Watermelon wheat - Page 2

**DubbelDach** · 07-08-2009, 02:44 PM

As long as you clean the outside of the melon with soap and water, and then sanitize... And sanitized the cutting board and all knives/juice squeezin' apparatus... The juice will be fine, the alcohol in 2ndary will kill everything.

No boil/pasteurizing.

KUbrew · 07-08-2009, 02:55 PM

I've been wanting to do this for a while, please update us about the flavor. This may have to be my next brew.

nostalgia · 07-08-2009, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DubbelDach

As long as you clean the outside of the melon with soap and water, and then sanitize... And sanitized the cutting board and all knives/juice squeezin' apparatus... The juice will be fine, the alcohol in 2ndary will kill everything.

No boil/pasteurizing.

I used Star-San in a spray bottle. I just sliced the melon in half with the sanitized knife, then used a sanitized ice cream scoop to scoop out the flesh. No contact with cutting board/rind/cat/etc.

In other news, the ice cream scoop is now my go-to method for eating a watermelon

-Joe

nostalgia · 07-15-2009, 02:32 PM

Just put it on the gas yesterday. Going to give it a wee taste at the end of the week and see how it's coming along.

-Joe

**Whiskey** · 07-15-2009, 03:45 PM

I tried one of these at the Brewers Cup in Indianapolis, It was surprisingly tasty. Kind of wine-cooler-esque and I could see my self sipping on one on a hot summer day. Or maybe for breakfast.

trip210 · 07-16-2009, 07:40 AM

What kind of effect do you think the watermelon juice had on your gravity?

**thantos** · 07-17-2009, 05:17 PM

Quote:

I could see my self sipping on one on a hot summer day. Or maybe for breakfast.

Now were talking !

nostalgia · 07-17-2009, 05:34 PM

Ok here's the first pull:

Not totally carbed up yet, but almost there. Flavor is definitely interesting - the wheat and yeast aroma and taste is right up front. The watermelon doesn't show up until the finish, leaving a tangy aftertaste.

I expect the yeast flavor to lighten up after a few pints. Full report in another week once it's carbed up!

-Joe

MarsColonist · 07-17-2009, 06:01 PM

Ive got one of these in process.. however, its 2 qts of watermelon (half a big watermelon through a juicer) for a 5 gallon batch! o_O

The base was a half Pils, half wheat, Tettnang, WLP 300 Bavarian hefe (German fruit beer, not very reinheitsgebot) fermented at 62°F for a week (1.052->1.025)... then, transferred and racked on watermelon and allowed to free rise (made it to 78°F).. boy did it take off! pooped the airlock right off on day 2 of secondary.. didnt take a refractometer reading of the juice, so Im not sure of the sugar content add, but my guess is that it added 5-6 points to the gravity... so far its been in secondary for 5 days.. Ill end up taking a reading today.

By going to secondary before it was fully attentuated, I was really hoping that I was going to get mostly clove phenols, and some to little banana, but on that day 2, you could certainly smell the banana esters being cranked out (you can definitely smell the watermelon in it, too.). It is DEFINITELY pink beer... nothing straw colored about it.

Ill probably keg it Sunday.. Ill have a better idea of the flavor/aroma profile by then.