Fruit Beer Watermelon Wheat

daggers_nz said:

did you add the watermelon in whole form or did you juice it?

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I followed another forum that said to cut it into large chunks, freeze it for a week, then thaw it and put it in as is.

I cut it into chunks, mash in a strainer and dump in the 8 cups of watermelon juice to the secondary. Sanitizing the bowls, strainer, and outside of watermelon. RDWHAHB

Has fermentation restarted yet? I would imagine that you'll still get the watermelon flavor, however it may not finish as dry if fermentation doesn't resume

Didn't restart. I'm 2 weeks in to having the watermellon in there so I just legged it anyway. The hydrometer read right at least.

Tastes pretty watermellon-y. I wish I had mashed and strained the Mellon though for more taste.

Hopefully not Smirnoff watermelon-y

Lol nope. Came out alright. Just felt odd not seeing any bubbles in the airlock so I wanted to check if I might have done anything wrong or have to worry about infection or anything like that.

pcaponetti said:

Lol nope. Came out alright. Just felt odd not seeing any bubbles in the airlock so I wanted to check if I might have done anything wrong or have to worry about infection or anything like that.

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no bubbles in airlock doesn't necessarily mean no activity.

Mashed this tonight, will boil tomorrow morning work got in the way, never separated the mash and boil before, hope it works out...

The wort is currently in a BB with a bung and airlock so nothing can get in it

Boiled today and in fermenter now o.g. Of 1.052

I think I'm going to brew this. How much watermelon in the juicer gives you 4 cups? I was thinking about adding 6 cups instead of 4.

I'm adding the watermelon juice sometime between Wednesday and Sunday and am planning on 8 cups

Going to let it sit in their fermenter somewhere between 7 days and whenever I feel like bottling

Just bottled mine. Can't wait to try it.

Anybody try fermenting this with something like S-05 instead of the Hefe yeast? Just thinking that the neutral yeast would allow the watermelon flavors to shine through a little more...

I'm using us-05 but I can't comment on how it is yet as I haven't even added the watermelon juice yet

Jayfro21 said:

Anybody try fermenting this with something like S-05 instead of the Hefe yeast? Just thinking that the neutral yeast would allow the watermelon flavors to shine through a little more...

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I've done it with both American wheat yeast and here yeast. Liked the American wheat better. I think a watermelon wheat is best as an American wheat style which is much more neutral. Us-05 would be great. But try both as just an opinion.

wtaylor3 said:

I'm adding the watermelon juice sometime between Wednesday and Sunday and am planning on 8 cups

Going to let it sit in their fermenter somewhere between 7 days and whenever I feel like bottling

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that's a lot, 5 gallon batch? I did 4 cups of watermelon juice (blender and then strained through a sieve) and it was just right. 8 cups will be very watermelony, but if you want that forward of a flavor...

I definitely want to taste the watermelon but I don't want a Smirnoff or a Redds apple ale kinda flavor I want balance, I got 8 cups off the most recent recipe I seen posted a couple pages back maybe 4-6 would be better

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1437022739.097112.jpg

Here's what I based my batch off of

Does it really matter which hops you choose if it is only a bittering addition? I have some EKG and Fuggles and am only brewing 2.5 gallon batches, so I'd rather not buy more hops if I don't need to. Any input would be great!

Jayfro21 said:

Does it really matter which hops you choose if it is only a bittering addition? I have some EKG and Fuggles and am only brewing 2.5 gallon batches, so I'd rather not buy more hops if I don't need to. Any input would be great!

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I've used EKG and fuggles in place of mt hood before. And for .5oz you're fine!

Here's my attempt, going to brew tomorrow!

<iframe width="60%" height="320px" src="http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/embed/260979" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Ran some fresh watermelon through the blender yesterday and then filtered through a cheesecloth until I had 6-7 (lost count in my busy house) cups of watermelon juice. I was aiming for 6 cups.

I want to taste the watermelon, but I don't want it to be super overpowering, I'm trying to locate some watermelon wheat from horny goat brewing to get an idea of the taste.

I've used 8 cups and it's definitely not overpowering. Us05 works well. One medium watermelon should get you roughly 7-8 cups

Mashing this mofo tomorrow.

8 gallons:
7 lb american 2 row
6.8 lb german light wheat
1.67 oz willamette

1.049/17 ibu/4.9% abv

I'm splitting this into 4 fermentors, between Wy1010 american wheat, WLP320 american hefe, WLP400 belgian wit, and WLP001, 2 gallons of each. will add probably 3 cups watermelon puree to each.

I'm brewing this for a wedding next summer, so I want to do it a few times and see what turns out best. I also want to try WLP644 - sacchromyces trois with it, but didn't have time to make up a starter.

I have a couple cans of 21st amendment watermelon wheat for a calibration, that's what the bride said she wanted.

