Easy Spiced Pumpkin Wine Recipe For The Holidays

65 thoughts on “Easy Spiced Pumpkin Wine Recipe For The Holidays”

1. Just wanted to thank you for the pumpkin wine recipe. I followed it to the letter making a 5 gallon batch. After racking and clarifying, I let it bulk age in the carboy for 16 months. I just racked it out through a polishing filter and bottled it today. Wow, its really good.

2. I’d be interested to know how long this is to stay in bottles before opening? I know that most wines taste better with aging.

   • been making pumpkin wine for 10 yrs..no need to age fruit wine past clearing in carboy..usually 3-4 months is all..mine has been named “lite moonshine”..15 lbs sugar for 5 gal batch, is prime…

     • What % can your pumkin wine reach?

       • Thomas, this Pumpkin wine recipe will have approximately 11-12 percent alcohol.

     • With 15lbs of sugar. How sweet is it?

       • It’s not sweet all the sugar will convert to alcohol. More sugar more alcohol. To sweeten wait after fermenting is done then add 1/2 tsp potassium sorbate per gallon to stop fermentation process. Now you add the sugar or sweetener to taste. Allow to sit for a couple of days then you can bottle.

3. Is this supposed to be drank right away or aged in bottles?

4. Back 30 years ago when I had lettle money, I made a lot of pumpkin wine because it cost almost nothing. I named it PUMPKINOL. I lived in Maryland so I phoned Robert Parker and invited him over to taste it. He said he was busy….LOL Tony

   • Can you provide a recipe, Tony? I’d like to try one that is just pumpkin, no raisins.

5. thanks for the recipe i will be making it

6. Pumpkin Wine was very disappointing. I made it last year and you couldn’t even drink it.

7. Fay, any wine will improve with some aging. This particular wine is at it’s best at about 5 to 6 months, but it is very drinkable after about 6 week in the bottle.

8. Are you putting the fruit{i’m guessing no seeds} and cinnamon sticks in the straining bag?

9. Glenn, you are correct. You don’t want the seeds in the fermentation. Whether or not you put everything in a straining or fermentation bag is up to you. It certainly makes things easier but is not necessary.

   Fermentation Bag
   http://www.eckraus.com/regular-fermenting-bag.html

10. Are you using regular pumpkins or do you use pie pumpkins? Does it make a difference in flavor as to which one is used?

11. Paul, I have to be honest with you. I did not know there were different kinds of pumpkins, so I couldn’t tell you what I use, other than to say it is usually from a roadside stand.

12. I’ve tried making pumpkin wine several ways, including baking the brown sugar & cinnamon on to the pumpkin prior to fermentation. Your results will be poor, at best. Pumpkins are similar to squash. They are flavorless so is the wine, no matter how you dress it up. You can save yourself some time and move on…or you can learn from experience.

    • Made this in 2018. It was so good took 2nd at contest. Making more

13. I’m going to give this a try. I have 1/4 acre of pumpkins, so why not? I noticed that Karen Potts had mentioned it was flavorless. I’m going to prepare the pumpkin in my pressure canner first to soften it. That also makes the skin come off easily. I’ll see if that helps distribute the pumpkin flavor more effectively plus spices.I’ll let you know my first impression at racking time.

14. I made pumpkin wine a little over two years ago, a little different from the above recipe, but mine required it to process for a year, then to age for a year in the bottle before drinking. It really tries your patience, but turns out its one of the requested wines to make again. We served it with our last thanksgiving dinner, very palletable and excellant flavor.

15. I’m just amazed at all the bad advice these supply houses hand out for recipies. You would think, at the very best they would at least be familiar with ten year old science, if not even more modern. Who on earth would just toss their yest straight into the must. If nothing more , at least rehydrate it in water. Better yet ,use Go-ferm and it’s protocol. If you don’t don’t feed your yeast enough they will surely put out fussels. And then to use such a high ABV tolerance yeast?? No wonder this stuff isn’t drinkable.

    Use Go-ferm to re-hydrtae your yeast. Or just plain water. Feed your yeast 3 doses to the equvilant to 300-350 ppm YAN total. And use a lesser tolerant yeast so it doesn’t make such high levels of alcohol,,, 71-b or even less. Even with good protocol you should expect to age wine 1 month per ABV point minimum. You would also do well to add some pumpkin in the secondary after it’s done fermenting to give it more flavor.

    I’m not trying to be critical here. It’s just that there is tons of up to date science that has taken home wine making out of the dark ages and into the 21st century.

