Inspired by those crazy guys at the 21st Amendment, frequent guests on the Brewing Network radio programs. The base beer is an American wheat which is a little spicy up front with just a hint of cooling melon at the end. Perfect on a hot summer day!
I used fresh watermelon rather than the bottled extracts . Slice whole melon into chunks, puree in the blender and add to a secondary fermenter. Rack the beer from the primary onto the fruit. The fruit contains a fair amount of suger so you will probably notice some additional activity from the yeast. Allow 5-10 days for the sugers to ferment out and the flavor to develop.
Feel free to adjust the amount of watermelon to your liking, but remember this is a wheat beer with watermelon added not a watermelon spritzer with beer!
Watermelon Wheat
| Brew Type: All Grain |
Date: 4/2/2008 |
| Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer |
Brewer: Jimmy |
| Batch Size: 6.00 gal |
Assistant Brewer: |
| Boil Volume: 9.35 gal |
Boil Time: 90 min |
| Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 % |
Equipment: Brew Pot (10 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal) |
| Actual Efficiency: 69.29 % |
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0
| Amount |
Item |
Type |
% or IBU |
| 0.50 lb |
Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) |
Adjunct |
4.00 % |
| 6.00 lb |
Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) |
Grain |
48.00 % |
| 6.00 lb |
Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) |
Grain |
48.00 % |
| 21.26 gm |
Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) |
Hops |
15.4 IBU |
| 3.00 lb |
Watermelon Puree (Secondary 10.0 days) |
Misc |
|
| 1 Pkgs |
American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Starter 2000 ml] |
Yeast-Ale |
|
| Estimated Original Gravity: 1.052 SG (1.040-1.055 SG) |
Measured Original Gravity: 1.051 SG |
| Estimated Final Gravity: 1.012 SG (1.008-1.013 SG) |
Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG |
| Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM (3.0-6.0 SRM) |
Color [Color] |
| Bitterness: 15.4 IBU (15.0-30.0 IBU) |
Alpha Acid Units: 4.1 AAU |
| Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.10 % (4.00-5.50 %) |
Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.08 % |
| Actual Calories: 226 cal/pint |
| Name: Double Infusion, Medium Body |
Mash Tun Weight: 9.00 lb |
| Mash Grain Weight: 12.50 lb |
Mash PH: 5.4 PH |
| Grain Temperature: 72.0 F |
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F |
| Sparge Water: 3.60 gal |
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE |
| Name |
Description |
Step Temp |
Step Time |
| Protein Rest |
Add 11.25 qt of water at 134.8 F |
122.0 F |
15 min |
| Saccrification |
Add 10.00 qt of water at 200.5 F |
154.0 F |
60 min |
| Mash Out |
Add 8.75 qt of water at 207.7 F |
168.0 F |
10 min |
| Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) |
Carbonation Volumes: 2.5 (2.3-2.6 vols) |
| Estimated Pressure: 12.3 PSI |
Kegging Temperature: 40.0 F |
| Pressure Used: - |
Age for: 0.0 Weeks |
| Storage Temperature: 40.0 F |
|
Watermelon Wheat – Extract
| Brew Type: Extract |
Date: 4/2/2008 |
| Style: American Wheat or Rye Beer |
Brewer: Jimmy |
| Batch Size: 6.00 gal |
Assistant Brewer: |
| Boil Volume: 8.53 gal |
Boil Time: 60 min |
| Equipment: Brew Pot (10 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal) |
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0
| Amount |
Item |
Type |
% or IBU |
| 8.50 lb |
Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) |
Extract |
100.00 % |
| 21.26 gm |
Williamette [5.50 %] (60 min) |
Hops |
15.4 IBU |
| 3.00 lb |
Watermelon Puree (Secondary 10.0 days) |
Misc |
|
| 1 Pkgs |
American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [Starter 2000 ml] |
Yeast-Ale |
|
| Estimated Original Gravity: 1.051 SG (1.040-1.055 SG) |
Measured Original Gravity: 1.051 SG |
| Estimated Final Gravity: 1.012 SG (1.008-1.013 SG) |
Measured Final Gravity: 1.012 SG |
| Estimated Color: 7.9 SRM (3.0-6.0 SRM) |
Color [Color] |
| Bitterness: 15.4 IBU (15.0-30.0 IBU) |
Alpha Acid Units: 4.1 AAU |
| Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.03 % (4.00-5.50 %) |
Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.08 % |
| Actual Calories: 226 cal/pint |
| Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar |
Carbonation Volumes: 2.5 (2.3-2.6 vols) |
| Estimated Priming Weight: 149.4 gm |
Temperature at Bottling: 68.0 F |
| Primer Used: - |
Age for: 0.0 Weeks |
| Storage Temperature: 40.0 F |
|
Tagged as:
brew,
recipe,
watermelon,
wheat
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Hi there! My name is Jimmy VerVaecke and I’m a brewer. I discovered brewing in 2004 and have been hooked ever since.
