when to add pumpkin?

so i ordered ingredients for my next two batches...an IPA and a Pumkin Ale. I think ill do the pumpkin first, since it is the season.... anyway. good recipes are hard to come by and htey all give different instrictions for adding the pumpkin. I am definately using real pumpkin and will probably bake it first. should I add it with the grains during the mash/steep and then remove it? leave it in? add it to the boil? add it at the end of the boil? what are peoples exerpiences with pumpkin ales....any suggestions or advice? this is my first one. thanks!!

Add it with the grains and leave it in through the boil. Worked great for me last year.

Yuri_Rage said:

Add it with the grains and leave it in through the boil. Worked great for me last year.

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sounds good. do you remove the pumpkin before adding to fermenter? should i use a grain bag? or do you just leave it in?
thanks

It's hard to remove it at all. Just throw it in loose. The pulp makes a big mess of everything, but that's the price of pumpkin beer. It'll precipitate out and become a big lump of trub.

I have a question about the pumpkin itself. What style of pumpkin? Canned like for pumpkin pies? I plan on brewing one tonight, thanks!

Yuri_Rage said:

It's hard to remove it at all. Just throw it in loose. The pulp makes a big mess of everything, but that's the price of pumpkin beer. It'll precipitate out and become a big lump of trub.

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When I did your recipe, I put the pumpkin in a muslin bag. I didn't know that it was going to almost completely dissolve. When the boil was over, I was pretty much left with an empty bag. lol

It wasn't too pulpy, but it did thicken my wort up. I expect it to settle out nicely though.....

hemishot said:

I have a question about the pumpkin itself. What style of pumpkin? Canned like for pumpkin pies? I plan on brewing one tonight, thanks!

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I used canned 100% pure pumpkin (or so the lable said)

rflem550 said:

I used canned 100% pure pumpkin.

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Yup, that's the stuff you want. Don't use canned pumpkin pie mix, though - it has other ingredients added.

I am planning on using the meat from a whole pumpkin that has been cleaned and baked... ive read good things about both canned and fresh, but I like the idea of adding chunks of fresh pumpkin to my beer!

I believe Yooper Chick has gone the fresh-baked route with success. If I remember correctly, she let the chunks brown slightly.

Are Americans mad ??? Pumpkin beer !! What's it taste like ? Do you use a strong tasting type or the milder butternut type ? What flavours do the pumpkins add - mild and unintrusive or strong and dominant ? Please answer asap as may need to make a pumpkin beer for my local HB club !

Are Americans mad ??? Pumpkin beer !! What's it taste like ? Do you use a strong tasting type or the milder butternut type ? What flavours do the pumpkins add - mild and unintrusive or strong and dominant ? Please answer asap as may need to make a pumpkin beer for my local HB club !

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I made a batch a few weeks ago cause it sounded good, then I saw some in the stores and decided I should pobably try it. I have had 2 different brands, Jacks and another I forget the name, Jack's had a real good "beer" taste with a hint of the pumpkin pie spices through it. The sond one was a lot stronger and tasted like liquid pumpkin pie. Niether one really tasted like pumpkin it is more the spices you taste and the pupkin seems to thicken it up. My LHBS guy says he has seen pupkin beer recipes that have no pupkin in them. But what fun would that be?? I personly per fered the Jack's beer cause the spices were a lot lighter and it tasted like beer, but the second one wasn't bad. Hopefully my brew comes out closer to the Jack's.

Fatgodzilla said:

Are Americans mad ??? !

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for the most part, yes, but pumpkin ale is great drinking during the crisp fall nights that are on the way....give it a try

I might "dry pumpkin" my pumpkin ale. I've already boiled 30oz in the wort, but might add fresh pumpkin chunks when I rack to secondary.

I did one on Satuday. I added 2 cans of pumpkin for the full 60min boil, and added pumpkin pie spice at the end. Smells just like pumpkin pie, hope it tastes as good.

rflem550 said:

I might "dry pumpkin" my pumpkin ale. I've already boiled 30oz in the wort, but might add fresh pumpkin chunks when I rack to secondary.

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make sure you sterilize that pumpkin, rflem550.

rflem550 said:

I might "dry pumpkin" my pumpkin ale. I've already boiled 30oz in the wort, but might add fresh pumpkin chunks when I rack to secondary.

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I really don't think you would be adding too much pumpkin flavor this way. The pumpkin will just absorb more beer and add pectin. If you do decide to go with this method, at least bake the pumpkin so it is mostly free of bacteria, plus the flavor will be better.

Down here in Oz we prefer our pumpkin baked and eaten with roast lamb. Or made into scones for afternoon tea. Or soup .. yummy .. pumpkin soup. I've never ever ever seen a can of pulped pumpkin. So more questions
1. how big is a can of pumpkin ?
2. Pumpkin pie spices .. what the .....?