    • Ryan, you were very hard on supply houses, who do not make wine for the most part, but Winexpert kits tell you to only sprinkle the yeast after 24 hrs. , do not re-hydrate, do not stir. I hope this helps you to understand better. Elwood

    • The last 4 batches of fresh fruit wines I have made, I have sprinkled the unhydrated yeast right on top of the must. I have had zero issues with fermentation. None. I have created some absolutely stellar pumpkin, rhubarb, and apple wines with this method. The jury is still out on the Mint due to the need to age it for a year.

      • Kate do you have a good pumpkin recipe for wine I am stumped on a recipe

16. Perhaps pouring boiling water over the ingredients, especially the pumpkin, would help extract flavor. I make saki (rice & raisins) that way, and it turns out very well with nice flavor. You will need to wait at least 27 – 36 hours for flavor to steep out and liquid to cool before adding yeast. In my opinion, straining bag is a must.

17. Perhaps baking the pumpkin whole would release flavors and process the meats into fermentation accordingly.

    • best to freeze meat for a few days.. when thawed, it gives flavor, is soft, makes good wine.. 15 lbs sugar for 5 gal.. been making it 10 years.. am slelling it now

      • question are you freezing yourcut up ? whole pie pumpkins ? pumpkin skin on ? off? processed , precooked ?
        Thanks Bill

18. Used this recipe last year on my 2nd try at making wine. Came out great. Everyone loved it. Won first in class at one county fair & second at anpther this year. The first place winner won best overall. Great recipe

19. Would vanilla beans help create a good flavor.? I’m just curious if anyone has tried this.

    • Linda, while we do not have any personal experience using vanilla beans in the pumpkin wine, it does sound like a good combination. You can certainly experiment. We even offer Vanilla Beans.

      Vanilla Beans
      http://www.eckraus.com/vanilla-bean.html

      • Linda,
        I made this recipe last year–it was delish! And am getting ready to make it again this weekend. I also plan on adding a vanilla bean to it as well as a smidge of pumpkin pie seasonings just for fun, to see if it changes/enhances the “pumplin” flavor at all. I also think I will roast the pumpkin this time around. I love this wine. It is my most requested vintage 🙂

        • Hi Kate , how did the addition of the pumpkin spice to your wine recipe work didi it enhance the flavor ? also how did you prepare your pumpkin prior to mashing it in for the must thanks Bill

20. I met an old lady that use to just add spices, a simple syrup and wine yeast into a oie pumpkin then would seal it up for a month and drink it…. does that work?

    • The Yolk, I am sorry, we have not heard of this method of making Pumpkin Wine before so we do not have any information that we can provide to assist you.

      • Can pumpkin wine be made with a can of Liby 100% pumpkin?

        • Sylvia, Actually, we do not recommend using canned pumpkin to make wine. Canned pumpkin is a puree which is the consistency of baby food. Making wine with puree will result in a cloudy wine because it will not clear properly.

21. wow pumpkin wine sound great I have pumpkins left over from my gardens this year & thought of giving them away instead I’m going to keep some and make this wine can’t wait to start it . just finished cherry pomegranate wine & apple raspberry wine. everyone loved the flavors so next is pumpkin wine . Thank you for the recipe.

22. I made this pumpkin wine and it is delicious! It is not over spiced. thank you for the recipe

23. I made this wine 2 years ago. After someone left a comment about tastelessness, I thought it best to first cook the pumpkin to soften it to release more flavor. It worked well and with pumpkin spices came out great! It took longer to clear because of the spices, I assume, but it is crystal clear light amber in color . I call it my Octoberfest wine.

24. I am making pumpkin spiced wine after 10 years ago . We just cut up sugar pumpkins and put in very hot water than added pectic enzyme and sulfate ‘left skin on but cleaned all seeds. What are thoughts on that .I have process 200lbs. of pumpkins .Thanks! Ken Schick owner

    • Ken, the reason that you want to rough peel the pumpkin is because the skin can cause the wine to become bitter or have off flavors.

25. Adding the pumpkin to 5 gallons or filling the fermenter to 5 gallons are very different approaches.

    Which should it be?

    This question arises with all the recipes since getting 5 gallons of final wine to bottle will not be achieved if filling to 5 gallons vs adding the pumpkin or fruit to 5 gallons of water.

    So which is it? Add to 5 gallons of water or fill to 5 gallons after the fruit is added?

    • Rudi, The directions for our recipes call for you to add the fruit and then add water to make the volume 5-gallons. Once the fruit is removed, you are instructed to top back up[ with water to 5-gallons.

26. What about starting pumpkin wine from real white wine grapes and not raisins. How would you adjust the recipe? Also would you still use only fresh pumpkin vs canned if you had a way to filter it at the end to clarify it?

    • Jill, the raisins are added to add body to the wine. Due to the consistency of canned pumpkin, we do not recommend using it even if you plan to filter the wine. It will not clear properly and it would clog your filter. If you would like to create your own recipe, take a look at the article posted below that would teach you how to do so.

