Pumpkin Pie Mead?

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BigKahuna

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So me and claphamsa and Timber were talking in Chat last night, and decided to do a Pumpkin Pie Mead.
We are thinking of something with an extreme pumpkin flavor and aroma and medium sweet. We are clear out of the running for October or November of this year, but Next Year we will have some pretty great wine to drink. With the way this is looking, I'm thinking this may be pretty sparky warmed up a bit and toped with some whip cream!

Here is what I'm thinking (like always it's per gallon)
3# Clover Honey (Costco?)
16 oz canned Pumpkin.
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Allspice
1/8 tsp Ginger
about 1/2 of a smashed clove
Premiere Cuve Yeast. (thinking of using Wyeast Sweet mead yeast)

This will ferment out dry, it will need stabilized and back sweetened with 1/2# of additional honey.
EVERYTHING gets fermented! After 4 weeks in Primary, Rack to secondary, and top off with some more honey and water. Rack every time lees become solid and more than 1/4"
Bottle next summer, and enjoy next fall.

I will put this together this weekend, and post a picture or 2!
 
Wow, I would freaking love this! A friend and I made some pumpkin pie cocktails last fall, never thought about making my own homebrew that way!

Apple pie seems like an obvious one, but this is unique. I hope a lot of the pumpkin flavor sticks with it, I am curious how the fermentation will affect the pie filling.

If this goes well, I would love to do a fresh pumpkin pie mead in a month or two when I start getting the jack-o-laterns ready!

*Edit per your instructions I am racking all of my brews this afternoon to help with clearing.
 
Im gonna go about this a little different. Im gonna get a couple one gallon fermenters. (to experiment with meade!) and I already have a 5 gallon batch cooking, so in about a month I will crack it into 6ths (leave space for fruit) I will do one of pumpkin and one of spiced pumpkin! just to compare :)
 
Here is what I'm thinking (like always it's per gallon)
3# Clover Honey (Costco?)
16 oz canned Pumpkin.
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Allspice
1/8 tsp Ginger
about 1/2 of a smashed clove
Premiere Cuve Yeast. (thinking of using Wyeast Sweet mead yeast)

This will ferment out dry, it will need stabilized and back sweetened with 1/2# of additional honey.
EVERYTHING gets fermented! After 4 weeks in Primary, Rack to secondary, and top off with some more honey and water. Rack every time lees become solid and more than 1/4"
Bottle next summer, and enjoy next fall.

I will put this together this weekend, and post a picture or 2!

Hey BigK - Your recipe sounds good! Did you see the Sweet Potato Pie mead in the recipes section? I made this exactly like a pumpkin pie mead, using the same spices. I began it in March so I'd have it ready for the holidays and pumpkin wasn't available at that time. The pumpkin pie flavor is spot on and the OG was good for a quicker mead, though I don't know how much the sweet potato added to the OG. - good luck!

5 lbs fresh sweet potatoes
4-4.5 lbs alfalfa honey
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
10 oz raisins
1.5 cinnamon sticks
1T blade style mace
5 green cardamom beans
6 cloves
1T fresh grated ginger
71B1122 yeast

OG 1.071 before adding sweet potatoes
 
I had not seen that, as this isn't really something that I normally would care about. claphamsa was just going on about it in Chat, and it peaked my curiosity.
What do you think the raisins bring to the party?
 
ohh man, wish this was out in like May lol

going to try this once one of my carboys are clear
 
What do you think the raisins bring to the party?

I use raisins or grape concentrate in almost all my wines and meads. They add quite a bit in terms of body and mouthfeel. Plain old Sun-Maid raisins work well but dried Zante Currants are the best. Raisins are made with Thompson Seedless grapes, the same types of grapes commonly used to blend white jug wines. Zante Currants, which are actually Black Corinth grapes, are also sold fresh as "Champagne Grapes" and are much closer to the V. vinifera grapes that are used in the classic wines of Europe and the West Coast.
 
I made a gallon yesterday according to BK's recipe and am looking forward to tasting it when I'm a bit older. This morning I was at the local farmer's market and picked up a butternut squash...many cooks use squash instead of pumpkin because they think it tastes better. Anyway, I just made a gallon with the squash and will pitch it later today when my starter is jumpin' a little more. You might give this a try for slightly a different taste.

Butternut squash is a winter squash, about 12 or so inches long, butternut in color (surprise!), and shaped somewhat like a smooo (remember Li'l Abner??). Clean and cut the squash lengthwise in half, remove the seeds, and wrap each half in tin foil. Bake in the oven at 400F for 45-75 minutes (depending on size). You'll know it's done when you can easily remove the meat with a spoon. For a little variation in taste, and if you watch things closely enough, you can open the tin foil during the last 15 or so minutes of baking. Let it cool a little, then mash it with a potato masher or use a mixer on it to make a paste. Then just follow BK's recipe. I also put in a couple ounces of golden raisins, steeped in a cup of boiling water for 10 minutes.
 
