Smashing Pumpkin Ale

drf1090 · October 5, 2011, 5:30pm

Hey All,

I am kind of new to brewing and recently decided to try brewing my favorite seasonal beer, a pumpkin ale. To do this I bought the Smashing Pumpkin Ale from Northern Brewer as well as 3lbs of Row 6 and a pumpkin as instructed. I am just a little unclear on what I am supposed to do next. They say to boil the row 6 AND the included grains with 3 gallons of water and the mashed up, cooked, pumpkin. My question is, do I let ALL of the grains freely float in the boil or do I put them in the sack as per usual. Also, do I start as if it were boiling water when its time to put the hops and malt in? I just want to be sure I am going about it right beforeI give it a go. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

a10t2 · October 5, 2011, 5:58pm

I’m assuming this is going to be your first mash. In a mash, the grains are held at about 145-158°F (this kit specifies 152°F) for an hour or so. The wort is then separated from the grist before it’s boiled. You might want to look over NB’s instructions

before you try it.

drf1090 · October 5, 2011, 6:29pm

Great! Thank you. That helped answer some of my questions. My one remaining question though is, do I take the row six and the specialty grains provide along with the pumpkin and make the mash all at one or do I just do that procedure with the row six and pumpkin and then do the specialty grains as if it were just water? I apologize if these questions seem stupid! I just want some good home brewed beer!

a10t2 · October 5, 2011, 7:01pm

I doubt you’d notice much difference either way, but the kit instructions say to include the specialty grains in the mash.

jeffwa · October 6, 2011, 5:43pm

I just ordered the same kit and had one additional question. I’m assuming that by adding the 6-row I’m just turning this into a partial mash kit, correct? So, after mashing the 6-row, pumpkin and specialty grains the resulting wort is then boiled with the included extract just like a regular partial mash kit (using recipe schedule)?

Thanks!

bassmannate · October 7, 2011, 1:11pm

The only real reason for the 6-row is the enzymes. Mashing the 6-row with your pumpkin will convert the starches in the pumpkin to sugars just like it would do for grain. 6-row typically has more enzymes than 2-row and pumpkin doesn’t have any, of course.

a10t2 · October 7, 2011, 2:37pm

For what it’s worth, that isn’t really the case for most contemporary maltsters. 2-row and 6-row pale malts are all around 120-160°L, with considerable overlap. Unless the mash is >60% adjuncts, you can use other factors to choose a base malt.

fargobeergeek · October 20, 2011, 5:41pm

I’m about to try this all-grain kit this weekend and I will be roasting about 5 lbs. of pumpkin for the mash. Question: when I determine my mash thickness, etc should I add the 5 lbs of pumpkin to the total grain weight to determine my strike water volume? Or just use the weight of the actual grains for my calculations? Thanks!