Watermelon Wine

Thought I would post up my details for my watermelon wine. It can be tricky as watermelon can turn bad fast and/or turn out thin.

I am doing two different batches so I will post all that I am doing and any tips that may help others. Fingers crossed.

This is a 6 gallon batch.

I started with several "seeded" watermelons. They were anywhere from 18-22 pounds each. I cut the meat out of them, no rind or even white area. Seeds can be left in as long as they are not chopped up.

I placed the meat into gallon ziplock bags and froze them. Each bag weighed anywhere from 4-6 pounds I believe. Leaving a little space in each bag as freezing them will expand them a bit.

I sanitized a bucket and placed 3 watermelon frozen chunks in the bucket, that was all that would fit. I then snapped on a lid with an airlock (pic below) and allowed it to thaw over 12 plus hours in a cool area of my basement. Keep in mind the bucket will sweat from condensation.

When they had thawed enough I added 2 more bags worth of melon. Again waited 12 plus hours and repeated. To this I aded 8 pounds of strawberries also frozen. This will provide for some acid and flavor.

I made a yeast starter using Lalvin EC-1118, to which I added 2 cups of inverted sugar and 1 teaspoon of nutrient.

When the watermelon was thawed enough but still cold I broke up the chunks a bit and added 21 drops of pectic enzyme. The enzyme will begin working soon as the temp. is now up to mid 60'sF.

I washed 1 cup of raisins (sulfite/sorbate free) and added them to ad a little body to the wine.

I will take a ph and specific gravity reading tonight and add inverted sugar as needed by dissolving in some juice. Probably shoot for about 10%ABV overall. Then I will add my 2 day old starter and let it take off but still keeping it temp. wise around mid 60's. I'll leave the lid on loosely during fermentation.

This will have to be in 2 buckets during fermentation as the additional sugar will breach the top. Plus I will lose some space with the seeds and pulp.

Once fermented I will check and adjust the tannin and acid if needed. I'll take an acid reading tonight as well and post.

I'll post the progress and any problems I may encounter. Overall it's 52 pounds total now, 8 pds. strawberries and almost 45 pounds of melon. It smells great now!

Good Luck Steve!

Woah buddy, ill be watchin this one ! Sounds like some good stuff

Looking forward to this as well.

That sounds awesome! Might have to try it next summer!

Okay watermelon fans here are some numbers for you.

Before the addition of the yeast starter the specific gravity was 1.032, the ph was 4.5 and the acid was .3%

I added 80 ounces of inverted sugar (shooting for 1.070 gravity thinking the additional fruit sugar will boost it another .010) made with watermelon juice. It's not as easy to discern when the sugar is completely inverted but prior to the end if you quit stirring you will see white spirals on top. This would be undissolved sugar. I removed it from the heat what little I used and allowed it to finish in the pan as it cooled.

I added 4 more teaspoons of yeast nutrient making 5 total. I plan on adding 1 or 2 more as needed later on.

I added 9 teaspoons of acid blend to the must raising the acid from .3 to just above .5% After it's fermented I can make another adjustment if needed. I'll see what the strawberries do if any to help the acid content.

I split all this into 2 buckets as it was just over 6 gallons with the added sugar. I snapped on the lid with an airlock overnight. This morning I did not see any activity in the airlock but when I opened the lid to stir, the cap was pushed up to the top. An indication of yeast activity. Plus when I stirred I had CO2 being released.

I snapped the lid on tight again for now until I see a good active fermentation going that would need more oxygen. The temperature is still cool, prob. around mid 60's.

One note for everyone who ferments difficult fruit remember to once or twice take a paper towel sprayed lightly with k-meta and water to wipe off the areas above the must on the primary walls. As you stir your must you get splashes above the cap that can be conducive to bacteria growth. Simple wipe once or twice the inside of the bucket to help keep this area clean.

When the fermentation is finished I will take all new readings and post.

My second different watermelon (not started yet) I will try reducing the water by low simmering the watermelon to increase the flavor. We'll see which turns out better.

You are a brave man!! It will be fun to watch this.

You have used some good logic there to minimize problems usually encountered!

Debbie

I have been stirring and pushing down the cap on this wine several times a day. The cap had a tendency to float virtually constantly. It would always rise back up. There was always lots of CO2 coming off of the must the entire time. I'm sure that was mostly due to a good 2 day starter.

I planned on removing the fruit around 1.020 so today when I checked the gravity reading was .990 So much for that happening.

