Watermelon Wheat Recipe
Last year I decided to make a go at brewing a summer wheat beer with fruit. There seems to be a lot of interest in the 21st Amendment’s Watermelon wheat so I thought I would that recipe as a basis for my recipe.
Sean O’Sullivan, the brewmaster at the 21A, is pretty tight lipped about his recipe but he has given several interviews over the past year that give many tips about the recipe. I used these tips to derive my recipe. So without further ado here are the notes:
• The recipe is 60% pale malt, 40% Wheat – There are no notes of crystal in the grist.
• Hallertauer Hops, 17 IBU
• Clean yeast: Probably White Labs 001- “O’Sullivan ferments with a house strain of ale yeast, which scavenges the sugar in the fruit and leaves the essence of watermelon without a sweet fruit flavor.”
• 400lbs of Watermelon In 370 Gallon Batch
• Dry Crisp Finish (Low finishing gravity?)
• Pale Straw Color
Based upon these notes I came up with the following for my recipe (10 gallons):
Grist:
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
8.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM)
Hops:
2.00 oz Hallertauer [3.60%] (60 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
2.00 oz Hallertauer [3.60%] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
Mash @ 152 for 1 hr, Target Gravity is ~ 1050, Ferment in the Low to Mid 60s for 1 week.
On brewday or before cut the flesh from 1 20 lb watermelon. This should yield approx 12-14 lbs of fruit. Put the chunks / juice in ziplock bags and freeze. Quick note here my batch was ten gallons. The important ration here is the about 1.2 lbs of raw watermelon into 1 gallon of beer. Ive gone as high as 1.5 and it was still not overpowering.
Thaw and add to the primary fermenter after about 1 week, it should be towards the tail end of the fermentation. This will restart the fermentation, like crazy. Now this is important dont let anybody who will potentially be drinking the beer see inside the fermenter, because they will never drink it if you do. It will be a yeasty watermelon mess, but damn it will smell good.
Before kegging/bottling pull out the chunks of watermelon. I used a slotted spoon, this made transferring much easier, but it was still a pain in ass due to the seeds.
What you will have when you are done is a great summer beer. Its not going to taste like a watermelon jolly rancher, it is going to be a nice wheat beer with great watermelon aroma and a strong hint of watermelon flavor. Your guy friends will claim that its a chick beer, however they will quietly sneak back to your kegerator for a second or ever third glass. As for the ladies, yes, they too will love it.
Brew it up and let me know how it turns out.
Nice work on the recipe. How long was the extra fermentation due to the watermelon? I was thinking of pureeing the watermelon versus the chunks. Thanks for the blog, enjoy your posts.
Todd – You can probably count on another week to ten days of fermentation. I think that amount of time allow most of the sugars to ferment out plus for the beer to build on the watermelon aroma.
Regarding puree vs chunks. I think that pureeing it is probably not going to be necessary. Once you freeze and thaw the stuff the resulting fruit is pretty much a liquid. If anything take a sanitized potato masher to the melon once you have it carved out in a large bowl. The resulting mix will be anything but chunks. One other thing to consider is if you decide to puree it you will need to seed the entire thing. Trust me there will be plenty of watermelon flavor/aroma without pureeing it.
Thanks for reading! Its nice to know that I am not the only one reading it. Let me know how it turns out.
Cheers, Brian. I ended up hitting the chunks in the blender and then strained it through a fine strainer to get roughly 3 cups of “juice” into 5 gallons (that amount was based on some other recipes I’ve run across). This was about 1/3 of a reasonably sized melon. I went ahead with blending for two reasons – ease of insertion into the carboy and freezing/thawing time (which I usually do with fruit for beer, it’s just that I was in a bit of a rush to get this beer done and carbed for a party). I put in the juice once the yeast dropped and left it for about 4 days before kegging. There was some additional fermentation of the juice but not much from what I could tell. The beer is still carbing but on first taste it is a nice subtle watermelon flavor (somewhat Jolly Rancher-y to my surprise) that hits right in the middle and lingers slightly to the end. I think it’s probably the right amount and would expect that the flavors will meld a little with time. I might make another batch with a little more juice depending on how it ultimately finishes. Thanks for your advice!
I am thinking about making one but using the extract instead…hopefully it doesn’t give a medicine like flavor
I think that you would be surprised how easy it is to brew with real watermelon. It takes about 15 minutes to prepare the watermelon for freezing and the flavor you get is great.
I just re-brewed this recipe two weeks ago, and thus far the flavors are amazing.
