79 replies to this topic

[hoppygirl]

Hello-I am going to try to brew a pumpkin oktoberfest this week (extract recipe). I have a couple questions about my pumpkin though. First, can I use a regular pumpkin or should it be a pie pumpkin? Do I put the shell in as well or do i have to dig around the shell? And lastly, should I bake the pumpkin first (the recipe adds the pumpkin at the start of the boil and about halfway through)? Thanks!

[Deerslyr]

Hello-I am going to try to brew a pumpkin oktoberfest this week (extract recipe). I have a couple questions about my pumpkin though. First, can I use a regular pumpkin or should it be a pie pumpkin? Do I put the shell in as well or do i have to dig around the shell? And lastly, should I bake the pumpkin first (the recipe adds the pumpkin at the start of the boil and about halfway through)? Thanks!

I don't have an opinion on the type of pumpkin, however you should cut the pumpkin into quarters and bake it. The flesh will be easier to remove from the skin. You do want to bake the pumpkin though. When I made a pumpkin ale, I put the pumpkin directly into the mash. I did not put it into the boil. I think most around here put it into the mash.Is there a reason to not use canned pumpkin? It's much easier. I used an actual pumpkin once and ditched it for canned pumpkin the next year.

[Sidney Porter]

Do you want to make this beer for the novelty or do you like pumpkin beers?The best pumpkins beers that I have had (not a fan of them) didn't contain much pumpkin but instead pumpkin spices. I would either add at the end of the boil or at packages. more than likely I would add at packages I would dilute the spices in vodka and pour a bunch of 1 oz samples of the beer then with an eye dropper add the vodka spice mixture to the samples in various amounts, when you get the mixture you like multiply it out to the entire volume and add.If you are in it for the novelty I would brew it as all grain and mash either canned pumpkin or preroasted pumpkin pieces. If you go with the fresh pumpkin you want to get the smaller baking pumpkin not the kind that you carve at halloween. I don't think I would add the canned or roasted to the boil so this may exclude an extract batch. For an added bonus you could ferment in a hallow out pumpkin in this instances I would use a big one made for halloween. You are probably going to need to add spices to these methods.A third novelty idea would be to make the beer and to serve it out of a pumpkin. Get one of the valves from a bottling bucket and fill a hallowed out pumpkin.

[weave]

Can you even make a pumpkin beer as an extract brew?With an all grain beer you would add the pumpkin flesh to the mash so that the enzymes convert the pumkin starches. Not feasible with extract unless you can find diastatic extract and add the pumkin to that.

[MtnBrewer]

I'm not much on pumpkin beers but the advice I've always seen is that canned pumpkin for pies works better than actual pumpkin. And yes, it needs to be added to the mash. I'm not sure how you'd manage that for an extract beer. Partial mash maybe?

[hoppygirl]

Can you even make a pumpkin beer as an extract brew?With an all grain beer you would add the pumpkin flesh to the mash so that the enzymes convert the pumkin starches. Not feasible with extract unless you can find diastatic extract and add the pumkin to that.

Well, Im a fairly new brewer, but the recipe i found was an extract recipe. So I dont know. After reading everyone's posts it sounds like maybe the person who created the recipe wasn't very experienced....

[hoppygirl]

I really like the serving out of a pumpkin idea...thanks!

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

guys, why would a mash be necessary? if she's just hoping to obtain pumpkin flavor and not really get fermentables it seems like a mash wouldn't be required.disclaimer: I've never used pumpkin in beer b/c I don't generally like it.ETA: this is an ale (not a lager), right?

[Sidney Porter]

guys, why would a mash be necessary? if she's just hoping to obtain pumpkin flavor and not really get fermentables it seems like a mash wouldn't be required.disclaimer: I've never used pumpkin in beer b/c I don't generally like it.

I would think that adding it to the boil is going to give a lot of starch and haze. I really would skip the pumpkin all together and work on the spice blend.

[Sidney Porter]

ETA: this is an ale (not a lager), right?

An octoberfest is a lager. But from a process stand point it should not matter.

[MtnBrewer]

I would think that adding it to the boil is going to give a lot of starch and haze.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I would think that adding it to the boil is going to give a lot of starch and haze. I really would skip the pumpkin all together and work on the spice blend.

