Fruit Beer watermelon wheat

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ben the brewman

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
404
Reaction score
12
Location
Memphis
Recipe Type
Extract
Yeast
safebrew wb-06
Yeast Starter
no
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.050
Final Gravity
1.012
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
23.2
Color
5.1
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
7
Tasting Notes
the wb-06 has a slightly tart flavor that goes well with the watermelon & dextrine
Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5 gal
Boil Size: 6 gal
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 5.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 23.2 IBU
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.50 lb Wheat LME (4 SRM) Extract 64.7%
0.50 lb Aromatic Malt , Belgium (25 SRM) Grain 2.9 %
0.50 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 5.9 %
1.00 lb Honey 11.8%
0.50 oz Perle [8.25 %] (60 min) Hops 19 IBU
0.25 oz Perle [8.25 %] (15 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.25 oz Perle [8.25 %] ( 5 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
1 Pkgs German Wheat Yeast (Safebrew wb-06) Yeast-Wheat

2.5 cups of watermelon juice


-steeped all grains @155 deg for 30 min.
-added 1 pound of LME at the start of the boil along with the .50oz perle hops
-added the rest of the LME and honey at 15 min when i also added the .25oz perle hops
-added 2.5 cups of watermelon juice in the secondary

next time i brew this im gonna use a belgin wit yeast.

im planing on entering it into a homebrew contest i will post the results when i get them back.

Differnt yeast options

Whitelabs American Hefeweizen (wlp320)
Wyeast American Wheat (1010)
 
I brewed a Watermelon Witbier, and it was pretty tart but had hints of melon in it, not much watermelon though. How does the watermelon shine through? I pureed the watermelon meat though and dumped it in, so maybe the juice adds more flavor? Also, how did you get the juice? Squeeze the watermelon in cheesecloth? Sounds like a winner recipe to me! Cheers! :mug:
 
i did puree the mellon and poured the juice through a strainer bag. the watermelon flavor in this beer was perfect its not overpowering and deffinatly noticable espicaly in the aftertaste.
 
Nice! That is where my problem lies. I dumped the pureed watermelon straight into the fermenter and did not strain it to collect the juice. More of the flavor is in that juice and not in the pulpy mess I dumped into the fermenter. Thanks !!
 
I plan on trying this.. would I have to adjust anything to do a smaller boil? (Starting with say, 2 gallons of water instead of a full boil?)
 
you dont need to do any to adjust it. just add the amount of water you need to your fermenter after adding the wort into it. the yeast i used is slightly tart but it goes well with the watermelon if you want you can try some of the american wheat yeasts or 1056. good luck and let me know how it turns out.
 
Ill stick to the recipe this time around.. it will only be my 3rd brew ever, so Im not looking to modify much.. i think a little tart will only help the watermelon stand out..
 
Just ordered everything from Austin's.. plus some extra equipment (Spent $100 there in one shot :cross:) so hopefully by next weekend ill make this up!
 
One more question if I may,

How much, or large of, a watermelon would make the required amount of juice for secondary?
 
Just want to throw this thread out there... I used 6 cups of watermelon juice and it was excellent. The melon I pressed was round and about the size of a volleyball. No boiling, no pasteurizing, just racked beer on top of the juice in 2ndary.

The question I have for ben the brewman here... can't be answered. Damn. You kegged it, I see. I bottled mine and the head retention was very poor. This is almost an identical recipe to my orange honey hefe which was awesome at head retention.

Does anyone know if there's something in watermelon juice that kills it?
 
first one i bought a large watermelon and thought i would use alot of it but it ended up being only like 1/4 of it or so. the second time i made it i used a seedless watermelon and it took almost half or so but it was easy to deal with because there was no seeds. thats how i do it every time now is with a seedless melon. hope this helped with your question.





One more question if I may,

How much, or large of, a watermelon would make the required amount of juice for secondary?
 
i did everything just the way you did just racked the beer on the juice in a 2ndary but i think 6 cups of juice is too much 2.5 cups was just right imo. i like to be able to taste the wheat beer and the watermelon both. im sure that a beer with 6 cups would be awesome but it just abit much for me. as for the juice having problems with the head i dont know. mine was kegged and it had a great head to it so im not sure sorry.




