Pumpkin juice vs pumpkin chunks

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mcelrokj

Active Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
26
Reaction score
4
Location
Charlottesville
Its that time of year, starting to think about brewing my october beer, and Im going to try out a pumpkin ale. I haven't done one before and wanted to see what people thought about the use of pumpkin juice as an ingredient.

I recently got a fancy juicer for everyday use and thought it might be useful in making a pumpkin ale, instead of dealing with having the pumpkin pieces in the wort and having to deal with it when racking, etc.

Has anyone out there had any experience in using pumpkin in juice form? I'd be interested in hearing about your methods, if you cook it first, when you add it in the brewing/fermentation process. or if anyone might have ideas on how to best utilize pumpkin for its juice as a beer ingredient.
 
Pumpkin juice won't give you that "little something" that fresh chunks will give you. The way we make our pumpkin porter is to boil the pumpkin in the kettle, keep the water, mash the pumpkin and add to our actual mash of grains. Then we just discard the spent pumpkin with the mashed grains. It makes a world of difference, I think. It's worth the extra work. Plus, who really wants to clean a juicer? lol
 
When I made mine 2 years ago...I used the canned pumpkin pie filling (pre-spiced) and spread it out on a cookie sheet. I baked it at 250 for about 30 minutes to let the sugars start to caramelize and then just added it in at the last 15 minutes of my boil...turned out really good...if you are a fan of liquid pumpkin pie.
 
Really all you need is pumpkin pie spice like normal, but leave out the pumpkin.

I did a few really messy pumpkin beers with chunks until I found out that tidbit on here somewhere. I tried it and it tasted just the same. I guess it is not the pumpkin itself that adds the flavor, but the spices.
 
thanks rellot. ive decided to forgo the pumpkin and just go with the pumpkin spices. now, to find a recipe. all the recipes i find online include pumpkin. can you just use any of these recipes and leave out the pumpkin? or does the recipe need to be different if you are omitting the pumpkin?
 
Just use the same recipe and leave out the pumpkin, or at least that's what I did. Make sure you use fresh spices. I did one with old spices and didn't taste as good. I think I really just used Northern Brewer's wheat ale's recipe (4lbs 2-row 4lbs wheat) and added the amount of spices I found somewhere. Not sure where though. You might search here on HBT, that's where I found out you don't need pumpkin, so maybe they had the amounts on that post. Or I could look back on my beersmith log once I get home.
 
I guess it is not the pumpkin itself that adds the flavor, but the spices.
FWIW my grandmother once made a savory pumpkin soup, didn't tell us what it was, and asked us to guess as we were chowing down. We couldn't figure it out.

The soup was salty and bland. Didn't taste anything at all what I thought pumpkins tasted like.

So yea, I haven't brewed a pumpkin ale yet. But it would make sense to me that the spices provide all of the flavor and not the pumpkin itself.
 
I just have to jump back in and say that the pumpkin itself lends BODY, rather than flavor. I think it's key. You can add those spices to your pale ale and call in a "pumpkin ale" but it's just not the real thing.

Do it right, and trust me, it's better. Mash in the pumpkin with your grain(or partial mash) and add rice hulls to avoid a stuck sparge(all-grain).
 
Yeah, use pumpkin if you want. You could always add maltodextrin for body, it would be less messy, but if you are purest, go ahead.

I'm not sure pumpkin chunks really add that much body. At least I didn't notice it, but hey, I've been wrong before and will be wrong again.

Here's the recipe I used:



BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Pumpkin Wheat
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.13 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 3.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.0 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 lb Pale Malt - Rahr (1.8 SRM) Grain 47.06 %
4.00 lb Wheat Malt (2.0 SRM) Grain 47.06 %
0.50 oz Willamette [5.00 %] (60 min) Hops 9.5 IBU
0.50 oz Cascade [6.90 %] (15 min) Hops 6.5 IBU
0.25 tsp Cloves ground (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Allspice (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Heading powder (Bottling 5.0 min) Misc
0.50 tsp Nutmeg (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tsp Cinnamon (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.00 tbsp PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 min) Misc
0.50 lb Brown Sugar, Light (8.0 SRM) Sugar 5.88 %
1 Pkgs American Wheat Ale (Wyeast Labs #1010) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 8.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 10.00 qt of water at 169.4 F 154.0 F
 
Really all you need is pumpkin pie spice like normal, but leave out the pumpkin.

I did a few really messy pumpkin beers with chunks until I found out that tidbit on here somewhere. I tried it and it tasted just the same. I guess it is not the pumpkin itself that adds the flavor, but the spices.


Interesting. I always wondered about this.
 