Brian –
Any worries or problems with contamination from adding “unsanitized” watermelon into the fermenter? Have you thought about using Campden to sanitize the fruit?
Thanks….
Campden has been know to retard yeast activity, so I’m not sure I would go that route. While contamination is possible when adding unpasteurized fruit there a couple things working against it.
1. Freezing the watermelon knocks the bacteria load down to virtually nothing.
2. Fermented beer is a pretty inhospitable environment for bacteria. By the time you are adding the watermelon the beer’s PH has dropped significantly and it is full of alcohol. Two things that bacteria are not crazy about.
3. Last, this is not a beer that is going to be aged. This is a beer that you will drink within a couple months (six months tops probably). Any strong brett based flavors take months to develop. In the off chance that contamination does occur, by the time those flavors are developing, this keg is going to be blowing CO2.
Just be sure to pitch the proper amount of yeast (erring on the side of too much), practice good sanitation, and drink it quickly.
Perhaps its just me, but Id say just don’t worry about it and brew just the beer. Ive brew over 40 gallons of this stuff over 4 distinct batches and have never had an issue with contamination.
Hope that helps.
If the beer was going to be contaminated it probably would have occured
Nice work on the recipe. How long was the extra fermentation due to the watermelon? I was thinking of pureeing the watermelon versus the chunks. Thanks for the blog, enjoy your posts.
I would count on another 3-5 days of active fermentation, but I typically give it 10-14 total days contact with the watermelon.
Pureeing the watermelon will absolutely work. If you do take that route I would just ensure that you have pulled all the seeds. After freezing and thawing the chunks it will break down a bit as well. I normally chunk it and mash it with a potato masher.
Use a bag for the watermelon and don’t use seedless.
Good luck.
Brian,
If i wanted to make a smaller batch could i just cut this recipe in half and only brew a 5 gallon batch?
Thanks!
Absolutely, just cut it in half and brew it.
The recipe scales both up and down with no issues.
Good Luck.
I have not graduated to all grain brewing yet. Can I do this recipe with 60% light Malt extract and 40% Light malt extract (wheat)? If so how many lbs of each would i use for a 10Gal batch. I really want to make a few batches of this before we get to far into summer.
Thanks
-Will
Hey Will, thanks for you interest in brewing the beer. I would suggest you look at the Malt extract that you are using. Most of the time wheat Malt extract is not 100% wheat but rather 50% wheat and 50% two row (or similar). If you look at Breiss’s extract on Northern Brewer for instance you will see that it is actually composed of 60% wheat and 40% barley.
So you have the option of doing something simple and just using 100% “wheat” DME (which would taste great) or you could mix some combination of Pale DME and Wheat DME to get to the ratio in the original all grain recipe. I took a quick cut at it below for a 12 gallon batch (yielding 10 gallons into the keg).
8 lbs 2.6 oz Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 54.6 %
6 lbs 12.8 oz Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 45.4 %
Hope that helps.
Brian
Thanks. I plan on brewing this week. I may just take the plunge into all grain brewing and do it that way instead. Thanks for the help and the recipe.
Here’s to a long summer of of good beer.
Why do you say not to use seedless watermelon.
I posted on brewing with seedless watermelon and it lays out why not to use them. Just my experience.
Sigh…
Well not only did I use seedless watermelon, but I didn’t realize Cooper’s Wheat Malt Extract is only 50% wheat. They should advertise that more clearly for us novices. So 3.3 lbs of that stuff, and 4 lbs of pale malt, and I’m looking at 22.6% wheat and 77.4% pale malt.
Sigh…
I wonder how my WYeast American Wheat felt about that lower than planned wheat proportion during primary fermentation? I can see that it certainly is going to town on the watermelon chunks during secondary, even if they are seedless.
Sigh again…
I hope this still turns out well, because I had high hopes before I started doing this additional reading.
The lower percentage of wheat is not going to be a deal breaker. The important thing is that you kept the grist simple. It is still going to be a really clean beer, which should let the watermelon come through.
Now, regarding the seedless, if when you sample before kegging/bottling, there isn’t enough watermelon flavor you can add more watermelon (ahem, seeded) at that point. Seedless wont ruin the beer, its just not ideal. All is not lost.
Brian, What type of steeping grains do you use for this beer?
Thanks, Aaron
Aaron – No steeping grains. Just base malts. You really dont want anything to get in the way of the watermelon.
