NB Pumpkin Kit - Adding Canned Pumpkin

Northern Brewer General
1

So I’m getting ready to brew this and I have a question on how much canned pumpkin to add in the mini mash. It says to use 2-3 lbs of 6-row and an 8-10 lb pumpkin cooked. I’m opting for the canned route. I figure with an 8-10 lb pumpkin you’re getting 4-6 lbs after ditching the innards and skin, right? I bought 6 - 15oz cans of organic canned pumpkin, 5.625 lbs, and was planning on using it all with 3 lbs of 6-row (will also throw the small bag of specialty grains in here…some crystal I believe.

2 Questions…

  1. Is this too much? I’m using a grain bag so I won’t have to worry about a stuck sparge. I’m not big on the overly spiced commercial examples, so I figure I’d rather have too much pumpkin coming through than too much spice.

  2. I’ve seen some people post about cooking the pumpkin even though it’s canned. What does this accomplish? I was under the assumption that the cooking was to soften the raw (whole) pumpkin so the enzymes could convert some of the starches (basically get it softer instead of hard cubes). Is it really necessary to cook/bake the canned stuff?

Thanks for all/any replies…

Pat

2

I brewed two pumpkin ales one with pumpkin puree and one without. The only difference I could pick up on was the one brewed with pumpkin had a darker color , but the taste were almost identical. It just seems like a lot of extra work and money to me. Although I didn’t answer any of your questions just thought I would add my experience with pumpkin ale.

3

I just did an all-grain 5 gal batch and used 2-15 oz cans and found that to be plenty!

4

I used four cans in mine. And everyone seems to love it.