I just put my pumpkin lager onto the cooler to lager, I will be sure to let you know how it turned out. I used hole spices from A1 Spice World and juiced 2 medium pumpkins. I got about 1.2 Gallons of juice that I used in the mash to replace some of the mash water. I have done it both ways, juice and cans, the juice is a lot less messy. I did not add any of the solids. The juice and the wort have a definite pumpkin aroma that I don't think you would get from the spices alone, since my Christmas ale is similarly spiced. I may have used a lot more pumpkin than most people (33 Lbs unprocessed into 15 gallons). My mash is in a HERMs setup so the pumpkin solids that were in the juice got filtered into a cake on about the first 2 inches of grain, also sticky. It took about 1.5 hours to sprage and avoid channeling, I even had to slow down the mash recirculation half way into the mash since the grain bed was filtering the pumpkin.

I would say you need the pumpkin for some aroma and there is a subtle flavor that it adds when used in high volumes. Hope this helps and sorry for replying a year after the post.
 
Good thread revival! After reading through it the timing couldn't be better. I was just considering juicing a pumpkin in lieu of the mess of using pumpkins. Perhaps using the juice after primary fermentation is over? I've made many pumpkin ales and not many seemed to really be influenced by the actual pumpkin. As pointed out it's mostly the spices... Perhaps boil the pumpkin juice to caramelize the sugars in solution and pour into the keg??
 
I don't know how much sugar is actually in the pumpkin, they are pretty bitter. Make sure you have a good juicer, pumpkins are pretty rough on them. The nice thing about adding it to the mash, assuming you recirculate your mash, is that the grain bed will filter all the pulp left in your juice. I ate some of the pulp after juicing the pumpkins and it is mostly flavorless, which brings me to the other point about juicing instead of mashing with pumpkins, you can add a lot more pumpkin flavor since you are concentrating the pumpkin. I could not fit 40 lbs of grain and 33 lbs of pumpkin into my 20 gal Blichmann with out juicing. My wort coming out of boil kettle smelled heavily of pumpkin, much more then when I used 10 lbs of canned pumpkin. I'll post back late December when it is ready to drink on how it tastes. O ya I used Cinderella pumpkins.
 
Here is what I did (15 Gallon Batch)

Pumpkin Lager
Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
Type: All Grain Date: 10/06/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 15.00 gal
Boil Size: 17.32 gal
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: My Equipment Blichmann Herms
End of Boil Volume 16.12 gal
Final Bottling Volume: 15.00 gal
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency 72.7 %
Fermentation: Lager, Two Stage

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.97 oz PH 5.2 Stabilizer (Mash 60.0 mins)
24 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM) Grain 60.0 %
5 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 12.5 %
3 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
3 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 7.5 %
2 lbs Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 5.0 %
30.00 lb Pumpkin Hole/Juiced (Mash 120.0 mins) Spice
3 lbs Brown Sugar, Dark (50.0 SRM) Sugar 7.5 %

2.00 oz Chinook [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 28.4 IBUs
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9.2 IBUs
3.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Hop Back 0.0 min Hop 0.0 IBUs

3.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining

4.00 Items Vanilla Bean (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice
2.00 Items Cinnamon Sticks (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice
1.00 oz All Spice (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice
1.00 oz Cloves (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice
1.00 Items Nutmeg (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice

1.0 pkg German Lager (White Labs #WLP830) [35.49 ml] Yeast - (1.5 Gallon Starter)

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.070 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.068 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.016 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.2 %
Bitterness: 37.6 IBUs Calories: 230.3 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 27.3 SRM

Mash Profile

Mash Name: Temperature Mash, 2 Step, Full Body Total Grain Weight: 40 lbs
Sparge Water: 7.88 gal
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F
Mash PH: 5.20

Mash Steps
Protein Rest: Add 13.88 gal of water at 128.1 F to achieve 122.0 F for 20 min

Saccharification: Heat to 159.0 F over 15 min for 60 min

Mash Out: Heat to 168.0 F over 15 min for 10 min

Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 7.88 gal water at 168.0 F

Fermentation
2 Stage Lager
54 F for 10 Days or 75% Complete
Rack to Secondary
Ramp to 38 F Over 3 Days
Lager at 38 F for 60 Days

Carbonation and Storage
Carbonation Type: Keg/Force Carb
Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 9.15 PSI Carbonation
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 38.0 F
 
ok one of the best methods i found for my pumpkin ale is to roast it in the oven for 30 minutes sprinkled with brown sugar, its quite nice :) and i think i add it at the end of boil or beginning i cant remember. also be very cautious on the amount of spices they can be overbearing very easily. i also used canned pumpkin with NO PERSERVATIVES! i think i heard perservs can leave off flavors. i got a couple changes im doing with my receipe im dropping the priming sugar a little and some other things i cant think of.

my first try at the receipe i added the pumpkin with out cooking it in the oven and it turned quite applely throughout bottling.
 
Well I measured my gravity today and it was at 1.017 pretty much final. During the fermentation there was pumpkin aroma and there was a salty pumpkin finish to the beer. As it has finished up, however the pumpkin is really hard to detect. So I guess as it stands I made a sweet malty spiced lager. O well it is really good.

IMG_2916.jpg
 
Back
Top