Making Brandy from Watermelon

Let's turn 8 large watermelons into some tasty brandy.
Pectic enzymes for breaking down sugars in fruit
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EC-1118 for fermenting fruit
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[@PoppaLongroach]

Good video. This is definitely one I'll try. I probably try it at around a 1.050ish gravity. I made a split brandy last year with 50% peaches 25% wheat and 25% barley. Cold mashed everything and kept it 1.055 gravity and was fantastic. Shine on !!

[@StillnTheClear]

You'll be able to get darn close to 1050 without even adding sugar.

[@JosephLeachDivemonkey]

Thank you again , I am person who has a hard time focusing on reading, your videos help me so much as I only need to refer to charts and keep the reading to a minimum! God bless and keep up the good work and great videos !

[@StillnTheClear]

Thank you, I'm glad you find them useful.

[@Bigpoppas2oaks]

Last month i did a watermelon run after distilling i decided to dump my backset back into the ferminter added 20 lbs sugar and pitched yeast week and half later ran it and got 2 gallons of what tasted like watermelon jolly rancher i blended them reran and it is best watermelon ive done so far down in new orleans we get about a gallon of juice per melon fyi

[@StillnTheClear]

That's very interesting.

[@ScottBryant-wi7gb]

This is a common question. Thanks for sharing this.

[@StillnTheClear]

Thank you, sir.

[@diannadavis1362]

I strain my juice through a fine screen mesh to remove the pulp and seeds and reserve the pulp. I boil the pulp in water , about 1 quart per watermelon , then strain that and use that to disolve the sugar. It also makes a nice simple syrup with some sugar and lime juice added and blend with shine and club soda for a nice drink with a few cubes of frozen watermelon added.

[@StillnTheClear]

That sounds awesome

[@racerothery2716]

Right on brother! So I just finished up running a 20 gal barrel of blackberry wine I made at 1.110 and finished up sweet at 1.030. I made what I call a country brandy where I blend the sweet wine back into the liquor and adding some sugar instead of proofing with distilled water and then wine. So I got sweet blackberry liquor at 95 proof and my honey fermented bourbon I did the week before at 110. So I broke them both out for the 4th to share with all my people who been waiting to see what I can do with this brain full knowledge and I ended up getting blacked out without even trying. All I remember is the floor and ground outside coming up to hit me while I stand upright😂

[@StillnTheClear]

Awesome, that blackberry sounds amazing.

[@racerothery2716]

Oh you and windsong should try it. It’s a project that you savor because it’s not cheap to do but I used Lavin K1V1116 and I kept 2 gallons of the wine to age

[@BH-us4qf]

Thank you for all the knowledge sharing. New to this hobby and thankful I found your channel

[@titechaintrappers2492]

I like your blur barrel set up. Can put out a video on how to build one with drain spout and parts needed. Thank you

[@StillnTheClear]

I do have a video about that. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gV63imdroah4fMU

[@alexrowe71]

Greatly appreciate your videos I'll be making my 1st mountain brandy mash soon. Fingers crossed 🤞

[@danthemann]

Thanks Cyrus! Good stuff as always. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out. I too am a fan of using SG to figure out what to expect. For watermelon, given it's like 90% water it can be no more than 10% sugar and that would be about 1.040 specific gravity according to research on google (but bard AI gives weird answers). Usually you can use the nutritional labels for this info too.

[@StillnTheClear]

When I tried to look up the PPG of watermelon I got inconsistent answers. I now know it is at least 40. I think I probably got a few more points, but because I waited too long to add the extra pectic enzymes I don't know for sure.

[@racerothery2716]

Hey something I wanted to bring up to you. I’m trying to go big on my own version of the classic Apple Pie. This will be an appropriately spiced hand crafted apple wine that I’m going to use a nice wine yeast on (71B) . Im then going to distill the wine but in the 3rd and final chamber (8 gal) which I call my flavor thumpfuser I’ll have some wine mixed with fresh spices and some very expensive Apple pie and Pie Crust flavorings I bought. Then just like my blackberry project I use the sweet wine to temper it down to drinking proof. All flavor no bullshit and definitely not a sugar wash with apple cider mixed in 😂😂. More mad moonshiner recipes to come

[@StillnTheClear]

That is quite a recipe. I bet it turns out great. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[@roycesjourney37]

Anytime I’ve done fruit and not pitched yeast within a day it takes off. My uncle had a superstition where he’d put cheese cloth over a five gallon bucket with a starter wash of fruit under the kind of tree that he was fixin to run. So if it was peaches, he’d set out a buckets of peaches under a peach tree. Then start his main batch with it.

[@StillnTheClear]

I've no doubt that worked just fine.

[@abrad3061]

It's fresh corn season. Can you please do a fresh, sweet corn mash.

[@StillnTheClear]

I'll see if I can find some fresh corn and make a video.

[@abrad3061]

I'm up here in Maryland and the corn lady said 1st part of August we will be rolling in sweet corn. I'm planning on getting a bushel. Not really sure about cooking it

[@kristypalmer1403]

Did you do any calculations for the additional sugar added by the raisins? I am wondering how much ppg you realized from them. I always worry about sugar diluting flavors. I can't wait to see an update to this video on how much flavor carry over you get from the watermelon and if you can detect the raisin flavor

[@StillnTheClear]

I did not. I'm sure there were some sugars added, but I think it was minimal. Part 2 will be coming in a couple weeks.

