Anyone making a pumpkin keg?

[Smithy]

This article on Mike.com made me laugh: How to make a pumpkin keg - you know you want to.  I like the cheekiness of both the title and the idea. I wish I'd thought of it!  

 

I think the beer would have to be carefully chosen to benefit from the pumpkin.  What say you, beer connoisseurs? Has anyone tried this?  Would this treatment augment some special autumnal brew? 

[andiesenji]

I know a guy up at Mammoth who makes pumpkin ale and puts it into giant pumpkins with taps for parties he caters.

He has been doing this for several years - he make a "plain" pumpkin ale and a "spiced" pumpkin ale.

 

He buys the pumpkins from a grower in Bishop who "trains" the pumpkins to grow tall rather that squatty by confining them in 55 gallon drums that have been cut in half and are held together with bands or straps while the pumpkins are growing.  

Apparently there are a lot of people up in that area who use the pumpkins for kegs.

 

Ben grew up in New England, (Maine and New Hampshire) and told me that pumpkin ale was a "thing" in New England with old timers and he grew up hearing stories about how it was made during prohibition and tucked away in barns, in pumpkins.

Edited October 25, 2016 by andiesenji (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I would want to get the pumpkin as cold as possible before filling with the beer. Maybe even freeze the tap. After years of drinking warm to hot drinks, including beer, from saddlebags on trail rides, I come down firmly on the side of ice cold beer.

 

Other than that, it sounds like a very fun idea! You can tell yourself you are getting your Vitamin A and protein as you imbibe. 

[Lisa Shock]

4 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I would want to get the pumpkin as cold as possible before filling with the beer. Maybe even freeze the tap. After years of drinking warm to hot drinks, including beer, from saddlebags on trail rides, I come down firmly on the side of ice cold beer.

 

Other than that, it sounds like a very fun idea! You can tell yourself you are getting your Vitamin A and protein as you imbibe. 

 

Of course, you could just put some of those sealed cooler blue ice things inside. Just wash before freezing, maybe freeze in a plastic bag to keep sanitary (mine fall out of the freezer sometimes), then remove from the bag and place inside the pumpkin.

[andiesenji]

13 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I would want to get the pumpkin as cold as possible before filling with the beer. Maybe even freeze the tap. After years of drinking warm to hot drinks, including beer, from saddlebags on trail rides, I come down firmly on the side of ice cold beer.

 

Other than that, it sounds like a very fun idea! You can tell yourself you are getting your Vitamin A and protein as you imbibe. 

I phoned Ben this morning and he said he uses one of the large soup or stock cooling "wands" filled with ice inside the pumpkin to cool the ale.  He dumps in ice with rock salt into the wand so it really keeps the ale chilled so well it sometimes has little flakes of ice in it.