pumpkin wine

[sherriff Buffoerd pusser]

I had some leftover pumpkins from halloween so Im trying this, smells pretty bad from start dont know how its gonna turn out but if it taste bad I'll do something with it.Tater was wright pumpkins take lots of effort.Used some brown sugar and some pumpkin pie seasnon.

[riff42]

I had some leftover pumpkins from halloween so Im trying this, smells pretty bad from start dont know how its gonna turn out but if it taste bad I'll do something with it.Tater was wright pumpkins take lots of effort.Used some brown sugar and some pumpkin pie seasnon.

Smells bad eh? Guess that is why you never see pumpkin wine sold in stores!!! Only beer
I get 2 ciders, 1 lemonade and soon a Mead going. Pumpink I think is only good for pies!
oh, and lattes.

[speedfreaksteve]

I'm making some too. Started the batch on Nov 1st. 18lbs of pumpkin, 10 lbs of table sugar, tannin/yeast nutrient, and a 1/4 cup of lemon juice.

The stuff is fermenting like mad. Yesterday when I checked the SG was down to 1.025. I started it around 1.100.

I've sample tasted it and it tastes good, smells nice too.

I think part of the reason that the other poster has a badly smelly wine is with the brown sugar. I've seen a handful of people try, but I've never seen a wine come out good that had brown sugar in it.

You're making pumpkin wine, not pumpkin pie. Reminds me of some people put cinnamon or cloves in when they start making apple wine. It basically ruins it. Most fruit wines should be made exactly the same as if they were grapes. You wouldn't be able to tell most properly made apple wines from a grape wine.

[Husker]

I just finished up a pumpkin wash. Results were very good.

We had a 60lb monster. Cut it in half, and put in oven for almost 2 hours per side. Still was not done, but I cut of the skin, and put the meat in a large pot. Cooked it, until is was mush. Then we ran the mush through the food mill, and set it into 2 large collanders, lined with 2 layers of cheese cloth. Let the juice settle out of the mix, and ended up with about 2/3 juice, and 1/3 "meat". Turned that into pumpkin butter (yummy). Had about 2 gallons of juice. Put that, and 8 lb of sugar and filled a 6 gallon fermenter with water. Pitched my yeast (dregs from some settling out my whiskey wash). For a couple of days, YES, it did smell bad. Was kind of a sulphur stink. However, that subsided after a few days. I put in 3 more pounds of sugar after a couple days. Took over 2 weeks for finally ferment out.

The results turned out fine, but yes, that smell had me wondering for a while. Mine reduced in stinkyness, and ended up smelling pumpkin-like in the end, and the distillate came through with a warm pumpkin flavor. I have mine sitting in my home ground pumkin spice. It is already a beautiful orange glowing color. I certainly hope that the spices do not add a harse bitter taste, because I certainly do NOT want to redistill this. I would love to keep that look, it is nice.

H.

[sherriff Buffoerd pusser]

Yall were correct about ferment this stuff is going like mad.Smells awful.I got to move it to shop got it in house garage but its gonna stink up all the house.

[Husker]

Yall were correct about ferment this stuff is going like mad.Smells awful.I got to move it to shop got it in house garage but its gonna stink up all the house.

Mine did smell better after a few days. Ended on a sweet smelling note.

H.

[speedfreaksteve]

I only cut the really good meat off of the pumpkins (I used 4 different ones). Maybe that's the difference too?

Mine tastes good, but I'm worried about it not being full bodied enough, I might rack it and add some fresh pumpkin pieces in.

[Husker]

As far as I knew, meat was meat (except under the stem and stump).

H.

[level Joe]

speedfreaksteve

You're making pumpkin wine, not pumpkin pie. Reminds me of some people put cinnamon or cloves in when they start making apple wine. It basically ruins it.

You’ve never had mulled wine or a spice wine? Or never had any you like?
I make a spiced carrot that aint to bad.

9 lb carrots pealed, cut up and boiled till tender in 3 gal water, strain and use water (ends up w/ 1 1/2 gal +/-)
32 oz un sweetened pineapple juice
2-4 vanilla beans cut down center
4 cinnamon sticks boiled in 1 qt water for 15 min
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 lemon (juice only)
1 orange (juice only)
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp peptic enzyme
1 camden
top up to 6 gal
adjust sg to 1.062 (8%)
wait 24 hr add yeast starter (I use Côte des Blancs)
Serve cold or warmed

I might try it with some honey next time.

speedfreaksteve
Most fruit wines should be made exactly the same as if they were grapes

Pumpkin is not a fruit and most peolpe wouldnt boil grapes. Some people say wine is only made of grapes, anything else is not wine (I dont agree).

speedfreaksteve
You wouldn't be able to tell most properly made apple wines from a grape wine.

