Melon IPA

[thegoat506]

I am brewing an IPA with the goal of trying to get a semi-strong melon flavor out of it. I used a mix of AU summer, El Dorado and Calypso. I am thinking of using the Whipper/ vodka technique to try and make a melon extract and wanted to get some thoughts. My current plan is to cube up the pulp of some honey dew and cantilope melons. Then blend those cubes up, add the slurry to vodka in the whipper, filter the results and add to secondary. Thoughts?

 

[Pie_Man]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Have you tasted the beer yet?

I cannot say I have tried exactly what you are referring to, but I have tried IPAs and other beers with melon added. For me personally, I think the fresh melon flavors can clash with beer. I would personally prefer I subtle hop derived melon flavor than actual melons, but it is your beer. Alternatively, you can split your batch and try half as-is and half with the melon flavored vodka stuff.

Good luck. Cheers.

 

[thegoat506]

I have tasted it. It has a subtle melon flavor right now. I am just looking to bring it out the slightest bit more.

My conundrum is I haven't dry hopped it yet so I am not sure how much more that will change it. I figured if I was going to add fruit, fermentation would restart to some extent so I would want to add the fruit before the dry-hop. I don't believe the method I am proposing would add a lot of melon flavor but I am not sure. I may try splitting the batch as you suggest and try it both ways.

 

[thegoat506]

As an update I ended up going for the glory and adding ~26 ounces of homemade whipper extract to the 5 gallon batch. No signs of fermentation restarting and at day 3 it had a subtle, almost wine like melon flavor (not bad but wasn't really what I wanted). I dropped in 4 ounces of hops (mix of el dorado, calypso and AU summer) and let it sit 6 days. After hopping, the wine flavor was gone along with much of the melon flavor. Carbed the batch up in a keg and it now tastes like a mild IPA. So all in all didn't wreck the batch but didn't really get where I was trying to go either.

 

[emsroth]

Sorry for the revive, but I made a beer that tastes like so much candied melon it’s absurd.

Grains:
80% pale 2 row
20% flakes oats

Hops:
2.5 oz cascade whirlpool
2.5 oz cashmere whirlpool
3.5 oz cascade dry hop (end of primary)
3.5 oz cashmere dry hop (end of primary)

Yeast: WLP023 burton at 68 for 3 days, 70 for 2 days, 72 for 2 days.

This beer is melon, ripe banana, bruised mango, guava, passion fruit, then back to melon.

 

[sicktght311]

I just recently brewed a NEIPA with Citra and Cashmere and i get a lot of the flavors you're talking, with a little bit of that Cashmere earthy flavor. I've become a big fan of cashmere

60% 2row
15% white wheat
15% Flaked Oats
10% Flaked Wheat

3oz Cashmere whirlpool (under 180)
1oz Citra whirlpool (under 180)

4oz Cashmere DryHop (day 2-3 during active fermentation)
4oz Citra DryHop (day 2-3 during active fermentation

Yeast - US04 fermented at 63 for the bulk of fermentation, then up to 68 for the last 3 days, then 72 for the last day or so.

The US04 added a nice peach tint to it as well. I'd say its tropical melons like guava, passion fruit, some peach and orange, with a slight lime zest and some earthy undertones.