And I ask again, do you use a big sweet pumpkin like a Blue or a Jap, or do we go the smaller butternut type !!

Come on you septics, I'm relying on you !!

I've never tasted pumkin pie.......

Fatgodzilla said:

Down here in Oz we prefer our pumpkin baked and eaten with roast lamb. Or made into scones for afternoon tea. Or soup .. yummy .. pumpkin soup. I've never ever ever seen a can of pulped pumpkin. So more questions
1. how big is a can of pumpkin ?
2. Pumpkin pie spices .. what the .....?

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Pupkin soup is good too! If we are talking about the same soup, it would be that kind of pupkin used in the beer, I'm guessing a sweet pumpkin, you know the orange kind. like jack o lanterns.
1. I think I had to use 4 or 5 cans to get my 7 Lbs. so not big.
2. Cinnimon, all spice, and Nut mag.
3. you need to come over here for Halloween and Thanksgiving!

Liquidsandwich said:

Pumpkin soup is good too! If we are talking about the same soup, it would be that kind of pupkin used in the beer, I'm guessing a sweet pumpkin, you know the orange kind. like jack o lanterns.
1. I think I had to use 4 or 5 cans to get my 7 Lbs. so not big.
2. Cinnimon, all spice, and Nut mag.
3. you need to come over here for Halloween and Thanksgiving!

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Love to Liquidsandwich but cricket season starts around that time ... unless you are rich and would like to fly me and the team over for a game and free beer !

Okay - I'll assume that

Tins of pumpkin are fairly small. Will now forget that they even exist (which they barely do in Australia)

I'll use the type you guys think of as Jack O'Lantern types (we have one called a Queensland Blue that looks similiar (but has a bluish skin)

Thanks for the spices - will use them. Lastly, did you put 7lb of pumpkin in your beer ? Sure it wasn't pumpkin soup ?

Fatgodzilla said:

1. how big is a can of pumpkin ?
2. Pumpkin pie spices .. what the .....?

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I bought two cans of pumpkin that were 15oz each. They were the size of a green bean can. They were located beside the canned yams/sweet potatoes on the canned veggie aisle.

I didn't use "pumpkin pie spice". I used a mixture of allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and a cinnamon stick.

I removed my blowoff tube last night to put on my airlock and got a good whiff of the brew and it smells great. I'm really excited about it.

I as well am going to be adventuring into the world of pumpkin ales this next week,... and i was wondering .. due to the extra additives of the pumpkin and extra sugars ..etc..
in a 6.5 glass carboy.. would you need a blow off tube for a 5 gallon batch or would just an airlock due...?

MntFresh said:

would you need a blow off tube for a 5 gallon batch or would just an airlock due...?

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I always use a blowoff tube for initial fermentation in a carboy or bucket. It has nothing to do with pumpkin - I just like to avoid messes.

Yeah, I don't know why anyone would go immediately to an airlock. That seems like it's begging for trouble.

Blowoff tube until activity subsides>then airlock. Seems fool proof to me.


(now watch me go home and there be pumpkin ale dripping from my ceiling)

Fatgodzilla said:

I'll use the type you guys think of as Jack O'Lantern types (we have one called a Queensland Blue that looks similiar (but has a bluish skin)

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Dont use the big pumpkins. (well you can, but they will not taste as good.) you want the smaller ones. We call them sugger pumpkins. They are the kind you use for cooking.

just waiting on my morebeer order to show up then its off to pumpkin land....
here is the recipe i am planning to use. how does this sound?:
1 lb vienna malt
1/2 lb 40Lcrystal
1/2 lb malted wheat
2 lbs amber, 4 lbs light DME
1 oz mt hood (boil)
1/2 oz hallertauer finish
6-10 lbs fresh pumpkin baked
spices (i havent fullly decide what and how much i will use here)
White Labs california ale yeast (i am now a starter user!!!)

found this recipe on the internet....very excited to see how it turns out.
My main question now is does the pumpkin add fermentable sugar to the beer? will it raise the OG.... how much does it ferment out?

ahhh fall.... in my opinion the best beer drinking season of the year!

MntFresh said:

I as well am going to be adventuring into the world of pumpkin ales this next week,... and i was wondering .. due to the extra additives of the pumpkin and extra sugars ..etc..
in a 6.5 glass carboy.. would you need a blow off tube for a 5 gallon batch or would just an airlock due...?

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I personaly had no problems with a 6 1/2 w/ a 5 Gal. batch and a air lock, The only brew I have used a blow off tube on was my 5 Gal. batch of afelwien, in my 5 Gal. carboy. Knock on wood! Now that I have the tube I'll probably use it more rather then push my luck!!