Fruit Beer watermelon wheat

I was going to do it the next time i made it with watermelon but havnt got around to it yet. Let me know how it works for you.

I should think that the process after heating would be the same as adding a water/corn sugar mix to beer pre-botttling. However, I would try to be as gentle as possible while melting the jolly ranchers and ensure that I didn't boil the heck out of them so that the flavor changes.

Were I to do this I would do a test run and FIRST boil the water to sanitize. While boiling I would unwrap the candy and spray liberally with starsan. Then I would add the wet candy at flameout to the boiling water and let it cool with no ice bath. I would check to see that they dissolved fully over that period and figure out if I needed to stir the mix to help out the process. Maybe that would be enough to dissolve the candy yet not over heat the flavorings.

Or am I overthinking it?

Sounds like a decent process - I like the idea of boiling the water separately and adding the candy at flameout. My understanding is that a jolly rancher will melt in water above 119 degrees, but I have not done a practice run. I bought the 160-count package of jolly ranchers so I could do a test run ahead of time - they just arrived yesterday. I will certainly report back my findings.

I don't think you are overthinking it at all - we obsess over the process details ahead of time so we can RDWHAHB later.

Here's an interesting question... Why aren't we aren't we adding 2 pounds of watermelon jolly ranchers at the end of the boil in a standard wheat recipe and counting that as a fementable sugar and then fermenting as usual? Has anyone done that?

OK, I did a test run with the jolly ranchers. Boiled some water and added 5 candies at flameout. They kind of melted into one large mass sitting on the bottom of the pan. I grabbed a metal spoon and put the tip into the mass, then kind of rubbed it around the bottom of the pan. This worked pretty well to accelerate the dissolving process, which completed in about 10 minutes.

With 25+ jolly ranchers, the "melted mass" might be unwieldy. I wonder if crushing the candy before adding to the water and stirring right away would work better. Another experiment for another day ...

nutty_gnome said:

Here's an interesting question... Why aren't we aren't we adding 2 pounds of watermelon jolly ranchers at the end of the boil in a standard wheat recipe and counting that as a fementable sugar and then fermenting as usual? Has anyone done that?

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I have thought about it but i have never tried it before. I like it and dont see why it wouldnt work except that there would be some aroma lost due to fermentation.

Ben, I wonder if the aroma lost would be the 'bright candy' smell or the 'watermelon' smell?

I have no idea. I know you loose a lot of aromas through fermentation but i dont know about artificial aromas like that in candy.

The beer that i added the passion fruit and mango to was awesome. I will be making it again soon too.

I bottled mine today. Ended up doing a hybrid of corn sugar and the watermelon jolly ranchers. I did 100 grams of corn sugar and 15 jolly ranchers (= 55 grams of sugar), for just under 5.5 ounces of total priming sugars. I double-bagged the jolly ranchers in ziploc bags and crushed them with a hammer, and then added them to the boiling mixture of water and corn sugar. The jolly ranchers were fully dissolved in about 90 seconds, and so I turned off the burner at that point.

Hopefully this will turn out well - will report back in a few weeks.

My mom has 2 little watermelons growing out back on the vine. I might just have to confiscate them.

Sounds good man. Did you use any watermelon juice in the fermenter or just the jolly ranchers.

Jdecarol said:

My mom has 2 little watermelons growing out back on the vine. I might just have to confiscate them.

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Just make sure they are good and ripe before you pick them.

Update - just had the first bottle of my batch after 10 days of carbing up. Turned out great - the carbonation is incredible already. The watermelon flavor is perfect - noticeable but not overpowering.

Ben - I did 5 cups of watermelon juice in the secondary, and then the carbonation procedure I described with the jolly ranchers.

Awesome man thanks for the update. Its looking like this is a pretty solid recipe.

Its about time to start up the wheat beers again. Its a bit early for watermelon but the passion fruit is sounding pretty good.

I havnt read everything here in this thread but has anyone ever tried bottling with watermelon juice instead of using it in the 2ndary....or both ?

cheers

I like this recipe and am planning on brewing it as soon as I bottle and rack my current batches. I am interested in adding some basil to it. Basil and watermelon make an awesome, refreshing combination, but being fairly new to home brewing I don't know how to go about adding them. I think I can sanitize them and add them to secondary kind of like a dry hop. Any thoughts?

Agrice said:

I like this recipe and am planning on brewing it as soon as I bottle and rack my current batches. I am interested in adding some basil to it. Basil and watermelon make an awesome, refreshing combination, but being fairly new to home brewing I don't know how to go about adding them. I think I can sanitize them and add them to secondary kind of like a dry hop. Any thoughts?

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I have never heard that but it sounds very interesting. I would use fresh basil and wash it and sanatize it and it just like a dry hop in the secondary.

iamatuna said:

I havnt read everything here in this thread but has anyone ever tried bottling with watermelon juice instead of using it in the 2ndary....or both ?

cheers

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I wouldn't recommend it because i have noticed that it does ferment in the carboy and i think it would be hard to judge how much to use for bottling.

I thought about that

If you were to say use the same juice and do a forced ferment to see how much it goes down you could determine the amount of fermentables within the juice.

