watermelon wine fail

[Phathead]

info as I understood it from a friend of my wife. he attempted 200lb plus of water melon into wine. it tasted like crap so it has set in airlock carboys for over a yr. 11 gallon at 16%. he has offered it to me to do as I wish. being new to this, the only thing I can think of is fill boiler with it and water in thump for stripping run(s) to a netrual. any other ideas?

[Jstroke]

PH, I think you have the right idea. Never know what kind of product it's going to make. try it white, if it's a little rough, age it for awhile. I mean at this point there is little to no effort or money in it, and if you can "save it" and return it to him cleaned up--Always a little humor in that.

J

[SassyFrass]

I've done watermelon a few times over the years, with mixed results.
I'd run it low and slow just to see how the singlings turn out, and if that wasnt suitable do a second run, again low and slow, to clean it up even more.
Sounds like you're running a pot, so I dont know how neutral you'll get. But if memory serves, I never did get a whole lot of flavor to carry over. So it may work out well. Good luck.
SF

[Phathead]

thank you both and yes a pot still. I'll give a shot, like you said only out some gas and time.

[still_stirrin]

16%ABV ???

Must’ve added a lot of sugar in the must. So, I expect little watermelon flavor in the brandy. A thumper would help a little if you get a couple fresh melons and smash them and put that into the thump. Otherwise, it’ll be mostly like a sugar wash.
ss

[SassyFrass]

16%ABV ???

Must’ve added a lot of sugar in the must. So, I expect little watermelon flavor in the brandy. A thumper would help a little if you get a couple fresh melons and smash them and put that into the thump. Otherwise, it’ll be mostly like a sugar wash.
ss

+1
If memory serves, I only ever had decent'ish ABV from 1 type of watermelon. (Smaller, cantaloupe size, dark green hull, dark red meat inside.) Cant remember the actual name and cant find my notes. But I think those actually fermented out about 6 or 7% in the wine/must without sugar. Every other type of watermelon needed sugar added to get that ABV, and the seedless varieties were the worst.
Lots of folks add sugar to fruits must/wine to up the ABV. I ain't a purist, but ss is right. You probably ain't gonna get much melon flavor carry over to ylthe product.
But, it's free so run it. Whatever you get will definitely be interesting. Just my $.02
SF

[Phathead]

16%ABV ???

Must’ve added a lot of sugar in the must. So, I expect little watermelon flavor in the brandy. A thumper would help a little if you get a couple fresh melons and smash them and put that into the thump. Otherwise, it’ll be mostly like a sugar wash.
ss

+1
If memory serves, I only ever had decent'ish ABV from 1 type of watermelon. (Smaller, cantaloupe size, dark green hull, dark red meat inside.) Cant remember the actual name and cant find my notes. But I think those actually fermented out about 6 or 7% in the wine/must without sugar. Every other type of watermelon needed sugar added to get that ABV, and the seedless varieties were the worst.
Lots of folks add sugar to fruits must/wine to up the ABV. I ain't a purist, but ss is right. You probably ain't gonna get much melon flavor carry over to ylthe product.
But, it's free so run it. Whatever you get will dtefinitely be interesting. Just my $.02
SF

full disclaimer is that is what I understood. maybe wire and numbers screwed up in translation so bear with me. not knowing the orginal numbers any numbers I can take or get for useful information?

[still_stirrin]

...any numbers I can take or get for useful information?

Not really at this point anymore. Your Proof & Traille hydrometer won’t measure the wine’s %ABV accurately and your brewer’s hydrometer won’t tell you what the OG was. So, you can’t calculate the potential from those measurements.

But, I recommend to accurately measure the volume of the wine you put into the boiler.

Then, when you’ve stripped it (yes, I’d do a strip + spirit run in a potstill only), measure the volume of the collected low wines and the %ABV of it. That will give you a rough idea about the true ABV of the wine. Sure, you’ll be a little lower than the actual %ABV of the wine because of the alcohol discarded and the little bit left behind in the boiler. But, it’ll get you close to knowing the wine’s potential.
ss

[Demy]

For the gradation of the wine (grape) there is a vinometer that will tell you what gradation you have (the wine must be clear), but I wouldn't worry about that. Do a quick stripping and try to understand in the hearts of the stripping what aroma the product has so you can later choose whether to make a neutral or a flavored. Sometimes the fruit wine is bad but the distillate is good, other times the opposite.

[Prairiepiss]

Watermelon is a delicate flavor. It’s hard to get a good wine without adding sugar. Adding sugar just makes it harder. And fermenting out to 16% makes it even harder. Curious to see what flavors you get to carry through to the distillate. I would first try to get some flavored alcohol out of it. Then if you don’t like it run it as a neutral. I’ve got some good stuff out of a bad nasty ferment. Just saying.

[Phathead]

thank all of you for inputs. plan is pick it next week and run that weekend I will post back results.

[jog666]

I tried watermelon wine several times plus that concentrate crap from the store. The only "good" that came out of it was the last try when I had roughly 8L of raw chunky juice in the fridge for months. It turned to vinegar and was rather nice. We couldnt find a reason to keep it so it got dumped. The wines all worked off good but tasted like crap. The last one was put back for some 8 or 9 months. I ended up stripping each one of them when time allowed. After stripping they were better but not good enough to pour a glass of. Ended up using alot of "bad wine" that got ran several times to mellow out and used that for a apple pie mix.

Either way, free alcohol to run is always a plus. Dont hope or guarantee that it will turn out good.

[Prairiepiss]

I think it was a discussion I had with ol Dunderhead. It’s somewhere around here. Or it may have been goose. It was a long time ago now and I don’t remember very well. Whoever it was basically said. The rind is where many of the problems come from. Mainly being dirty. I do believe it was said to clean everything really good. Campden tablets was mentioned for cleaning the outside before cutting into it. And once you cut into it. Keep the meet clean and not let it touch anything. Keep cleaning the knife. And process it as quick and clean as you can. There is a good watermelon wine thread somewhere around here. And is probably wher we had the discussion at.