Questions about Pumpkin ale

[IwanaBrich]

I've never brewed a pumpkin ale, but the wife loves it so I've decided to give it a go.

I found a recipe that uses canned pumpkins(I know why use canned when pumpkins are in season), that had good reviews, but no real instructions

The recipe says to spread the canned pumpkin out (4 cans worth) onto a cookie sheet and then bake until brown at 350 degrees in the oven. Then add it to the mash. Is baking the pumpkin necessary? I assume that baking helps convert the pumpkin starch into sugar, but wouldn't the mash do that too? If baking is a must, I guess I can do it the night before. What does the pumpkin do to the amount of strike water?

I've also seen recipes (also with canned pumpkin) where the guy also used 4 cans but didn't bake it and he put 2 cans of raw pumpkin in the mash and 2 more into the boil kettle.

Thanks....Bob

 

[triethylborane]

You'll be better off skipping the pumpkin mess and just using pumpkin pie spices, IMHO.

 

[Gagunga]

Im guessing the baked pumpkin gives off some sort of a roasty flavor. Pumkin by itself doesnt give much of a flavor. Maybe added body. I would just use pumkin spice. I have 5 gal of pumpkin ale in secondary as we speak (needed the primary bucket for a diff batch) with 2.5 tsp of fresh pumkin spice added at boil. The recipe only called for 1tsp and i know that wasnt going to be enough. I like spicy pumpkin ales. 2.5 gives it still a subtle flavor but of course adjust to fit your palette. Depends on how fresh your spice is too. Next batch i will make my own spice using fresh grated cinnamon/nutmeg/ginger.

 

[Leezer]

I made a pumpkin ale for the first time last fall and the recipe I used called for the same thing. For a 2.5G batch I used a can of plain pumpkin (not spiced since I was adding my own spices later), spread it on cookie sheet and baked at 350 for about an hour, until the edges started turning brown. The canned pumpkin has more moisture than you realize so I felt baking it that way cooked off a lot of excess moisture and it gave some roasty flavor. I'm going to make it again soon and was debating about using the canned pumpkin again or just skipping that. But I was so happy with the way it came out that I don't want to change it and will take the time do it again. I did mine brew day morning.