Watermelon wine thoughts....

[BillyGHusk]

I have been looking here and else where for a decent watermelon wine recipe.
All I have read implies that watermelon is very thin juiced, so the wine ends up thin. I am thinking I would also add some kiwi.

I would be making a 3-5 gallon batch.

It seems that most wine recipes I see call for a good amount of plain sugar, is there a different kind of sugar that people use?

Thanks,

Tim

 

[BillyGHusk]

I'm thinking of reducing some of the watermelon juice down to concentrate the flavor some. Also thinking of using honey instead of table sugar. Would most likely rack onto the kiwi in the secondary to keep their flavor more pronounced, perhaps even hold back(could keep it frozen) some of the reduced watermelon juice to use to top up at each racking.

Just thinking about it as I'm doing errands and house work, my local grocery store has them(watermelons) for about $3 each right now.

Tim

 

[BillyGHusk]

So here is what I did.....for better or worse.....

I juiced 5 watermelon, with a potato masher and a colander and double strained the juice.

I heated 1 1/2 gal of juice and 1 tsp Carlson yeast nutrient, 1 tsp Fermax, 1/2 tsp pectic enzyme to just above a simmer, then I added 1 1/2 lbs of wildflower honey.
Removed it from heat.

I threw out the idea of reducing the watermelon juice as it smelled horrible as it heated up.

Put the heated juice in my bucket, added the 1 gal of un-heated juice.

Gave it a nice ice bath to lower the temp and I will pitch Montrachet when it gets cool.

I plan on racking onto kiwi and topping up with fresh watermelon juice at each racking.

Please give me any feedback you may have, positive and negative.

Tim

 

[GTG]

Sounds like maybe this should be classified as a mead? Interesting to know that watermelon smells bad when heated since I've been thinking of something along these same lines.

GTG

 

[BillyGHusk]

Sounds like maybe this should be classified as a mead?
GTG

I don't think I am using enough honey to actually/technically qualify as a mead, but I could be wrong. I only have 1 1/2 lbs. of honey in 2 1/2 gal. of must.

Tim

 

[BillyGHusk]

Updates:

Last night I added 1/2 lb of raisins.

Today I added 1 1/2 lb. of demerara sugar dissolved in 1/2 gal. water.
1/4 - 1/2 tsp yeast nutrient cocktail.

 

[BillyGHusk]

Racked this today, and OMG tastes like ass.....and by ass I mean bad ass!

 

[pimento]

Watermelon juice goes bad very quickly and heating it probably didn't help.
I'd suggest doing more reading, there are tons of posts here and on jack kellers site about dealing with watermelon.

 

[Brewdouche-RuBrew]

Anytime you make anything with watermelon, you have to have a big yeast starter, and you have to have it fermenting about 5 minutes after you cut the melon. The reason I have best been able to understand is that watermelon is so low in suger that bacteria hang out on it waiting to cut it.