I removed the meat that was left along with the raisins and (I think the strawberries just disintegrated) and placed all of it into another clean bucket. Then I snapped on a lid to the new bucket, unsnapped one snap then inverted it and placed it on top of one of the primary buckets. This allowed the excess juice to flow back into the primary away from the fruit.



After about 15 minutes it was thru and I combined the 2 primaries together giving me a good 6 gallons of juice/wine. With the addition of the fruit the mass was too great for 1 bucket. Just before combining the buckets I took a paper towel and sprayed it with k-meta and wiped the insides of each bucket incase any bacteria may be starting.

It has a very intense fruity acidic smell like my tropical breeze had. All good of course. I you have any cuts in your cuticals you will know when the juice touches your hands, just like a grapefruit.

Below is a photo of all that remains of the 52 pounds of fruit. It feels like squishey blubber.



I'll take my readings again tonight after I rack to clear the wine. I plan on using sparkolloid but I'm using half the amount. I believe it will still clear well and since watermelon is thin this may help me keep all the flavor/color.

I racked the wine this evening. The ph was 3.7 The specific gravity was .990 and it has a .56% acidity.

There was a massive amount of pulp at the bottom of the primary. I was able to get needed wine from the pulp by taking a plastic container with a beer sock over it. This had a big enough of a mesh to it that allowed the wine to seep thru and not clog quickly. I then poured this thru a funnel with a screen.

Below is a photo immediately after racking. The second photo shows already cleared pulp from the wine.

After racking last night I awoke to see this in my watermelon carboy.



We've seen this posted before. It's harmless. Just pulp being risen to the top via excess CO2 gas.

I did degas but apparently it's still giving some more up. If you jostle the carboy a bit it settles to the bottom. It does look like some form of growth. Remember the movie Leviathon?

My strwawberry wine last year did that due to the light and fluffly lees. It does look nasty but as you said, totally harmless.

Looks good so far.

Looks delicious!

That looks so good! I sure am jealous! I have a very basic question to ask (it might sound very dumb, but I have never made wine before), how do you go about adding the yeast and where can you obtain that? Thanks!

You can purchase supplies at any wine/beer making store or from some of the sponsors on here such as The Wine Makers Toy Store. Lalvin yeast packets are around a dollar to 1.25 each and will make 6 gallons of wine.

If you go to the home page on this site, scroll down to Tutorials you will fine a lot of helpful information on starting yeasts amongst other things.

kzhen said:

That looks so good! I sure am jealous! I have a very basic question to ask (it might sound very dumb, but I have never made wine before), how do you go about adding the yeast and where can you obtain that? Thanks!

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Go to our beginners section and read up on how to make wine before you start. Also, make sure you have the equipment to make wine. FineVineWines does sell beginner's wine equipement kits. You should check them out.

The watermelon is clearing nicely and is retaining some color, probably from the strawberries. I'll post a photo next week.

How do you keep a bunch of wine-o's in suspense?

djrockinsteve said:

The watermelon is clearing nicely. I'll post a photo next week.

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Steve, been following your procedure and have a queston. You didn't add any tannin or bentonite or anything else, correct? I'm starting mine today, bought 2 large watermelons, cut em up and froze em, ended up with 6 ea
1 gallon zip lock bags and plan to make 5 gallons. What I do different is, I feerment in an large open pan with a towel on it. Then I plan on transferring it to a carboy with air lock until dry. See any problems with that??

Thanks

Semper Fi

djrockinsteve said:

You can purchase supplies at any wine/beer making store or from some of the sponsors on here such as The Wine Makers Toy Store. Lalvin yeast packets are around a dollar to 1.25 each and will make 6 gallons of wine.

If you go to the home page on this site, scroll down to Tutorials you will fine a lot of helpful information on starting yeasts amongst other things.

Click to expand...

Oh, thanks for the information! Wow I didn't know a small yeast packet can make so much wine! Thanks for the tip!

Julie said:

Go to our beginners section and read up on how to make wine before you start. Also, make sure you have the equipment to make wine. FineVineWines does sell beginner's wine equipement kits. You should check them out.

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Thanks for your help! How long did it take for you to master making wine? It seems so difficult!

Wine making is easy and somewhat forgiving providing you stick to some basic guidelines. We all learn something new from time to time. In part to the wonderful folks on here.

Never be afraid to search an answer here or ask.