brewing 2ne1

A log on homebrewing by a band of merry persons.

Nov 18, 2009 9:24am
Pumpkin (old Jack-o-Lantern) Wine I wanted to use the pumpkins that we carved for Halloween for something. This is what I tried… The kids carved the pumpkins a couple days before Halloween and we baked the seeds, they were great fun. A couple days after Halloween I chopped up the pumpkins into large pieces and scraped any undesirable dry or soft flesh away, revealing nice fresh pumpkin. Note we didn’t use real candles but the small battery powered tea lights so this probably helped preserve the pumpkin. It seems to be thick enough that it keeps well. Then I peeled it (not sure it was necessary but others seem to) and chopped it to small pieces less than an inch. The following recipe was inspired by:  http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1442 Ingredients: 5 lbs chopped and peeled pumpkin (roughly 2 small jack-o-lanterns), 1 lb raisins, 4 lbs sugar, 1 crushed cinnamon stick, 1 inche sliced/chopped ginger root, 1/4 tsp tannin powder, yeast nutrient, citric acid, pectolase, winemaking yeast Put pumpkin, raisins, cinnamon, ginger in large straining bag, and tie closed. Place in a large pan with enough water to cover and bring to a gentle simmer for about 20-30 min until pumpkin is soft. Cover and leave to cool below 40 deg C. Transfer contents of pan to the primary fermenter and with clean hands or potato masher work the bag gently to extract flavour into the water. Be careful as the cinnamon sticks might be sharp. Remove bag and discard contents. Add the sugar, stir until dissolved, and make up to a bit more than 1 gallon. Check SG, add more water or sugar to make 1.09. Add bentonite, pectolase, citric acid, yeast nutrient, tannin and yeast. It smells fab-u-lous, like a mulled wine with the cinnamon and ginger being strong features. The colour at time of writing is a bit brown, I hope it turns more yellow as time goes by. I’m using a brew belt as the house has dropped below a temperature good for fermentation. Update 1 June 2010 - Racked once in the winter into a glass demijohn and left to sit in the cupboard under the stairs until spring. Paid no attention to it as we were building an extension so it was rather neglected. I racked it one more time today and stabilised it. Somehow it tastes amazing - Sarah says it is her favourite that I’ve made. It is a deep yellow, slightly orange? Bottled and ready to drink right now, not sure how long this one will last!

Pumpkin (old Jack-o-Lantern) Wine

I wanted to use the pumpkins that we carved for Halloween for something. This is what I tried…

The kids carved the pumpkins a couple days before Halloween and we baked the seeds, they were great fun. A couple days after Halloween I chopped up the pumpkins into large pieces and scraped any undesirable dry or soft flesh away, revealing nice fresh pumpkin. Note we didn’t use real candles but the small battery powered tea lights so this probably helped preserve the pumpkin. It seems to be thick enough that it keeps well. Then I peeled it (not sure it was necessary but others seem to) and chopped it to small pieces less than an inch.

The following recipe was inspired by:  http://www.winesathome.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1442

Ingredients: 5 lbs chopped and peeled pumpkin (roughly 2 small jack-o-lanterns), 1 lb raisins, 4 lbs sugar, 1 crushed cinnamon stick, 1 inche sliced/chopped ginger root, 1/4 tsp tannin powder, yeast nutrient, citric acid, pectolase, winemaking yeast

Put pumpkin, raisins, cinnamon, ginger in large straining bag, and tie closed. Place in a large pan with enough water to cover and bring to a gentle simmer for about 20-30 min until pumpkin is soft. Cover and leave to cool below 40 deg C. Transfer contents of pan to the primary fermenter and with clean hands or potato masher work the bag gently to extract flavour into the water. Be careful as the cinnamon sticks might be sharp. Remove bag and discard contents. Add the sugar, stir until dissolved, and make up to a bit more than 1 gallon. Check SG, add more water or sugar to make 1.09. Add bentonite, pectolase, citric acid, yeast nutrient, tannin and yeast.

It smells fab-u-lous, like a mulled wine with the cinnamon and ginger being strong features. The colour at time of writing is a bit brown, I hope it turns more yellow as time goes by. I’m using a brew belt as the house has dropped below a temperature good for fermentation.

Update 1 June 2010 - Racked once in the winter into a glass demijohn and left to sit in the cupboard under the stairs until spring. Paid no attention to it as we were building an extension so it was rather neglected. I racked it one more time today and stabilised it. Somehow it tastes amazing - Sarah says it is her favourite that I’ve made. It is a deep yellow, slightly orange? Bottled and ready to drink right now, not sure how long this one will last!
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