I've always thought butternut squash had a mild "peppery-ness" to it, is this something you're wanting to carry over into your mead, or do you think it'll be lost in primary? Regards, GF.
 
Interesting question. I don't or haven't picked up on that particular "ness"...it may just be my taste buds, but maybe it's usually covered by the cinnamon (which I've been accused of overusing by SWMBO).
 
I'll be doing a pumpkin pie mead in the next week or two. I already bought the spices. I just need to get the pumpkin.
 
Please...Post us on your progress...Pictures....Recipe....Notes....All of that.

hhmm... I fermented 13 LBS of Clover honey for a week... then added in 3 BIG cans of pumpkin, some pie spice, and some cinnamon (some is as detailed as I measure) shake!

i will post a pic maybe! its VERY orange, and smells awsome!
 
Someone mentioned jack o lanterns, I dont believe these are the same pumpkins oyu make pumpkin pie from, I have heard. I completely forgot about this in the chat, mead making for me is a pipe dream right now since I dont have anything other then one glass carboy and I hear that you cant ferment meads in #2 ale pails
 
There are separate "pie pumpkins" They are much smaller and as I understand it have next to no inner cavity, unlike a traditional jack-pumpkin. I imagine the different meat provides a better pie flavor base.
 
Someone mentioned jack o lanterns, I dont believe these are the same pumpkins oyu make pumpkin pie from, I have heard. I completely forgot about this in the chat, mead making for me is a pipe dream right now since I dont have anything other then one glass carboy and I hear that you cant ferment meads in #2 ale pails

Yes and no.
There are pie pumpkins that are grown for making pumpkin pies from. However jack-o-lantern pumpkins also make a good pie. I have also used pieces from the giant pumpkins (the whole pumpkin would never fit in the stove) for pies with good results.

So while pie pumpkins may be the best choice you can use other types of pumpkins. Given that jack-o-lantern pumpkins are more readily available that may be a good way to go.

I think I may have to try a gallon of this. :D

Craig
 
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I got my fat little fingers on a bottle of SummerSolstices Sweet Potato Pie Mead.....If it's 1/2 as good as anything else I've gotten from him....I'm assuming i'll be building one of my very own.
 
Now I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for some cheap honey. I was at my local grocer and I saw a little tiny thing of honey for like 15 bucks! CRAZY! I have Cote des Blancs and Montrachet in my fridge...how do you think those would fare?
 
taking the time to find a local apiary is well worth it. i went from paying between 35-40 per gallon plus shipping down to 25 per gallon for either wildflower orange blossem or clover
 
BK's Pumpkin Pie Mead recipe intrigued me enough to want to try my own. Ofcourse I had to make a few changes, just to experiment.

Pumpkin Pie Mead (2gal)
1 Fresh Pie Pumpkin (peeled, cleaned and shredded)
2 whole cloves (crushed)
1 tsp whole allspice (lightly crushed)
1 tsp ground nutmeg
3 sticks cinnamon
6# clover honey (SueBee)
water to 2 gal
5 g D-47 yeast (rehydrated with Goferm)

2 Campden tablets
1 tsp Pectic enzyme
1/2 tsp Fermaid-K
1/2 tsp DAP

Mixed the honey, water and dry ingredients
Put shredded pumpkin in a coarse strain bag and placed in fermenter.
Let sit 24 hours then pitch rehydrated yeast

Aerate daily and add additional 1/2tsp of Fermaid-K and DAP 1 day after active fermentation is observed.

Smells strongly of spices when yeast was pitched.

Craig
 
What does it smell like?

I started a pumpkin pie mead a month ago. Monday night, I racked it into another bucket and added the remaining pumpkin, sweet potatoes and spices. It smelled fantastic, but tasted like rocket fuel. Although, so did the prickly pear and reisling pyment I also racked.
 
it smelled kinda sour... I might have left it on the pumpkin too long, Im gonna go to secondary tonight, and Ill get a better idea, when im not sniffing the top.
 
For a good source of honey, inexpensive, find your local honey maker and contact them to see if you can get wholesale prices. I did here in colorado, found Madahava in Lyons, CO and got 42 pound buckets for about $1.80 a pound. I have found that the quality of honey matters a lot too. If you get it strait from the people that make it so much the better, it is also less filtered and with more flavor. Now they did ask for some samples of my works but I personally think that this was not just to verify that I was using for personal uses and not reselling it, I think it was just that everyone loves mead and wants it, free when they can get it. Heh.
 
On a further note, I do have a pumpkin spice mead going, The first racking after removal of the pumpkin pie, it doesn't taste too good. A bit of a tang that is not related to the hotness of the alcohol taste. I used 2 small pumpkin pie pumpkins, not toasted, in it, 1/2 a whole nutmeg, roughly crushed, 1 vanilla bean, and 4 inches of cinamon stick. The pumpkin and spices were in the must for about 3 weeks and about 1/4 to 1/2 of the pumpkin disintegrated in the must. Anybody have an idea on how to get it tasting better?

I was thinking on sweetening it with brown sugar after a few rackings.
 
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