Homemade Watermelon Wine

In this video, I show you how I make my homemade watermelon wine! Hope you enjoy!

[@FFOPRadio]

I stumbled upon this and I have 2 gallons of watermelon mead aging in my brew closet by coincidence. Love the episode

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Sounds good! I have never made watermelon mead, but it sounds great! Thanks so much for watching!

[@jackc6622]

Thank you for taking us on this watermelon wine journey and all in one video! My nephew and I are going to give it a go before there out of season. We appreciate you man👍

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting! Yeah, there are alot of good comments here that can improve it! and many other videos on youtube for it as well!

[@budvar45]

Made a lot of homemade wine back in the day. Might I suggest cutting back on the sugar a bit and adding minced up raisins (Or sultanas) to the bucket. Then strain out the raisins and squeeze out all the juice from them before racking into the glass fermenters. This will give the wine more body extra flavour characteristics in the background.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@budvar Thanks for the advice, will try that next time! Thanks so much for watching!

[@JK-zl7vv]

Awesome video my friend, it must be nice to live right on the water like that, looks like you have a wonderful homestead. 😎👍⭐⭐⭐

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thank you so much for the comment and watching! 😀

[@countrychickbrews4640]

I'm going to start my watermelon wine tomorrow. I want to interject here that if you have an electric juicer it's so much easier and less messy. I use my juicer when I make my watermelon jelly. It cuts the prep time down exponentially.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks, that's great advice! Thanks so much for watching / commenting!

[@josephstaton4820]

I used those squiggly airlocks when I first started home brewing, but they're virtually impossible to clean. I switched over to 3-piece airlocks, a little more expensive but a lot easier to clean.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@josephstaton4820 Agreed! I have some of the three piece airlocks as well... way easier to clean!

[@Patrick-it8nk]

I had been given a bit of advice from someone local as to retaining a reddish color in my ferments: Beets! I had been working on a strawberry habanero wine that I wanted to be as red as physically possible. So in primary and secondary both, I had added beets I'd chopped and steamed so they softened up real good. They did not alter the taste much at all, sampling a bit between racking (I added the beets a bit into primary after the red color dissipated VERY quickly). If anything, it added a kind of "fresh" taste to it you get from like... cucumber water. Results may vary obviously, but I also should disclose I LOVE beets so there's a bias there!

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks! Great idea! Thanks so much for watching!

[@deaultusername]

Beets are the source of those "natural" Anthocyanin colours you see in organic sweets and such.

[@Patrick-it8nk]

@@deaultusername And it was quite clear that I made the right choice, cause while its not SUPER red anymore, it still has retained a decent amount of its redness since bottled for ageing. When fermenting, I saw day to day the pieces I put in there leeched the red right out of it until they were basically slightly pink. Looked almost white like radishes!

[@permafrostprod1]

If my watermelons turnout good this summer, i'll definetly try to make some of that. Thanks for sharing.🍉

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching! Yeah, it is good stuff on a hot summer day served ice cold!

[@tonybone2009]

Thanks for sharing. I’ll definitely try making this!!!

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching!

[@johnmadaris6346]

Very nice. Thank you. Great video.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@statemoneyclaim8051]

Thank you so much for sharing!

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@Andy-yl5xo]

Try Rubarb wine.🙂. My dad was like you, a brewer of alsorts of wines. Sorry I can't give you his recipe as I was only 14-16yrs of age and new nothing of his projects. But as an adolescent with a hidden entrance, I learned HOME physics and chemistry, (god some were horrible to a teenager) But still drank for the effects. I am 59yrs old now and been home brewing for 5yrs. Only recipe I ever found of his was his Cider. 5-6.5 abv. Would love more help on the rubarb as to this day I still say that was 1 of the nicest homemade wines I ever tasted

[@micahestep7679]

Im a beek (beekeeper) try making a mead with bee bread and propolis and comb. Put the solids in a brew bag and add 1/2 of your yeast in the bag and mash it up. Drop the bag in to your honey water and you will get a mead more original than any recipe you can find. When bee trees lose a limb or tree top and water gets in the honey they take what they can untill it starts to ferment. Primates like us through the ages can smell it from a mile away. It tastes like a cross between mead and beer. People make braggots but it doesnt have bee bread or propolis. Make friends with your local beekeeper and you won't regret trying it out.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for the ideas Micah! I have made mead a few times before, but not as authentic as you describe! Sounds great!

[@micahestep7679]

That juice looks purty!

[@MiggyLove]

beautiful land!

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching, Miggy Love!

[@micahestep7679]

You ever make a muscadine/mayhaw wine? I did it with freshly squeezed sugarcane juice I got in Louisiana about three hours across the border. Made 14 gallons in my brew kettle with no airlock. I just put the lid on and covered it up with a clean towel. Original gravity was 1.125 and used ec 1118 and fermaid o. I put a two or one teaspoons of citric acid in to raise the acidity to help the yeast and ten packets of Lipton tea bags to improve the mouth feel.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks Micah! I have never tried mayhaw wine, it sounds good! I remember as a kid loving that homemade mayhaw jelly!

