I mentioned it in one of these pumpkin beer threads, but I believe that canned pumpkin might not be from what we consider a pumpkin, but can come form any number of squash that th FDA still considers to be pumpkin. That includes butternut, which is what Libbey uses in the Western US. They use something different in the Eastern US.
So my pumpkin beer this year is made with butternut (and spices), and I like it. 
I want to try butternut in a pumpkin beer…maybe harvest '12.
Cans of Libbey’s :) I used two big cans in 5 gallons in the mash, it definitely carried through to the wort.
NICE!
Thanks for the tip.
Pumpking is really good. I try to get a few bombers of it each year.
I find Schlafly’s pumpkin ale to be my favorite of the pumpkins. Very tasty stuff, I personally like it even better than pumpking.
I can easily see how pumpkin beers might not be preferable to some people. It’s kinda odd to combine pumpkin and beer, but I like fruit/vegetable beers a lot, so I happen to like them. To each their own.
Can you use fresh butternut squash? I just love butternut squash. I would love to make a butternut ale.
I’m learning homebrewing now, experimenting on small batches of mr beer, at the moment, about to start with a 6.5 gal kit (with some help from a friend), reading a lot of posts/books, but not talking much yet or claiming huge successes. I’ve read that canned fruits tend to work well, can you please elaborate your thoughts if you don’t mind!
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You can. Do some searches on here for pumpkin, there are many threads. Any squash, or even sweet potatoes or yams, will work similarly.
Most often people peel them, chunk them, and roast them for awhile. Then add them to the mash.
If you’re doing all extract, you can add them to the boil (use a bag) and you should get color and flavor.
Spices can be added to the boil or the fermenter. I prefer the boil, but I’ve personally grown weary of spiced ales. I’m sure I’ll come around again in a year or more.
+1
Chunk it and roast it with some spices then mash it and boil. Use plenty of rice hulls to prevent a stuck sparge.
Thanks for the replies on that question!
I’m ready to start with the bigger kit, but won’t start off right away with a pumpkin ale, lol. I should have the bigger kit at the end of the year and start my first batch in January. Will be reading lots until then, and brewing a couple more small batches in the meantime!
The brewer at a nearby brewpub brewed a pumpkin beer a few years ago that somehow got infected and turned sour. She couldn’t sell it so she gave it to me. My son and I both loved it, he got about 40 bombers of it and I kept a keg in my kegerator. That’s the only pumpkin beer I’ve ever tried that didn’t make me gag. Dogfish’s Punkin was the worst, vilest stuff I’ve ever tasted.