Ok I am looking to do a pumpkin ale soon for the fall, and was thinking of how much pumpkin to use in the recipe. I reviewed an Episode of Discovery Channels Brewmasters from Dogfish Head. Sam Calagione narrating his recipe stated that he uses 36 cans of pumpkin for 600 barrels of ale. I noticed that the brewer was using no. 10 Cans of solid pack pumpkin which are 106 ounce per can. 1 Barrel of beer is 31 Gallons

106 ounce * 36 cans = 3816 ounces pumpkin
600 barrels * 31 gallons per barrel = 18600 gallons

I scaled the amount of pumpkin to a 5 gallon batch, with a result of just over 1 ounce of canned pumpkin for the entire batch.

3816*5/18600=1.03

Does this seem correct?

A friend of mine used to make a pumpkin ale.

If I recall he uses one or two cans of pumpkin for a five gallon batch so it looks like your numbers are right.

I believe he has used pumpkin pie filling in both all grain and extract and specialty malt brews.

To tell the truth the pumpkin really does not contribute any flavor. If you add it to the mash the contribution in terms of converted sugars is minimal. All it really adds is a bit of color.

What makes pumpkin ale distinctive is the use of pumpkin pie spices.

My friend now brews a "pumpkin ale" without actually using any pumpkin. He just brews up a standard low-medium hopped ale with pumpkin pie spices. He also uses a bit of 60-80 L crystal malt to impart a bit of reddish-orange color.

Good luck with your beer.

Please let us know how it comes out.

- Scott

I use 3 (15oz) cans of organic pumpkin, but in the following ways:

1. 1 can in the mash
2. 1 can in the boil (60 minutes)
3. 1 can in the secondary, (optional - mixed with bourbon)

I get the organic canned pumpkin (not pumpkin filling) from Whole Foods and it turns out wonderful every time. The best part is that Whole Foods carries it year round so you can experiment throughout the year and make a great pumpkin beer come fall.

I'm not suprised that dogfish has very little pumpkin in a pumpkin beer-- imo the main flavor in the majority of micro pumpkin beers is either cinnamon allspice or nutmeg or a combination of the three. I don't know pumpkin to undergo any starch conversion during a mash, so i am not sure if there are any benefits to it being in the mash. Let me know if you guys know otherwise.