Brian, this is a great article! Like Will above, I’m also an extract brewer. I’ve ordered an american wheat kit from Austin homebrew and I was planning on adding watermelon (in your learned proportions) to the secondary. But as I’m reading this article it seems as though you’re advocating just using the primary and leaving it the extra week there. Is that right? And if so is that because the nature of a wheat brew is cloudy anyway?. I also had a fellow brewer suggest kroning my brews in general, which included tossing extra yeast. Since essentially I’ll be adding fermentable sugar with the watermelon, would I benefit from tossing more yeast in when I put in the melon? And to toss in one more question, does using this amount of watermelon typically lend a jolly rancher flavor? I’d like to avoid that over bearing of a flavor. Thanks in advance!
Just re-read and saw your statement that it won’t taste like a jolly rancher, my bad, my eye got stuck on what Todd said above.
Dan – At the end of your initial (primary) fermentation there will be a ton of yeast in solution. This will be true for all beers not just wheat beers. Not sure what “Kroning” is, however the only time you should have to pitch extra yeast in a batch is if you are doing some high gravity fermentation or if the beer has aged for more than a couple months and you are planning on bottle conditioning. Personally I dont use a secondary fermenter unless the beer is going to be sitting for greater than six weeks. I see the additional transfer as one more contamination point. Yeast autolysis is a minor concern at the homebrew level.
Good luck with the beer, use ripe watermelons, and let me know how it turns out.
bk
Thanks for the information, the blogs were very helpful in my decision to brew watermellon beer this year since i planted a watermellon patch this spring.. so hopefully if all goes well.. this all grain , organically grown mellon, batch will turn out good.. one thing though.. the hops.. has anyone tried subsitutions for the hops to give it a milder profile.. you really want the watermellon to stand out.. how about some citrus hops or kent goldings.. whatcha think? aight.. have a great time.. BREW ON
That sounds like the perfect watermelon for the beer. Im sure it will be amazing.
Regarding hops, Hallertau are pretty mild in my book EKG, would be a decent substitution. At around 15 ibu, the hops are pretty much imperceptible, so I dont think it matters too much. I would advise just keeping it simple, as you really want the watermelon to shine.
Hi Brain, I’m new to this so I apologize if this is a stupid question I see talk about secondary fermentation and then primary fermentation but when you add the watermelon do you mean at after the first week of fermentation you open up your fermenter and then add the Watermelon chunks ? or is this added right after the wort is created…want to make sure I’m doing this right, because I read a lot about not opening the fermenter to avoid “rogue organism”…Thanks for all the information you have posted here !
Mike
Mike –
Its not a stupid question at all. You nailed it. Make your wort. Pitch Yeast. Ferment for 3-5 days (you did pitch a ton of yeast right?), open the top (a bucket makes this really easy) and add the watermelon. I am using Primary and Secondary loosely here to mean the sugar from the wort (primary) and the sugar from the watermelon (secondary).
Regarding “rogue organisms” I wouldn’t worry about it. Don’t do it in room with a fan on and still air and you will be fine. By the time you are adding the watermelon the pH of the beer has dropped and there is already alcohol in solution. These are two things that beer spoiling organisms(bugs) dont like. Good luck.
I haven’t brewed anything yet wanted to get all the information before trying to attempt probably start this weekend but I’ll make sure that I follow the instructions that you’ve listed…this is a big help !! and thanks again for the tips and for getting back to me so quickly, I will let you know how this comes out.
Mike
Brian,
Since you are adding so much fruit in after the boil and watermelon in mostly water, do you find the beer is getting watered down? Do you calculate the water in the melon to get your final quanitity of beer?
Thanks,
Robert
Ive never had any issue with it tasting watered down, while watermelon is mostly water it isn’t exclusively water, and it brings different flavors to the beer (which is the point). Id say that if you normally brew 6 to get 5, you would probably be safe brewing 5.75 to get 5 with this beer. You do end up leaving behind a lot of the solids.
Awesome, thanks for the quick follow up.
Brewed my version of a watermelon wheat. Two weeks in the fermenter; tasty, light but not as sweet as expected. I added the watermelon a little sooner into fermentation than you but I up the lbs per gallon just a bit. I’m thinking a about “dry watermeloning” @ 1/2 lbs per gallon, let it sit for a week and then keg it up.
Just kegged this… almost a dead-on match. Probably one of my favorite beers I’ve made in 50 batches. 21A lists Magnum hops on their site, but the Hallertau from this recipe worked well. Thanks for this write-up.
So glad to hear that. Tell me about the watermelons you used, were they locally grown? The quality of the fruit makes a big difference in this beer.
