watermellon

[Julie]

So I just had a few good thoughts...

1: Why not just skip the Camden Tablets and the 24hr waiting period? This would shorten the time the juice has to go bad. You may end up with some odd yeast but does that really matter?!

2: Are you fermenting in a bucket or carboy?.. The carboy would seal the juice with CO2 faster and therefore again shorting the amount of time it is exposed to air.

Think I may be off to the store for some watermellons...

I won't do that, put the camden tablets in, just keep the juice cold while waitng out the 24 hours and fermenting in a carboy will slow down the fermentation and possibly cause a stuck fermentation and if this happens with a watermelon, the juice has a bigger chance of spoiling. Also, you better have a yeast starter going full blast because this stuff needs to hit the floor at a run.

 

[djrockinsteve]

That is why I froze my melon so I wouldn't have to use any sulfite. I kept the buckets cold as the melon thawed in the buckets. As soon as it reached 60 degrees I added pectic enzyme, then 12 hours later and still chilly I added my yeast.

It took off right away. I'm going to try to rack it tomorrow and I'll update.