Hi all,
I’m looking to do a pumpkin pie flavored mead. I’ve read some great recipes and some great discussion about it. However, I am curious when making a pumpkin pie mead if you really need to add pumpkin. Many beers that are deemed “pumpkin” beers simply add the pie spices (cinn., allspice, clove, nutmeg) and often taste the same. Does the pumpkin actually add all that much flavor? I’m curious what the difference would be between a recipe with pumpkin puree plus spices versus just the spices. Thanks for any thoughts.
Mike
I have to say that I have never made a pumpkin pie mead but I have made many pumpkin pie beers, some with pumpkin, some without and I got to say no one can tell the difference. I am not sure if you would want to add pumpkin puree to a mead…
Sounds interesting, but risky; as in could be a big mess, hard to siphon etc.
If I can add to your list of things to think about.
I love pumpkin pie but I find pumpkins to be kind of watery and lacking in flavor. Butternut, Long Island Cheese, Hokkaido, Red Kuri, Butter Cup are some really tasty squashes that might add more flavor if you want to try for the actual squash flavor. Roast them until they start to darken a bit and are nice and soft.
You might put them in primary or you could try racking on to them for secondary.
If I were going to try it I would try to do a huge amount of squash; diced, roasted, in a grain gag. Rack a gallon of must onto 10 to 16 cups of squash and see what happens. you could add whole spices in a different bag during or after the squash.
Good luck and let us know.
dob
If you decide to add the pumpkin, I would go with grated pumkin or winter squash in a nylon bag instead of pumpkin puree.
I had a Pumpkin Pie Mead when I was a steward at Winterfest in '00. it was amazing. I was thinking about doing one of these soon myself. great info, guys. any other tips one should know?
If you use the grated pumpkin and nylon straining bag idea, I would add some tannin and press the bag daily.
I made a 2gal pumpkin mead Friday. I warmed 7#s of honey, in a water bath, enough to make it pourable, and added that to 2 gal of water, 15 oz of pumpkin puree and 1tsp pumpkin spice I added. 2 packets of bread yeast & 1 tsp of distiller’s yeast (what I had on hand) with nutirent & enigizer Saturday and fed it Sunday & Monday. Strong fermentation this is my 1st mead so we will see how it goes. I am thinking of adding some maple syrup any suggestions of when to add it?
If all I had on hand was bread yeast, I would have waited. Going to taste more like pumpkin bread mead.
I just modified a reciepe from one of the mead sites for a 1 gallon starter mead, They used bread yeast & fed it raisins. It is my first time making mead;actually I have never tried mead so I won’t be able to tell the difference. I spent all of about $15 dollars on this so if I screw it up not much is lost. I figure the distiller’s yeast should increase the etoh content so that it might mask any issues… or at least make them harder to remember if I drink enough. 
Thanks for the feedback…
Just an up date. Racked from the primary to the secondary. My ABV was 14.23%. I added one pint of maple syrup and topped off to 3 gal. Now it is back in the closet for 2 months. It needs time to mellow. I still get a nice honey in the nose but it is VERY dry. I think I will add oak or pecan chips at 3 months for 2-3 months & then add 4 vanilla beans for the last 45 days before I bottle. I’m feeling good about my 1st mead.
I’m feeling good about your first mead! Sounds great!
:cheers:
Thanks Chester3,
I’m feeling good about it too… Going to have a hard time waiting on it! But time will prevail. I’ll keep the board up dated as I go.
