Boiling canned pumpkin or using it in the mash

[Aarong2008]

I'm curious , what's the best way to use canned pumpkin when brewing an extract pumpkin ale ?
I'm using the Pocahontas pumpkin pleaser recipe. I read that boiling will cause haze and possibly an infection.

 

[The10mmKid]

My only experience with canned pumpkin is doing a mash with a high enzymatic malt and I couldn't be happier with the results.

For your batch you can perform a Mini-Mash. Even BiaB.
Substitute some 6-row for the extract. (or add to it for a higher ABV)

Make every effort to help the enzymes do their job:
Right temp
Right water/grain ratio grist
A longer mash if necessary

One of the best tips I used this year was heating the canned pumpkin with some of the hot liquor water to 162degF before adding it to the mash.

'da Kid

I'm curious , what's the best way to use canned pumpkin when brewing an extract pumpkin ale ?
I'm using the Pocahontas pumpkin pleaser recipe. I read that boiling will cause haze and possibly an infection.

 

[Aarong2008]

Okay, I will do a mini mash for this batch with the 6-row malt like you suggested. Will 2lbs be enough? I am going to add it and not substitute any for the extract, why not add a little kick to it haha. What do you mean by adding the canned pumpkin to hot liquor water?

Thanks.

 

[The10mmKid]

I think I used a lb of 6-row per lb of pumpkin. My last batch was 3lb each.

As for the water, the pumpkin puree throws off the calculators.

I'd start with 3qts of water and heat the canned pumpkin with it. Like a thinned puree. The pumpkin will drop the temp and you'll probably have to raise this mix temp back up to ~160 to get your correct mash temp. Then add your grain.

I think I mashed ~152degF.

The mini-mash I've been 'diggin' is using a soup pot in a turned off 170degF stove. Almost too easy peasy.

Cheers,
'da Kid

 

[LLBeanJ]

Since it's pureed, it's going to end up in the boil anyway and in your fermenter after that. I've done it both ways (full mash, not mini-mash, however) and based on my own experiences, I've not been able to actually see any benefits from mashing pureed pumpkin. It didn't result in any additional gravity points. Nowadays, I skip the mash and add it directly to the boil. The end result looks to be pretty much the same.

 

[TopherM]

Remember that he pumpkin doesn't add flavor at all. Most commercial examples of "pumpkin ale" don't have any pumpkin in them at all. What everyone thinks of as "pumpkin flavor" isn't pumpkin at all, it's the pumpkin pie spice mix (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice) that's added.

I definitely recommend using the pumpkin, as the starches definitely add to the mouthfeel of the beer and just plain make the beer authentic. Just don't be under any illusion that the pumpkin makes the beer tastes like pumpkin pie, like the commercial examples. It's all about the spice mix.

All that said, I mash it. If you are doing an extract batch, add it to the steeping grains.

Good luck!

 

[IslandLizard]

Even with 4 pounds of pumpkin pulp in the mash (5 gallon batch) I can barely detect real pumpkin flavor, I know it's quite subtle. Therefore I use the spice mix very sparingly, I don't want it to reminisce a factory pie.

The one commercial Pumpkin ale I've had that really has a decent pumpkin flavor is New Belgium's. And it doesn't taste like spice. I wonder how they do that. A pumpkin extract perhaps?

If used in the mash don't forget to add a pound of rice hulls. That mash will totally plug up, otherwise.

 

[Weezy]

My first pumpkin beer is in the fermenter now. I spread the puree on a baking sheet and baked it for 45 min to carmelize some of it. This is something I read on here at some point. It all went in the mash. We'll see in a couple weeks, I suppose.

 

[IslandLizard]

My first pumpkin beer is in the fermenter now. I spread the puree on a baking sheet and baked it for 45 min to carmelize some of it. This is something I read on here at some point. It all went in the mash. We'll see in a couple weeks, I suppose.

I did that too, but it took nearly 2 hours to get it to caramelize, using 2 baking sheets. Most of the liquid needed to evaporate first, that took all the time, turning it over every 20 minutes or so.

Then I soaked the trays to loosen the caked-on orangy-brown puree. That all went into the mash.

I later made a pumpkin "tincture" or "tea" from another can (squeezed the juice out of the puree) and I added that to a gallon of the pumpkin beer (in a secondary) in the hopes to get more pumpkin flavor. It helped actually quite a bit. Maybe most of the flavor from the mash gets boiled off or cooks out during the hour long boil.

 

[Weezy]

Thanks for the encouragement ��

 

[IslandLizard]

Thanks for the encouragement ��

I'm not trying to discourage anyone, or you in particular.

Only reporting my findings in regard to expected pumpkin flavor. It really tastes good, don't get me wrong. It has a certain thick-ish creamy mouthfeel and a beautiful orange color. Maybe even better served with nitro.

 

[GrogNerd]

I baked mine for an hour, put it in a BIAB bag and heated it with my strike water, took the bag out, squeezed and mashed in with that water as usual.

got a lot of color, some sugars and a little flavor

brewed it last October. from 1.115 OG to 1.004 FG (96% attenuation) = 14.6% ABV

let you guys know next month how it ended up and how it does in brew club competition

(pic is as it looked going into secondary for some bulk conditioning)

 

[Rev2010]

I've only done 6 so far but they've all come out great, though the first one was extract so 5 all grain pumpkin ales. I bake three 15oz cans of Libby's 100% pumpkin puree in a baking pan at 350 degrees for one hour (pre-heat the oven). I don't use any form of oils or non-stick sprays, just put the pumpkin in the pan, spread it out evenly, and bake. I time this whole thing so that I mash in when the cooled pumpkin puree temperature reads right close to my mash in temp, just a few degrees higher, say about ten at this point. I then mash in and after the grains are all mixed in thoroughly I add the pumpkin puree and stir it up. So far I've been very closely or perfectly hitting my desired mash temps. If still a little high or low a small adjustment of cold or boiling water sorts it all out.

As mentioned, be sure to use rice hulls when using the puree in a mash, it's imperative. A pound or so. Also allow for a slightly longer runoff/sparge even using rice hulls. I've had some go quick and some quite slow, but outside of the only one I've done without rice hulls none have stuck, just expect a little longer amount of time.

I prefer adding it to the mash for a few reasons. Firstly, the grains keep a lot of the puree out of the boil kettle and fermenter. The one time I added it to the boil I had a ton of trub clogging my fermenter spigot when I went to bottle. Can't recall at this time if it also clogged the kettle when draining but I'd be wary of that too. You could try to bag it, but puree in a bag... not sure how well a bag would contain it. Adding it to the mash has so far been the easiest way for me to do it personally.

**EDIT - somehow I missed this thread is posted in the extract section. As aforementioned, the one time I added it to the boil was when doing an extract pumpkin. I lost a lot to trub and had a big hassle. Not sure how else to do it via extract. I'd guess use whole cubbed pumpkin and add it to the boil instead of puree?


Rev.

 

[GrogNerd]

don't have final results yet, but my pumpkin barleywine lost in a brewclub competition to a BEET BEER

yes. a beer made with beets.