Beer Forum

Hello,

I'm located in Illinois and unfortunately cannot get my hands on some of this brew. I have been trying to find a recipe that some locals out there would say is spot on.

I have seen many differences across recipes from boiling rind and melon in the boil to strained melon in the primary to chunks in the secondary fermentor.

So, I'm tossing it out there for the group... any advice or comments on your results?

Thanx, Tom

I found this on my PC ( haven't brewed it though ), but I'm not sure where I got it. I think it was from a forum post here. Maybe someone else can take a look and chime in.

Watermelon Wheat

Ingredients:
6 pounds 2-row
5 pounds White Wheat Malt
1/2 lb Rice Hulls
1 oz. Hallertau Hops (boiling 60 minutes) or Liberty will be ok for a substitute
1 pack Wyeast 1010 American Wheat
1/2 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.)
3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
1 gallon pureed watermelon

Add grains to mash tun, add 12 quarts water to reach strike temp of 152-155 (165-168 usually works for me.)

Mash at 152 -155 degrees for 60 minutes.

Add enough boiling water to reach 168 degrees for mash out,(about 6 quarts) stir and wait 10 minutes

Sparge with 170 degree water to get 6-61/2 gallons wort

Bring to a boil, add 1 oz halertauer or liberty hops for 45 minutes. Add irish moss and put wort chiller in for another 15 minutes. Kill heat and add watermelon puree, keep above 170 degrees, let pasteurize for 15-20 minutes. Cool wort quickly and pour into the primary fermenter (use a big blow off tube/leave lots of head space in fermenter). Ferment at approx. 65 degrees for 7-10 days. Transfer to a secondary fermenter (this leaves behind lots of trub from the watermelon) Leave in secondary for 1 week. Keg or bottle with corn sugar and condition at room temp. for 2-3 weeks before refrigeration.

The one I made I used about a gallon of pureed fresh watermelon in the secondary...be ready for the ferment to kick back in also...

Well, I found the following recipe while digging:
http://lazybrewer.com/2008/06/04/waterm ... -thursday/

I figure adding rind and all in the boil might be the flavor I'm looking for. I do not want a jolly rancher flavor as Jamil talks about.

I can't believe more people have not brewed this before.

Thanx, Tom

I've brewed it with just 2 cups of watermelon/5 gallons and then 2 cups with some jolly ranchers. The flavor did not improve at all with the jolly ranchers and the beer smelled like caramelized sugar. I would just go with fresh watermelon. I scooped it into a hop bag and squeezed out the juice into a bowl, then added to the keg directly. Perfect summer beer!