How To Make Watermelon Wine

Back Sweetening Your Homemade Mint Wine

Sometimes – usually, even – youll find that the yeast went a bit too far with their smorgasbord, and you end up with a Mint wine thats not as sweet as youd like it.

… and thats when you back sweeten it! You can read my How to Stabilize and Back Sweeten Wine post for information on how to back sweeten it.

What Color Is Watermelon Wine

watermelonWatermelon Winewinescolorcolor

The Easy Way to Make Homemade Wine!

Step One How To Choose The Perfect Watermelon

As you may or may not have noticed, this recipe calls for one large watermelon, with no specific measurements added.

Were talking about at least 20lbs of watermelon here .

However, you dont need to worry about the exact measurements here. Different varieties of watermelon have different levels of sweetness, so the best way to work out the ratio of watermelon-to-sugar is to simply start with a load of fruit and add the sugar gradually, taking hydrometer readings as you go along.

But you dont need to worry about that now. Before you get into all this technical stuff, you need to know how to choose the perfect watermelon.

In short, your watermelon should check all the following boxes:

• It should be red
• It should be whole
• It should be organic
• It should be fresh
• It should have seeds
• It should be ripe .

If youre lucky, you will have a local farm where you can buy watermelons directly from the grower and check all these facts right there and then.

Alternatively, try your local whole foods market or organic store. You may end up paying a little more for your watermelon, but trust me its worth it.

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Ingredients For Watermelon Wine

Start by choosing the most flavorful watermelon you can find. Its the only flavoring thats going into this wine, so the finished product is directly related to the quality of the fruit going in. Once youve got a spectacular watermelon, youll need a few more ingredients to make sure everything goes smoothly.

What Is This Watermelon Wine

Its pink, for starters! And although the color is enough catch your eye, the flavor is what were most excited about. The watermelon flavor is light, fruity and just the right amount of sweet. Its no wonder people want this on ice for hot, sunny days. Dont be afraid to break it out during an impromptu brunch, either.

This watermelon wine is part of Burlwood Cellars Pacific Fruit Vineyards line, which also includes mango and blueberry. Each bottle is 750 mL and has a 9% ABV, and its less than $5. Yupprices are between $3.50 and $5, depending on your location. The beautiful hue, tasty flavor and bargain price make this drink almost too good to be true!

Youll want to chill this fruit wine before enjoying it, so as soon as you grab a bottle, pop it in your refrigerator.

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Juicing Watermelons For Wine

Watermelons are mostly water, so it should be really easy to extract enough juice wine. The trick is, the pulp floats and will create a big mess if you dont remove it before fermentation.

I initially thought watermelons would be perfect for sugar osmosis juicing, which is the same process I used for making peach wine and rhubarb wine. I packed diced watermelon chunks into my wide-mouth carboy since it usually works perfectly for chunky ferments or wine with lots of floating debris .

Watermelon chunks in a wide mouth fermentation vessel.

I added sugar and allowed the sugar to juice the watermelon over a few hours. It only took a short while and the fruit had pretty much fallen apart into pulp and juice without any extra effort.

That pulp is tricky though, and it will float and mat together at the top of the carboy. I tried the lazy way, just fermenting the watermelon wine in the carboy without filtering it out.Big mistake!

It exploded everywhere . I eventually left it open, covered with a towel with what I thought was plenty of headspace and even then it still overflowed the top of the container as the vigorous fermentation spewed watermelon pulp onto the counter.

Attempting to juice watermelon by covering it with the sugar from this recipe. While it did a great job of extracting the juice and causing the watermelon to disintegrate, the fiber from the watermelon forms a mat at the top of the fermentation vessel. That leads to overflows and big messes.

Step Four Finishing The Fermentation

After a day or so of fermentation, your wine mix should start to bubble and foam up quite vigorously. Check on it twice a day and give it a gentle stir with a sterilized spoon to help things along.

After a week, the bubbling should have stopped , and you can start to think about ending the fermentation. Use your hydrometer to check the gravity reading you want it to be in and around 1.050 by now.

Now you need to strain out the remaining watermelon pulp, and move the wine into your demijohn.

Slowly and carefully, pour your watermelon mix through a straining bag or muslin cloth, and wring it out gently to release all the juices.

If a few pips or pulp pieces have managed to escape, strain the mixture again using a brand new straining bag.

Then place your funnel over the mouth of the demijohn and carefully pour in your watermelon wine. Dont worry if the mixture doesnt quite reach the top of the container, but if youre absolutely determined to have a complete gallon, you can top it up with some watermelon juice .

Then pop the bung and airlock on to the top and store the wine in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight. And wait! And wait and wait.

At first you will notice that the mixture starts to bubble and course through the airlock. This will calm down after a few days, and after a month or so you will see only the occasional trail of tiny bubbles fizzing up from the bottom.

