Pumpkin Wine help!

[Stru]

So, i just cracked my first bottle of homemade Pumpkin wine; consisting of large amounts of pumpkin, some ginger root, and several pounds of honey and sugar. When i take a reading on my vinometer it says that the wine is over 25% alcohol. A vinometer is pretty simple to use and my other two fruit wines tested at about what i would expect, pear/apple... 8%, cranberry/grapefruit... 12%. I use EC-1118 on all of my fruit wines, which could get you in the 15% range, but certainly not 25% range.

Is it possible that some of the wild yeast from the pumpkin or ginger continued fermenting the wine after the packaged yeast ate it's fill?

I know that some root vegetables can have negative effects on the drinker.
Should i worry about even drinking this wine?

 

[Deezil]

If I remember right, vinometers only work on wines that are fermented to dry.. If theres any sweetness, it'll skew your results..

I could be wrong, I'm just waking up.. But pretty-sure..
If I'm wrong, I'll probably be corrected in short order

Hydrometer readings pre-fermentation & post-fermentation, then calculating from there, is more accurate. That, I know is right lol

 

[Julie]

I have no idea how a vinometer works, why would you not just use a hydrometer? And 25%? I don't think so. Here is another reason to use a hydrometer, what was your starting reading and what was your ending reading? This would tell you a lot as to what is going on with your wine.

Please post your recipe and what procedures you have done, this will help in solving your problem, with more info it is just a guessing game.

Welcome to winemakingtalk.

 

[Stru]

Good call, some of the information was incorrect.

This was a one gallon batch:
5.8 lbs of (fresh) shredded pumpkin, 2 ounces of fresh ginger root, 1 1/2 pounds of brown sugar, 1 lb of raisins.

It sat in primary for a week, then secondary for a couple of months before bottling.

i didn't have my hydrometer or refractometer at the time, so i have to use a vinometer to get a basic reading at this time.

I've finished my first glass and it certainly has some alcohol in it... not thinking anywhere close to 25% though. Tastes pretty good!

 

[Deezil]

Enjoy it for what it is, and keep better records next time.
Sounds like a good day

 

[seth8530]

Yep, as far as I recall a vinometer works by estimating the ABV in a solution containing only (mostly) water and alcohol via density. This works since if you know all the constituents of a solution and their density it is possible to predict the density.

Ie, something that is 15% abv and consist of only water and alcohol should always have a density of "X". But, a solution that that is 15% abv and consist of water, sugar and alcohol would have a density of "X+Y+??" Thus, the more sugar you have in solution the worse and worse that vinometer is going to read.

However, it looks like it turned out. Enjoy it and as deezil said take better notes next time.