brewing with pumpkin

[jefferym09]

i'd like to try a pumpkin ale for october and i am a fan of using whole, fresh ingredients. So i'd like to brew with an actual pumpkin and not canned pumpkin or pumpkin spice. however i dont know what part of the pumpkin to use or how to prepare it? any thoughts?

 

[glick]

Cut up a pumpkin, bake it, scrape the meat off of the flesh. At this point you have the same thing that comes in a can. My opinion... unless you have a whole pumpkin on hand I would go the canned route.

 

[jefferym09]

errr thats the thing, do i brew with the pumpkin pulp or the "shell"?

 

[jedheuer]

you can just leave the skin on and smash it all up in a bowl. Toss it in the mash with any liquid that came out of the flesh and mash as usual. You might need to add rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge. This is only necessary if you crush really fine to begin with or use a ton of pumpkin. You might need to extend the mash to 90 mins for the pumpkin to convert. Also much of the flavor and aroma of a pumpkin beer comes from the addition of "pie" spice, the pumpking itself contributes little actual flavor. so you might consider add a bit of spice just to add to the perception of pumpkin in the beer.

 

[HawgDaddy]

Pumpkin is once again on the agenda....Thanks for the info....

 

[Docbruw]

This is for a 10g batch. Mash with ~10lbs of cooking pumpkins, clean and quarter the pumpkin, season the pumpkin with pumpkin pie spice and bake for 30mins at 350f, mash in with pumpkin.

 

[GrogNerd]

This is for a 10g batch. Mash with ~10lbs of cooking pumpkins, clean and quarter the pumpkin, season the pumpkin with pumpkin pie spice and bake for 30mins at 350f, mash in with pumpkin.

if you go with pumpkins instead of the puree, then ^ is the method to use. you can use the same pumpkins you use for jack-o-lanterns, but it's better to use "sugar" or "pie" pumpkins. as the name implies, there's more sugar in them

if you go the puree route: don't use pumpkin pie MIX, use 100% pure pumpkin puree in a can

listening to Beersmith podcast interview Gordon Strong and his recipe involves baking the canned mix and adding to boil, not mash

The interesting thing about my recipe is that the pumpkin was used in the boil, not the mash. I used the unflavored Libby's pumpkin puree and roasted it in the oven for a long time. Great color and flavor, but a mess in the carboy. I need a better method for separating it. Uses pumpkin pie spices.

just listened to that part of the podcast:

• 100% pumpkin puree
• spread out on baking sheet
• bake 1 hour @ 400, dries and caramelizes it
• stir every 15 minutes, don't want it to burn

put it in mesh bag when you put it into the boil, then pull it out so it doesn't carry over into the fermenter