Pumpkin ale ingredients discussion

[Matty22]

So I've got 1 batch under my belt and Thursday is brew day number 2! I'll be brewing an extract IPA kit that I'm adding additional hops to in a noobie attempt at cloning an Anchor Steam Liberty Ale.

The second brew of the day is going to be my attempt at making an extract pumpkin ale. Since this is just my second brew day I'm still using kits so I got a Brewer's Best 'Robust Porter' kit and I want to add pumpkin to it to simulate a rough version of a pumpkin ale.

So the big question is: What are your thoughts on which type of pumpkin I should use? I've seen recipes using cubed pieces of actual pumpkins and I've also seen recipes using canned Libby's pumpkin. Has anyone experimented with both and have a preference? Which will be the most messy/hardest to clear out of the wort/cause the most loss of volume/etc? Which do you recommend?

Thanks for any input.

 

[jonmohno]

If you do a search there are tons of discussions on it.

 

[Rev2010]

I used Libby's canned in the boil. When bottling I filtered out the pumpkin and lost 1.75 gallons of beer. I was thinking about bagging it next time in the boil but decided I am going to steep it in a grain bag next time for an hour.


Rev.

 

[BryanJ]

Don't use pumpkin, you wont get much out of boiling or mashing it. Instead look into what other people do in the way of spicing their pumpkin ales. Spices will mask any flavor if any youd get from using real or canned pumpkin.

 

[Rev2010]

Don't use pumpkin, you wont get much out of boiling or mashing it. Instead look into what other people do in the way of spicing their pumpkin ales. Spices will mask any flavor if any youd get from using real or canned pumpkin.

But then you can't in good faith call it a pumpkin ale. In that case why not just use one or two cans so you can at least say it has pumpkin in it?


Rev.

 

[BryanJ]

If you want to lose beer in the boil or have a stuck mash than sure use pumpkins. Its kind of gimmicky to me.

 

[Rev2010]

Plenty of people use pumpkin in the mash. Some use rice hulls. Lots have no problems.


Rev.

 

[jonmohno]

Use pumpkin.Gennerally fresh is better,some people like squash.If your only going to spice it you may as well call it a holiday spiced beer and not a pumpkin beer.I think there is a difference but like almost anythin else its subtle.You generally use more pumpkin if you like the effect.You can get a nice texture and color as well as some pumpkin flavor,but seems alot of people disagree. But like i said there is already a ton of discussion on it.Its nothing new and there are alot of opionions maybe you can base your decision on, but experiencing it yourself is the real deal of course.
I like to use it in the mash and boil.1/2 the mess although this last time i made it i used a courser metal strainer and got next to nothing strained and had a loss of 3 beers because of all the pumpkin settlement,but who knows maybe it sitting in the fermenter made it better that way, i would only think so. Looking at how chili works,ya know. Its still young at about 1 month bottled but i dont think it will even really be its best around Holloween. I made one last year and thought it was ok, i tried one 8 months bottled and it was comparable to a few of the best ones i tried this year.Thats why i made one in the spring so hopefully by now they will be amazing.