Watermelon Wheat

Williams 728
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gungnir77

gungnir77

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I made an experimental beer last Sunday using 2-row domestic, and red wheat with some flaked rice. I pureed about a gallon of seedless watermelon and dumped that into the primary. I used white labs american hefeweizen yeast and just 1 oz of hallertauer for bittering. the wort was really light in color (almost barely yellow) and got me pretty nervous thinking I messed something up. I was just messing around so I didn't even take a hydrometer reading. After putting in the watermelon slush, it turned a pinkish yellow color and started fermenting pretty actively after about 7 hours. Im not taking it TOO seriously so I wont paste the actual recipe I used here until after it is done. If it turns out well I will post it for other people to try and improve on.
 
Be sure to let us know how it turns out. Sounds like an interesting combination of ingredients. Sometimes the most out-of-the-box recipes make some really good beers.
 
Your watermelon sugars are fermenting out. No bobbie and everything sounds find right now. Let us know what you think. Sounds good. You don't need a lot of color to make good beer :)
 
Definitely curious about this. I really like the watermelon wheat that 21st Amendment makes.
 
xeerohour said:
Definitely curious about this. I really like the watermelon wheat that 21st Amendment makes.
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Attempted to make a clone of this last year for a summer BBQ I have every year. My friends made fun of me for brewing a "Girl" beer relentlessly. Funny thing is it was the first keg out of five that was kicked. Now they are requesting it for this year over everything else I brew.
 
PNuke said:
Attempted to make a clone of this last year for a summer BBQ I have every year. My friends made fun of me for brewing a "Girl" beer relentlessly. Funny thing is it was the first keg out of five that was kicked. Now they are requesting it for this year over everything else I brew.
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HAHAHAHA! tell them to go make their own. My friends are the same way. they like to talk a lot of crap but they always want to come over and kill my kegs.
 
gungnir77 said:
HAHAHAHA! tell them to go make their own. My friends are the same way. they like to talk a lot of crap but they always want to come over and kill my kegs.
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Whats was the quantites of grains that you used? I did 5.5 2 row and 4.5 wheat. 7lbs of watermelon in the secondary and it came out fantastic. Bet you'll be surprised how good yours comes out.
 
dallasdb said:
I'd like to know the recipe as well and a recipe of someone who already brewed a watermelon wheat that came out nicely!
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This is the one I have been using. Comes out great.

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
0.50 lb Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 5.00 %
5.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 55.00 %
4.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 40.00 %
0.50 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (60 min) Hops 8.6 IBU
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] (15 min) Hops 8.6 IBU

7.00 lb Watermelon (Secondary 10.0 days) Misc
1 Pkgs American Hefeweizen Ale (White Labs #WLP32Yeast-Wheat


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 10.00 lb
----------------------------
Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 12.50 qt of water at 165.3 F 152.0 F


Notes:
------
Rack on top of Watermelon in Secondary

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
OK, I have had time to sample this over the weeks and provide my comments on the finished product. At first, during fermentation, it smelled really bad, like watermelon rotting. I think this is because I left the pulp in from the pureed watermelon. in the future, I will strain this out. The watermelon taste comes through pretty well, much more so than I thought it would, but this is likely because of the low amount of hops I threw in. It is a very pale ale, with a light crisp taste, and you really can pick out the watermelon. I didn't like it at first because it was too bitter but after a couple of weeks, it mellowed out very nicely. It goes GREAT in hot weather. We were brewing an Irish Red Ale outside in the heat and it was murder outside. In Texas we are in the middle of one of the worst droughts in history. I filled a coupled frosted mugs with the Watermelon Wheat and we chugged it in seconds. It hit the spot perfectly! All my non-brewer friends love it as well and want me to make more. I will make it again in a few weeks with some changes: I will strain out the pulp, because it doesn't sink to the bottom until you chill it down to 60 degrees or lower, so siphoning makes it really hard to keep the pulp out of the secondary and keg. After chilling it in the keg for 24 hours, the pulp all came out in the first pint which I threw out. I will use 1oz of Hallertauer for bittering, and add 1/4 oz of Cascade for flavor, and 1/4 oz of Cascade for finishing. I would also like to add about a pound of white cane sugar to bring up the gravity. So go ahead and try this out and add your ideas as well so we can improve on it.
 
