Got Wine?
 

My sister decided that she wanted to make a batch of pickled watermelon rind, so I went out and purchased 6 large watermelons. We really had no use for the pulp or juice so I volunteered to make a batch of watermelon wine. Never done it before, but I managed to get about 5 1/2 gallons of juice out of the 6 melons. I have made homemade Capt. Morgans style spice rum at home before out of molasses and sugar, but have never tried wine. I purchased some Champagne yeast and added about 5 pounds of sugar to the juice. So far so good, it has a very nice bouquet and makes the kitchen smell really nice. I figure about two more days of fermintation and I will rack the wine. Here's a pic of where I am right now in the process. I put a little too much juice in the container and had a little spill over yesterday into the balloon but not too much...


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That seems like a lot of sugar for already sweet watermellon juice...

But the extent of my winemaking skills extends to making one batch out of Welches grape juice.

Best of luck!

If you do it again, you can start in a 5 gal bucket with a 1 1/2" hole drilled in the top and a fermentation lock placed in there (like the pic but with a rubber stopper). It's all about keeping everything sanitized so you don't get any "off" flavors. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1313613408.jpg

Yeah, 5pds of sugar may of been a tad too much, but I figured a pound per gallon since the yeast strain that I was using will deliver between 15-20% alcohol by volume. Hey Craigster, yes I am familiar with those locks from watching Craigtube on YouTube... I sort of did this at the spare of the moment and really don't brew frequently enough to have any type of hobby supplies as of yet. I believe that I will purchase some brew buckets and locks in the future as I want to try some of the Coopers beer kits and see how the work out and taste... As of this evening, I can tell that my fermentation is slowing down and I will probably be racking the wine either tomorrow or day after tomorrow. Here in a minute I will post pictures of the pickled watermelon rind. If you have never tried this it is delicious and you will never throw your watermelon rinds away again. It is a four day process to make it, and ends up with a vinegar/sugar, clove and cinnamon mixture going into the jar for flavor...

Here are the pics of the watermelon rind. Three melons produced 15qts of product. We still have three melons left to do.

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How's the wine coming along?

I ended up with 3 1/2 gallons of wine. It came out very dry and very smooth. Has no sweetness at all... But no bitterness either.... I would probably put the alcohol content at close to 20%. I tasted the wine when it was warm and you could really taste the alcohol and it burned a little going down. When the wine is fully chilled you do not feel any warmth or burn when you swallow. Overall I would say it came out okay for homemade with no kit or preservatives. My mom said it was the best dry wine that she has ever had...