Pumpkin Puree Mead

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jknapp12105

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When I made my mead, I added Pumpkin Purée in the Primary. Today I transferred to the secondary and I tasted it. It tastes very very medicinal. All the purée settled to the bottom obviously and I wondered if it might have spoiled. Any thoughts?
 
My Pumpkin mead was very disapointing I think. I used Puree in the primary and secondary and it tastes nothing like pumpkin and is very bland in my case. How old is yours.? Weeks? Months? I plan on one more racking and mixing with apple juice to sweeten it up and add some kick of flavor to it.
 
Arpolis said:
My Pumpkin mead was very disapointing I think. I used Puree in the primary and secondary and it tastes nothing like pumpkin and is very bland in my case. How old is yours.? Weeks? Months? I plan on one more racking and mixing with apple juice to sweeten it up and add some kick of flavor to it.
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It's only 30 days. I wonder if the Purée spoiled after so many days.
 
Is it even clear by the 30 day mark? Being so young you may be tasting the yeast. Or even just the hot alcohol/possible fusel alcoho if kept too warm. Give your baby time. Check on it in 3 to 4 months. Rack again and then give it a sip. I am sure it will be fine. meads seem to be hard to spoil as long as you use basic sanitary methodes.
 
Pumpkin, even pie pumpkins, do not really impart much flavor. From what I hear sweet potatoes bring some of that pumpkin flavor. I have made 2 batches of pumpkin mead and have another in the carboy. This other one I put 2 big sweet potatoes into it after roasting them and then chopping it up. I expect more flavor but from what I understand it will add a good mouthfeel. If you used jack-o-lantern type pumpkins, they have even less flavor than the pie pumpkins. But some pumpkin pie spices should help. Just go easy on them.

Matrix
 
Matrix4b said:
Pumpkin, even pie pumpkins, do not really impart much flavor. From what I hear sweet potatoes bring some of that pumpkin flavor. I have made 2 batches of pumpkin mead and have another in the carboy. This other one I put 2 big sweet potatoes into it after roasting them and then chopping it up. I expect more flavor but from what I understand it will add a good mouthfeel. If you used jack-o-lantern type pumpkins, they have even less flavor than the pie pumpkins. But some pumpkin pie spices should help. Just go easy on them.

Matrix
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How did it taste after 30 days?
 
After 30 days? Sounds like this is still aging. If it has only been 30 days since it has cleared and you bottled it you are still within the aging process of ANY mead. Give any mead at least 6 months to age, if not a full year.

As far as when my Pumpkin Spice was young, it tasted very spicy but the spices calmed down and blended over time. Did not get much pumpkin flavor out of it and I used 4 pie pumpkins on it for a 5 gal batch.

My Pumpkin Toasted Almond is very bitter, from the almonds and not much pumpkin taste. This one ended up Dry, I think.

The one that is still in the carboy: Pumpkin Hazelnut seems to be very tasty, hasn't cleared yet but a lot of the flavor is from the hazelnut tinture/extract I made and then incorporated into it. I also used the sweet potatoes so I think that I got some more pumpkeny flavor but It isn't ready to be judged yet.

Mead Takes TIME. Be patient with it. ANY mead is going to need to age at least 6 months for good flavors, even a JAOM. I tend to stay away from that style though and use wine yeast and not bread yeast.

Hope it works out for you but I wouldn't expect a bold pumpkin flavor. I am not sure the recipie you used or the quantities but by the sounds of it after full aging you may get some pumpkin flavor but no where near what it sounds like you are looking for.

Matrix
 
Matrix4b said:
After 30 days? Sounds like this is still aging. If it has only been 30 days since it has cleared and you bottled it you are still within the aging process of ANY mead. Give any mead at least 6 months to age, if not a full year.

As far as when my Pumpkin Spice was young, it tasted very spicy but the spices calmed down and blended over time. Did not get much pumpkin flavor out of it and I used 4 pie pumpkins on it for a 5 gal batch.

My Pumpkin Toasted Almond is very bitter, from the almonds and not much pumpkin taste. This one ended up Dry, I think.

The one that is still in the carboy: Pumpkin Hazelnut seems to be very tasty, hasn't cleared yet but a lot of the flavor is from the hazelnut tinture/extract I made and then incorporated into it. I also used the sweet potatoes so I think that I got some more pumpkeny flavor but It isn't ready to be judged yet.

Mead Takes TIME. Be patient with it. ANY mead is going to need to age at least 6 months for good flavors, even a JAOM. I tend to stay away from that style though and use wine yeast and not bread yeast.

Hope it works out for you but I wouldn't expect a bold pumpkin flavor. I am not sure the recipie you used or the quantities but by the sounds of it after full aging you may get some pumpkin flavor but no where near what it sounds like you are looking for.

Matrix
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Thanks for the help. That makes me feel a lot better.
 
Pumpkin has a very sutble flavor, as mentioned above. Most of the flavor from pumkin pie comes from the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, etc.).
 
I fermented a mead in a pumpkin a couple years ago. There is still a slight pumpkin-y sourness under the spices. Worked out pretty well.

pumpkin mead.jpg
 
porterpounder said:
I fermented a mead in a pumpkin a couple years ago. There is still a slight pumpkin-y sourness under the spices. Worked out pretty well.
Click to expand...

I am sorry but I love the air lock on th pumpkin. I read of a recipe that said to use a pumpkin like that but had you encase the pumpkin in sealing wax until fermentation was done. I like your idea better.
 
Yeah, the airlock turned out to be fairly useless. It stayed off balance, but never really got bubbling. Finished out, though and had a nice krausen going. I was afraid the yeast would chew through the pumpkin. There was a small gash in the flesh on the bottom that started to drip a bit toward the end, but overall I declared victory, siphoned it into a couple of 1 gallon jugs for aging and whammy, mead.
 

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