Fruit Beer Watermelon Wheat

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Really wish I had one to drink while doing this.

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I'll report back. There's a current thread about it. Added the Watermelon yesterday and it's still bubbling
 
This!

I can't stand that fake watermelon flavor..that is why I love this recipe so much since you use actual watermelon juice instead of the fake stuff. Adding watermelon jolly ranchers seems to defeat the purpose of using fresh watermelon juice IMO. Different strokes though.

good luck :mug:
 
Great recipe....did this last year and the keg disappeared in one party. One critique was that there was some tartness.

Question: I followed the latest recipe when I brewed it last year, using 6 cups of watermelon juice in the secondary. Of course, there was some additional fermentation when the juice was in the secondary, which I think led to some tartness in the final product. In order to get some of the sweetness back this year, could I add a few campden tablets to the secondary to kill off the yeast and retain the watermelon sweetness?

Has anyone tried this and what was your result?
 
Great recipe....did this last year and the keg disappeared in one party. One critique was that there was some tartness.

Question: I followed the latest recipe when I brewed it last year, using 6 cups of watermelon juice in the secondary. Of course, there was some additional fermentation when the juice was in the secondary, which I think led to some tartness in the final product. In order to get some of the sweetness back this year, could I add a few campden tablets to the secondary to kill off the yeast and retain the watermelon sweetness?

Has anyone tried this and what was your result?

Sounds like it'll work in theory. I'd add 3 cups, let them ferment then 3 more cups and the campden tablet.
 
Thanks by the way - this beer tastes amazing. My mother is anti beer drinker and I stopped to see my parents on Saturday and drop off my kids. I cracked a beer at 10 am (so my father could taste) and after getting yelled at for drinking beer,especially at 10 am my mother polished off half a beer and said "wow Todd that's really good...refreshing and different"

Cheers and thanks!!!
 
Thanks by the way - this beer tastes amazing. My mother is anti beer drinker and I stopped to see my parents on Saturday and drop off my kids. I cracked a beer at 10 am (so my father could taste) and after getting yelled at for drinking beer,especially at 10 am my mother polished off half a beer and said "wow Todd that's really good...refreshing and different"

Cheers and thanks!!!

You should have asked her , how can I drink all day of you don't start drinking before noon?
 
So I want to brew this soon and was looking at Austin homebrew for ingredients and don't see German wheat malt. The options are red wheat or white wheat or they also have German kolsch malt, what would the best option be?
 
So I want to brew this soon and was looking at Austin homebrew for ingredients and don't see German wheat malt. The options are red wheat or white wheat or they also have German kolsch malt, what would the best option be?

White wheat is fine.
 
Wife is looking forward to this one again! Going to pick up ingredients Friday and get everything going! It will be my 3rd time making this. I have never made a 2nd batch of anything in almost 2yrs of all grain, so that should tell you how much people love this stuff!
 
SWMBO and I have been sipping on another successful batch of this the past few days. I used Summer hops this time with 6 cups of fresh watermelon juice in the secondary and it is excellent.

The key I have found is to make sure the watermelon you use is as ripe as possible (very red) as I used one a few batches back that wasn't quite ripe enough and the watermelon flavor was definitely subdued.
 
I'm working on my second watermelon wheat because I ruin the first batch by adding way too many hops. After triple checking all the ingredients I know I've done it right and it's been about three days in the primary fermentation and the krausen is starting to dissipate. I took a gravity reading and it is at 1.028. I'm going to take another reading tomorrow but it looks like the foam head is going to be entirely gone tomorrow. Should I add the watermelon and place it in the secondary carboy?
 
I'm working on my second watermelon wheat because I ruin the first batch by adding way too many hops. After triple checking all the ingredients I know I've done it right and it's been about three days in the primary fermentation and the krausen is starting to dissipate. I took a gravity reading and it is at 1.028. I'm going to take another reading tomorrow but it looks like the foam head is going to be entirely gone tomorrow. Should I add the watermelon and place it in the secondary carboy?

Technically, you are OK to rack to secondary once your beer reaches terminal gravity and the gravity readings are consistent over a 3 day period. I prefer to give the yeast time to clean up after themselves before I rack off the cake so I leave my beer in the primary for a minimum of 10 days (usually 2 weeks) before I transfer when using a secondary. Patience is definitely a virtue in the brewing world...
 
looking at brewing a 10 gallon biab batch of this, going to double all the grains, but should i make a yeast starter for the WLP320, or just up it to 2 vials?
 
DubbelDach,

Looking to brew this next weekend. Just wondering what the final verdict on the recipe is. I read early on a couple things about dropping the honey, maybe switching the grain bill a little. In your experience, am I better to stick with the OP or revising it slightly? If I were to revise it, would you mind posting your refined recipe, or pointing me to what post it is on?