I recently tried this with some mango and it turned out really well

Cheers

Hey this recipe looks good. So good I had ago at it this Saturday, so it will be ready by memorial day, with some minor tweeks. I used 1 lb oh each of the steeping grains, 6 lbs of extract and 1.5 lbs of honey. I bumpeds up the fermentables to try to give it alittle bit more abv. But I do have a question. I used wyeast 1068 and my airlock is going off like a machine gun for the last 2 days. It is going off more than any other beer I have done in that time frame. I fermented at 68 degrees. This is my first wheat. So my question is, is this activity common with wheats? If not how worried do I have to be about having an off/hot taste? Thanks in advance...

Thanks for all the talk on this, my wife and I brewed this on March 19th, bottled a few days ago, can't wait to taste it!

I used a MoreBeer American Wheat Kit, and Wyeast 3056 Bavarian Wheat Blend. Fermented at around 68 for two weeks, then racked to 5 cups (or so) of watermelon juice that I squeezed through a paint strainer bag after blending up the pulp.

illadelphbrew: this is my first wheat as well and it blew the top off the airlock, had to switch to a blow-off tube.........I'll post some tasting notes in a week or two when I taste it, but initially it's tastes great, just the right amount of watermelon flavor.....a bit estery, but that might be due to the yeast. Might just try a plain ale yeast next time.

illadelphbrew said:

Hey this recipe looks good. So good I had ago at it this Saturday, so it will be ready by memorial day, with some minor tweeks. I used 1 lb oh each of the steeping grains, 6 lbs of extract and 1.5 lbs of honey. I bumpeds up the fermentables to try to give it alittle bit more abv. But I do have a question. I used wyeast 1068 and my airlock is going off like a machine gun for the last 2 days. It is going off more than any other beer I have done in that time frame. I fermented at 68 degrees. This is my first wheat. So my question is, is this activity common with wheats? If not how worried do I have to be about having an off/hot taste? Thanks in advance...

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Im glad you guys are liking my recipe! It is very normal for a wheat to go crazy for a few days they have a pretty violent fermentation. Keep brewing and let me know how all of these turn out.

iamatuna said:

I thought about that

If you were to say use the same juice and do a forced ferment to see how much it goes down you could determine the amount of fermentables within the juice.

I recently tried this with some mango and it turned out really well

Cheers

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The only thing about that is that it can vary from year to year and ripeness of the melon.

Anyone have thoughts on throwing some jolly ranchers directly in the keg? Like dry hopping?

Cheers!!

Another quick question, if doing the all grain what is a good temp and time to mash for?
THanks!!

Ok, I've been sampling my beers now for a week or two. First off, I really can't tell the difference between the ones primed with Dextrose and the 5 22oz bottles I did with a jolly rancher. Second, the watermelon flavor was great when I was bottling, but not that it's carbonated, I really don't get much. Finally, the Bavarian Witbier yeast worked fine, but very estery, when I do this again, I think I'm going to go with something alittle tamer........any suggestions?

So do you think jolly ranchers in the keg would do anything?

Shotputman, have you tried the 21st amendment watermelon wheat? Does it compare at all to that?

Cheers

I dont see any reason you cant use the jolly ranchers in the keg at all. Now that I have brewed this a few times I almost prefer 1056 or american wheat yeast. Both have turned out good results for me.

Oh almost forgot the mash temp. I mash this beer at 152 when I brew it.

The 21st amendment is great beer, mine is a similar color, and the watermelon flavor is about the same (get some in the finish but that's about it), the biggest difference is that mine is much more estery and clovey. Probably due to combination of my Bavarian Wheat yeast and fermentation temps.

Awesome, thanks for the input. I am going to brew this one up next week, I will post my results as thy come in.

Cheers

bmock79 said:

Awesome, thanks for the input. I am going to brew this one up next week, I will post my results as thy come in.

Cheers

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After brewing this so many times I think I almost prefer it with honey malt and not the real honey just my opinion though. It would be a little cheaper too.

I'm interested in the Jolly Ranchers in the keg also. Keep me updated. Thanks.

Ben - I'm about ready to brew this one again. Please elaborate on your substitution of honey malt for honey. I'm always looking to save a buck.

I sub the honey for honey malt as the exact same so instead of 1lbs of honey just use 1lbs of honey malt. I personally think it comes out better using just the honey malt. It was a accident on my part no paying attention to the recipe one day and only seen honey listed and thought to myself a yes honey malt, oh well still tastes great.

shotputman said:

The 21st amendment is great beer, mine is a similar color, and the watermelon flavor is about the same (get some in the finish but that's about it), the biggest difference is that mine is much more estery and clovey. Probably due to combination of my Bavarian Wheat yeast and fermentation temps.

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1056 is great in this beer too. I go between 1056, american wheat and german wheat. I really think the 1056 and the amerian wheat are my favorites.

I'm giving this recipe a try now. I am going to use the Begian Wit ale yeast WLP 400. Has anyone tried it yet with this? Ben, you originally said you were going to try it with this yeast, but through 14 pages of replies, I didn't see any mention of that yeast ever again?

I'm hoping to have this ready for the 4th of July, so I'll reply back with my results when I'm finished with it.

Thanks for the recipe!

I never did. I have been primarily using 1056 and american wheat but if you do use please let me know how it turns out. I am going to be brewing a batch very soon my self so I may try 2 different yeast to see the outcome.