Planning a pumpkin ale?

[brewinhard]

There is a pumpkin shortage this year. This year in downstate Illinois, it was wet and not as sunny as up here. So, 2010 is a repeat of the previous two years. You could use acorn squash or sweet potatoes (yams are not grown in the US) as a sub.

Or you could do what I do with my annual pumpkin ale - forget the pumpkins! I got the idea after the brewmaster at Lunar Brewing (Villa Park, IL) told me he got tired of the mess and hassle of using pumpkin in the mash. One year he decided to add just the spices. He theorized, "That's all you taste when you eat a pumpkin pie anyway. The pumpkin itself really hasn't got much flavor." It works great! Year before last I took 3+ gallons left in a keg to a Halloween party and the keg kicked in less that three hours.

Yams aren't grown in the US? I find that hard to believe. But then again I am no yam farmer....

[Rhoobarb]

Yams aren't grown in the US? I find that hard to believe. But then again I am no yam farmer....

Nope. I guess calling sweet potatoes yams makes them seem more refined! I learned watching the old Frugal Gourmet show (remember him?) that yams are only grown in parts of Africa and a couple of other countries, but not here.

http://tinyurl.com/22cwzl

It's all marketing!

[thatguy314]

Yams aren't grown in the US? I find that hard to believe. But then again I am no yam farmer....

Nope. I guess calling sweet potatoes yams makes them seem more refined! I learned watching the old Frugal Gourmet show (remember him?) that yams are only grown in parts of Africa and a couple of other countries, but not here.

http://tinyurl.com/22cwzl

It's all marketing!

Yams and sweet potatoes are different things. Yams are the poor man's sweet potato, though most people call yams sweet potatoes. Most people haven't had real sweet potatoes actually. Yams are sweeter, more intensely orange, have a dark skin and grow on a vine. Sweet potatoes, are smaller, yellow or lighter orange, and are tuberous vegetables (roots).

For more info http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookvegetables/a/sweetpotatodiff.htm