Pumpkin Ale Question

I want to brew a pumpkin in a few weeks. My local grocery store carries cans of organic un spiced pumpkin. How much canned pumpkin should I use for a nice, light pumpkin flavor and aroma? I would hate to use too much pumpkin and overdo it.

I just used 4 cans for a 5 gallon batch. Spread over a baking sheet and baked at 325 for an hour with some brown sugar on it then added to the mash (it was a mess…shoulda used rice hulls). I’ve only tasted it at kegging, but it tasted pretty friggin good! I also added some spices. I don’t believe you get a ton of flavor from just pumpkin.

You won’t get any flavor from the pumpkin. It does make the mash a PITA to sparge. The last few years, I have been cubing up the pumpkin meat, baking for 60m at 300F until it gets carmelly and sweet and putting it in a muslin bag for the last 10 minutes of the boil.

+1 for pumpkin not adding any additional flavor. Just tried my pumpkin brew tonight and honestly I’m not sure if I could tell the difference between a pumpkin spice beer brewed with pumpkin and one without. Might work out if you really roast the heck out of the pumpkin.

Adding pumpkin to a ‘pumpkin beer’ does little more than give you some proteins, haze, (maybe pectins?), a few percentage points of fermentables, and the cache to say “This is brewed with REAL pumpkin”, like Dogfish Head does.

Pumpkin beers are really just spiced brown ales/stouts, and the spice bouquet is similar to what you put in pumpkin pie…but I get the desire to put actual pumpkin in.

Google a clone of Southern Tier’s Pumpking. I think there is one over on HBT, and it is seriously the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had. Graham cracker extract is the key.

[quote=“Pietro”]Adding pumpkin to a ‘pumpkin beer’ does little more than give you some proteins, haze, (maybe pectins?), a few percentage points of fermentables, and the cache to say “This is brewed with REAL pumpkin”, like Dogfish Head does.

Pumpkin beers are really just spiced brown ales/stouts, and the spice bouquet is similar to what you put in pumpkin pie…but I get the desire to put actual pumpkin in.

Google a clone of Southern Tier’s Pumpking. I think there is one over on HBT, and it is seriously the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had. Graham cracker extract is the key.[/quote]

Where do you get Graham cracker extract?

[quote=“paultuttle”][quote=“Pietro”]Adding pumpkin to a ‘pumpkin beer’ does little more than give you some proteins, haze, (maybe pectins?), a few percentage points of fermentables, and the cache to say “This is brewed with REAL pumpkin”, like Dogfish Head does.

Pumpkin beers are really just spiced brown ales/stouts, and the spice bouquet is similar to what you put in pumpkin pie…but I get the desire to put actual pumpkin in.

Google a clone of Southern Tier’s Pumpking. I think there is one over on HBT, and it is seriously the best pumpkin beer I’ve ever had. Graham cracker extract is the key.[/quote]

Where do you get Graham cracker extract?[/quote]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=graham+cracker+extract

:smiley:

What I meant was, where did you get yours. Not all extracts are equal, and sellers of extract definitely aren’t. I did already know how to use Google, thanks.

I didn’t realize that’s what you meant. If you had asked ‘where do you get YOUR extract’ that might have been clearer. Annnywho, to the OP, try it in your pumpkin.