Watermelon Wine

[apfelwein-guy]

I'm curious if anyone has ever made this and how well it turned out. I'm sure you could make any variety you wanted at any strength, and I'm curious as to what all the different recipes are like.
I'm new to home brew and I enjoy drinking beers, wines, hard juices, fruit and sparkling wines/champagnes so I'm willing to make anything.
I've done a bit of research on freeze concentrating as well and was curious if anyone has done it with watermelon wine. It would make a nice addition to a Sprite or even a regular 'ol can of Nestea!


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[Jon112]

I have wondered how this would turn out as well. I want to do a watermelon cider blend.

 

[bernardsmith]

I have never made a watermelon wine but from people who have there are two problems. One: the flavor is likely to be far, far thinner than you expect. Drink some watermelon juice and think about how full of flavor the juice is... (it isn't).
Two: the melon begins to spoil very rapidly so you need to find a way to ensure that the yeast is fermenting the sugars and not other bacteria.
I don't have a good answer for either but these are two issues that you may want to think about...

 

[apfelwein-guy]

Great topics to think about. I guess more research is needed. Thats the fun of it all. Learning something new with every batch


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[Arpolis]

There are many ways to make good watermelon wine and just as many if not more to make a weak or terrible one. A good place to read up on most that is needed to know is here:

jack Keller's watermelon wine

Follow advice there and you can not go wrong.

 

[apfelwein-guy]

Great response! Thanks for the info!!


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[sierrabravo1984]

uggghh... the worst wine I've ever made, and it wasn't even infected. If you feel adventurous, go for one gallon, but don't get your hopes too high. It lost all color in the sediment and lost all watermelon flavor and had the consistency of Cardassian Kanar, real thick. Tasted like crap, white liquid crap. It paired well with my septic tank.

 

[PatrickSweetman]

I made it decades ago when I was much younger. The melon flavour wasn't anything special. Although I did drink it I have never been tempted to make it again. Maybe if the watermelons were given to me, more than I could eat.

There is a traditional method which involves cutting a hole in a watermelon, adding sugar and letting natural yeasts battle it out for supremacy. I've not gone there, and have no notion to so do.

 

[apfelwein-guy]

From the sounds of it it's not really worth my time. I was just curious about it since there isn't much talk about it.


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[KD28]

That answers my question, too.

I guess I'll just keep dehydrating the watermelon.
MMMM good. Comes out like taffy.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

I did a honeydew and it turned out excellent, I cut up the fruit and let it soak in sugar to liquify the sugar and absorb the juice ( like adding sugar to strawberries) it maintained flavor pretty good and back sweetening brought out the melon flavor great.


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[rwyant]

What if you cooked watermelon juice down to concentrate it like you do with maple syrup, then use the slightly thicker product and added your additional sugar? Just a thought.