I had to pour out 3 gallons of watermelon wine about 6 months ago. Last summer I used one of the recipes on Jack Keller's site.I definitely believe that it spoils QUICK.I made a big starter with Premier Cuvee', kept the cut-up watermelon/juice in the fridge till right before I added it to the starter.I really babied this one. It fermented out and even cleared pretty well.But the smell- YUK!!!I guess it spoiled before it could ferment to a high enough alcohol level.
IF I try making this wine again, I'm going to try this: Make a huge starter and slowly adda sugar/water mixture (the amountsin the recipe) slowly until this is going really well. Practically making a "sugar wine" base first.Then I'll try adding the watermelon.
I hope you have better luck than I did!
Believe me, this is NOT a slam against Jack Keller- He's "the man"! I think , just like Jack says on his website, melons are difficult to ferment.
One of these days, I'll tackle it again!
Edited by: ms.spain