I wish this beer would maintain the color it turns in the fermenter after one adds the watermelon juice

Winterpeg said:

check the gravity after juice addition, then after it referments. probably wont add all that much though.

just made about 15 gallons of this for summer. planning on doing 2x6 gallon batchs of watermelon then the rest in 1gal split off with experimental fruits.

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Any chance you have the updated recipe you used for 15 gallon batch size? Would like to do this and this will be my first batch to brew larger than 5-6 gallons. Dunno if there is a good way to calculate conversion other than Beersmith. Seems like I'll likely want to invest in it, but not sure if there are other ways to do that.

I'm currently bulk aging I guess because I seem to be too lazy to keg this

I just racked my version into kegs today. I made 8 gallons, split 2 gallons each into 4 fermentors with wlp001 (cal ale), wlp320 (american hefe), wlp400 (belgian wit), and WY1010 (american wheat). After 2 weeks, I added 3 cups of pureed fresh watermelon into each fermentor. Then gave that a week and kegged. Planning on having a party on labor day and doing a bunch of tastings to see what the overall favorite is! The watermelon flavor was very prominent going into kegs. I think my personal favorite was the belgian wit batch, but we'll see what it tastes like when its cold and carbed.

What's the timeframe for a decline in watermelon flavor on this? Mine has had watermelon juice in it for some time now and with the overtime I've been pulling I haven't had time to get it into the keg and I'm concerned. I believe it's been 5-6 weeks since I added watermelon juice

wtaylor3 said:

What's the timeframe for a decline in watermelon flavor on this? Mine has had watermelon juice in it for some time now and with the overtime I've been pulling I haven't had time to get it into the keg and I'm concerned. I believe it's been 5-6 weeks since I added watermelon juice

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There's a decline? Would like to hear more about that. Looking for a brew that is female light-beer drinker friendly. This looked like a winner, but don't want to waste my time if it loses flavor.

Malty_dog, I am just assuming as other fruit beers tend to lose their fruit flavors after some time, whether it be weeks or months, don't let me shy ya away from this beer

Has anyone tried adding the watermelon when kegging - so that the refrigeration stops the yeast from fermenting the watermelon sugars? I ask because when I brewed in the past adding fruit to the fermenter both times (once with white peach puree and another with apple cider) the result was a tart taste - since the sugars were converted. I didn't like that so I was thinking of adding it in a way the yeast won't eat the sugars and just ferment the base ale at a lower temp so the beer itself has less sweetness. Or perhaps ferment half the juice and add the other half at kegging. Anyone tried this?


Rev.

Ok, I've been meaning to post back about my experiments on this beer. I made 8 gallons, split into 4 fermentors, with WLP001, WLP320, WLP400 (belgian wit), and WY1010 (american wheat). I added 3 cups of fresh pureed watermelon to each 2.5 gallon batch, 7 days after primary. All batches finished about 1.008.

We had a tasting party a few weeks back....some quick notes:

001: Best watermelon aroma, nice and clean fruit aroma and flavor. Prominent watermelon. Very clean fruit wheat beer, almost jolly rancher like flavor.

320: More flavorful than the 001, nice play of hefe yeast and watermelon flavor. Less watermelon aroma, but great pinkish color.

400: really great mouthfeel, but we felt the spiciness from the yeast did not play as well with the melon.

1010: SOmething amiss here. I get an asprin off flavor. Never had that issue with this yeast before.

And the overall winner was the 320 batch. The way the yeast flavor melds with the melon was really great and complimentary. The 001 was second best - I just had it in a beer tasting over the weekend, and everyone loved this beer.

I'll be making more of this for a wedding next summer, using the 320 for sure. I think the low FG of my beers really helped accentuate the melon flavor, and really helped the drinkability. Next time I might reduce the OG a few points, as these beers finished about 5.5%.

Well I was bound and determined this was gonna be a keg beer, however the kegerator still isn't done and it's been in primary since July 8th!!! Not sure how it's going to be

In the keg and pressurized for a 24hr force carb

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1443233535.118631.jpg

Drank a 16oz sample of it warm and flat, a little tart but the watermelon flavor definitely came through. I believe my efficiency was still terrible as its very light. Overall I'm fairly satisfied with it though and cannot wait to try it carbed up and cold.

I plan on brewing this this weekend. Can't wait!

I'm using cane sugar to prime this beer. What would be the best amount to use? I used an 06 wheat yeast for this beer.

Thanks for posting this. LBS has a watermelon kit but they warned me it tasted too much like candy.

My last beer brewed was something similar. I juiced up 5 lbs of watermelon and 3 lbs of canteloupe, added to secondary. I also added half an oz of watermelon oil and half oz of canteloupe oil by lorann... and still barely had melon flavor. What could I possibly have done wrong? The fruit was very fresh and tasted good before adding to beer.