Just want to throw this thread out there... I used 6 cups of watermelon juice and it was excellent. The melon I pressed was round and about the size of a volleyball. No boiling, no pasteurizing, just racked beer on top of the juice in 2ndary.

The question I have for ben the brewman here... can't be answered. Damn. You kegged it, I see. I bottled mine and the head retention was very poor. This is almost an identical recipe to my orange honey hefe which was awesome at head retention.

Does anyone know if there's something in watermelon juice that kills it?
 
I'll try splitting the difference by using about 3 cups of juice from a seedless melon.. Ill throw some of the pulp into my Magic Bullet, blend the crap out of it, then pour it in my funnel w/ the screen in to get about 3, maybe 3.5 cups.. see how it goes. If the shipping info is correct, then I will be brewing saturday.
 
Ingredients arriving today, brewing Sunday morning... also, I was planning to bottle also, so I got some extra priming sugar to go with it. Im kindof excited to see how it comes out. I need to go to LHBS tomorrow to get the yeast, Austin was out of the required yeast AND nottingham yeast, no big deal. I'll keep everyone informed on the process.
 
One more question before I brew..

I had AHS combine the LME and the Honey.. will this be a problem if I just add it all at the start of the boil?? I mean, its all mixed.. i would still add 1lb of the mixture at the start and the rest at 15... just wondering if that will affect the outcome?
 
no it will be just fine. i have added all of it the last 20 min before and it was just fine. people say that you need some malt in the boil for the hops to be efficently boiled out but im not sure if i even believe that any more.
 
Lots of airlock activity last night and this morning.. Decent krausen with some hop sludge in it, definately lots of movement in the betterbottle (which i am now in love with, by the way..)

I really love the color so far and the grains smelled amazing as i was steeping.. I have pretty high hopes for this beer.. seems like a great base for adding any sort of fruit flavor to it! Maybe canteloupe beer next time :D
 
ive been checking it every day, and today (a week later..) its still giving me a few bubbles every 15 seconds or so, and theres still some hop sludge at the top of my fermentor.. so im gonna wait a few more days and check the gravity.
looks great though.
 
i got my score card back on this beer. it was scored a 34 by a bjcp beer judge. he said it had great head retention, good aroma of watermelon and malts, nice color, and a very nicely blended watermelon and wheat beer flavor not overpowering at all. overall he said it was a great beer but he thought personaly it could be a little sweeter. so im happy with this score and beer but like i said next time im gonna use a us wheat yeast.
 
Cool! I checked gravity last night, it was at 1.010 (at 76ish degrees, so.. Im pretty sure its right on.) Ill check it again tonight, and again on Friday and hopefully rack to secondary on Friday.

Ben, can you tell me your exact procedure for getting the watermelon juice? Thanks. Im gonna use about 5 cups of it.. I really want a killer watermelon flavor in it!

Thanks buddy!
 
take the meat of the watermelon into a blender and puree it. then pour the puree through a nylon paint strainer, grain bag, or something like that and you will only get the juice. the paint strainer bag is what i used and i bought it at sherwin williams for like a buck or so.
 
I did get a seedless one. I tried blending a piece of watermelon last night, and i tried to run it through my funnel/strainer combo, and it clogged almost immediately. perhaps the strainer was too fine.. ill try a paint strainer! thanks!
 
Okay! The blender and paint strainer worked GREAT! Here's a few pictures of the racking...

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Sorry about all the crap in the background, it was a last minute decision to take pics lol.
 
I poured one cup at a time into my secondary, but I lost count at either 4 or 5.. so I poured in another 1/2 cup.. so I either ended up with 4-1/2 cups or 5-1/2 cups.. either way it looks really red and really delicious!
 
Do you use regular priming sugars before bottling with this? I didn't see it on the recipe. Ever tried Muntons Kreamy-X Primer for head retention?
 
I used priming sugar too.

I tasted it before I bottled it.. it was VERY tangy.. but im excited to try it. 2-3 more weeks baby!
 
Yes! After 2 weeks in primary, I put another in the fridge, and tasted it..

Let me just say, if this were eBay, I would be writing something like.. "GREAT PRODUCT FAST SHIPPING WILL DO BUSINESS AGAIN A+++++++"

Awesome recipe dude!
 
im glad you like the recipe. do you think its to tart or does it go just right with the watermelon flavor. your the second person i know to brew it other than me and both of you loved it. thanks for the compliment
 
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