Hello from Texas

[mjdtexan]

Hello. I am new here. I have not made any wine yet. I am going to order my equipment either today or tomorrow (depends on if the Daytona 500 get rained out or not). I have been reading some of the other boards for about a week now. Asking questions. Getting good answers. I found this board by mistake. I REALLY enjoy the tutorial page yall have set up here.


I have a particular wine that I am interested in making. I grow yellow meated watermelon as well as orange meated watermelons. I want to make watermelon wine. I hear its tough due to spoilage. I think with good instruction I should be able to get it down.


Nice to meet yall.


Mike D

 

[Wade E]

Welcome Mike D, yes watermelon is a hard 1 and the best way to go about it is to make a good starter yeast and have it going strong so that when you have the melon ready to ferment you already have a very active yeast colony just ready to devour this batch. I would not use it as a fruit in the wine and actually extract as much juice as you can out of it if possible and do it that way so that the fruit doesnt spoil as I believe thats what happens most of the time. Here is a good tutorial on making a starter.
How-to: Yeast Starter

 

[mjdtexan]

Welcome Mike D, yes watermelon is a hard 1 and the best way to go about it is to make a good starter yeast and have it going strong so that when you have the melon ready to ferment you already have a very active yeast colony just ready to devour this batch. I would not use it as a fruit in the wine and actually extract as much juice as you can out of it if possible and do it that way so that the fruit doesnt spoil as I believe thats what happens most of the time. Here is a good tutorial on making a starter.
How-to: Yeast Starter

I appreciate that. I wont have a watermelon crop till late June early May. I have plenty of time to study. That looks like a good plan though. I am starting to gain a little knowledge about the subject. I will admit, its a little daunting when you first start trying to study it. Slowly the terms and meanings come to you. At least thats how its working for me. I may try a kit first just to have done it.

 

[Rocky_Top]

Welcome mjdtexan,
Stick around andyou will be a pro in no time.

 

[Wade E]

If you are looking for a Watermelon kit then this is a great kit with the abv upped with 4 lbs of sugar in the beginning or if you dont like much sweeteness then add about 2 lbs and 1/2 the f/pack up front
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Watermelon White Merlot


This
refreshing blush wine presents all the characteristics of a slice of
fresh watermelon. Balanced with thirst quenching crispness and juicy
sweetness, serve it chilled to best enjoy the invigorating flavour of
this classic summer beverage.
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[Tom]

Welcome MidTexan

The most important question I have is.... What are the next 2-3 kits gonna be ??

You will find out real fast one kit just will not be enough...

 

[mjdtexan]

Welcome MidTexan

The most important question I have is.... What are the next 2-3 kits gonna be ??

You will find out real fast one kit just will not be enough...

Well, I just dont think I am going to be a kit guy for the most part. I will do some kits for occasions but I really want to plant my fruit. I am already looking into planting a very large blackberry patch. Kits are cool, homegrown fruit is cooler in my opinion. I have the land to do it on. Some do not.


¿Question, I have well water and its fairly hard water. ¿Is this going to be an issue or should I use the Ozarka water?

 

[Tom]

If your water is tested and they pass it use it.




There are severalhere(me) who usesfresh fruit to make wine. Just ask when you are ready.

 

[Wade E]

Glad you joined in here MJD as we have more knowledgeable base on this forum and man y more people who can jump in and help compared to the other forum. If you drink your water and like it then use it, if you are using the Ozarka water to drink cause you dont like the taste of your water then Im thinking you will want to do the same with your wine and use that, just make sure you give it a good stir to get 02 into your primary must and use nutrient and energizer when making a fruit wine as bottled water may lack in these as do most fruits.

 

[Vince]

Welcome aboard Mike!


What is the sugarlevel of the watermelon you grow? Careful of the neighsayers, don;t let them discourage you. Spoilage can be controlled quite well with careful sulfite additions and temperature control throughout yourfermentations.


Watermelon wine sounds great!

 

[mjdtexan]

Welcome aboard Mike!


What is the sugarlevel of the watermelon you grow?</font> Careful of the neighsayers, don;t let them discourage you. Spoilage can be controlled quite well with careful sulfite additions and temperature control throughout yourfermentations.


Watermelon wine sounds great!

I dunno yet. I've never had reason to measure that before. I wont know till this crop comes in. When it does I am sure that I will be posting that information here so that I can get yalls help and maybe even make watermelon wine more popular


I really didnt have any "naysayers", just people telling me to be careful and be aware that that fruit spoils easily. I need to learn more about what sulfite additions are about. I want to make wine but I also want to understand everything that is happening in the process.


