Peter Peter Pumpkin Ale - vol. I

Hand Carved Fermentation Vessel
So, I've been scheming since this summer about brewing a pumpkin beer in an actual pumpkin; I'm not sure it's ever been done before or not. I bought this pumpkin at Hannafords for $5 back in October and have been putting this project off for no reason in particular. The pumpkin has stayed in fantastic condition because of my brilliant root-cellaring skill-set.

This is mainly an experiment done on a small pumpkin that I hope to scale up to a giant pumpkin once I have worked out all the problems. That being said, here are the problems I foresee at this point:

* the pumpkin is probably impossible to sanitize without putting its structural integrity in jeopardy

* the pumpkin may loose its structural integrity from being filled with liquid after a few days, and by liquid I mean fermenting beer

* the non-sanitized pumpkin could contribute microbes that may potentially and substantially sour any beer that comes in contact with it

* risk for infection of the beer in the pumpkin from exterior microbes is highly possible from lack of airlock and unsealed seam where pumpkin lid is re-attached

So, with those known problems lurking, I do not necessarily anticipate a success, merely an attempt.


The pumpkin filled with wort
I tried to char the inside of the pumpkin, a la bourbon barrel, but my little creme brulee torch did not have the gumption to really get the job done - I was only able to slightly scorch a 2" by 2" portion of the inside, but the good news is that the pumpkin held the lion's share of the 5 gallon batch: 3.5 gallons (+/- some non-scientific margin of error).
Here's some stats from today's brewing:

EXPECTED OG: 1.051
MEASURED OG: 1.063 - probably incorrect, hydrometer sample had high amount of trub/hop sediment
IBUs: 25
MALT: 2-row, Munich, Vienna, Wheat, Aromatic
HOPS: Challenger, Crystal
YEAST: California Ale (WLP001)

So, that's all for now. I will continue the saga as events unfold