[@kenlowder6932]

All that scraps will make the chickens so happy

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@kenlowder6932 yep, I agree!!! Thanks so much for watching!

[@DeeMcghaw]

Thank you for the video! How much yeast did you add to each five gallon bucket? Also how much clearing agent did you add to each three gallon jar? Thanks again@

[@braylon.burton_2753]

Looks good 😋

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching!

[@Ralpha1961]

Thanks for including us in the process. That rind was pretty thin. Do you know the name of the watermelon seeds?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@ralph a1961 Yes, those melons had a thin rind! I think they were a Picnic seed variety... maybe from a type called "Allsweet" from the best I can tell... thanks so much for watching!

[@jonathangregory9644]

Great video! Never tried this before, but hoping to soon. Approximately how much time elapsed start to finish? Thanks in advance

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@jonathangregory9644 From start to bottling, around two months... the longest part is the clarifying and racking off sediment... thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@robertbenavidez7164]

Listening to him? Now I'm Cornfused.....😂😂😂

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

So sorry for confusing ya! But thanks for watching and commenting...

[@erikbardelas]

Great video! Currently going to start a mango wine. This will be next*! In the intro you mentioned this is your favorite wine next to I think I heard “muscadine”? What is that.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello ERB! Muscadines are a species of wild grape here in the south east United States... though I do know of some folks that cultivate them... Mango wine sounds interesting, I might have to try that! Please let me know how it turns out! Thanks so much for watching!

[@erikbardelas]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 never heard of it! And I’m a South Florida born and raised! Keep on creating videos bud. This one came out great.

[@SanthoshKumar-ye3sh]

Hi, DiD you use any clearing agent like Bentonite in the process. You final product looks very clear..

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello! Yes, I think I did use for the watermelon wine. When I do use clearing agents, I normally use sparkolloid, its easy to use and has a good result. Sometimes things clear out pretty well on their own after racking several times, but other times I still have a haze in the wine that I will use sparkolloid on to clear on up! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@SanthoshKumar-ye3sh]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 Thanks

[@willduke1656]

That looks so good and I love the color. This might be a silly question But I was wondering after you finished the whole process could you use like a food die to put the Red color back in the wine so it would look like watermelon juice.. or would that effect the taste???

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello! I don't think red food coloring has any flavor at all... doubt it would affect the flavor any at all!... It definitely would make it pink to red again if used! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@willduke1656]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 thank you for getting back to me on that .😀

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@@willduke1656 Your welcome!

[@wwsuwannee7993]

Watermelon wine is what they drink in heaven, along with crisp apple cider.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello! I believe! Thanks so much for watching and commenting! 😁

[@nonyanonya6389]

Do you know what the alcohol content was? How do you increase or decrease alcohol levels? Is it the amount of sugar?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Howdy! Not sure of the alcohol content of this wine, but was maybe around 15% from the taste! The sugar amount, along with the alcohol tolerance of the yeast used, determine the alcohol percentage at the end of fermentation... I usually just go for taste over trying to get a specific percentage though! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@nonyanonya6389]

@pitchinwoobbq7627 thanks for the reply!

[@bobdole7292]

What is significance of hanging off the glass? Sugar content ?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@bobdole7292 Great question! The wine hanging on the glass is known as the Marangoni effect. To be honest, I am not 100% on what the good legs on the side mean, but it has to do with alcohol and sugar content both maybe! To me, it just looks cool! Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@micahestep7679]

I've been brewing for 40+ years since I was a kid. I can tell you were taught properly. Either that or you've been watching me.....

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks again Micah! Yeah, youtube has been a great help, other than that, been self-teaching! My grandmother used to make wine in a old butter churn...

[@micahestep7679]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 I remember back when I was a kid in the 70's when we had family get togethers the men would be out back frying shrimp or catfish or sometimes doing barbeque and drinking beer and whisky. The womenfolk were in the house getting side dishes ready and drinking wine or sherry. My grandma would usually have several jars of fruit cordial made with grandad's brandy that they would pass around when they were sure all the men were out back.

[@bamaboy6207]

and use the green meaty part of rhine to make preserves with!!

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@peteb153]

cool

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@peteb153]

Thanks for replying to comment!😀@@pitchinwoobbq7627

[@kevintodd8195]

Harvest during a full moon if you can so that all of sap will be above the roots in the melons. During the waning moon, the moisture level drops to the roots

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks great advice! Thanks for watching!

[@micahestep7679]

Did you pickle any of those rinds? It's a Southern thing...

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hey Micah - didn't do anything with the rinds that time - but I do love a good watermelon rind preserve!

[@fishslayer8533]

Looks like a great place to live ...paradise...except for the cicadas

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@fishslayer8533 Grew up hearing 'em sing all night - couldn't do without 'em now! Thanks so much for watching!!!