Thank every one of Yall who have offered welcome and experiance.

 

[pelican]

Hi Mike, and Welcome!

I have no tips for you on the watermelon wine, never tried that myself. On the well water, though, we have well water and I use our tap water for winemaking. I have a fair amount of iron in my water but it doesn't have that iron taste and it (99.9% of the time) has no discoloration.

The trace minerals in
the water will actually aid the yeast... but if it's rusty water you
might want to filter it. And, just a reminder if you have a water softener, you probably want to use
the water that does NOT go through the softener.

I understand what you say about kit wines are cool but your own fruit is cooler -- I started out with local wild and homegrown fruit (juiced) but have made a few kits and will do a mix of both going forward. There is a wide variety of winemakers on this forum - kit makers, fresh grape wine makers, country wine/fruit wine makers. You're very welcome no matter what kind of winemaker you are!

Welcome!

Mrs.Pelican

 

[Wade E]

Sulfite additions in the beginning are to kill off any wild yeasts so that they dont take control of the fermentation and cause off flavors or stop early to low alc tolerance such as some bakers yeasts do and also to protect it from spoilage bacterias that almost all wines will contain but are kept in check with both abv and sulfites. After fermentation is done then the sulfite additions are used for an anti-oxidant and to still protect against those microbes.

 

[mjdtexan]

Hi Mike, and Welcome!

I have no tips for you on the watermelon wine, never tried that myself. On the well water, though, we have well water and I use our tap water for winemaking. I have a fair amount of iron in my water but it doesn't have that iron taste and it (99.9% of the time) has no discoloration.

The trace minerals in the water will actually aid the yeast... but if it's rusty water you might want to filter it. And, just a reminder if you have a water softener, you probably want to use the water that does NOT go through the softener.

I understand what you say about kit wines are cool but your own fruit is cooler -- I started out with local wild and homegrown fruit (juiced) but have made a few kits and will do a mix of both going forward. There is a wide variety of winemakers on this forum - kit makers, fresh grape wine makers, country wine/fruit wine makers. You're very welcome no matter what kind of winemaker you are!

Welcome!

Mrs.Pelican

Thank You. No, I dont have a water softener. I am looking at a few now. I hope I didnt offend anybody. I only mean for me that it would be cooler to do my own fruit. Other peoples taste will be different. I also imagine kits to be more reliable as well. I will do some but I just want to do my own fruit. I am into the self sufficiant thing. I raise my own chickens (for eggs). I am putting steers in this march in the back pasture. I have my own garden. I am 40, retired, single and like to do things like this.


Thank You for the welcome

Sulfite additions in the beginning are to kill off any wild yeasts so that they dont take control of the fermentation and cause off flavors or stop early to low alc tolerance such as some bakers yeasts do and also to protect it from spoilage bacterias that almost all wines will contain but are kept in check with both abv and sulfites. After fermentation is done then the sulfite additions are used for an anti-oxidant and to still protect against those microbes.

I was reading about that just now. I cant wait untill I have the knowledge that yall have. Umm, you guys have any liver issues from all of this wine?

 

[Wade E]

I actually produce WAY MORE then I could even think of drinking just because I love to ferment and create things. I only really drink 2 or maybe 3 bottles a week at the most and thats on a very bad week or a very good week depending.

 

[mjdtexan]

I actually produce WAY MORE then I could even think of drinking just because I love to ferment and create things. I only really drink 2 or maybe 3 bottles a week at the most and thats on a very bad week or a very good week depending.

I hope to give wine to my family members. I also had a great grandfather (never met him though) that put wine up on family occasions.I would like to restart that tradition


I am just about to finish reading all of the tutorials. ¿Whats up with Mister Green Mouse?

 

[Wade E]

Mister Green Mouse? Dont know what you are referring to.

 

[mjdtexan]

Mister Green Mouse? Dont know what you are referring to.

Mister Green Mouse can be found here in this Tutorial in the pictures and he even thanked me for reading it.

 

[Wade E]

Oh, ok, we have a few people who just like to animated things. Wait until you run across some of Franks older posts with Polly the palmolive bottle, dont know whatever happened to polly!

 

[PolishWineP]

Welcome to the forum, MJD! Glad to hear that you're looking to grow what you turn into wine. You may want to consider doing 1 kit while waiting for your fruit to come it. It will serve as a hands on tutorial so you can get used to usingsome of the equipment. If you choose one of the fruitycooler styles it will also give you something to drink whileworking with your fruit wines. But whatever you do, have fun with it.