Fruit Beer watermelon wheat

[ben the brewman]

Ben -

thanks for the reply... I'm not doubting you, but can you explain how you came up with: "It would be the same as adding .5 gallons of water and .45 pounds of dry malt. It will only raise the gravity .004 points"

thanks...

I took my brew program and added .5 gallons of water and .45lbs of dry malt to get to a 1.040 gravity and then added it to the original recipe which gave me the .004 difference. I may be wrong but that's how I got that number.

 

[KidDynamite]

Ben -
Hmmm... cause I took my brew program, created a new custom adjunct with a gravity of 1.04, and added 2 lbs of it, and it matched my math...

a friend points out to me: "think of the watermelon juice as wort with a gravity of 1.04. if you add that to your existing 1.04 wort, there will be no change..."

which also makes sense...

I remain confused as to why I can't use John Palmer How To Brew math like this:

http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-5.html

 

[KidDynamite]

answering my own question, from another friend:

"The fault in the logic is that the watermelon juice does not have the potential (or typical yield) of 40 pts per lb per gal. Because it's already fully diluted and we're reading the SG. It does have 40 pt per gal, and thus there is 12.5 pts in that 5 cups. When you add it to 5 gal of 1.04 wort you then get 212.5 total grav pts for your final wort. And the final volume is 5.3125 gal. And so 212.5/5.3125 = 40, thus 1.04 SG. "

 

[ben the brewman]

answering my own question, from another friend:

"The fault in the logic is that the watermelon juice does not have the potential (or typical yield) of 40 pts per lb per gal. Because it's already fully diluted and we're reading the SG. It does have 40 pt per gal, and thus there is 12.5 pts in that 5 cups. When you add it to 5 gal of 1.04 wort you then get 212.5 total grav pts for your final wort. And the final volume is 5.3125 gal. And so 212.5/5.3125 = 40, thus 1.04 SG. "

Sounds perfect!

 

[Jpogfreak886]

So i've only ever brewed two batches of beer (24L or 6.3 Gallons) and they were both pretty simple and i didn't mess around with them very much. This recipe seems like something great to brew up for the summer, but I'm a little confused about some things:

From what i've read, specific gravity has something to do with the ratio of sugars and water in the brew, which would obviously be changed with the addition of Watermelon. How does the watermelon change the SG and what am I supposed to do about it?

Also, since this is a summer beer and i want it to be quite light (I'll be adding 4 cups of watermelon so it is fruity too), whats the mouth feel and strength like on this beer? I'm usually all for something with lots of hops, but that wasn't my image for this beer.

Thanks so much, hopefully i'll be able to get an update up on this beer when i throw it in my primary.

 

[ben the brewman]

So i've only ever brewed two batches of beer (24L or 6.3 Gallons) and they were both pretty simple and i didn't mess around with them very much. This recipe seems like something great to brew up for the summer, but I'm a little confused about some things:

From what i've read, specific gravity has something to do with the ratio of sugars and water in the brew, which would obviously be changed with the addition of Watermelon. How does the watermelon change the SG and what am I supposed to do about it?

Also, since this is a summer beer and i want it to be quite light (I'll be adding 4 cups of watermelon so it is fruity too), whats the mouth feel and strength like on this beer? I'm usually all for something with lots of hops, but that wasn't my image for this beer.

Thanks so much, hopefully i'll be able to get an update up on this beer when i throw it in my primary.

Its about 5.5%abv and the watermelon juice is about the same gravity as the wort so it won't give you any more abv but it will increase the volume just a little. I mash mine at 155 normally for a medium mouth feel. Just brew as normal and be very clean when handling the watermelon and you will be great!

 

[Mooglebass]

Brewed this last week as a 1.5 gallon batch. last night i racked it onto 2 cups of juice. shouldn't have started fermentation again, or should i repitch?

 

[ben the brewman]

Brewed this last week as a 1.5 gallon batch. last night i racked it onto 2 cups of juice. shouldn't have started fermentation again, or should i repitch?

It will start to ferment because you added the sugary juice to it. Your just fine!

 

[Mooglebass]

I guess I should have a bit of patience with it lol

 

[Mooglebass]

Is this normal?

 

[ben the brewman]

Is this normal?

Sure is! Don't worry man its gonna turn out great! Just give it some time

 

[BrewLou]

Is this normal?

View attachment 128647

That it is!

 

[Wild Duk]

What section of Kroger are you finding this watermelon juice??

 

[ben the brewman]

What section of Kroger are you finding this watermelon juice??

It is in the same section as the orange juice and things.

 

[Wild Duk]

Thx. I'm about to keg a wheat I brewed and add about 5 cups of watermelon. Fresh or from Kroger if I can find it. Has anyone here thought of adding some sorbate???? It's used in winemaking to keep fermentation from starting back up if back sweetening a wine.