I have not had that one. Actually, I have never tasted a watermelon brew prior to making my own. I kept my expectations low though, so maybe that affected my pleasant surprise in getting a decent hot weather beer.
 
Irrenarzt said:
The 21st Amendment Watermelon Wheat was one of the worst beers I have had in recent memory. I hope yours comes out way better than that swill.
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The stuff at the brewpub is tasty. The cans are horrible. Pretty much all of their beers are like that.
 
I went there over new years so I only had their winter brews on tap. All of those that I tried were good, although I thought my belgo-IPA was better than theirs. Never had the watermelon wheat on tap though. The cans tasted all fusely, like they were shipped hot. Gross stuff.
 
Here is the total recipe I will use next time. This is not the recipe I used last time, but it includes the changes I want to make:

Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.5 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

5 lbs Red Wheat Malt
6 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US
0.5 lb Flaked Rice
8.0 oz Rice, Flaked
1.00 oz Hallertauer (45 min)
0.25 oz Cascade (30 min)
0.25 oz Cascade (2 min)
1 lb white cane sugar (3 mins before end of boil)
0.50 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min)
1.00 gal Watermelon (pureed)
1 pack Wyeast 1010 American Wheat (any hefeweizen yeast will do)

Watermelon instructions:

Slice up and puree at least one gallon of seedless watermelon. Using a large stock pot, pasteurize the pureed watermelon at 160 degrees for 20 minutes. Using a funnel, pour the watermelon into the primary fermenter, then pout the wort in the fermenter directly on top of the watermelon. Let site in the primary for one week, then rack to secondary. Put the secondary in a cooler and keep at a temp of about 60 degrees for one week, then keg. THe first pint or two may have some watermelon pulp in it, just toss those out. Age for one more week in the keg at about 45 degreees, then serve.
 
Curious what the "wateriness" taste was of the beer, considering watermelon is about 90% water. I just brewed a light wheat beer ~ 3.8%abv, and am nervous I'll just further water down this beer...

Thoughts?
 
allthingsgiant said:
Curious what the "wateriness" taste was of the beer, considering watermelon is about 90% water. I just brewed a light wheat beer ~ 3.8%abv, and am nervous I'll just further water down this beer...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

It didn't really taste "watery" so much as weak on the hopsside. That was intentional though because watermelon is so mild I didn't want to drown it out with hop aroma and flavor. However, I don't think that adding asmall amount of Cascades as flavor and aroma will hurt that watermelon taste. My advice: go ahead and just do it. You can always make more, and as much as a pain in the ass it is to miss your mark, a failed batch of beer is rarely unsalvageable.
 
Irrenarzt said:
I went there over new years so I only had their winter brews on tap. All of those that I tried were good, although I thought my belgo-IPA was better than theirs. Never had the watermelon wheat on tap though. The cans tasted all fusely, like they were shipped hot. Gross stuff.
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The cans were also contract brewed at Gluek in Minnesota for awhile. Not sure if they still are. Gluek brewed some horrible beers. I always felt 21st amendment was doing themselves a disservice with their contracted cans.
 
allthingsgiant said:
Curious what the "wateriness" taste was of the beer, considering watermelon is about 90% water. I just brewed a light wheat beer ~ 3.8%abv, and am nervous I'll just further water down this beer...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I mis-measured when I made mine - topped it up in the primary with over a half gallon too much water, which really lowered the OG. When fermentation was done I was probably sitting around 3.8 myself. I added 8 cups of watermelon juice to the secondary and let it sit for 2 weeks. Fermentation restarted a little bit, but not a whole lot. The beer is now in my keg and it tastes (and smells) amazing.

