What about my watermelon?

[gripitnripit]

I am currently fermenting 5 gallons of a Hefeweizen with the intention of adding watermelon I have puréed after initial fermentation. I juiced it yesterday and have it in the fridge so it can separate and I can pull as much pulp out as possible before dumping it in. What about the actual juice though? It's a fruit so it's naturally going to have bacteria or some sort of contaminant in it right? Do I need to boil it before I add it in? Will that mess with the actual watermelon flavor?

I've read a bunch of stuff on the process of adding the fruit: when to add it and how to actually juice. I just haven't seen anything on the actual ingredients infecting a batch.

 

[estricklin]

If your worried about contamination you could always add some campden tablets for 24 hours before adding to your fermenter.

 

[chickypad]

I always juice the watermelon using a sanitized spoon, potato masher, and strainer and add the juice directly to the secondary (in my case a keg). No infected batches, I've done it about 10 times.

 

[gripitnripit]

I did some digging on here and read a few consensus ideas to bring the juice up to 160 for 10 minutes. Cool it and then add it to the batch. I'm going to take a chance and do it this way tonight. My only issue now is I'm worried about the head apace in my fermenter (poor planning on my part), but that's for another thread.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

I have a friend who does a "Watermelon Wheat", and he crushes, strains, reduces the mixture on the stovetop, and racks his beer on to it in the keg, when he is ready to chill and carbonate.

It's delicious!

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Double post.

 

[gripitnripit]

I sat the purée in the fridge for almost 48 hours to help separate the pulp and juice (unnecessary if you ask me). Then boiled it, cooled it, then added it to the fermenter 48 hours after initial fermentation. It smells and looks good. My SG readings are pretty spot on so far too.

I kind of need this next week and a half to hurry up.

 

[chickypad]

If it was sitting around it was probably wise to pasteurize, but yeah I don't think having it sit for 48 hrs serves any purpose. The strainer technique works well - essentially DubbleDach's technique in the fruit beer section with pics. I juice it immediately before before then add the juice directly to the keg. I figure there aren't too many nasties growing on the inside of the watermelon, at least not enough to infect already fermented beer. I've actually got one in the keg right now. This time I'm keeping it sealed and letting it naturally carbonate with the juice. I tried calculating the sugar amount from a couple threads and wine sites using the brix reading on the juice, hoping to hit that about right. I wouldn't do it in bottles but if I overshoot in the keg a bit it's not too big a deal.