Naturally Carbonating a Pumpkin

[bmcwood]

It's that time of the year again and I am thinking about doing a pumpkin ale! My idea this year is to actually try and natural carbonate the beer in a large pumpkin and then tap it, with some kind of hammer-in tap, at our annual Halloween party. I have never naturally carbonated anything; is this doable in month? I am not going to sanitize the pumpkin, I think if im over 6% I should be fine with the alcohol killing off all the nasties. Also, what are the hammer in taps called and are they available at most LHBS? I see them all the time at Oktoberfests and I think that would work pretty good for what I am trying to accomplish. Thanks!

 

[cimirie]

Love the idea! In practice, though, I'm not sure it'll hold up.

Issue#1: natural carbing (as force carbing) requires a sealed, airtight space. To put the beer in the pumpkin, you'll need to open the top up. From then, it will be impossible to have an airtight space to naturally carb.

Issue#2: pumpkin is a water-based vegetable. It will absorb liquid. On a long enough time line, I would suspect most of your beer would be gone and your pumpkin quite squishy!

Issue#3: I agree, I wouldn't worry about a 6% beer, but I would worry about a cut open pumpkin. You've all seen them 3 days after Halloween. Squishy, starting to smell and often with black mold growing... Not a great environment to store a beer.

I hate to be a party pooper, but I'd say carb beforehand and serve in a plastic pumpkin.

 

[bruin_ale]

That's ambitious, but I doubt a pumpkin could stand up to the pressure required to carbonate. You'd be better off brewing and carbonating as usual, then using a large pumpkin as a sort of pitcher.

But hey, prove me wrong.. it's a cool idea

 

[bruin_ale]

oh, and good point cimrie - no idea how you'd go about completely sealing the pumpkin once you'd opened it up to remove the seeds. Also, squishy pumpkin is almost a guaranteed, my pumpkins barely last a day or two before they are ready to fall apart and that's without liquid inside them. Not likely to last the two weeks required to naturally carbonate.

 

[LVBen]

Are you guys naturally carbonating your pumpkins or force carbonating them? How do you seal the pumpkin back up after inserting sugar/CO2/etc.?

 

[LVBen]

I thought this was a joke thread. This person isn't actually serious, right?

 

[KevinM]

You can put carbonated beer into a hollowed out pumpkin for a period of time witihout issue. Seal the top with wax. I've seen a brewery do this before. I don't quite know how long they actually had it in the pumpkin though. It could have been a matter of hours, or could have been longer. I doubt it was pressurized inside the pumpkin, since the increasing pressure would cause the rind to split.

 

[beetlbumjl]

How about dropping in a polypin / cubitainer?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/1-gallon-cubitainer.html

 

[BrewThruYou]

I've seen picture of people fermenting in pumpkins, but never carbonating...I don't think it's airtight enough.

 

[bmcwood]

Thanks for all the input guys, I appreciate it. I think Ill just go ahead and brew and ferment my beer as normal. I think cabrbing in the pumpkin is an awesome idea but the fact that it might mold and not hold up to the pressure isnt worth the risk of spoiling a good batch of beer. I will keep thinking of how this could work though because I think its a really cool concept!

 

[Dr. Francois]

How about dropping in a polypin / cubitainer?
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/1-gallon-cubitainer.html

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking. Like a fake barrel of wine with a plastic sack inside: it's all marketing!

 

[Homercidal]

Pumpkin cask ale. Where the pumpkin IS the cask!

Don't think sell a stopper that you can insert, then turn the screw to tighten?

Probably won't work, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. For the price of a pumpkin and a stopper, it might be worth trying. Of course, the rubber on one of those stoppers is not the kind of rubber you want in your beer, so it would be best to keep it high off the beer.

 

[normzone]

Talk to your local gardening store about getting the new GMO seedless pumpkin starters. Use a trocar to cut a small plug, put DME in through a syringe and use grafting powder when you replace the plug.

Timing is the challenge, but if you get it right you have a small, vegetable-based party pig equivalant.

 

[dwarven_stout]

Talk to your local gardening store about getting the new GMO seedless pumpkin starters. Use a trocar to cut a small plug, put DME in through a syringe and use grafting powder when you replace the plug.

Timing is the challenge, but if you get it right you have a small, vegetable-based party pig equivalant.

...and here I thought bottle bombs were bad. This sounds like a fresh advance in beer-based shrapnel.

 

[smokey]

To get the same effect of pouring beer out of the pumpkin, carve out a jack-o-lantern but put a tap in place of the nose. Run the beer line out the back of the pumpkin to a keg. Same cool effect, no refilling the pumpkin over and over and no nasty pumpkin rot flavor in the beer!

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G using Home Brew Talk

 

[KevinM]

Pumpkin cask ale. Where the pumpkin IS the cask!

Don't think sell a stopper that you can insert, then turn the screw to tighten?

Probably won't work, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. For the price of a pumpkin and a stopper, it might be worth trying. Of course, the rubber on one of those stoppers is not the kind of rubber you want in your beer, so it would be best to keep it high off the beer.

Exactly what I was thinking of, other than the rubber. Here's something I've been looking for: http://www.brewcookpairjoy.com/2010/10/beer-served-from-a-giant-pumpkin-yyyyup/

Jolly Pumpkin brewery in Ann Arbor did something like this a few years back as well, if I recall right. I only am able to drink the gluten free beer, so I didn't pay much attention.

 

[Homercidal]

That looks FUN!

Fantastic gimmick for Halloween!

I think they should have drawn a face or logo on it though...