It would maybe preserve some of the sugars from the watermelon.

 

[ben the brewman]

Thx. I'm about to keg a wheat I brewed and add about 5 cups of watermelon. Fresh or from Kroger if I can find it. Has anyone here thought of adding some sorbate???? It's used in winemaking to keep fermentation from starting back up if back sweetening a wine.

It would maybe preserve some of the sugars from the watermelon.

Yes I had thought about doing it but didn't want my beer to be a sweet fruity mess. I have never had any luck with it stopping fermentations either. But what ever works for you man.

 

[ben the brewman]

So how did everybody's watermelon wheats turn out?

 

[drawdy10]

I just make a American wheat and toss in the watermelon extract and if you like watermelon jolly ranchers its a good beer!

 

[KidDynamite]

Ben -
I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of this using my own extract variation: 3.3lbs wheat LME, 2lbs light DME, 1oz Hallertau for 60 minutes... I let it ferment for a week, then added 5 cups of of squeezed and strained watermelon juice and gave it two more weeks before bottling.

I think next time I'd actually do more watermelon - the flavor is subtle enough that most people have told me "I'm not sure I'd be able to figure out that it was watermelon if you hadn't told me."

thanks for the idea, thread, and methodology!
-KD

 

[ben the brewman]

Ben -
I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of this using my own extract variation: 3.3lbs wheat LME, 2lbs light DME, 1oz Hallertau for 60 minutes... I let it ferment for a week, then added 5 cups of of squeezed and strained watermelon juice and gave it two more weeks before bottling.

I think next time I'd actually do more watermelon - the flavor is subtle enough that most people have told me "I'm not sure I'd be able to figure out that it was watermelon if you hadn't told me."

thanks for the idea, thread, and methodology!
-KD

That's odd most of the time 5 cups of juice is more than enough. Glad you like it though.

 

[ender416]

did you pasteurize the juice before adding to secondary

 

[divergirl123466]

I brewed a watermelon wheat and it was delicious!
5 gallon batch
6lbs Bavarian Wheat DME
1oz Hallatauer at 60 min
1oz Hallertauer at 5 min
US-05 rehydrated
After 7 days in primary I put in 9lbs of yellow watermelon yes YELLOW (that had been frozen and thawed) right on top in primary bucket. Waited 7 more days and removed watermelon then put in secondary for 2 weeks. At kegging I put in 1/2 an ounce of watermelon flavoring because I couldn't really taste the melon. Wow! after it was carbed the watermelon flavor was so good. The more it sat the better it got. My brew club loved it! Going to brew it again next weekend. Make sure you wash the outside of the melons with soap and water and sanitize melons, freezer bags, scoop, knife and counter

 

[AgentPooky]

Three questions:

1. Can I use 2 cans of Thomas Cooper's wheat extract? It's the only one I can get.

2. The yeast, I'm using SafBrew WB-06, do I just rehydrate then pitch? Or can I just sprinkle on top?

3. Can I leave out the Aromatic malt?

 

[ben the brewman]

Three questions:

1. Can I use 2 cans of Thomas Cooper's wheat extract? It's the only one I can get.

2. The yeast, I'm using SafBrew WB-06, do I just rehydrate then pitch? Or can I just sprinkle on top?

3. Can I leave out the Aromatic malt?

Yes that extract is just fine. You can rehydrate or sprinkle it on top lots of people do it both ways. I see no reason why you couldn't leave the aromatic out of it at all. It will still come out great!

 

[AgentPooky]

Yes that extract is just fine. You can rehydrate or sprinkle it on top lots of people do it both ways. I see no reason why you couldn't leave the aromatic out of it at all. It will still come out great!

Thank you!

 

[lilrokz06]

Wow, what an awesome brew. Just tapped my keg and it was nothing but awesomeness... Added 4.5 cups of fresh squeezed watermelon juice to secondary and it was just perfect. Nice wheat flavor up front with a soft watermelon taste on the back end...

 

[ben the brewman]

Wow, what an awesome brew. Just tapped my keg and it was nothing but awesomeness... Added 4.5 cups of fresh squeezed watermelon juice to secondary and it was just perfect. Nice wheat flavor up front with a soft watermelon taste on the back end...

I'm glad you like it! I'm opening a brew pub in a few months and it will be on tap every year when watermelons are in season.

 

[thmsrgrs]

Im looking to make this soon can anyone tell how long it took from brew day to glass.
thanks

 

[ben the brewman]

It really doesn't take any longer than any beer that you would dry hop. Figure 3 weeks fermentation and then bottle conditioning.

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Home Brew mobile app

 

[gregorybriscoe]

Mine has been in the primary 12 days now and I won't be able to secondary until 4 days from now. Wonder how this will affect the beer?