Youre welcome to youre opinion but I sure don't agree with that.

[speedfreaksteve]

Yes I've had mulled/spiced wines and haven't had any that I liked. Your recipe there looks interesting though, but its just not my style. You might want to try it without boil

As for boiling anything that goes into a wine. This is often not a good idea. This can release ALOT of pectin into the wine making it cloudy and less clean tasting. Pectic enzyme helps but it usually won't do the job 100%.

Very few people have ever had one of my apple wines and noticed that it wasn't a grape wine. Some of the commercial apple wines do taste unique because they are very full bodies. In my batches I only use about 18lbs of apples per 5 gallons.

[Husker]

level Joe:
adjust sg to 1.062 (8%)

Adjust how, sugar?

H.

[level Joe]

Cant say Ive heard not to boil for any wine in general. Every recipe I can find for carrot or potato wines call for this. It would make too light of a wine if you didnt, if they dont soften and break down some you dont get the flavor (kind of like whiskey grains). On the other hand, I do see that it is a bad idea to boil fruits but I see pumpkin as more like a potato than a grape.
I have never had a problem with anything not clearing but pear wine and I suspect it was a starch haze. I will add amalase to convert it if it happens in this years batch.

Husker

Adjust how, sugar?

Yes but it didnt take a lot, pineapple juice is very sweet.

Another recipe for pumpkin
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/reques53.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
but Ive never tried it.

[sherriff Buffoerd pusser]

I'm going to rack pumpkin into a carboy today it taste much better than expected very much like pumpkin pie.I hope it carries over through secondary and clearing.Think i will try carrot recipe next but also wanting to try my first mead.

[bootleg173]

I read once that during prohibition, farmers would make wine from pumpkins to get their fix. The method was some what primitive...but is supposedly a recipe used since the 1700's: Take 1 large pumpkin, cut open the top, fill it to the top with sugar, than put the top back on and seal it with paraffin wax. 30 days later, pop the top and voila! pumpkin wine! I couldn't resist the temptation of at least trying this...but had poor results. my pumpkin turned to mush, and when i picked it up to try and move it, the bottom fell out, and nasty sticky pumpkin goo got all over me and ruined my cell phone!!! So, I guess i'm not really recommending this method, but for the sake of conversation figured i'd share my experience with a "Prohibition Era" recipe for pumpkin wine!

[speedfreaksteve]

My pumpkin wine that I started in early November turned out ok. It started out fermenting fast, but then slowed down quite abit. I was hoping it would be ready for Christmas but that didn't happen. Wasn't quite ready until about 2 weeks ago.

It tastes alright. Nothing I would be handing out at a wine/cheese party. Maybe at a frat party. It's drinkable, but probably not for everyone. I've made worse (rhubarb wine is one). It's definately better than wine I've made from oranges, but nowhere near as good as apple wine.

It's unique, but I'm not sure I'll be drinking the 28 bottles of it anytime soon. Might just turn half of it into vodka, or try making a brandy out of it.

[mtnwalker2]

I read once that during prohibition, farmers would make wine from pumpkins to get their fix. The method was some what primitive...but is supposedly a recipe used since the 1700's: Take 1 large pumpkin, cut open the top, fill it to the top with sugar, than put the top back on and seal it with paraffin wax. 30 days later, pop the top and voila! pumpkin wine! I couldn't resist the temptation of at least trying this...but had poor results. my pumpkin turned to mush, and when i picked it up to try and move it, the bottom fell out, and nasty sticky pumpkin goo got all over me and ruined my cell phone!!! So, I guess i'm not really recommending this method, but for the sake of conversation figured i'd share my experience with a "Prohibition Era" recipe for pumpkin wine!

I met an old timer from TN some years back, who had grown a field of pumkins for over 30 years. He never harvested them for sale. He left them in the field and when ripe, cut a plug in the top, cleaned out the seeds, put in a dose of sugar and some water, put the plug back on tight, and left in the field and in sun. So many days later, he would go out and dip all the liquid out, into large containers and run through a pot still. Claimed he made much more money than he could selling pumkins?

[ynmakr]

Made a batch of pumpkin wine last year. It turned out ok, I mixed (better use a tech term -blended) it with some chili wine that I had made previously...gave it to some friends and now they want more so it must be good.

[JWineMaker1]

Hey guys i started on a batch of pumpkin wine and i used about 30 lbs of pumpkin and about 2 boiled cinnomin sticks. we finished the frementation and we raked it off but man it smells sooo bad i had to wear a mask. my pap wants to throw it away because he thinks it wont be any good but i think once we add some sugar it should get better and smell better too. can you guys help me out? does it smell so bad at first and then get better with time?