Watermelon wine

[DEREKsims]

Wanting to make my fiance a gallon of watermelon wine for her birthday in a few months. I've seen several different methods but I thought I would ask here. Since I ask most everything here. I'm making a basic recipie.

Watermelon
Sugar
Nottingham Ale Yeast (and nutrient)

Here are my questions:

-Does heating up the watermelon to almost boiling destroy flavor? Or should I just mash everything at room temp in a bucket and add campden tablets?

-Which yeast would be the best for bringing out the watermelon flavor?

-Is there anything else I should be adding to make this wine even better?

I want it to be around 10% abv and I want a sweet and very watermelon taste. Nothing too dry. I plan on making this next week and I will end up with 5 bottles. I plan on aging a minimum 3 months and open one for her birthday and aging the other much longer. Like hopefully a year.

 

[Seamonkey84]

Watermelon make kind of a funky smell when young. You may want to switch to strawberry...
I’ve made one batch, and my advice is to keep the melons and juice as cold as you can to keep it from going bad, just let it warm up a bit before pitching yeast. I added my Campden tablets and stuck it it the fridge for the day. Degassing helps with that funk it makes.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Simmer don't boil. And strain it through as fine a mesh as you can. Freeze it first if you can.

 

[hamiltonkiler]

I brew at room temp. Mash and all no heat unless I use granulated sugar. Which I melt with water then pour on my fruit.
Add white raises. Thank me later. Adds body and tannin. Cheers

 

[Blacksmith1]

This thread might help you