Watermelon-raspberry wine

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Seamonkey84

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I’ve started myself on a slippery slope. I think I’m more culturing and growing yeast than doing this for the wine itself at the moment. Two weeks ago I made an oversized starter for a Melomel I was putting together. After that was split and pitched, I’ve been continuing to feed and split this colony. Basically treating it like I would a fish tank... or like when I was growing green water algae for breeding fish.
Anyway, the newest growth medium I pitched some of my colony into is a gallon of watermelon and raspberry juice. I Cut the top off a gallon sized watermelon, used a potato masher to pulp and extract the juice. I poured everything through a strainer, then squeezed as much juice out of the pulp as I could through cheese cloth. I purposely put a few chunks of melon in the juice, and was left with a bit under a gallon. I dissolved one Camden tablet and added 6 drops of liquid peptic enzyme to the juice, and topped Off to a gallon with 12oz of frozen raspberries. I let the whole jug sit in the fridge with the top loosely on for 36hrs to let the tab and enzymes do it’s thing, stirring occasionally and mashed the berries some. Afterward, I put it all through a kitchen strainer, let it sit out to room temp and added the sugar and yeast. Starting gravity is 1.130, I’ll be following the BOMM protocol with this batch as well I’m still using the same Wyeast 1388. So potassium, Fermaid-O and Fermaid-K added at pitch, and Fermaid-O will be added at 1/3 and 2/3 sugar breaks along with degassing (not aerating) until stabilized. Should stop at 1.010 for residual sweetness.
 
Ok... so I actually pitched my yeast just after noon on 5-24. Now almost midnight 5-27, I just took a reading and I’m already at 1.050. I added the last round of nutrients. I had to add the other round yesterday (a few SG points late) and didn’t think I had to add this next round till tomorrow.
 
Wow, so this batch is down to 1.006 and still bubbling after degassing earlier. It has a bit of a funky smell. I hope that goes away. much of what I’ve read about watermelon wine says it’ll smell kinda funky, but as long as the melon didn’t go bad it should age out.
 
So i noticed the other day that it fermented completely dry, so I started the slow thaw of the frozen must. I had it in a plastic bottle, so I just tipped it upside down in a measuring cup and stuck it in the fridge. Hope it intensifies the melon flavor, but of course it’s also restarted the fermentation. This batch is already at ~17%abv...
 
A few days after degassing it, the funky smell has mostly gone away. I’ll be attempting to rack it again in a day or two. I tried yesterday but ended up stirring up the lees way too much.
 
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I bottled this batch a few days ago. The watermelon smell and flavor has started to come back through, though it still has a bit of the overall melony funk. Like the after taste of biting into a dry and bland watermelon.
 
The funky smell. Almost, but not quite, like it's trying to rot?
I've got no good way to describe what my watermelon, the banana, or anything else I used whole fruit as a base for, smell like. Funky is a good start. They are all similar enough that I would call it the same smell.
 
I wouldn’t say it’s going bad, just... funky. I can tell it’s from the melon flavor itself. Best way I can do scribe it is like the aftertaste you get from a watermelon that isn’t juicy or sweet, but you get that watermelon rind/pulp at the roof/back of your mouth. Nothing like the other fruits I’ve done with this same yeast. But it has diminished significantly, and after I let it breath in the glass for a bit, the funky smell is gone. Now the couple batches I’ve done with other yeasts did smell and taste much worse when they first finished, but it was a different funk. That was also before I learned about proper fermentation management with SNA and degassing though. Everything I’ve done with the BOMM protocol with wyeast 1388, except the watermelon, smelled wonderful during the whole process. Samples that I pulled and cold crashed (during primary) all tasted decent after a bit of degassing and breathing in the glass.
 
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The stuff I sampled is from a bottle that didn’t get filled all the way. It’s still about half full and has been sitting in the fridge since I filled it. The extra head space let it breath slowly in The fridge, and the funk goes away pretty quickly after pouring now. Will hopefully get better with age, right now I might have to drink it with some sprite to finish off this bottle.
 
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