Pumpkin in the mash

[Johnnyrhine]

Ey,
I'm going to be brewing up a pumpkin ale this week and was hoping somebody could let me know if i should mix the pumpkin in with the grain or let it sit on top during the conversion. Thanks for your time.

 

[SimonHucko]

hard to stir your mash without mixing the pumpkin in nah, get it right in there with everything else. and make sure you have some rice hulls (a pound or so) so things don't get stuck. I had zero issues with my pumpkin mash this year, ran off like a champ.

 

[Johnnyrhine]

Thanks. Should I mix the hulls in or have them as a filter bed above the manifold or both? Sorry to be a squee about this but I've never made a pumpkin before, any other tips or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :cheers:

 

[Gixxer]

Stir it all in, the hulls help it drain through all the grain and pumpkin from top to bottom

 

[signmastr]

I add the pumpkin last, but do stir it in. BIAB

 

[Matteo57]

The pumpkin in the mash in a total PITA IMO and should be avoided if you can. The way I just brewed my pumpkin ale and it has turned out nice so far (almost carbed up and ready to drink!) is to toss the baked pumpkin in disposable hop bags and throw this into the water that is being heated for the mash. Let it sit in there an extra 20 minutes or so (not sure if this is even needed but i did it anyways as I heard others doing the same) and then mash with it. Same with your sparge water if you are doing batch sparge.
Turned out great and no pumpkin mess as it's not fun in your mash tun! If you do go the mash tun route, definitely use rice hulls!

 

[45_70sharps]

Throwing it in the boil works well also.
You aren't trying to convert starch to sugar so I'm not sure I see the advantage to mashing it.
Then again, I'm not an expert by any means.

 

[Slainte-brew]

Matteo brought it up, but I agree that roasting the pumpkin in the oven brings out the taste.

 

[kcross13]

This time around I mashed some after roasting with some molasses and brown sugar. I also added some of the roasted and some raw pumpkin in the boil. Test had the right flavor and mouthy feel I was looking for. Hoping it is carbed up by halloween. Also mashed with the raw seeds that I crushed up.

 

[SpeedYellow]

The pumpkin in the mash in a total PITA IMO and should be avoided if you can. !

Au contraire, in the mash is definitely the easiest way IMHO. I used 3.8 lbs purée (baked for 40 minutes first) with 1 lb rice hulls and I noticed zero difference in sparging. No additional cleanup either. Didn't screw up boil volumes, absorb my wort, or take up space in the fermenter either.

 

[SimonHucko]

Au contraire, in the mash is definitely the easiest way IMHO. I used 3.8 lbs purée (baked for 40 minutes first) with 1 lb rice hulls and I noticed zero difference in sparging. No additional cleanup either. Didn't screw up boil volumes, absorb my wort, or take up space in the fermenter either.

yeah, this has been my experience. not as difficult as all the posts on here would lead you to believe.

although I'm mashing in a cooler with a manifold. BIAB could be a totally different story.

 

[Gixxer]

I was going to put the pumpkin in the mash this weekend but the more and more I think about it I am thinking about getting a 5 gal bag and throwing the pumpkin in the mash water while it's heating up. When it gets to my strike temp I can keep it there for 30 min or more and stir the crap out of it. When I am done I can pull the bag, throw it in a colander and then mash like normal. When I am done the bag goes into the trash and mash tun cleanup will be a non issue. I ain't afraid of a stuck sparge (I have rice hulls) but I would rather mess with the bag before than the cleanup after. Meh. I can go either way, on the fence so to speak.