[@pinchimex]

Why did you add raisins... is it for flavor or something else? Thank you for your videos you do a great job.

[@StillnTheClear]

It is mainly for flavor, but I am also testing the idea that raisins are a good yeast nutrient. I've heard they are, but I wanted to do a few tests.

[@kalynwagonmaker7722]

Good video I shared it between my 5 groups MOONSHINE LIFE GROUPs

[@StillnTheClear]

Hey, thank you souch for sharing.

[@thealchemist-hr8me]

I love doing brandy and fruit rums 💚 I just did a watermelon rum that turned out great 🤤 Though due to the rampant natural yeast in watermelon I highly recommend anyone use Camden to sanitize the wash before adding more yeast to ferment it💯 Or use a killer yeast strain like EC-1118 or K1-V1116 and get it in there fast, they will out compete any yeast presently there 🤓 Shine on! 💦🫙

[@StillnTheClear]

That's great info. Thanks for sharing. I certainly did not get my ec-118 in there fast enough, lol.

[@BeeKisses]

Absolutely CASH info thankyou sir

[@robertfontaine3650]

A decent Watermellons is about 16$ at the grocery here. Won't be jumping on that this year.

[@StillnTheClear]

I cought them on sale for $3 each.

[@devmeistersuperprecision4155]

Wow! Our market just threw out a bunch of mellons. Perfectly good. Dumpster diving watermelon hooch.

[@mattharvey8712]

Bravo.......maybe chop up......the use base ball bat......cheers

[@StillnTheClear]

"sledgeomatic"

[@davevoegele9483]

could your mash temp change your reading on your gravity reading

[@StillnTheClear]

It could, but the mash temp was roughly the same. The room temp doesn't fluctuate much.

[@eknuds]

I like to ferment Amazon's teas and juices. Often $3.50/gallon on sale. I like to make an Amazon Watermelon Melomel.

[@mattharvey8712]

Hey .......float an egg in a cup.......when u are In the sweet spot .....do the egg........and tell me what size of coin is showing......cheers

[@timgray9005]

What does the raisings do?

[@StillnTheClear]

Raisins really bring out the flavor of watermelon, or at least they do in post distillation flavoring. I'm also testing the idea that raisins act as a yeast nutrient. We'll see.

[@JessiThomas-f1c]

I had to stop my sugar mash run last night because something came up. Can start again and reheat the mash today and finish the run?

[@StillnTheClear]

Yes. I've done it several times.

[@joegaskill9050]

Is your fermenter homemade or can one be bought? I am wanting to get into the hobby and trying figure out everything I need and where to get it.

[@StillnTheClear]

I made the fermenter. We sell a parts kit that includes everything you need except the barrel. Here's a link stillntheclear.com/product/diy-fermenter-kit/

[@DrAppalling]

What did you do with the watermelon seeds?

[@StillnTheClear]

They were seedless.

[@chrisstewart1254]

Cryus i tried to order a burbon kit from your site but you dont ship to canada 😞 is there another way

[@JosephLeachDivemonkey]

So I’m following the recipe, checked my buckets and looks like my yeast is sitting on top of foam .. any suggestions?

[@StillnTheClear]

Stir it in.

[@JosephLeachDivemonkey]

@@StillnTheClear she is a bubbling now! Thank you !

[@BeeKisses]

You sir, are the best thing to happen to brewing and distilling since Popcorn fucking Sutton

[@StillnTheClear]

Wow, with high praise like that I'll have to try not to let my head get to big for my hat, lol. Thank you so much for all the comments, questions and compliments.

[@BeeKisses]

@@StillnTheClear I’ve learned 80% of what I know from you and I cannot thankyou enough for your dissemination of such valuable knowledge, blessed be sir

[@devmeistersuperprecision4155]

Popcorn will be remembered. But this video is also good.

[@yerrysherry135]

Is it a good idea to make a watermelon molasses out of it? This means boiling the juice of the watermelon. Then you don't need pectin either. This will increase the gravity. If you add a lot of sugar, you will still get more alcohol, but this will affect the taste of the end product. (less taste) And there is not much taste in a waqter melon. Or am I wrong?

[@StillnTheClear]

I think you're close to right. If you boil it down you will have a higher PPG for the watermelon juice, but you will also lose volume proportionately. This means you would have to add water to get them volume back which will just lower the gravity. I think it's worth trying though.

[@kjdevault]

Watermelon is so light on flavor you’ll blow off a lot of the aroma and flavor by cooking it down, then more in fermentation. I’d think you’d end up with a sugar wash in the end.

[@tinaleerz3386]

Does He looks like Si from duck

[@StillnTheClear]

I get that a lot, lol.

[@tonymontana3151]

thought u was uncle si for a second… i sub.. 👍

[@StillnTheClear]

Lol, I get that a lot. Thanks for the sub.

[@FLOODOFSINS]

It's a shame performer Gallagher passed away last year. He would have smashed through 8 watermelons in a minute. You should have just used a juicer, not a blender.

[@StillnTheClear]

We'll, I don't have a juicer, but would love to try the "sledgeomatic" 🤣