Last summer I went to a craft beer show with some of my family. At this craft beer show was a brewery which had a watermelon berliner weisse which my brother, who is not much into craft beer, loved. He's been talking about it ever since last summer, but unfortunately this particular brewery doesn't sell this beer in bottles for purchase. I figured that I'd go ahead and try to make something as close as possible to it myself, but having never brewed with fruit -- let alone watermelon -- I'm looking for a little guidance here. This brew was nicely tart, and had a very distinct watermelon flavor. I've done fast soured beers in the past with success, so I'll stick with that method, but I'm looking for a little guidance on the fruit addition. I'd like to use juice that I'll squeeze out of the watermelon myself rather than racking onto watermelon pieces, since I don't want the headache and beer losses of trying to siphon off of fruit. I'm shooting for a light (~4% ABV) 2.5 gallon batch. Here's what I'm thinking: 1.5 lbs Pilsen 1.5 lbs Wheat No hops I'll mash and do a short 30-minute boil to collect about 2 gallons of wort. I'll pitch some GoodBelly into this to let sour for a couple of days at around 100 degrees. Without pasteurizing, I'll then pitch some S-05 and let that rip for about 10 days. At the 10 day mark, I'll add a half gallon of watermelon juice that I'll squeeze out myself. I'll let that go for another 10 days or so, then prime and bottle. Thoughts?
This probably goes without saying, but I would cool it down to around 70°F before pitching the US-05, and I would hold it at that temperature for the rest of the fermentation. By the way I've done something very similar (but with no fruit addition) and it works great. US-05 throws off some really nice peachy flavors that work great with the tartness from the lacto. You are right not to include any hot-side hops, those will suppress the bugs in GoodBelly. Oh, and theoretically you don't have to hold the temperature at 100°F, although that's a good starting place. Lacto plantarum is supposed to be good at souring at room temperature. I think watermelon character is going to be elusive, but I can't think of a better approach than the one you're taking.
I brewed a watermelon gose last September. I got a nice watermelon taste by making a puree and adding 8 cups of it into secondary.
Yep, I did a split batch. 5 of it was with watermelon. I loved the taste of it. Very tart and the watermelon went great with the beer!
Hmmm, if 8 cups of puree gives good character to a 5 gallon batch, I wonder if 8 cups of juice might be a little overwhelming in a 2.5 gallon batch. Perhaps I should scale back a bit.
As already mentioned... but I think a Gose would go better with the watermelon than a Berliner. IMHO. Either way, should be good.
I was actually considering adding some salt because of the watermelon. I don't have any coriander on hand, so I guess it wouldn't be a true Gose, but I don't care.
A friend at our brewing club brewed a wit with watermelon. Instead of using water, he used watermelon juice during mash. It was the best wit I ever tasted in my life.
I actually like the Watermelon BW combo. Rivertown Nice Melons is a beer that I get when I am in Florida (brewery is in Ohio) and it is the perfect summer beer. It reminds me of a Watermelon Jolly Rancher, some don't like that, but I think it just pops.
I'll plan to juice my watermelon as sanitarily as possible, but I'm still slightly concerned with something getting into it during all of the handling of it. I understand that vinters will add campden to their must 24 hours before they pitch their yeast to try to kill any infections. Is there any reason why I couldn't do the same with the watermelon juice?
I just sanitized the knife, outside of the watermelon, cutting board and the blender. Worked out fine.
That's an option. There'd be a lot of sulfites and it'd give you a hangover. I also wouldn't be afraid to experiment with heating the puree to 160 and letting it cool. See if you can get that flavor sanitized. There's also this: https://www.olivenation.com/waterme...E45Z4sXlBgrJ6YMRQnXRSAdPH4gQsZCopEaAqiy8P8HAQ I haven't tried it, but it looks like fun.
Thanks. I'm trying to stay away from the extracts. I've read various forums where people thought it gave the beer an artificial, jolly rancher type flavor.
If that's the worst problem I've ever had with a beer, I'd be set. Let us know how it goes. I'd have no idea what else to do with a whole watermelon.
I transferred the sour wort to a three gallon carboy last night and pitched my yeast. The wort didn't taste nearly as sour as I was hoping/expecting, but I'm about to leave town for a few days and I didn't want to leave it souring over the weekend un-monitored. I didn't pasteurize before pitching, so I'm hoping the lacto will continue to work.
I tried the first bottles of the watermelon berliner weisse this past weekend. It wasn't bad, though surprisingly the watermelon character was pretty subdued. By the end, I ended up with 3 gallons...3 quarts of which were comprised of watermelon juice. Despite the dry hopping of El Dorado hops, it still had a slightly straw-cheese (that's the best way I can think to describe it) aroma that my lacto-sours all seem to get. It was actually very pale yellow despite all the watermelon additions also. The color all settled to the bottom of the bottle. The only reason the below photo has a pinkish hue is because I swirled up some of the bottom sediment to get the color.