My beer has won numerous awards, including one at the National level. 
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
NICE POST… I’m going to try this.
Any chance you can also link up the Beersmith recipe file? Would save me a bit of tying… :-)
Hey Scott.
Thanks for dropping by. Try this link: Watermelon Wheat BSM
It’s in all grain format and hopefully your equipment isn’t too different. If you need it converted to extract or Partial Mash let me know.
Jimmy
Thanks Jimmy! As it happens, I also all-grain (but to any extract brewers out there… if you don’t have BeerSmith to convert AG recipies to extract, you’re really missing out!).
I have the same equipment so this was a total drop-in for me.
“3 lbs watermellon puree”: was this 3 pounds of watermellon, pureed… or was it literally 3 pounds of puree (possibly requiring 5lbs of watermellon to produce)?
Submitted to brewpoll..
It was 3 lbs. post chopping/blending IIRC. One thing I didn’t do a good job of was keeping the watermelon sanitary.
If you can, I would either heat the puree to 170ºF (I would think being mostly liquid would make this easier than chunks) or add larger chunks in the whirlpool as the wort was cooling below 170ºF.
Good luck with it!
Jimmy
Thanks.
Interesting. You did not pasteurize for your attempt, but now advise it.
Does this mean you detected some off-flavors from contamination?
I have not had a bad experience yet doing fruit the way your article originally advised (out of 10 fruit batches anyways), and the no-heat method seems to retain more aroma.
After 2 months or so it started to get a little “off”. I didn’t really do much of anything to sanitize the fruit though, so it could have picked up something from the counter top or blender while I was trying to prep it.
Just figured it was worth mentioning.
I am about to add the watermelon puree to the fermenter. I decided to stick with unheated watermelon for the beer. I came to this decision after having brought watermelon puree up to a temperature of 170 degrees. It seemed to have lost all things that make watermelon a desirable fruit. No watermelon aroma or taste. Maybe I did it wrong, but I doubt it. Just wondering if anyone has tried it and succeeded.
Good to know. It’s a pretty delicate flavor I guess. Let us know how it turns out and if you have any trouble with the sanitation.
Jimmy
Just bottled 10 gallons of this. Had a wonderful aroma and subtle taste. The only concern is the alcohol content. There clearly was a bit of “heat” to the flat beer. I got an OG of 1.058 and fermented to 1.008 before adding the watermelon. Like you said, there is quite a bit of sugar in watermelon. After 2 weeks fermenting with the watermelon the gravity was back to 1.008. You wouldn’t happen to know what 8 lbs of watermelon would add to ABV of a 10 gallon batch?
Hey Dan,
Usually if it’s a hot alcohol flavor, it’s related to fermentation temperature – too warm. You could calculate how many gravity points the watermelon added if you still have some, or can get another one. You already know how many pounds you added and the batch size, and that it all fermented out. So all you need is a small sample of melon to get a potential sugar reading. I made some notes on doing those calculations here: http://hopwild.com/2009/04/14/case-put-mms-homebrew-recipe/
Also, once the beer is carbonated and chilled the alcohol might be a little less noticeable.
Hope that helps
Jimmy
+1 on the hot alcohol being the result of ferment temps, which can be 5-10 degrees over ambient even when using swamp cooling methods.
As it happens, I helped my wife brew this last night, her first batch. I used the recipe in Beersmith, scaled it for a 4 gallon batch with a 1.8 gallon boil. It’s bubbling now, and I’ll bring it to a colder room. Will be adding the watermellon this Friday, as I’m in a hurry (this beer needs to be ready for a party in 10 more days, will keg CO2 it)