Pumpkin Beer Help

[brewcrew2002]

Hi everyone

I just recently started brewing, I am up to 5 gallon batches of beer. I just recently brewed a pumpkin beer. I followed the recipe exactly as it stated and used the recommended amount of canned pumpkin, however I did not place the pumpkin in the grain bag I placed it directly in the brew pot in the wort. I strained most of the pumpkin it out when placing the beer in the primary. My question is, should I have placed the pumpkin in my grain bag or will it be ok? My SG measurement was right at predicted SG. I hope it will be ok I am a big fan of pumpkin.

Thanks,

Brewcrew

 

[CadillacAndy]

Is this extract or all grain? Usually you'd want to mash the pumpkin to convert the starch to sugar.

 

[Crispy31]

I brewed a pumpkin ale and attempted to use a grain bag, it didn't matter. By the time I poured the wort out of the kettle the grain bag was empty, the puree goes right through the small holes. The beer itself was awful for about the first month then the spices mellowed out and it became a great beer. There was quite a bit of trub and the sediment in the bottles easily clouded the beer but otherwise turned out great.

 

[brewcrew2002]

Thanks I appreciate it, I did a mini mash. I hope it turns out, I might let it clear longer in the secondary.

 

[jaydog2314]

brewed my first pumpkin beer a few weeks back and like cadillacandy mentioned I added the pumpkin to my mash, if you do it again make sure to add rice hulls too b/c it can create a stuck sparge

 

[rcsoccer]

Did you add any spices? Pumpkin ales get all of the flavor from the nutmeg, clove, allspice, and cinnamon that are added either at the end of the boil or, in my preference, in secondary. If you didn't add any spices, I would suggest adding 3-5 tsp of pumpkin pie spice to the secondary when you rack it off the yeast. You will probably lose a lot of beer to the trub from the pumpkin and slumbering yeast on the bottom. Let it sit in secondary for at least 2 weeks and then bottle/keg. It should be fine. Another thing you could do is put the fermentor (primary and/or secondary) in the fridge for a couple of days before transfering/bottling. It will help clear the beer by dropping most stuff to the bottom.

Good luck!

Cheers!

 

[brewcrew2002]

Thanks I might try placing my fermenter in the fridge, I did add spices during the last few minutes of the boil. Should I add pumpkin spice to the secondary as well? I appreciate all the advice.

 

[jaydog2314]

I used McCormick's pumpkin spice in the last 5 mins, just bottled it and it had a nice sublte spice to it which from what I have read will come through if you let it condition for a few weeks to months. I didn't want to add more at bottling b/c too much spice can really mess with the taste