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Yeast Starter Solution For Melon Wines

When you use a yeast starter solution you always know your yeast is viable, the quantity of yeast you are adding to the must is several thousand times more than if you just sprinkled a packet of yeast to the must, and you can expect an almost immediate fermentation of your must.

1. At hour 0 in Table 1 below, in a sanitized 1 qt jar or Erlenmeyer flask, mix 1 cup of room temperature pasteurized white grape juice juice, 1 tsp sugar and 14 tsp each of yeast nutrient and acid blend.

2. When the solids are completely dissolved, add a full packet of your chosen yeast. Cover the container with cheesecloth or a paper towel. You want air to pass through the covering but want to stop airborne mold, bacteria or dust from entering the jar.

3. Set aside at room temperature and add additional ingredients according to the table below.

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Wine Making: How To Make A Naturally Red Watermelon Wine

Since its watermelon season, I decided to make Watermelon Wine. After researching recipes, I realized its one of the hardest fruit wines to make due to how quickly it spoils. Additionally, it doesnt maintain its red color and changes to a yellow/orange color.

My ExperienceFor some reason, I thought my experience would be different if I juiced my watermelon first. Ahhh, nomy wine didnt spoil, but it still turned yellow/orange. Who wants to drink a yellow/orange Watermelon Wine? I dont!!! Its just not right for my mental :?.

The SolutionMost winemakers add red food coloring to get it back to red. However, I figured there has got to be a way to keep it red. So, Apples came to mind . When you cut a apple, it begins to change brown due to oxidation. However, you can stop it by adding an acidic juice . So, I added fresh lime juice to my next batch.

After fermenting in my primary, I noticed the juice was still red! Then I transferred it to my secondary, and watched as the days and weeks passed.still red!

So, if you are looking to make Watermelon Wine, add some lime juice to keep its natural color.

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How Do You Make Homemade Watermelon Wine

4/5Ingredients

To make watermelon wine, heat chunks of watermelon over a medium heat for 30 minutes so they break down into juice. Then, strain 14 cups of juice to get rid of any seeds before adding the juice to a pot with sugar. Heat the pot until it’s almost boiling, then add acid blend and yeast nutrient.

Furthermore, how do you make berry wine at home? Put 2kg of blackberries in a clean fermenting bucket, pour over 4 litres of boiling water, mash the fruit then cover and leave to cool. Add a teaspoon of pectic enzyme to help it clear, and keep it covered. After one day dissolve in 1.4kg of sugar and add some wine yeast plus a teaspoon of yeast nutrient.

Similarly, you may ask, what does watermelon wine taste like?

Seedless watermelon may be easier, but it doesn’t taste as robust/good. Brown sugar will overpower the delicate taste of the watermelon. The ABV on this wine comes out to around 19%, and the color can be anywhere from straw colored to a pretty pale pink. It’s a sweet wine, perfect for dessert.

How long does it take for watermelon to ferment?

one to three days

The Juice Should Be Transferred Into A Container

Carefully pour the watermelon juice into a carboy or another large container.After covering the top of the container with a cloth, let it sit for 24 hours.There are plastic bins, glass or plastic carboys, and kegs and tanks.The ability to keep out oxygen is the most important aspect of a container.For at least twenty minutes, soak them in a mixture of water and bleach, with 1 ounce of bleach to each gallon of the water.

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How Do You Make Watermelon Moonshine

There are quite a few different types of watermelon moonshine recipes out there. Some of these moonshine recipes involve using watermelons in the fermentation and distillation process for making whiskey while others involve including a completed moonshine in a mixture of watermelon for a refreshing beverage.

For this recipe we are going to explore the best way to use moonshine instead of the usual corn for whiskey making. Here is a quick look at the things you will need if you want to try this tasty recipe.

Mashing Fermentation And Distillation Procedure

• First, we extracted the sweet, sweet watermelon juice from 5 large watermelons. We found that the easiest way to do this is to cut the Watermelon in half and then into quarters. Once quartered, we cut into slices and removed the rind. Next, we reduced it to chunks that will fit into a blender.

• Next, we added chunks to the blender and obliterated the watermelon!

• We made sure not to over-blend. We shut down the blender as soon as the fruit had been liquefied. This will be filtered through a cheesecloth later and if the blended watermelon is too fine the pulp will go right through the strainer.

• We dumped our watermelon puree through a cheesecloth installed in a food safe bucket. Nylon paint strainer bags are a good alternative to cheesecloth.

• We removed the cheesecloth containing pulp from the bucket and let some of the juice drip out.

• Once the bag was a manageable size, we squeezed it to extract as much watermelon juice as possible.

• After squeezing, we poured the strained watermelon juice into a large stainless steel mash-tun.

• Add sugar to the juice and stir until it dissolves.

• Add 2 pounds of raisins.

• We heated the strained watermelon juice, raisins, and sugar to 160F. This will kill most of the naturally occurring wild yeast and bacteria found in the watermelon juice.

