[smitty]

Again, thanks for all the advice everyone.  About how much canned pumpkin would you use?

Regarding spices, which do y'all  recommend and and what stage would do you think is the best to add them? 

Please keep in mind I'm somewhat of a novice still.  Thank you.

[tschmidlin]

Again, thanks for all the advice everyone.  About how much canned pumpkin would you use?

Regarding spices, which do y'all  recommend and and what stage would do you think is the best to add them? 

Please keep in mind I'm somewhat of a novice still.  Thank you.

For the spices, I'd go with any pumpkin pie recipe you like.  They often vary in the amounts of ginger (I like more), clove, cinnamon, etc.  Or you can buy premixed spices.  I'd add 1/4 tsp with <5 minutes left in the boil, maybe bump it up later with a tincture in secondary or in the keg if you want more.

I haven't used canned pumpkin, but I imagine you could use 1-5 cans, depending on size of the can and the impact you are going for.  Someone else will probably be able to tighten that up.

[gimmeales]

I had read that the oil from the seeds may kill the head retention but it seemed fine... and tasted good, so I was pleased with the results.

not sure how much seeds differ from nuts in the oils department, but read on the probrewer forums from Ron Jeffries that roasting nuts to your desired color\flavor can be added to any part of the process and will not affect head retention.  He was surprised by this, but it worked and I believe this was for the semi-recent Stone\JollyPumpkin\Nogne-O collaboration which contained walnuts. Another local brewer in the greater Seattle area recently did this with a Porter that was very well received.

Could be the same thing works for seeds, just not sure how much pumpkin flavor comes through in the seeds.

[andrew]

Last year I roasted the seeds in the oven until golden, crushed them, and added them to the mash.

I knew someone would have.  I will have to grow pumpkins next year, i used too a lot when kids were little.  how much did you add to your bill?

Honestly couldn't tell you. I didn't weigh them, but it was seeds from 3 pumpkins that were less than a foot across, probably about 10" or so. It was a pan full.

[gordonstrong]

OK, I dug out the pumpkin ale recipe I made two years ago. It's modified slightly since I thought the original had too much clove.  I used five cans of plain pumpkin, Libby's I think. I roasted them in a nonstick roasting pan in the oven at 350F for 1 hour, turning occasionally, and scalloping them with a spatula to expose more surface area to the heat.

Recipe for 6.5 gallons

5 lbs Maris Otter
2 lbs Munich
3 lbs Vienna
1/2 lb Biscuit
1 lb Caravienne
3/4 lb rolled oats
1/4 lb Carapils
9 lbs pumpkin (5 cans), roasted in 350F oven for 1 hour
3 fl oz molasses
6 oz brown sugar
1 oz Spalt whole 2.2% @ 60
1/4 oz Tettnanger whole 4.5% @ 60
Mash 153F
Boil 90
Pumpkin, molasses, brown sugar added to the last 10 minutes of the boil
WLP002 68F

spices:
4 cinnamon sticks
1 T crystallized ginger
1/2 nutmeg
8 allspice
1 clove
3 green cardamom
2 white pepper
crack spices, make a tea (steep for 10 minutes in boiling water, drain)

OG 1058
12 IBUs

Blend spice tea in to taste after fermentation is complete. Wound up with about 4 finished gallons due to mishandling of pumpkin in boil and racking, etc.  Put it in a mesh bag to make it easier to remove, run through a hopback or filter or something, or run into a carboy and let settle, than rack clear liquid to another carboy for fermentation. Use any hops that give you those IBUs; that's what I had handy.

[birdman200]

what would you substitute if you wanted to use some extract and not all grain?

[Rhoobarb]

A typical pumpkin pie spice mix consists of: 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ginger and 1/8 tsp. each nutmeg and allspice.  I usually use .75oz. in a 5 gal. batch at 1 min. left in the boil.  I'll add more at bottling/kegging if I think it needs it.