First brew/ pumpkin ale

[PassTheBeer]

Tonight I will be making my first beer, a pumpkin to be exact. I was wondering how are people adding it to the boil. Are you using a little bag to hold the pumpkin gunk, or just throwing it all in there and blending?????

 

[PassTheBeer]

any help????

 

[Gwitz]

Well, it might be to late to give you any advice. My first pumpkin ale i steeped the pumpkin with my specialty malts for 45 minutes or so, then strained the resulting liquid into the kettle for the boil. Now that i do AG i just mash the pumpkin with everything else.

 

[one8tvw]

I split my pumpkins in half and scoop the seeds out and then roast them in the oven @375 for 90 mins then scoop out the meat and put it all in a bowl and add it to the boil for the full 60 min.

 

[PassTheBeer]

Waiting for boil

 

[brianmot]

I used (1) 36oz canned pumpkin and about 4-5lbs of roasted pumpkin. I gutted the pumpkin, cut it to small cubes, skin side down, and baked for 60 minutes at 350 F. Then I scrapped off the skin and mushed it into a squash like consistency. I then put this mixture into a large muslin bag and dropped it in while steeping my grains. I heard stories of people losing upwards of 1.5 gallons of beer when they left the pumpkin rind in the primary. And lets be honest, a pumpkin is a gourd. It isnt supposed to taste/smell like the candles you buy at yankee candle. That is where the spices come in! I added nutmeg/ginger/cinnamon tea type tea 5 minutes before flame out and another bit of cinnamon per taste before i put it in the secondary. Turned out great.

I would suggest putting it in a muslin bag as the flavor of a pumpkin is really a squash/gourd flavor and i didnt want it sitting in my primary or losing 1.5 gallons in trub.

 

[PassTheBeer]

Well last night I went with 2 lbs of canned pumpkin and 12oz of honey, mixed well. Baked at 300 for an hour. Then after steeping my grains for 30 min, I then threw the pumpkin in with the rest of my extract. Mixed them till it was nice liquid then finished up the rest of the brew.

 

[brianmot]

Sounds great. Ive heard great results both ways. Expect a bit less volume on your beer if the pumpkin guts made its way into the primary.

 

[PassTheBeer]

Yea it blended into the rest of the brew, but yea I can see it thickened a bit as the temp dropped

 

[PassTheBeer]

Well in the first 24 hours and there was plenty of action going on in my primary...well its been about a week since initial brew and looks like nothing is happening. I haven't seen a bubble since last Wednesday

 

[PassTheBeer]

Just popped the top on my primary to take a quick peak. And ohh yea its beer now! Smells great. This Tuesday I will be racking over to my secondary, and checking to see if I have achieved my FG. Also get a taste of my beer

 

[TumulousErmine]

If your pumpkin ale goes the way mine did, it may take it quite some time to condition, especially if you added spices. I brewed mine in early October and it's just starting to come together now. So, don't lose hope if it doesn't taste quite right in secondary or just after carbonating- give it some time.

 

[HankyPanky]

Brewing a pumpkin ale kit I got for Christmas. Going to bake my pumpkin with brown sugar and spices.

 

[PassTheBeer]

I also threw a pound of honey into my bake to bump up the sugars without over powering any other flavor

 

[PassTheBeer]

OK guys time for an update. I just racked my pumpkin ale from the primary to my secondary fermenter. Also did a little taste test, so fas so good. Reminds me of "Post Road Pumpkin Ale"

 

[PassTheBeer]

I let 3 other people try it last night and they told me its delicious, hopefully my friends aren't just being nice. I cannot wait till its ready out of the bottle