Watermelon Wheat

Source: Lynn Vangsnes
Recipe added: 02/23/99
Email: Lynn Vangsnes
URL: Lynn Vangsnes

This took much longer to ferment than I anticipated. I used Mr Morris recipe, and made a few changes. I had hoped to have this bottled in a week or two, but it was very slow to ferment out. I bottled it ot 1 C corn sugar and 1 C water. I had almost run out of beer, and heaven forbid I go to the store and buy some, so I bottled it earlier than it probably should have been. It had a good head that disappeared quickly. My friends liked it, I did not. Watermelon without the sweetness, is a strange flavor. If I ever make this again, I will probably use lactose, some crystal malt, or possible honey.

Specifics

Recipe type: Extract
Batch Size: 5 gals
Starting Gravity:
Finishing Gravity:
Time in Boil: 30 min
Primary Fermentation: 6 days @ 75 deg
Secondary Fermentation: 30 days @ 75 deg

Ingredients:

3.3 lbs Northwestern wheat extract
1 lb light dme
1/2 lb corn sugar
36 lbs watermelon, before coring
1 oz fresh ginger, grated and peeled
1 oz Herzbrucker Hallertauer
1 oz Cascase plugs
Wyeast Weihenstephan yeast, made a starter

Procedure:

I coarsely chopped the watermelon into 1-1 1/2 inch chunks and put them in ziplocs and froze them for a few days. I had hoped that, upon thawing, they chunks would have been mushy, but no! So I had to poke them into my 6.5 gal carboy(I know, get a bucket). I ran some through a food processor also. I brought 2 gals water to a boil, removed from heat, added extracts, sugar, and ginger. Returned to boil, at 10 min, added 1 Cascade plug(1/2 oz) and at 20 min added the Hallertauer hops. The other Cascade plug went inot the primary. I cooled the wort, and added it to the primary fermenter. When temp reached 75 deg, I pitched starter. Aireate vigorously.

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