Pumpkin Mead

[rogueit]

I was looking at doing a pumpkin mead and found this one but I was wondering if anyone had an opinion on the recipe. Boiling the honey seems to be back information, and I was wondering what else I should watch out for

http://gotmead.tumblr.com/post/14082545178/howling-jack-honey-pumpkin-mead-this-mead-is-the

If you all have a better recipe like a pumpkin version of JAOM, I would love to hear about it as well.

Thanks

 

[Dan_K]

That sounds a bit crazy, fermenting inside a pumpkin. I was thinking about making a pumpkin mead. I would use canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice. Skip fermenting inside a pumpkin.
Primary > secondary with pumpkin and spice > *cold crash* > tertiary fermenter

 

[bernardsmith]

Sounds like a novelty mead (to make a wine inside a vegetable) - a bit like the British folk "marrow brandy" - a wine made inside a marrow (or large zucchini). But... and more to the point - the recipe is close to ridiculous - 4 lbs of honey dissolved in 2 quarts of water (or 8 lbs /gallon). That is a starting gravity of 1.280 and I would expect the yeast to keel over because of osmotic shock - The "potential" ABV is more than ... 36% ABV - is this supposed to be drinkable or something to fuel a tractor?
OK - with the addition of nutrient, and with a scant 1lb of honey in 2 quarts of water (you could make this more akin to a wine by doubling the amount of honey - 2 lbs), this might be drinkable but rather than seal the pumpkin I would drill a wee hole into the cavity and insert a tube to act like a blow off tube (or use an airlock) - 4 lbs of honey would produce 2 POUNDS of CO2 and in that small sealed space that pumpkin would explode like a bomb.

Before you bottle you might want to add some ginger and some cinnamon, perhaps a clove and some nutmeg ...

 

[Baabaad00]

^That might be kinda funny to see. lol. Pressurize a pumpkin until it explodes. I've heard of recipes like this. I'd love to try it. Ferment inside a pumpkin for a primary. Paint the edges of the pumpkin where you cut with lemon juice to push back the mold. I really wanna try it sometime.

 

[bernardsmith]

Except that there is so much sugar in the published recipe that I doubt that anything would happen .. although since sugar is so hydrophilic you might find that it draws all the moisture from the gourd leaving you with a gooey mess and a puddle of liquid after a few weeks.