yams instead of pumpkins?!

[Tdawg]

I had mentioned earlier that I was going to make a pumpkin ale on Sat. Guess what?....couldn't find any pumpkins anywhere. Not even canned! I already had gotten my ingredients and my starter going so I bought canned yams. Will they work? Should I just throw them into my boil?

 

[lumpher]

go for it. they're very close, and the majority of the taste comes from the spices, not the pumpkin/yams anyway

 

[wonderbread23]

Yes, yams or sweet potatoes can be a nice substitute for pumpkin (my sweet potato dubble turned out tasty).

I wouldn't throw yams or pumpkin in a boil....all it will do is add starch to the beer. Veggies really need to be mashed like you would grain with a healthy dose of 2 or 6-row barley to provide enzymes to convert the starches.

 

[scottlabadie]

Awesome , i gotta try this too.

 

[Tdawg]

I don't mean to sound uninformed, but I don't know how to mash. Could you explain in detail what I need to do? Thanks

 

[wonderbread23]

I don't mean to sound uninformed, but I don't know how to mash. Could you explain in detail what I need to do? Thanks

If you don't have a mash tun, you could simply do a basic partial mash in a pot using the yams and some two-row. This is pretty easy, and this is a great guide:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-partial-mash-brewing-pics-75231/

 

[Tdawg]

K ,Thanks!

 

[muscleshoalsbrewer]

I love me some mashed sweet taters!

 

[EuBrew]

I narrowly avoided this problem! I googled organic grocery stores and came up with one that has the organic canned pumpkin. Granted it's 4 bucks a can, but I was starting to get worried!! You may try the same if you are reluctant to use an alternative.

 

[Tdawg]

Well, I brewed it up last night with the yams. After putting it in the carboy I gave it a Taste...It had a sweet taste of Thanksgiving. The OG was 1.065.

The only problem is this morning I realized I didn't check to see how much wort I ended up with. I started out with 6 gallons in my boil and did a 60 min boil. When I put it in the 6.5 gallon carboy, It is about 7 or so inches from the bottem of the neck. Will I be ok?

It is a 5 gallon recipe.

 

[EuBrew]

If you hit your OG where you wanted it should be fine, if it were an IPA you may be a little low on IBU if you were over too much on your final volume. Given there are very little hops I wouldn't sweat it, especially if you're on your OG.

 

[Tdawg]

I had to let ya'll know...I cracked open one of the pumpkin ales and it is very good! The nose has a malty smell with the aroma of Thanksgiving. The taste is the same...the spices are perfect. Not to strong, more of an accent. ..