Watermelon Wine

Just started my first batch of watermelon wine two nights ago.

We squeezed 6 gallons of pure watermelon juice out of 11 watermelons. OG on that was 1.030. Added sugar to bring the gravity up to 1.105. Added yeast last night and it's bubbling away beautifully…

Has anyone out here ever tried watermelon wine? Any tips or opinions?

I make it it's great if you know how to do it. Make sure on your top offs you add more watermelon juice if you add any water you will loose the body. Then it will just taste like watery alcohol.

So Jeremy, it has been fermenting for 4 days. I have been stirring daily. Today it is at 1.010. Is that about right for 4 days? It started out at 1.105. Seems quick....bubbled like crazy the first 2 days.

Pics!!!

6.25 gallons of pure watermelon juice.

Is there a liner in that bucket? How does that work?

That is a nylon mesh bag.

i think i would have started it at 1.090, at 1.105 it might be a bit jet fuel like...

What percentage of your smallest fruit particles do you think having the liner in like that captures? I have a mountain of trouble with super small pulp, and may have to give this a try.

That juice looks so phenomenal. I made about 10 gallons of watermelon wine in July. One was just watermelon, one was watermelon and elderberry, watermelon and pear (which incidentally, the pear juice washed out the watermelon color???)and watermelon black cherry. They all have come out reasonably well, and I racked them every week until they cleared, with the exception of the one with elderberries. That one is still generating lees????They do have a funky aftertaste right now, but I am hoping with age, that will go away. Any thoughts? I use those bucket strainers (mine are made for paint), also for straining off the first couple of times. They are cool. After that I strain with four to six layers of muslin or flour sack towels. They really do a good job. Being low-tech, the last racking, I use unbleached coffee filters that I keep covered while straining. Someone did tell me that watermelon wine has a tendency to spoil in the first stages. Either I got terribly lucky, or that would explain the aftertaste. I was dissappointed that it didn't taste, for lack of a better word, as watermelony as I wanted. Unless it gets better in the next 6-8 months, I probably won't make any more.

Captain Longneck. It helps a LOT. Nt sure of percentage though...

MzAnnie...did you use pure watermelon juice, or mix with water?

Tully, I used pure watermelon juice. The only water I used was when I backsweened it with syrup after a couple weeks. Make sure you are using distilled or spring, I prefer distilled, when using any water. I even use it to clean out my strainer mesh, because I don't use camden tablets so everything has to be very clean. I, also, am very mindful about the wild yeasts, I keep EVERYTHING covered. Those critters are sneaky and fast...

MzAnnie, I am very new to winemaking. I am 40 days into a 5 gallon batch of blueberry wine, and seven days into this batch of watermelon wine. I really appreciate the advice that this forum has brought me already…

Another question or two... the watermelon has been fermenting in the primary bucket for just six days now, and last night the gravity was 1.00. It took almost 30 days for my blueberry wine to reach the same gravity. Why do you think that the watermelon is down so fast?

tully72 said:

MzAnnie, I am very new to winemaking. I am 40 days into a 5 gallon batch of blueberry wine, and seven days into this batch of watermelon wine. I really appreciate the advice that this forum has brought me already…

Another question or two... the watermelon has been fermenting in the primary bucket for just six days now, and last night the gravity was 1.00. It took almost 30 days for my blueberry wine to reach the same gravity. Why do you think that the watermelon is down so fast?

Click to expand...

hey tully. im still really new to wine making as well. and i also just started some watermelon wine, and when i put mine in its primary bucket its gravity went down right away because i left some chunks of watermelon in it, and the chunks gave up their water and lowered the gravity. idk hope that helps.

PS. im using yellow watermelon. wish me luck.

Tully, I am new to winemaking also...that is why I have 10 gallons of watermelon wine that, frankly, I have to choke down. My uneducated guess would be, maybe the acidic differences between the two.(?) I have a hydrometer and I used it twice and lost interest, and go strictly by taste, the amount of lees, the clarity, AND the inflation and deflation of my balloons. I am so low-tech it would probably make the professionals gasp. But I do get a good product most of the time. The watermelon wine took about a month and a half, I still have five gallons sitting, but my pom/blueberry and pom/cranberry are still alive and making lees after about 3 weeks. This forum has helped me alot, and I am slowly learning, from reading about the specific gravity and the like, but I come from a long line of balloon wine makers. I keep detailed notes in a wine book and on my buckets so I know what works and what doesn't. Let me know how your wine turns out, I hope I will have a new recipe to try.

Watermelon it self has a lot of sugar I let mine ferment down to 1.00 then I stabilize. Then in after stabilizing I top off with more watermelon juice. Next time I you make it make sure before you ferment get juice ready add a crushed camden tablet and still it in the fridge for 24 hours this will keep from the juice spoiling. It's hard to build a bold flavor in watermelon wine just to let you know. It's kinda hard to know how good the melon is until you cut it open lol.

Forgot to add I only use a nylon bag in the primary. My wife bought me a 3 pad wine filter about 2 years ago so I've been spoiled using that by getting all the lees out.

Its been a little over 6 months since I started this and I want to backsweeten a bit. What are your thoughts on racking it onto fresh strawberries for color, flavor and sweetness. It has turned the color of lemonade, as they do, and I dont want to use red food coloring.

So how does it taste? I hope better than mine. If you are looking to color it, how about some hibiscus tea, in a simple syrup. It gives off the most beautiful magenta color, I have ever seen. I don't know about strawberries, I don't like them, but I made some strawberry wine for my husband, and I didn't use enough strawberries. I threw in some pure blueberry juice, hoping I could save the five gallon batch.