Tis the “Pumpkin Season”…

[Drscarfo]

Pitching pumpkin purée’ -
Hi there… I have a nice small pro 1
Barrel blichmann pilot system with some spike fermenters that I use for my bars/restaurants. I’m gonna try a pumpkin ale soon, looking for opinions… was thinking about adding spices to boil and then adding pumpkin purée to the fermenter after fermentation is 1/2 way done.. what’s everyone’s preferred method?

 

[IslandLizard]

I've added the pumpkin puree to the mash tun, with the grain, and let it mash for an hour at 156F. The color of the wort was beautiful! I used 75 oz of puree (5 standard cans) in a 5 gallon batch, but my notes say to double that...
It's more the spice you taste than the actual pumpkin, so even at double the pumpkin load it may still be too subtle. But I do think it adds nice body and mouthfeel. Due to the dextrins from the puree perhaps?

Before adding to the mash, I had toasted the puree in the oven, in baking pans (3/4" deep cookie sheets, with a rim), but it takes a long time (1.5 hours, IIRC) as most of the liquid needs to evaporate first before the toasting starts.

Although I've seen it mentioned, I would never add the puree to the fermenter. It may add color, but I doubt it will ferment any or much of it. Plus all the pulp will settle out as fluffy trub, trapping good beer.

Be gentle on the spices, you can always add more to the fermenter or when packaging, but you can't remove them. I prefer subtleness over boldness when it comes to spice in (pumpkin) beers.

I ended up aging it for a year in a keg in my utility room and it became wonderful. The spices had integrated nicely and became more subdued. It was an Imperial Pumpkin Ale, around 1.080, IIRC, and truly delicious.

 

[Beernik]

I totally agree with @IslandLizard . In the mash is the easiest way to go. I use ≈ 3.6lbs/5 gallons. I think that’s 4 of the 15oz cans.

Pumpkin beers are more about the spice additions than the pumpkin - coriander, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and ginger are the usual suspects. You can add them as ground spices at flameout, in the fermenter, or at bottling/kegging.

What base style are you thinking?

 

[Drscarfo]

I totally agree with @IslandLizard . In the mash is the easiest way to go. I use ≈ 3.6lbs/5 gallons. I think that’s 4 of the 15oz cans.

Pumpkin beers are more about the spice additions than the pumpkin - coriander, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and ginger are the usual suspects. You can add them as ground spices at flameout, in the fermenter, or at bottling/kegging.

What base style are you thinking?

Imperial ale - otter and a little caramel grain…