Watermelon Wheat Thoughts

[jgonzo108]

I picked up ingredients for a American Wheat base beer (10 gallons) and plan on adding watermelon juice in secondary. Recipe looks like this:.

9lbs Pale Malt
9lbs Red Wheat
1/2 lb honey malt

3 oz Saaz at 60 min
American Hefe Yeast WY1010

Question is, I picked up some El Dorado Hops. Should I do late additions to enhance the melon flavor? Does anybody have experience with this hop? Does it really impart watermelon flavor?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Yooper]

I picked up ingredients for a American Wheat base beer (10 gallons) and plan on adding watermelon juice in secondary. Recipe looks like this:.

9lbs Pale Malt
9lbs Red Wheat
1/2 lb honey malt

3 oz Saaz at 60 min
American Hefe Yeast WY1010

Question is, I picked up some El Dorado Hops. Should I do late additions to enhance the melon flavor? Does anybody have experience with this hop? Does it really impart watermelon flavor?

Thanks in advance.

Not to me- it tastes like Cherry Jolly Ranchers to me- very candy like and not much to say "watermelon".

 

[guldalian]

I have a watermelon wheat in the fermentor right now. I would stay away from late hops of any kind and just let the watermelon shine.

 

[bleme]

I'll start by saying that I haven't tried El Dorado or watermelon in my beer, but I have had good success with late additions of Belma in other fruit beers. My last one had no bittering addition, just 2oz of Belma at flameout, then let sit for 10 minutes before chilling. It came out perfect, wouldn't change a thing, and I don't get to say that very often. Usually I pick my beers apart.

 

[czmkid]

I make one each summer and use the AHS House Recipe.

http://austinhomebrew.com/assets/images/RCPPDF/05461.pdf

I add whorflock to mine to make it clear, and do t add their watermelon flavoring. I usually add 1/2 a big watermelon in juice form( after the vitamix I end up with 7-8 cups). to the primary fermenter after the 7 days. Fermentation picks up again and then in another 7 days I go into the keg. Super frefreshing, a hint of watermelon flavor but a TON of watermelon nose when you drink the beer. The girls around my pool love it, therefore I brew it

Just poured a glass...

 

[czmkid]

whoops wrong button sorry...

 

[madscientist451]

Huell Melon hops are supposed to have a melon/strawberry like flavor. I have some but haven't used them yet.
I've had some commercial watermelon beers and I'm not a fan.
Any fruit or fruit juice added to a beer has a sweet (sugar) component that will ferment into alcohol and you'll be left with whatever tart or sour flavor components are present.
So fruit beers don't really taste like the fruit that is added while yeast is present.
One way around this would be to heat pasteurize your beer to kill off the yeast, then add the watermelon juice to taste and force carbonate in a keg. I don't know what negative effect heat pasteurizing a beer would be. You could also bottle or keg your base beer and add watermelon juice as you drink it, "blending in the glass".
Adding non-fermentable watermelon flavor at packaging is another method.
It all depends on what and how much watermelon character you are looking for.