Watermelon Mead

jdwest32 · 04-07-2009, 01:08 AM

I am thinking about making watermellon mead but I dont have any idea about a recipe. Has anybody tried this before? Since watermellon has so much water in it and is so sweet i am wondering how much water and honey to use.
thanks
j

EonBlue66 · 04-07-2009, 01:21 AM

heres one http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/watermelon-mead-94537/

Matrix4b · 04-07-2009, 07:14 PM

I did a watermellon mead. I swapped out watermellong juice for the water. I did a 6 gallon batch, 3 1/2 water, 1 1/2 watermellon and 20 pounds honey. It didn't turn out too good, needs lots of aging. I should have backsweetened it. I recomend that you keep a close eye on the gravity readings and stop fermentation when it gets to the alcohol level you want. Stop it with potassiam sorbate or similar produce. Let it clear out, which it does so quickly, then see if you need to backsweeten it. Watermelon is tricky. It can be good. I have heard some say that their watermellon mead is like liquid jolly rancher. Mine, not so much. I did the juice in the primary, I recomend putting it in the secondary or tetriary and then also stopping the fermentation when it reaches a certian level. It can dry out VERY quickly.

Tusch · 04-07-2009, 07:47 PM

I'm gonna jump in and say I'm not a fan of stopping fermentation. I would much rather start off with a lower OG, one that when fermented dry leaves me with the abv I want. And then if desired, stabilize and backsweeten then. You could also match your OG to your yeast's alcohol tolerance. For instance make up a batch with an OG of say 1.130 but use a yeast that is only good for 15%. This should leave some residual sweetness. The problem with that method though is if you put the yeast in a must with to much sugar, it may not even reach its estimate limit and you will get a stuck ferment and too much sweetness.

The ferment completely, stabilize and backsweeten is the best and safest option in my opinion. Having just blabbed a good bit, I think a nice semi-sweet watermelon melomel would taste excellent.

**dudasaj** · 04-07-2009, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrix4b

I did a watermellon mead. I swapped out watermellong juice for the water. I did a 6 gallon batch, 3 1/2 water, 1 1/2 watermellon and 20 pounds honey. It didn't turn out too good, needs lots of aging. I should have backsweetened it. I recomend that you keep a close eye on the gravity readings and stop fermentation when it gets to the alcohol level you want. Stop it with potassiam sorbate or similar produce. Let it clear out, which it does so quickly, then see if you need to backsweeten it. Watermelon is tricky. It can be good. I have heard some say that their watermellon mead is like liquid jolly rancher. Mine, not so much. I did the juice in the primary, I recomend putting it in the secondary or tetriary and then also stopping the fermentation when it reaches a certian level. It can dry out VERY quickly.

I would think with a fruit like watermelon you would need high quality fruit. The peak of freshness and fully ripened. Other fruits can compensate for a bad batch with it's sweetness. Watermelon is so light to begin with.

I would find the best fully ripened melons in the peak of summer and juice out several gallons, might take 4-5 melons. Leave some pulp in it too. Sulfite then pitch. Dilution with water can only hurt your flavor.

Matrix4b · 04-08-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dudasaj

I would think with a fruit like watermelon you would need high quality fruit. The peak of freshness and fully ripened. Other fruits can compensate for a bad batch with it's sweetness. Watermelon is so light to begin with.

I would find the best fully ripened melons in the peak of summer and juice out several gallons, might take 4-5 melons. Leave some pulp in it too. Sulfite then pitch. Dilution with water can only hurt your flavor.

I did get peak fruit. I think my mistake was putting in the primary. With how finiky the fruit is, I would use in in the tetriary from now on. Just FYI, out of 2 basketball sized watermellons, I got 1 1/2 gallons of juice. I did not leave the pulp in. I puree'd, seedless, Only using red mellon, not the green rind. Then sent through a screen to take out the pulp. I then treated the pulp to a freeze/thaw/enzyme treatment and sent through a screen again and suprisingly got a lot more out of it. The pulp was like applesause and I was sorely tempted to use it in a pie or something. With a little sugar. Perhapse I should have put it in too. I put all the juice in the primary. I didn't backsweeten with honey but sugar. THat may have bben the mistake too. Ah well. One failure out of 10 isn't too bad, and it is still drinkable.