Part of the success was the Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen - lots of fruity esters which complement the melon beautifully. Overall I am very impressed.
 
gungnir77 said:
Watermelon instructions:

Slice up and puree at least one gallon of seedless watermelon. Using a large stock pot, pasteurize the pureed watermelon at 15 degrees for 20 minutes. Using a funnel, pour the watermelong into the primary fermenter, then pout the wort in the fermenter directly on top of the watermelon. Let site in the primary for one week, then rack to secondary. Put the secondary in a cooler and keep at a temp of about 60 degrees for one week, then keg. THe first pint or two may have some watermelon pulp in it, just toss those out. Age for one more week in the keg at about 45 degreees, then serve.
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I did not pasteurize the melon juice, and in fact, none of the recipes I looked at on this forum or several other sites did either. All I did was cut out the melon, mash it up in a bowl, and strain it into a measuring cup. 8 cups into a funnel into the carboy, rack the beer from the primary on top. Because it wasn't as fine as a puree, there was no pulp or seeds whatsoever in the beer, even from the first pint.

Just to be cautious I sanitized the outside of the melon, the knife, cutting board, bowl, masher, funnel, and strainer with iodophor before I juiced the melon.
 
SookeBrewing said:
I did not pasteurize the melon juice, and in fact, none of the recipes I looked at on this forum or several other sites did either. All I did was cut out the melon, mash it up in a bowl, and strain it into a measuring cup. 8 cups into a funnel into the carboy, rack the beer from the primary on top. Because it wasn't as fine as a puree, there was no pulp or seeds whatsoever in the beer, even from the first pint.

Just to be cautious I sanitized the outside of the melon, the knife, cutting board, bowl, masher, funnel, and strainer with iodophor before I juiced the melon.
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Well if that is an unnecessary step, then it could take a little of the work out of it. I will try that next time, and maybe strain out the pulp. I just left it in the first time.
 
I tried this recipe and left my watermelon at 70 degrees for two days then dropped it down to 55. I'll let it sit for another week and then keg. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
 
tante said:
I tried this recipe and left my watermelon at 70 degrees for two days then dropped it down to 55. I'll let it sit for another week and then keg. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
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so this taste pretty gross. It just like a light melon flavor (not watermelon) or maybe even a cucumber taste. Did you guys keep the watermelon juice from fermenting? I am going to try and fix this with some jolly ranchers first (in a single cup) and if that is too sweet or gross, gonna try watermelon extract.
 
How long has it been? My watermelon wheat took 2 weeks fermenting, 3 weeks carbing, and another two weeks before it got really good. I used "ben the brewman"s recipe

Be patient!
 
I think you should let it condition at least a week or two more before writing it off. I didn't like the taste after the first week, but 2 weeks later it was much better. Other people who used real watermelon reported the same thing, that the beginning was nasty but after some time it got to be pretty good.
 
Pics of adding juice to 2ndary - click here

My thread on it - click here

My current recipe - click here (top one, v.4)

Next time (v.5) I will ad probably half a pound of CaraPils to v.4 recipe to add a little bit of body. Was a touch thin, but not from the watermelon juice... Most of my wheat beer recipes come out that way. Would add some CaraPils to all of them.
 
brum said:
How long has it been? My watermelon wheat took 2 weeks fermenting, 3 weeks carbing, and another two weeks before it got really good. I used "ben the brewman"s recipe

Be patient![/QUOTE

I did 3 weeks in the primary - no watermelon @72 degrees
2 days with 5 cups watermelon juice in secondary @72 degrees
8 days in secondary @55 degrees
4 days in keg @38 degrees

I'll let it finish carbonating for a few more days before I mess with it, but I just wanted to have some kind of back-up plan.
Click to expand...
 
I added watermelon juice when racking to secondary after just one week in primary. I let it sit for two weeks as I was out of town, bottled and 3 weeks later it tasted decent. It has only gotten better.

You potentially removed some ofthe watermelon flavor by dropping the temperature down to 55 after only 2 days at ambient temps.

IMO Just let it sit for awhile, if it doesnt get better, toss in some jolly ranchers like you planned.
 

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