When to add pumpkin?!!

I wanted to get a general consensus from everyone as to when pumpkin should be added to your brew. I have heard three techniques...

1) During the mash.

2) At the beginning of your wort boil.

3) Upon siphoning your beer into the secondary fermenter.


My only thought is this, if I want the pumpkin for flavor, why would I not add it to the secondary like I would with fresh fruit? If I added it any earlier wouldn't the pumpkin flavor boil off or ferment off in the primary? Please help, I am very confused about this matter....

I've only made on pumkin beer so far, but before I did I did a lot of research...The information is conflicted, people use all three methods.

When I did mine, I added it to the boil...But the one suggestion I found over and over was to spread the canned pumpkin out on baking sheets and bake in a 350 degree over for 20-30 minutes...It supposedly helps convert the starch to sugar, and the maillard reaction from browning the pumpkin imparts a pumpkin pie flavor to it.

When I made my pumpkin beer I did it Mash & Boil and dumped the whole content of the brew pot into the fermenter. Gave a very interesting beer

My recipe calls for pre-cooking the pumpkin before adding to the mash and boil.

Cheers,
Awfers

Read this.

I used canned pumpkin in the mash and was very pleased with the results. Adding pumpkin to the secondary will not yield the "pumpkin" taste you think it will.

I will also say that I used ginger in my spice mix for my Jolly Jack Pumpkin ale, and fermented with the fat tire yeast from Wyeast and was very happy with those choices.

Boerderij Kabouter said:

Read this.

I used canned pumpkin in the mash and was very pleased with the results. Adding pumpkin to the secondary will not yield the "pumpkin" taste you think it will.

I will also say that I used ginger in my spice mix for my Jolly Jack Pumpkin ale, and fermented with the fat tire yeast from Wyeast and was very happy with those choices.

Click to expand...

Awsome resource, I missed that one last year...

If your recipe posted?

Also did you have and problem with a stuck sparge? Would rice hulls help?

I add mine to the mash. I used both fresh pumpkin and canned pumpkin in my Pumpkin barleywine and I'm happy with it.

If you use fresh pumpkin get the pie pumpkins and follow these easy steps.

1.) Cut in half
2.) Scoop out the seeds
3.) Put just a sprinkle of brown sugar on the inside of the pumpkins
4.) Lay pumpkins cut side up onto a foil lined pan
5.) Insert into oven @ 350deg for 30-40 minutes
6.) Flip pumpkins over (so that the cut side is down) for 10-15 more minutes.
7.) Remove pumpkins and flip back over so that the cut side is up. Wait 10-15minutes and use a spoon to scoop the soft pumpkin out of the hard shell.

It might sound like a bit of work, but it really isn't. I ended up with 6lbs of fresh pumpkin and I used another 2 cans of canned pumpkin.

I would use a lot of rice hulls if I were you. I did have a stuck sparge but most of it was my fault, I had a very hectic day as I recall. If you use a bunch of hulls you will be fine. I will post my recipe for you over lunch and link to it here.

Cheers!

Thanks everyone for the help thus far!

during the mash and same amount in the boil has worked best for me. Done both fresh pumpkin and canned pumpkin pie filling. The canned pumpkin tasted best after fermentation and packaging was all said and done.

Most everyone notes the use of rice hulls and/or sparge difficulties. What kind of rice hull to pumpkin weight ratios have peole been trying?

the one time I didnt use hulls I stuck twice.

I am posting my recipe now... with the disclaimer that I have only brewed this once and that the recipe should only be used for reference.

Cheers

raceskier said:

Most everyone notes the use of rice hulls and/or sparge difficulties. What kind of rice hull to pumpkin weight ratios have peole been trying?

Click to expand...

In a 5gallon batch I used about 8lbs of pumpkin (about 6.5lbs of fresh and the rest was canned) in a 60qt cube cooler with a 5ft stainless steel braid and used no rice hulls. Had no stuck sparge issues at all.

I've got 15lbs of rice hulls sitting here, but I haven't used them yet so I can't help with an accurate grain to rice hulls figure.