so that you know it's in there but not overpowering, a nice orange color, and some extra mouth feel. I went easy on the spices (1tsp each cinnamon, cloves, mace), again to keep the pumpkin pie flavor subtle.

There are as many different ways to get pumpkin in your beer as there are brewers putting it in there. They will likely all work and many will end up with the same result. It is really interesting to hear all of the different methods. I can't wait until next year to brew another.

I just kegged a pumpkin ale I made based on Chris Colby's recipe on his beerwinejournal.com blog. He recommended adding it in the boil which eliminates the stuck sparge concerns.

I added in a fine mesh bag, but forgot to try to strain the wort before adding to the carboy. So I wound up with 3 lbs of pumpkin sludge at the bottom of the carboy and only kegged 4 gallons instead of 5.

However, the beer tastes awesome! Definitely liquid pumpkin pie! It reminded me of Wolaver's Organic Pumpkin Ale which is one of the best pumpkin beers out there (though it is not rated well on Beer Advocate).

Just spoke with a tech from Midwest Supplies and was told that the oils in pumpkin (if added to the boil) will kill had retention and make the beer less sustainable.
Any thoughts on this? I do love head so I would hate to lose out on that but I know the beer will go fast so sustainability is not an issue for me

I'm going with the exact opposite in my experience. My pumpkin beer was one of the headier ones I had when I first started.

twistr25 said:

I'm going with the exact opposite in my experience. My pumpkin beer was one of the headier ones I had when I first started.

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Hey nice! That's really good to hear man, I will be brewing tomorrow and choosing a side (mash or boil) was getting a little frustrating. Going with the boil for sure, I think I will add it @60 and try to strain out as much as I can before racking to primary.

FWIW

Here is my pumpkin ale in the fermenter. 5 days after pitching, still bubbling along nicely....I think Wyeast 1272 likes to take its time dropping that krausen but that is another story.

Anyway posting to show trub in the fermenter...from pumpkin in the mash, not kettle. I finished boil at 6 gallons and transfered 5.5 into the fermenter. I whirlpool and use a counterflow chiller so all the cold break ends up in the fermenter but most of my hot break and hops are left in the kettle (the half gallon I didn't rack to fermenter).

This was 8 lbs pumpkin puree in a 5 gallon batch, 90 minute mash.

corpsman619 said:

Hey nice! That's really good to hear man, I will be brewing tomorrow and choosing a side (mash or boil) was getting a little frustrating. Going with the boil for sure, I think I will add it @60 and try to strain out as much as I can before racking to primary.

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May take a bit longer but you could whirlpool after cooling the wort and rack from the side to the fermenter, eliminate a lot that way. But don't forget to aerate.

Ive done both, they more or less taste identical. That said i'd probably do it in the boil going forward and strain and or just let it settle out.
Even with over a pound of rice hulls my sparge was incredibly slow this time around when i threw 60oz of libby's in the Mash.

But i use 8 gallon buckets, so adding another gallon of trub isnt a huge deal. Just build the recipe to be 5.5 gallons, so you can easily get 5 gallons out without issue. Its like another dollar in ingredients if that.

corpsman619 said:

Just spoke with a tech from Midwest Supplies and was told that the oils in pumpkin (if added to the boil) will kill had retention and make the beer less sustainable.

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I am not worried about pumpkin in the boil myself, if it is good enough for Chris Colby who has been brewing and writing for BYO for years, good enough for me. Plus the beer will be gone by Thanksgiving! Already drank/shared over a gallon of the 4 that were in the keg! And with forced carbonation, have no issue with the head, even when filling a growler from keg and drinking a few hours later.

GrogNerd said:

baking the puree, 350° for an hour, stir every 15 min

then bagging and steeping with the heating strike water, taking out the bag & draining when it reaches mash-in temp

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update on my imperial pumpkin

OG of 1.125 and racked into secondary yesterday for bulk conditioning at an FG of 1.004

96% attenuation and 15.8% ABV? looks like it (I checked hydrometer calibration and it was spot on)



nice color, too

GrogNerd said:

update on my imperial pumpkin

OG of 1.125 and racked into secondary yesterday for bulk conditioning at an FG of 1.004

96% attenuation and 15.8% ABV? looks like it (I checked hydrometer calibration and it was spot on)

View attachment 160781

nice color, too

View attachment 160780

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Good gracious, that is a hefty pumpkin indeed.

twistr25 said:

Good gracious, that is a hefty pumpkin indeed.

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might have to call it a pumpkin barleywine instead of an imperial pumpkin ale

OG was supposed to be 1.118, but when I checked pre-boil gravity, I was short, so I added some DME

turned out the paper scale inside the hydrometer had slipped and was reading low.

oops.