Skipping out on pumpkin

[MacGruber]

After reading so many horror stories about stuck sparges, I've decided to skip out on making a pumpkin beer. I've only done one AG batch and I don't have the experience to deal with the obvious frustrations a pumpkin beer can provide. I've decided to make a few more batches and prepare a Holiday spiced beer for Thanksgiving and winter. Is anybody else skipping out this year as well or am I alone

 

[david_42]

I've never made a pumpkin beer, as just using the spices does an excellent job.

 

[MacGruber]

Sorry, I thought I was in General Beer Discussion. I didn't mean to post this here.

 

[Gritsak]

I just did a pumpkin and had no problems sparging. Key is to use rice hulls (~1/2#) and condition your malt first (which you should always do IMO).

 

[bja]

I've never made one and have no desire to do so.

 

[steveo929]

I'm making one next week....I'll be making my own pumpkin pulp puree and caramelizing it for a sweeter taste. Might even add some brown sugar too. I really want a nice sweet and full pumpkin taste that complements the spices.

I'll use about 1/2 lb. of rice hulls for the mash so I don't have any problems.

 

[MacGruber]

Do you put the rice hulls in with the mash or do you add them when lautering? I actually use the Zapap Lauter Tun described in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I don't have a MLT. I mash in a 5 Gal Coleman Drink Cooler.

 

[steinsato]

I've never made one and have no desire to do so.

Same here, that crap is over rated. Give me a slice of pumpking pie with my APA, thanks.

 

[Arazcamaro]

I just made a pumpkin 2 weeks ago and just put the pumpkin in the boil. Many claim that putting it in the mash is better but I've never had a problem throwing it in during the end of the boil. you just need to top off an extra 1/2 gallon or so in your fermentor since you will end up with at least 1/2 gallon of trub.

 

[corbomite]

After reading so many horror stories about stuck sparges, I've decided to skip out on making a pumpkin beer. I've only done one AG batch and I don't have the experience to deal with the obvious frustrations a pumpkin beer can provide. I've decided to make a few more batches and prepare a Holiday spiced beer for Thanksgiving and winter. Is anybody else skipping out this year as well or am I alone

I just did a pumpkin porter and it was the second partial mash I've done. I put the 1/2 lb of rice hulls like gritsak and steveo mentioned and I had absolutely no problems. When I read all the pumpkin topics here it had me scared, but I used organic canned pumpkin in the mash, it smelled great, it ran fairly quickly, and it is on its 4th day of bubbling away.
My only problem is Ill have to wait several weeks before I can bottle and brew something else to put in there.

 

[Sean]

I have read, can't remember where, that there is not enough starch in the pumpkin to worry about mashing. Just add it to the boil. Or possibly pour your runnings over the pumpkin and bring it to the boil slowly, that should convert some.

I have also thought, why not right into the primary. Might want to use a bucket. But you would probably get better flavor. If useing canned sanitation is not an issue.

 

[kevmoron]

Do you put the rice hulls in with the mash or do you add them when lautering? I actually use the Zapap Lauter Tun described in The Complete Joy of Homebrewing. I don't have a MLT. I mash in a 5 Gal Coleman Drink Cooler.

Install a false bottom or manifold into your cooler and lauter directly from there (or better yet upgrade to 10 gallon so you can do bigger beers). I used to use a zapap tun as well and that thing was AWFUL about stuck sparges. I generally had to use a pound of rice hulls for a standard gravity beer to get a smooth sparge, and that was without anything gummy like wheat, oats or pumpkin. Not too long ago I made the switch over to a 10 gal cooler + false bottom, and my sparges run much smoother. I just made a hefeweizen with 50/50 pils/wheat and didn't even have to add rice hulls.

The problem with the zapap tun is that you have to go extremely slowly or the liquid between the buckets will be drawn down faster than the liquid going through the grains. If the liquid between the buckets ends up being drawn all the way down to the false bottom, you get a mild vacuum in there and the grains on the false bottom will get sucked down and plug the holes. Anger is the result.

 

[MacGruber]

I've only done one AG batch so far using the Zapap Lauter Tun and it was SO quick. I have assembled most parts to do the CPVC manifold for one of my 40 gal. coolers.

 

[Doog_Si_Reeb]

I made a pumpkin beer last year going off of Jamil's recipe and adding ~3.5 lbs of canned pumpkin to the mash. I added about half a pound of rice hulls and didn't have any problems with lautering. That beer came out AWESOME! Multiple people at our Halloween party said that it was the best pumpkin beer they had ever had. I am brewing it again on Labor Day.

In all honesty, the pumpkin doesn't add much, if any, fermentables. The spices are what make it taste like pumpkin beer. If you don't want to risk stuck sparges or deal with the mess that pumpkin adds to the fermenter, just skip it.

Not everyone likes pumpkin beers (as a few posters mention), but I love them in the fall. If you like pumpkin beers, I highly recommend brewing one. If you're not sure about a recipe to use, Jamil's from BCS, is excellent.

 

[AJC16]

I used AHS Pumpkin ale last year and it turned out great. I added my 4 lbs of baked can pumpkin to the boil. It was a bit messy but I plan on doing it that way again. Here is where I followed plans from.

http://www.audioholics.com/news/edi...e-brew-recipe-and-commercial-microbrew-recipe

 

[montigeau]

I made one today, I did skip out on the pumpkin. Mainly because there is a pumpkin shortage around here and not a single grocery store had any... I couldn't believe it but no pumpkin puree to be found anywhere. I just made a spiced ale instead, and it was smelling pretty damn good when I put it in the fermented. It is going to sit until late October, should be great.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

Did one last year and it went great with rice hulls in the mash. No stuck sparge issues at all. The one thing I did learn is to definitely account for the mass of the pumpkin when determining your infusion temperature. I did not and the pumpkin was at fridge temperature.

 

[chapa]

I threw canned pumpkin right into the boil. Wasn't bad at all. My bday is right by halloween, so brewing a pumpkin ale was a must! Hope you decide to go for it, even if you just do a spice tea instead of actual pumpkin.

 

[MacGruber]

I think that I just may go for a pumpkin now. I'll skip the actual pumpkin and just do a spiced brown.

 

[OLDBREW]

you just make an amber ale and add the pumpkin pie spices. You'll end up with a very good pumpkin pie spiced ale "Pumpkin Spice Ale" as it were.