How to Make Pumpkin Mead

Close up photo of a tall wine glass with dark amber pumpkin mead in it.

4.63 from 8 votes

Pumpkin mead is a fun, flavourful seasonal beverage... and it's easy to make at home! Learn How to make Pumpkin Mead, with our recipe!

Prep Time2

Cook Time40

Resting time365

Total Time365 2 40

Course: Beverage

Cuisine: British, Greek

Servings: Gallons

Calories: 4248kcal

Author: Marie Porter

Equipment

7.5 gallon pot (or bigger)
1 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket and lid
1 air lock and stopper
Siphon, siphon tubing.
1 or 2 6.5 gallon glass carboys

Ingredients

5 gallons spring water
12 lbs Honey
2 lbs brown sugar
1 cup maple syrup
2+ cans Pumpkin puree 29 oz cans
2-3 oz fresh ginger peeled and sliced.
2 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cloves
Zest of one orange
2 vanilla beans sliced in half lengthwise
1 teaspoon acid blend
3 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1 packet White Labs “WLP 720 Sweet Mead” yeast

Instructions

Measure out water and honey into a very large pot (We use a 7 gallon turkey fryer), stir well.
Add brown sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin, spices, orange zest, and vanilla beans, stir again to mix well.
Heat to ALMOST boiling, then simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Stir in acid blend and yeast nutrient.
Carefully pour mixture into a freshly sanitized fermenting bucket. Cover with sanitized lid and air lock, allow to cool to room temperature (overnight).
The next morning, give the mixture a quick stir with a long, sanitized spoon, and – using sanitized equipment – take a gravity reading of the liquid (strain out any flowers in the liquid you're measuring). Keep track of the number! (This is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)
Sprinkle yeast into fermenter, cover with sanitized cover and air lock. Within 48 hours, you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation and /or swirling in the mead must. This means you’re good to go!
After a week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized carboy. Put the carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for a month or so.
Using sanitized equipment, rack the mead off the sediment, into a clean, freshly sanitized carboy. Cap with sanitized airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.
Rack one more time, leave it for another 3 months or so.
When your mead has been racked a few times and shows NO more fermenting activity for a month or so (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being produced, you can move on to bottling.
If stabilizing, follow the instructions on your selected type of wine stabilizer to stop fermentation. For potassium sorbate, this needs to be done 2-3 days before bottling.
Using sanitized equipment, take a gravity reading, then rack the mead into clean, sanitized bottles. Cork.

Notes

IMPORTANT:

Software generates nutritional information based on the ingredients as they start, and is unable to account for the sugars consumed in the fermentation process. As such, the calories, sugars, and carbs are shown WAY higher than reality.

Additionally, the listed value is for the entire recipe, NOT per serving.

Nutrition