Thanks in advance.
 
Just racked in into the secondary and added 7 cups of watermelon. I wasn't expecting so much juice from a half of melon! Hopefully it should be ready by the 4th of July!!

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Hello, this recipe looks great, thanks! I was wondering when the honey is added and if the watermelon juice is added at the beginning of the full two weeks in the secondary? Thanks
 
brewed it yesterday, hit all my number's, I did a 10 gallon batch, cant wait to keg this!


I have a question though, I Use a conical inside a fermentation chamber.

I've never added juice or fruit to a beer, I see that all of you are transferring to a second carboy and racking on top of the juice. when fermentation stops, and the beer clears for a few day, should I just do a trub dump and then add the juice right on top of the beer? should i stir it any when doing so?

thanks

Joe
 
Hello, this recipe looks great, thanks! I was wondering when the honey is added and if the watermelon juice is added at the beginning of the full two weeks in the secondary? Thanks

I don't think anyone uses the honey in the recipe. A few posts below he talks about revising another recipe originally but ditching the honey on this one. At least I don't anyway and this is one of my most requested brews.
And yes rack to secondary and add the juice. In my experience the juice will kickstart fermentation again so you either need enough headspace in your fermenter or a blow off tube if you don't want a mess.
 
Pretty excited about this one. Bubbling away right now in primary.

5lbs 2 row malt
5lbs white wheat

@152 for 60 minutes

1 oz mt hood 5% AA 60
1 oz mt hood 5% AA 30

60 minute boil

OG: 1.050

White labs American wheat
WL1010

Plan on using 6 cups watermelon in secondary.

Pissa
 
Racked onto 8 cups of juice today, though I yielded almost 1 gallon from the watermelon I used. Even had an extra gallon of beer left, so I racked it on 1/2 a tube of pineapple juice concentrate. I'm sure this is highly variable, but my juice had an OG of 1.035, really sweet stuff, also makes for a really quick starting refermentation!

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I'm going to be bottling on Sunday as long as my FG on my refractometer is between 5-6. Right now it is on 6 and has moved only a bit since I put in the secondary carboy. I was wondering if I can use 5 ounces if any kind of sugar or is the priming sugar a specific type. I would use white sugar around the house if I have it or go to the supermarket, the brew store is too far and in too lazy.
 
how long after i add the watermelon juice do i have to wait before bottling/kegging?
 
njale said:
how long after i add the watermelon juice do i have to wait before bottling/kegging?

I assume when your gravity readings are at 1.019 three days in a row. Or something very close to it??
 
I've been keeping track of my gravity readings since I transferred it to the secondary carboy and added the watermelon juice. Everyday for the past 4 days it has been reading a 6 on my refractometer and I don't feel like it is going to go down any more. I plan on bottling on Sunday and want to know if its ok to bottle with a gravity around 1.020-24?
 
omg... I just popped open my test bottle and took a sip. O_O ... This beer is amazing. Cheers to you, Dubbel Dach! Thanks for the great recipe! I'm a huge fan of 21A's Hell or High, but this is a step beyond that beer. I used 8 cups of watermelon juice only, no extract. I tasted a homebrewed watermelon wheat ale with extract in it the other week at a beer fest and couldn't take more than 2 sips. This beer tastes so fresh and clean... I love it!!!
 
how long after i add the watermelon juice do i have to wait before bottling/kegging?

if the beer is at 80F, and started bubbling again as soon as i added the watermelon juice...do you think 24 hours is long enough before bottling? i'm not taking FG readings
 
njale said:
if the beer is at 80F, and started bubbling again as soon as i added the watermelon juice...do you think 24 hours is long enough before bottling? i'm not taking FG readings

No give it at least a week. I just bottled mine in Sunday. Waiting till the 4th to crack one open!!
 
I have my babies bottled and ready to go. I'm getting antsy and was wondering if 2 days if enough before I can drink it? Any thoughts on it.. It's been bottled since sunday the 30th.
 
I have my babies bottled and ready to go. I'm getting antsy and was wondering if 2 days if enough before I can drink it? Any thoughts on it.. It's been bottled since sunday the 30th.

Do you mean you are bottle carbonating and they were bottled 2 days ago? Well, you can drink them anytime, but if you want them to be carbonated - waait 3 weeks at 70F.
 
Had a keg of this ready to go for the 4th. People sucked it dry. Great recipe.

Thanks again
 
Just noticed this has 2 weeks in secondary, is this so the beer can clear up after the watermelon sugars are fermented? Also how big of a difference will temp make, my beer sits around 74 degrees in the closet I use.
 
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