• After heating, we added cold water to reach a total volume of 5 gallons .

• We cooled the mash to 70 degrees with a sterilized wort-chiller.

• Here’s what a brix refractometer reading looks like

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With Lemon And Grapes

Such a watermelon wine will amaze you with an unsurpassed aroma and taste, they will not be ashamed to treat guests during the festive table. Lemon and grapes will set off the sweetness of watermelon, mask these notes a little, and add sourness and citrus tones. You will need to take:

• 10 kg of watermelon pulp
• 2 large lemons
• 3 kg of small grapes, but juicy, sweet
• 4 kilograms of sugar

The Best Watermelon Wine Slushie

How can you resist it? A watermelon wine slushie just has ring to it, doesnt it? What is not to like? This is an adult cocktail that reminds you how great a slushie on a warm summer day was when you were a kid. But then confirms how great it is to be able to step it up a level and turn it into a nice frosty reward for being an adult.

Dont expect an overly sweet slushie either. Your mouth is not about to turn weirdly red either. Watching out for putting them down too fast in a row should be avoided, because a watermelon wine slushie goes down just so easily. But, other than that, we are talking about a beverage that puts a smile on your face

The sort of smile someone wears on a warm and pleasantly relaxed, some might say lazy, summers day.

And making watermelon wine slushies defines easy when it comes to a mixed drink. Some watermelon, a bit of ice, and a dry or semi sweet style wine in a blender, and you are off to the races.

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Can I Make Watermelon Wine

Hello there! I’m Dr. Vinifera, but you can call me Vinny. Ask me your toughest wine questions, from the fine points of etiquette to the science of winemaking. And don’t worry, I’m no wine snobyou can also ask me those “dumb questions” you’re too embarrased to ask your wine geek friends! I hope you find my answers educational, empowering and even amusing. And don’t forget to check out my most asked questions and my full archives for all my Q& A classics.

Dear Dr. Vinny,

Can I make watermelon wine?

Minakshi, India

Dear Minakshi,

You sure can! When a wine is made from something other than grapes, its referred to as fruit wine. Ive tried various fruit wines, including strawberry and plum versions, and a reader recently asked about mango and guava versions.

When you make fruit wine, you quickly come to appreciate how much wine grapes are uniquely suited to making wine thanks to their balance of sugar, acidity and tannins. When making wine from other fruits, you typically need to make adjustments by adding sugar or water , in addition to yeast, to help along the fermentation process and achieve an end result that tastes to your liking.

Dr. Vinny

Step Five Lets Rack And Roll

Racking your wine will remove the clear, wine-like stuff at the top, leaving the sediment at the bottom where it can be easily discarded. To do this, you will need to dig out your second demijohn and your vinyl tubing.

First, make sure you have cleared a place to work. Then very carefully lift your wine-filled demijohn on to a flat worktop or table, taking care not to disturb any of the sediment while you do this.

If you notice that some of the sediment starts to rise up, leave the demijohn on the table for a few hours before continuing.

Then put the empty demijohn on the ground directly below it there should be at least 2ft in height between the two bottles.

Remove the bung and airlock and immediately sterilize them both.

Then take the vinyl tubing and lower it down into the wine, until it is positioned just a couple of inches about the sediment layer. Hold it in place , then take the other end of the tube and suck on it as hard as you can.

It may take a few tries, but once you get a big gulp of wine in your mouth, the wine should start running quickly and constantly through the tube just point it in the direction of the empty demijohn and wait for it to fill up.

As the wine starts to leave the first demijohn, you can start tentatively moving the tubing down further and further, but be very careful that you dont accidentally suck up some of the sediment.

Then repeat this process all over again and leave the wine for another one month.

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Step Three Managing Your Sugar Content

Unlike most homemade wines, watermelon wine doesnt require any additional water. In my experience, any added water will seriously dilute the taste, and leave you with a watery, kind of boring wine. Watermelons are around 90% water anyway, so my advice is to keep it simple and use what nature has given us.

Once your watermelon is in the fermentation bin, mash it up a little until it turns into a pulpy mess. Dont use any sharp blades or blenders to do this job, as you will split open the seeds and release a bitter element into your wine mix.

Now you add the sugar. This recipe suggests using 3lbs, but if you prefer a dry wine you might want to start with 2lbs and take it from there.

Add your sugar directly into the watermelon mix, and stir until it has completely dissolved. Then add the citric acid , champagne yeast, and yeast nutrient, cover it and leave it in a cool, dark place to ferment overnight.

The next morning, use your hydrometer to take your first gravity reading. It should be around 1.100 at this point. If its less than this, add more sugar and test it again. If its higher than 1.160, dilute it slightly with some filtered or bottled water.

Every day your reading will drop, as the sugar is converted into alcohol. If this isnt happening, you can kick start the fermentation process by adding a little yeast activator .