From Newsgroup: alt.beer.home-brewing

I did a partigyle on Saturday to make a 5 gallon batch of IPA and
another 5 gallon batch of pumpkin ale.

I decided to do the pumpkin ale a little different this time to compare
it to my previous batches. My other batches did not actually include
pumpkin, but just the spices, and they turned out real nice -- the
favorite of one of my sons. I've read posts about adding pumpkin to the
mash and about adding it to the boil. Neither approach seemed reasonable
to me; putting it in the mash risks a stuck sparge and the possible loss
of some flavor components, etc. And since the nutritional information
on the can had some unaccounted grams of carbohydrates -- after listing
sugar and fiber -- I had to conclude that they were starches although
not specifically listed as such, and I didn't want unconverted starches
in the boil to cause haze later. So, I mashed my grains, and then after
15 minutes recirculated my mash just a little bit to be sure I had a
good mix of enzymes and as a vorlauf to clear it, and then I drained
about half a gallon of runnings and added them to a separate pot with my
two 15oz. cans of pumpkin pie filling, and held that at 152F as a
separate mini-mash. After sparging my main mash, I added everything to
the kettle, including all of the pumpkin which I _assume_ had converted
any starches (I didn't have any iodine to test for starch, but it mashed
for at least 45 minutes before going into the kettle).

I have also started my tincture of vodka and pumpkin spices in a mason
jar, and will add that at bottling time as I have done in the past. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. I know that 30 oz. of
canned pumpkin isn't much for a 5 gallon batch (less than recipes I've
seen), but it should be enough to indicate if it makes a difference, and
I'd rather adjust a little at a time.

Cheers.

Bill Velek -- portal to my "HOMEBREWING" sites: www.tinyurl.com/29zr8r
My other sites: www.velek.com ~ www.2plus2is4.com ~ www.grow-hops.com
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From Newsgroup: alt.beer.home-brewing

On Dec 8, 12:13 pm, Bill Velek <billve...@alltel.net> wrote:

I did a partigyle on Saturday to make a 5 gallon batch of IPA and
another 5 gallon batch of pumpkin ale.

I decided to do the pumpkin ale a little different this time to compare
it to my previous batches. My other batches did not actually include
pumpkin, but just the spices, and they turned out real nice -- the
favorite of one of my sons. I've read posts about adding pumpkin to the
mash and about adding it to the boil. Neither approach seemed reasonable
to me; putting it in the mash risks a stuck sparge and the possible loss
of some flavor components, etc. And since the nutritional information
on the can had some unaccounted grams of carbohydrates -- after listing
sugar and fiber -- I had to conclude that they were starches although
not specifically listed as such, and I didn't want unconverted starches
in the boil to cause haze later. So, I mashed my grains, and then after
15 minutes recirculated my mash just a little bit to be sure I had a
good mix of enzymes and as a vorlauf to clear it, and then I drained
about half a gallon of runnings and added them to a separate pot with my
two 15oz. cans of pumpkin pie filling, and held that at 152F as a
separate mini-mash. After sparging my main mash, I added everything to
the kettle, including all of the pumpkin which I _assume_ had converted
any starches (I didn't have any iodine to test for starch, but it mashed
for at least 45 minutes before going into the kettle).

I have also started my tincture of vodka and pumpkin spices in a mason
jar, and will add that at bottling time as I have done in the past. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. I know that 30 oz. of canned pumpkin isn't much for a 5 gallon batch (less than recipes I've
seen), but it should be enough to indicate if it makes a difference, and
I'd rather adjust a little at a time.

Cheers.

Bill Velek -- portal to my "HOMEBREWING" sites:www.tinyurl.com/29zr8r
My other sites: www.velek.com~www.2plus2is4.com~www.grow-hops.com

Hey, that's awesome. Good luck with it, and let us know.
(Can I call you Pumpkinhead?)
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From Newsgroup: alt.beer.home-brewing

In article <27e76$493d55cd$6214e62e$12647@ALLTEL.NET>,
Bill Velek <billvelek@alltel.net> wrote:

I decided to do the pumpkin ale a little different this time to compare
it to my previous batches. My other batches did not actually include >pumpkin, but just the spices, and they turned out real nice -- the
favorite of one of my sons. I've read posts about adding pumpkin to the
mash and about adding it to the boil. Neither approach seemed reasonable
to me; putting it in the mash risks a stuck sparge and the possible loss
of some flavor components, etc.

I've never had a sparging problem when mashing with pumpkin. So far, I've
done two batches with fresh pumpkin and one with canned; in both cases, the pumpkin spent some time roasting in the oven before it was added to the
mash. Maybe that makes the difference. (Fresh definitely needs to be
roasted to soften it up and make the contents more accessible. Maybe canned pumpkin also benefits from some time in the oven; I was looking for some caramelization, but maybe there's also something going on in there.)

I had to conclude that they were starches although
not specifically listed as such, and I didn't want unconverted starches
in the boil to cause haze later.

True...that's why you want to add pumpkin to the mash, not the boil.

So, I mashed my grains, and then after
15 minutes recirculated my mash just a little bit to be sure I had a
good mix of enzymes and as a vorlauf to clear it, and then I drained
about half a gallon of runnings and added them to a separate pot with my
two 15oz. cans of pumpkin pie filling

I hope this was just a typo and you meant canned pumpkin instead of pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has eggs, milk, sugar, spices, and all of the other stuff so that you can just dump it into a pie crust, throw it in the oven, and get a pie. You don't want most of that stuff in your beer.
Canned pumpkin is just that: pumpkin, with nothing else.

(I need to get off my butt and do something with the 12 lbs. of pie pumpkins
I picked up a couple of weeks ago, before they start to rot. I bought them
so I could crank out a 10-gallon batch of pumpkin ale. After seeding, roasting, and peeling, you end up with about half as much as you started
with, but I've gotten slightly better results with fresh pumpkin than with canned. A local pro brewer used canned pumpkin for his pumpkin ale this
year when he couldn't get enough fresh; he had the stuck sparge from hell,
but I think he said he just dumped the canned pumpkin into the mash straight from the cans.)

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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From Newsgroup: alt.beer.home-brewing

Scott Alfter wrote:

snip

I hope this was just a typo and you meant canned pumpkin instead of pie filling. Pumpkin pie filling has eggs, milk, sugar, spices, and all of the other stuff so that you can just dump it into a pie crust, throw it in the oven, and get a pie. You don't want most of that stuff in your beer.
Canned pumpkin is just that: pumpkin, with nothing else.

snip

Yes, I just goofed when I was typing the message. I'm sure it was just
plain "pumpkin"; there was nothing in the ingredients on the label
except "pumpkin" -- not even any preservatives, which is the main reason
why I was checking on the ingredients. I didn't want to add anything
that might 'zap' my yeast.

As far as problems with a stuck sparge, I've never mashed pumpkin and
had no idea whether it could contribute to a problem or not, so I just
didn't want to take any chances. Also, it seemed logical to me that
adding it to the boil -- as many brewers do -- would probably add a bit
of flavor that might be missed if I just mashed it. It was sort of a
spur of the moment decision, so I didn't do any actual planning in
advance; I just had the pumpkin on hand from the last time I made one
but decided to skip the pumpkin and just use the spices instead. We
shall see how this one works out. And as for carmelization, I think you
are probably correct that baking it first will accomplish precisely
that, and I'll give that a try on my next batch.

Cheers.

Bill Velek -- portal to my "HOMEBREWING" sites: www.tinyurl.com/29zr8r
My other sites: www.velek.com ~ www.2plus2is4.com ~ www.grow-hops.com
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