[@micahestep7679]

I hand squeeze mine...strain....then use a finer strainer or grain bag. I give the pulp to our hog or the neighbors horses. Pulp gives your brew off flavors.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello Micah - agree! Yeah, them hogs love the pulp and rind too! Thanks for watching!

[@Maaguaa]

Hey, can the residue left over after the racking be used for future fermentation?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello Maaguaa, I guess you could as there would be some yeast alive from the first racking... but by the end, most yeast are dead, and the ones that are left are almost dead due to the alcohol content! So I wouldn't worry with it... now with a lacto-fermentation, using some old brine for a new ferment is a good thing! Thanks so much for watching!

[@michaelwarwick5754]

does it taste like the meat or the rind?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hi Michael - I think it tasted more like the meat, but not as pronounced as actually tasting watermelon.... the fermentation changes it, but you still know its watermelon... hope this helps!

[@joemalinowski296]

Did you liquify your sugar before adding it to the primary bucket?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello Joe! I just added it straight to my primary bucket and stirred until dissolved! Thanks so much for watching!

[@thomasrape4616]

I made pure watermellon wine and the problem I had was although the wine had a very good flavor it didn't taste like watermellon. Not sure exactly what it tasted like but it wasn't watermellon. Any ideas?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello! Yes, I have made smaller batches before that had this problem. Watermelon juice is prone to turning and getting a "different" taste early on in my opinion... I think the quicker your yeast take hold the better, as well as keeping the juice as cool as you can while not impeding the yeast development and fermentation... thanks so much for watching!!!!

[@mr2good0124]

At what did you add the sugar

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello! I added the sugar once I had all the juice in the buckets, along with all the other ingredients - minus the yeast until 24 hours later so the Campden tablets could work. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@mr2good0124]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 thank you very much

[@TeronzoTurden]

Did you use the pectic enzyme?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello Teronzo! No, I didn't use any pectic enzyme for this watermelon wine - though I do use it when I am making wine with any fruit pulp, like grapes... thanks so much for watching!

[@speechie14u]

Help please. I’m completely new to this. I ordered everything mentioned (so I thought) and followed the directions (so I thought) but I haven’t gotten any bubbling fermentation. It’s been 7 days. I watched the video and realized yeast nutrient is not the same as the yeast. I’ve used way too much yeast and no nutrient. Is this salvageable or have I made 8 gallons of yuck?!! 😢

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@speechie14u Hello! Sorry to hear... the first thing I would do is check the smell, how does it smell? If it smells like rotten watermelon, then yes, I think it is too far gone... for a watermelon wine, the yeast needs to catch quickly or the juice starts to spoil, and depending on the temp, 7 days without an active fermentation seems to long... I use the yeast nutrient cuz watermelon juice and sugar by itself doesn't support the yeast growth well without it... I would recommend starting out making just a gallon until you get the hang of it! There are lots of one gallon recipes online! Thanks so much for watching though!

[@DerMacko]

looks like kilju, lol :PP

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@DerMacko]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 but then it got better later on! (btw whats LSU, on your hat?) edit they make moonshine with watermelons? fancy ;PP

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@@DerMacko My hat! LSU stands for Louisiana State University! Geaux Tigers!

[@DockterWho]

Did you ever measure the amount of alcohol in it?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello - did not ever measure it... Thanks for watching!

[@tazmanmn]

I bet a small apple press would get even more juice out of those watermelons

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

That's a great idea! Thanks for watching!

[@426superbee4]

Way we make watermelon wine here is? Put the watermelon in the bed of your pickup truck let them stay there for 2 months, then cut them open and pour the wine out

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@tackerhomes]

Are those Sugartown melons?

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Hello! I don't think those melons were Sugartown - If I remember correctly, they came out of Georgia... thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@tackerhomes]

@@pitchinwoobbq7627 enjoyed it. I'll be honest, I had higher hopes for your wine. You're the second video I've seen that said I'd came out tasting more like the rind.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@@tackerhomes Thanks! Yeah, I plan on doing a smaller one gallon batch here in a week or so... I think I will reduce the sugar on this next batch and check it close!

[@micahestep7679]

You can take the wine and do additional science stuff to make something really special. Just keep your business to yourself.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thanks for watching!

[@paveldzhurylyuk6076]

Why is mine watermelon jet fuel 😭

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

So you can fly to the moon! lol... thanks for watching and commenting!

[@TheDuck8679]

Tried a wine with this same kit and used their recipe, ended up watermelon vinegar 😅

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

@TheDuck8185 Sorry to hear that! Yeah, I think the Campden tablets really help cut down on the acetobacter bacteria that cause wine to turn to vinegar. I didn't add any at my bottling of this batch, only at the start - but there is always a risk that they get in! Thanks so much for watching!

[@rickmccalley6347]

U worked it to long.

[@nobodycares112]

I have seen a lot of wine making videos on KZbin. By far. This is the worst most least informative video I've seen.

[@pitchinwoobbq7627]

Thank you for the feedback - I am really trying to get better!

[@leifd731]

​@@pitchinwoobbq7627 nobody cares about nobodycares112s opinions. I enjoyed your video immensely.