Help making a pumpkin wine.

I am fairly new to wine making, working on a batch of pumpkin wine. I wanted to make use of a bin I found of nice looking pumpkins for $1 a piece, so I thought I'd give pumpkin wine a try. I carefully washed, then destemmed, seeded and cut up 5 8 lb Jackolantern style pumpkins and also 3 4 lb pie pumpkins. I then cooked them down in my 6.5 gallon turkey fryer for about 6 hours until everything fell apart. I had to cook part of the pumpkins a while until the volume reduced enough to add the rest. After cooking, I added 10 lbs of sugar and let it rest overnight to cool down. I was expecting the pumpkins to cook down to liquid like consistancy, but by morning, I had pumpkin pudding. It's quite thick and was actually really good just by itself. very nice strong pumpkin flavor. I am planning a trip to the wine store to get some amylase or maybe a mixture of enzymes to help break down all the starch and pectin holding everything together. Right now it is bubbling nicely away all thick and goopy like.

Do you guys think the enzymes will be enough to turn this goop into wine eventually, or do I need to make this batch into 2 batches with the addition of water and more sugar. This stuff is so thick, I can't even get a proper hydrometer reading.

You need to read the other pumpkin thread on here. I am doing a pumpkin wine (6 gal.) and it too was too thick for a reading. It's bubbling along and getting thinner maybe tonight or tomorrow I can get a reading.

Hope you are using sweet pumpkins not the kind you cut up for halloween. Not sure how they would taste. I'll post the link to the other thread in a moment.

It's several pages but start here...

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5370

Welcome aboard!!

Check out the link that Steve posted - it should help you out with the Pumpkin Wine.

Hi Phrinkle

Welcome to winemakingtalk. Glad to see another PA'er here

Thanks for the welcomes. I did use some jackolantern type pumpins. Next time I would use only pie pumpkins as the pie ones tasted so much better raw.But the jacolantern ones tasted ok too especially after roasting them in the oven, so I think they'll be ok for this batch.

After reading that thread, apparently, I'm not alone with the super thick must. I'm going to add amylase and pectin enzyme. I pitched my 1118 yeast yesterday. Seems most people on the thread I read peeled their pumpkins, I just boiled up the skins. I thought they would add flavor. Actually, after cooking them so long, they tasted good when I sampled a bowl of my must before pitching the yeast. Anyone think I should try to get the skins out somehow, or just leave it alone for the enzymes to do their job?

At this point it probably is not making much of a difference. If the skin is in large chunks you can try and pull them out.

They're in teeny tiny pieces. I left them in to contribute to the flavor, not because I Was too lazy to take them off. But I guess that decision has been made already and I'll find out the consequences in a year or 2. I used to make homebrew beer and this wine thing sure does take alot more patience. I keep tasting things as they're fermenting and aging. it's very interesting to see the progression of flavors.

Just got back with my amylase and pectic enzyme. In it goes and I'll give it a stir.

Just so you know your enzymes will not work in a yeast environment. Being that it is thick you may have some success as it's hard for the yeasts to move.

Pumpkin wine

We made some pumpkin wine from a 94 lb pumpkin we had a few years back - I don't even know if we still have the recipe (I can check) - it wound up with a very mild flavour but haven't made any since. It was nice and dry though.

Do the yeasts chew up the enzymes before they can work? Why don't the enzymes work with the yeast active?

I'm thinking about reheating the mash(170 for 1 hr), then adding the enzymes. Leaving it for a day. Then adding more sugar and repitching the yeast. Does this sound like a plan, or should I just let it go? It has already been fermenting almost 2 days at 70.

Phrinkle said:

Do the yeasts chew up the enzymes before they can work? Why don't the enzymes work with the yeast active?

Click to expand...

2 reasons. Yeast produce an enzyme that will inhibit the pectic enzymes from working. Secondly, the alcohol that is produced by the yeasts will kill the enzymes.

Early on while the yeasts are just starting the enzymes will work but as the alcohol increases the enzymes die off.

Other factors may include the change in ph in some wines.

Now I'm thinking I'll just divide this up into 2 5 gallon batches since the enzymes won't work. I have more pumpkin in mine than most other recipies I've seen. There is about 50 lbs of pumpkin in this 5 gallon batch. I think if I divide it up, it'll be 25 lbs in each, then I'll fill it back up with some cheap white grape juice, or maybe even some apple cider.

Just remember if you add anything that contains sugar you will need to add sorbate. Let it ferment all the way down.

Phrinkle said:

Now I'm thinking I'll just divide this up into 2 5 gallon batches since the enzymes won't work. I have more pumpkin in mine than most other recipies I've seen. There is about 50 lbs of pumpkin in this 5 gallon batch. I think if I divide it up, it'll be 25 lbs in each, then I'll fill it back up with some cheap white grape juice, or maybe even some apple cider.

Click to expand...

The pumpkin wine I made last year I started with 25 pounds and I an now down to a 3 gallon batch and still clearing.

So, I've now got 2 5 gallon batches of apple pumpkin wine. fermenting away in my wine buckets. It sat for one week as a thick goopy mush. I tasted the mush before I added the apple juice and more sugar and it was actually kinda tasty. Kinda like alcoholic pumpkin bread pudding. I added some fresh cranberries that I boiled in a little water to one of the batches to make one different than the other. It's really bubbling away now. Fermentation overdrive.

I racked my pumpkin today.



It's so thick it's like spaghetti sauce. Have to thin it down a bit. It's so thick the CO2 is pushing up the wine. I'll top off as soon as it stops

Wow, that does look like pumpkin spaghetti sauce. How did you rack such a thick wine? I think mine would definitely clog my siphon tube. Do I need to sterilize a garden hose? Also, I'm using a bucket for this one. I've done my primaries in carboys in the past. How can you see how far down to rack it in the bucket, especially with something so thick?

I started a "water Wine" last night to blend with this to thin it down. I thought it would have thinned better during fermentation. WRONG! It has the consistancy of spag. sauce but did pour thru the funnel okay. Still giving off CO2.

Next week if not this weekend the water wine will be done and I'll be back on track.

By the way, for some unknown reason we had spaghetti last night for dinner. The connection didn't click till now