I agree with this. The few pumpkin beers I've had that I thought weren't bad went down this route I think.

An octoberfest is a lager. But from a process stand point it should not matter.

I'm aware Some people make mocktoberfests that are ales though. I was just asking b/c the homebrewer in question seems to be new at this and ales are much easier to handle early in the homebrewing game.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.

good point on the haziness guys. sounds like for this situation the spice pack might be better.

[Deerslyr]

I would think that adding it to the boil is going to give a lot of starch and haze. I really would skip the pumpkin all together and work on the spice blend.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too.

This!I know Sidney is big on just using the spices and it seems like we discussed this late last week. The amount of fermentables that you get from pumpkin is nominal, but I think it is the one ingredient that you use that qualifies it as a Pumpkin brew. The other spices... well, I used a very similar blend to what you would find in Pumpkin Spices for a Holiday brew... There is a definite "novelty" to using pumpkin, but I wouldn't go out of my way to make it too difficult or prone to issues (i.e. using the pumpkin as a fermenter... did you get to read that article in BYO last year?)

[Big Nake]

Yeah, I can't imagine anything but horrendous haze resulting from adding the pumpkin to the boil. There have been numerous discussions about what pumpkin adds to a beer anyway. To be honest, I think the OP should just make the beer "as is" (no pumpkin) and then add the pumpkin pie spice (or whatever the recipe calls for) later in the process. I am going to be making my Summoned Spirits Spiced Pumpkin Ale in the next week or 2 and I do use canned pumpkin mush in the mash and then a late addition of pumpkin pie spice at flameout and then again when going into secondary. My assumption is that the spice alone would create a nice beer and the pumpkin could be left out.Zym... you don't like this style!? I would think that a crisp fall day in NH would go great with a pint of spiced pumpkin ale! Cheers.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

Zym... you don't like this style!? I would think that a crisp fall day in NH would go great with a pint of spiced pumpkin ale! Cheers.

yeah - I think I've had too many bad versions of it. Portsmouth brewery had one last fall that I actually enjoyed but that so far has been the only one.

[Deerslyr]

Yeah, I can't imagine anything but horrendous haze resulting from adding the pumpkin to the boil. There have been numerous discussions about what pumpkin adds to a beer anyway. To be honest, I think the OP should just make the beer "as is" (no pumpkin) and then add the pumpkin pie spice (or whatever the recipe calls for) later in the process. I am going to be making my Summoned Spirits Spiced Pumpkin Ale in the next week or 2 and I do use canned pumpkin mush in the mash and then a late addition of pumpkin pie spice at flameout and then again when going into secondary. My assumption is that the spice alone would create a nice beer and the pumpkin could be left out.Zym... you don't like this style!? I would think that a crisp fall day in NH would go great with a pint of spiced pumpkin ale! Cheers.

Ken, I would challenge you to use your Home Run Red and put 2 cans of pumpkin in the mash... use the spices for late addition and flame out, in lieu of the hops. I used your HRR recipe with that modification and it came out great! The color wasn't quite your brilliant red, but ended up more of an orangish color.

[Big Nake]

Ken, I would challenge you to use your Home Run Red and put 2 cans of pumpkin in the mash... use the spices for late addition and flame out, in lieu of the hops. I used your HRR recipe with that modification and it came out great! The color wasn't quite your brilliant red, but ended up more of an orangish color.

Yeah, I could see this working well. It's funny but when I put my pumpkin ale recipe together, I should've just adjusted one of my existing malty recipes (God knows I have some!), but instead I envisioned the beer in my head and put the base recipe together based on that. I did add a small amount of Chocolate & RB so there would be a faint roastiness. I need to check my inventory to make sure I even have what I need. Cheers!

[MtnBrewer]

One other thing...it's only a name but I think once you add all those spices to a beer, the label "Oktoberfest" no longer applies.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

One other thing...it's only a name but I think once you add all those spices to a beer, the label "Oktoberfest" no longer applies.

As a dude who loves o'fest beers - I concur.

[EWW]

Welcome to the board! Pumpkin doesn't add too many flavors on it's own and should be mashed. If you spice an o'fest I think you may have a really nice beer. Balancing spices can be difficult. Go light at first and see how you like it. Or do a tincture and add a measured amound to a glass to get the balance and then add it to the whole batch. We can help either way you want to go.