      Creating Your Own Wine Recipe
      http://www.eckraus.com/home-wine-making-creating-recipe

27. Not all pumpkins are equal. Some make great wine, some don’t, and some have terrible consistency and turn to goo and won’t clear from the wine. I wish I could tell you how to predict. The best pumpkin wine I made was from an 80 lb pumpkin set curbside after Halloween. Also put maybe 3 cans of Apple juice concentrate and 1 can of white grape juice concentrate in. I’m going to try giant pumpkins next year. Just purchased the seeds!

    • My nephew grows giant pumpkins & gave me one. The flesh is 6″ thick, so very easy to work with. I recommend you wait until after a frost so it is a bit softer to cut. Use the raisins & spices, otherwise it tends to have a “squashy” character that is unpleasant. This is a very easy wine to make.

28. I’ll note that I used 20 lbs of pumpkin per 5 gal batch with about 10 lbs sugar total, added in stages after the 1st 5 lbs.

29. To those of you who’ve made pumpkin wine: How did yours smell during fermentation. Mine is only three days old and smells like a cat crawled up in a jack-o-lantern and died. I think my yeast was stressed, so I added some nutrient and energizer. It smelled better a couple hours later, but it’s still not great. I have read several complaints about the smell from others making it. Will it get better?

30. Home Garden, got two medium and one large pumpkin. Pie recipe you slice vertical, clean out seeds, put smaller ones face down on foil sheet, on cookie tray, large ones face up sheet over top. Bake till soft. Two wonderful pies, four pumpkin breads. Enough frozen for 3 more.

    I am thinking of getting some from farmer. Lots in field now going to waste. Will Bake. Then follow recipe. I might add some pie spices.

    Will let you know

31. Hey! Thank you so much for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it! My wine making equipment is for 6 gallons, how would I adjust the recipe for this? So I just divide all the ingredients by 5 then multiply by 6 or is there a specific way you adjust wine ingredients?

    • Slylar, that is exactly how you turn a 5-gallon recipe into a 6-gallon recipe.

32. I made wine using a recipe very close to this one. Only I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin. Barely drinkable after 4months. It mellowed out and became very good after a year. I still have a few bottles left that are now 2 years old. It is wonderful! I plan on making another batch this fall.

33. Was great seeing the interest in pumpkin wine. My first batch was a recipe from WineMaker magazine. Got a best of show at a local contest and a silver medal from WineMaker contest. Did use 10 lbs. per gallon of pie pumpkin (is sweeter) – brown sugar – and all the spices in a pumpkin pie such as nutmeg, vanilla, pie spice and cinnamon.
    I did find as the wine ages, you lose some of the spice taste. Best if drank within a year.

    • Can you advise how much nutmeg, vanilla, and pie spice you used or would recommend for a 5 gallon recipe?

      • For a 5 gallon batch I used 1-1/4 tsp. of both nutmeg and pie spice. 1-1/2 tbs. of both vanilla and maple syrup. The cinnamon is in stick form and would add 5 sticks.
        Thanks for asking – let me know if I could provide any further info

    • Albert
      Confirming you use 10lbs pumpkin flesh per gallon (50lbs) and same amount of brown sugar and other ingredients as Kraus recipe for 5 gallons of wine. What size is your fermenting vessel?

      • Sorry for the delay but I use a 6 gallon plastic fermenting pail

34. Does the size of the pumpkin matter? Is there a difference between using sugar pumpkins versus larger pumpkins? It would seem to me if you use large pumpkins the flesh has more fiber, and therefore, less sugar. If one uses larger pumpkins should you add more sugar?

    • Jocelyn, I think you will find that it will not make enough difference to matter in regards to the sugar no matter which type of pumpkin you decide to use.

35. Just started this recipe, first problem I see is 16lb of pumpkin will not fit into a 6 gallon fermenter and have any room for water and sugar. I stuff 12lbs with 3 gallon of water and hope it won’t over flow when the fruit swells. Also the PH was pretty high at 4.06 so make sure to add plenty of acid. Sep. gravity at 1.14, yeast in a couple of hours. here we go Woo Woo !!

36. Transferred to Carboys a little under 5 gallon. Should bottle 4. I miss read the first gravity it was 1.11. Reading at transfer was .994 = 15.23 % ABV. Very Happy nice color and great smell. I do have to say, lot’s of work pealing those pumpkins.

37. #2 filter and transfer to more Carboys for Malolactic Fermentation. I bottled a couple of small bottles for tasting. OMG who would believe this would come from a Pumpkin, a slight bit rough now. But what flavor and smell, it will be smooth when done. { I did add some fresh Ginger for the first fermentation }

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