Pumpkin wine

e-wine · Nov 30, 2009

I'm new to wine making and wanted to try making some Country wines. I just started a batch of pumpkin wine and wanted to see if anybody had any input they wanted to share. I plan to make both dry and sweet and had thought about sweetening some with brown sugar.

I made some fig wine earlier this year and will try a bottle over the Christmas Holidays.

e-wine

Sacalait · Nov 30, 2009

Fig wine, you must be from the south. Please edit your profile (where you're from) to help those who'll be trying to help with your wine making.

Careful with the brown sugar you don't want to overpower the pumpkin flavor.

Wade E · Nov 30, 2009

Havent made pumpkin yet but plan on making a pumpkin port soon, I just have to sit down and think for a few and make up my own recipe.

Sacalait · Nov 30, 2009

Pumpkin wine (coushaw pumpkin...stripped crooked neck) was one of my first wines and turned out very well despite my ignorance for wine making at the time. I haven't any records dating back that far so you may have to consult J. Keller's site for a recipe.

e-wine · Nov 30, 2009

Yes, I'm in the south. Profile edited.

Thanks for the warning on the brown sugar, I'll sweeten with caution. It's a necessary evil to appease my spouse. I perfer dry.

e-wine

arcticsid · Nov 30, 2009

E, I remeber a while back, I want to say it was Allie, but I may be wrong, was talking about pumpkin wine, and I remeber saying it turned out pretty darn good. I sure don't remeber who or when. Post your recipe for us, we'd be curious to see what your doing.

Troy

Tom · Nov 30, 2009

I have not made Pumpkin wine. One of my wine club members want to make it.
Check out our recipies here for '"country" / fruit wines
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=2

e-wine · Dec 1, 2009

I used Jack Keller's recipe aimed towards dry. I am interested in an easier way to extract the meat from the rind. I saw where they bake the pumpkin and scoop out the flesh for making pumpkin pies. I hand grated 5 pound off of the rind and gave up a bit of myself in the effort. I am changing it up a bit for the second batch but I wish I had a better "control". I'm starting the second batch Wednesday once the primary is free. Thanks for the link. I'm still getting use to navigating this site and I missed these posts. Take care.

e-wine

xanxer82 · Dec 1, 2009

I'm also planning on a pumpkin wine, would the canned stuff work?

arcticsid · Dec 1, 2009

X, I'm not at home right now so I don't have access to my comp. I have a link in there for canned pumpkin wine, I'll get it to the forum as soon as I can. Up here by my buddy helping him(no doing it), helping him get through this library research class. But I will get it to you, when I get back down off the hill.

I'm not sure where our buddy LUC has been, but he is quite proud of a wine he made from jam. Just shows wine can be made darn near out of anything.
Troy

arcticsid · Dec 1, 2009

This isn't want I wanted to give you, but I googled this check it out.
http://www.winepress.us/forums/index.php?showtopic=22398
Take a look, it may give you an idea for now, might be a few hours for I get home.
Troy

e-wine · Dec 1, 2009

You can make wine from canned pumpkin. Beside the recipe arcticsid referenced, there is one at

http://www.mywinerecipes.com/?searchmod=Submitter_name&Submitter_name=MedPretzel

about six recipes down. (I don't have the number of post necessary to post a link)

My wife and I took a trip to some of the East Texas wineries. We went to one that makes a lot of County Wines. We asked about their vineyard and they told us: "We make wine. We don't have time to be farmers." I like the farming. Using the canned pumpkin would definately solve my flesh extraction issue but I am still looking for input on how to do so using naturally packaged pumpkin.

e-wine

e-wine · Dec 1, 2009

What I need is one more post and edit the post above.

e-wine

Korzy · Dec 2, 2009

I started a pumpkin spice wine about 3 weeks ago. I added cinnamon and ginger. Aiming for pumpkin pie in a bottle

It doesn't look pretty right now, but it smells great.

e-wine · Dec 2, 2009

I got the first batch in the secondary and the second batch in the primary. The acid is low on the first batch so I need to adjust it. The recipe was for one gallon but the yield was 1.5. When I was grating the pumpkin, I thought the amount was a bit much. The extra yield could be why the acid is off. I plan to adjust the sugar level as well. The aroma from the first batch is different than the second. Must be inconsistent feed stock.

e-wine

Midwest Vintner · Dec 2, 2009

Korzy said:
It doesn't look pretty right now, but it smells great.

the smell is a good indicator. it'll clear and get all purdy! just needs some beauty rest.

Korzy · Dec 3, 2009

Midwest Vintner said:
the smell is a good indicator. it'll clear and get all purdy! just needs some beauty rest.

Yeah, that's the hard part!

Julie · Dec 5, 2009

I did a Pumpkin Pie spice wine for Thanksgiving this year, it turned fairly well. I started it last year, it was one of my first wines so it wasn't without mistakes. First mistake was not taking a hydrometer reading. I have no idea what the alcohol content is. I got the recipe from this little red (magenta?) recipe book that I had bought. Here is the recipe:

One Gallon
3 large cans of pumpkin (it called for 4 lbs. of pumpkin but I used the canned pumpkin with spices already added)
7 pts of water
2 1/4 lbs sugar
2 1/2 tsp acid
1/4 tsp tannin
1 tsp nutrient
1 campden tablet
1 pkg wine yeast (I used Lavlin 1118)

The wine came out with a good mouth feel, nice and smooth but the cinnamon over powered the pumpkin taste. That was my 2nd mistake. You first tasted the pumpkin which was great but ended with a strong cinnamon taste which I felt should have been lighter. I wasn't sure if the spices that were in the pumpkin were enough so I decided to add another 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, I should have left it alone.

Anyway I have 2 bottles left and it will sit until next year's Thanksgiving to see if the cinnamon weakens any. I do have a 5 gallon carboy fermenting away right now made from fresh pumpkin.

Julie

e-wine · Dec 8, 2009

The second batch also yielded 1 1/2 gallons and tested low on acid although not as low as the first batch. So I adjusted it and I now have 3 gallons in the secondaries.

My wife helped me with the second batch and she seemed to really enjoy it. She even commented that she would like to try making a batch of blueberry wine. She is part Italian and an excellent cook so she did struggle with the concept that she was actually assisting me in the kitchen. She was also very interested in the "poison" label on the indicator bottle. I wonder if I should worry. Naah.

e-wine

ryankelley · Dec 9, 2009

I made Pumpkin wine a month ago. I used Hubbard Squash using Jack Keller's recipe for squash. This weekend I need to rack it over into a clean carboy. It smells good, but I don't know what the end product will be like.

Pumpkin wine

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

Senior Member

Senior Member

Premium

Senior Member

Senior Member

Arctic Contributor

Senior Member

Senior Member

Senior Member

Arctic Contributor

Arctic Contributor

Senior Member

Senior Member

Junior

Senior Member

Wino

Junior

Senior Member

Senior Member

Member

Similar threads

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!