Onto the second keg – better than the first. Watermelons were not local to Connecticut… I’ll check the store to find out exactly. Another thing, they were seedless… couldn’t find seeded. Second keg sat for about 10 days longer and also used a different watermelon.
I’ll be brewing this every year. Here are pictures of us enjoying it. Thanks again!
http://i.imgur.com/RrpJs.png
http://i.imgur.com/E3yQ2.png
Just read your follow-up… I will be using seeded watermelons next time. Got really lucky on this batch with the seedless variety.
I think I may have ruined this batch somehow. Smells like rotten watermelon. Lots of rotten watermelon. I kept it in my fermentation chamber, and just pulled it off the yeast cake, after 4 weeks. Don’t want to dump it, but it reeks right now.
We went to 21st Amendment and I told my girlfriend we both shouldn’t order the watermelon, because in my experience fruit beers are a crap shoot and I didn’t want two bad beers. Needless to say, it was awesome, can’t wait to brew it! A few years back, I brewed a Jolly Rancher version, holy alcohol bomb
I hope you’re not sick of getting questions on this recipe, but can I get your opinion? Due to freezer space issues, I ended up pushing my watermelon through a screen and just kept on going for the whole melon. Now I have about 5 pounds of juice (no pulp, no seeds) in the freezer for a 5 gallon batch. How does that affect yield with the lack of pulp? Should I start with half the juice after primary, see what happens? Thanks! Looking forward to this one!
Tim, I think it will work fine. What you get from the pulp (I believe) is some of the “rindy” notes in the beer. I’d do exactly as you have stated, ferment the beer out, add the juice, and see how it tastes. Worst case scenario you may want to add some more watermelon. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
I’ve only brewed 2 batches of beer, so I’m pretty new to this. I have some questions on the ingredients:
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) – this ok? http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/malteurop-american-2-row-pale-malt.html
8.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) – this ok? http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/rahr-white-wheat-malt.html – or red instead?
Hops:
2.00 oz Hallertauer [3.60%] (60 min) Hops 14.7 IBU
2.00 oz Hallertauer [3.60%] (5 min) Hops 2.4 IBU
For both Hops, this? http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/german-hallertau-pellets-1-oz.html or use american hallertauer?
On a trip to San Fran, my wife loved this beer from 21A – she’s stoked that I found this recipe…thank you!
Hey Brian, this looks just like what I’ve been looking for. Thanks for the recipe. Curious, though: have you ever tried any yeast other than the Chico? I was toying with the idea of using American Wheat yeast. Obviously, it wouldn’t finish as clean, but was curious if you or anyone else has ever tried both and which you or they preferred. Gracias, –Damon.
I have brewed it as a wit in the past and the yeast character totally overwhelmed the watermelon. Id think that something like an American wheat yeast is neutral enough but should contribute some interesting notes with the watermelon. Please do report back with how it turns out.
Justin –
For some reason your comment was held up in the spam queue.
The ingredients you have listed are perfect. Id probably stick with white wheat as I believe that Red has a bit more protein. Nearly all my beers are now brewed with simple domestic 2 row. It makes great beer.
German or American Hallertau will work. Both will give a nice delicate hop character which is what you are looking for. I typically use German.
Dont know if this is still check on or not. So I as a newbie brewer should you throw the watermelon in loose or bag it?
I’ve found that the easiest thing to do is to bag the watermelon in a large filter bag. The kind of bag that would be used for brew in a bag or similar. It makes racking and dealing with the seeds SO much easier.
Hope that helps and please do report back on how it turns out.
Jeff-
Since I ferment in a carboy, there was no way I could think of to get all the pulp in there. I used just the juice (you can see what I did in my message from 07-2012 above), it worked pretty well, but I did end up using too much juice. A 10 lb melon yielded about 5 lbs of juice, and I should have used maybe 2-2.5 lbs. I used 4 lbs, and it ended up too sweet.
My $0.02, have fun!
I’ve made 30 gallons over 2 years always using loose fruit in the secondary. My favorite beer each year. This recipe is great.
Hi Brian,
I am a little new to brewing and have only made about four batches. I really want to try my hand at this watermelon brew but I don’t have a mash tun. I just haven’t been able to make the investment to build one yet. Is there any way that I can make this beer in a five gallon capacity while using a malt extract?
I can steep a few pounds of grain to get extra body, flavor, and head but can I use a malt extract syrup as the base for my wort?
Thanks
Jeremy in this comment I lay out a reasonable extract recipe for this beer. It sounds like you are doing 5 gallon batches so just cut it in half. I typically do 6 gallon batches so I yield a full keg.