How To Brew Pumpkin Beer in a Pumpkin, in 20 Easy Steps | Sloshspot Blog

Ever wanted to Brew beer in a pumpkin, but found yourself intimidated by the unkown?  Well thanks to Nate Poell, the process by which this this awesome accomplishment might be realized has been laid out for us in detail. To be fair to both the creator of the process, and to home-brewing as an artform, it is suggested that the following not be attempted by first-time brewers. Here it is, how to brewe pumpkin beer, inside of a pumpkin, in 20 easy steps.

1. Find A Huge Pumpkin And a Medium Pumpkin.

 

source

Then buy them and take them home.

2. Carve the Huge Pumpkin

source

Big surprise: you’ll use the pumpkin as the fermenting vessel. To create/prepare the wort – which in turn ferments into beer, you’ll need something to mash the barley in. Pumpkins are great because they have built-in insulation. It’s just like nature’s fiberglass, really.

3. Scrape the Huge Pumpkin Out

source

Once you get the pumpkin carved, you are going to have to clean the beast out. This is the most physically straining task involved; dress accordingly. A walking shorts-and-Crocs combo is recommended. Make sure you get all the pumpkin guts out.

4. Install Manifold in the Huge Pumpkin

source

Make room and a fairly uniform surface in the mash tun for the manifold. The manifold has slits cut into the bottom of each tube, allowing the sugar-rich wort to be drained off the spent grain. 

5. Install the Tap

source

source

This step requires the use of a power drill. If your neighbor is unwilling to loan you tools after what happened last time, a screwdriver should suffice. The tap is fit into a hole drilled into the pumpkin. The thick walls of the pumpkin might make it difficult to connect the manifold to the tap. Once the tap is attached, it is now called a Tun. Reward yourself with a puns  -  what is now in front of you may now be referred to as a ‘Tunkin’.

6. Pump Hot Liquor through the Tunkin

source

Hot water, or "hot liquor", is pumped from the kettle at left up into the mash tun. Make sure the seals hold. You don’t want leaks.

7. Add Crushed Barley to the Mixture (Hot Liquor)

source

The next step is to add the crushed Barely to the mixture before sparging.

8. Close the Tun up – Good Things Come to Those That Wait

source

Close the tun up! Let the Ingredients do their thing.

9. Sparging Time!

source

The mash is complete, and now more hot liquor is added to the mash tun. This is done to draw more sugars out of the mash, increase the viscosity of the wort (to better the flow of the run off), and increase the volume of wort to be boiled. 

10. Run off the Wort

source

The sweet wort is slowly drawn off the tun into the kettle. Note that the sparge continues as the wort is run off. Typically, wort is re-circulated; recirculation clarifies the wort and draws more sugar out of the grain. 

11. Add Hops

source

The initial hop addition is for bittering. More hops are added halfway through the boil for flavoring. A final addition at the end of the boil boosts the aroma. 

 

12. Let The Tun Run Off

source

The tap should be removed after the majority of the wort runs off. Some wort will continue to run off. The visual effect is vaguely obscene. 

13. Boil the Wort

source

Boiling accomplishes a number of things: microorganisms in the wort are killed off, alpha acids and other components in the hops are drawn into the wort, and the volume of the wort is reduced. 

14. Carve Pumpkin No 2 – The Fermentor

source

As the wort boils, the fermentor is carved. Again, the innards are retained and sifted through for pumpkin seeds (which can be roasted and eaten at a later date).

15. Pump the Finished Wort

source

The boil is complete and wort is then pumped from the kettle through chillers into a sanitized bucket. After passing through the chillers, the wort temperature is approximately 70 degrees Farenheit. Chilling makes it possible to immediately inoculate the wort with yeast and reduce the possibility of a bacterial infection. 

The starting gravity of the wort (i.e., the amount of sugars and particulate matter in the wort -- water has a specific gravity of 1.000) was 1.042, making it a fairly light beer. 

16. Put The Wort in The Fermentor and Close it up

source

source

This pumpkin fermentor (pictured) holds approx. three gallons of wort. Once the wort is in the fermentor, beer yeast -- specifically, Danstar's Nottingham ale yeast -- is pitched and the wort is aerated to increase the oxygen available to the yeast. The aerated, inoculated wort in its closed up, air-tight home.

17. Patience is a Virtue – Let it Mellow

source

The brown, foamy crud looks rather unappetizing, but it's a sign of healthy fermentation. If the booze resembles vomit, that’s when you know you’re doing it right!

18. Siphon Time

source

A hydrometer reading will show that the gravity of the beer had fallen to ~1.010. At this point, fermentation of the beer is complete. Good news! The next step is to siphon beer into a glass carboy (i.e., a big jug).

19. Keg the Beer

source

That’s right, Keg the beer. Don’t be surprised if it has a hoppy, squash-like flavor to it.

20. DRINK THE BEER!

source

You worked hard, and you deserve the beer. Nervous grins, optional.

How To Brew Pumpkin Beer in a Pumpkin, in 20 Easy Steps | Sloshspot Blog