Watermelon Wheat
Recipe submitted by BYO reader Ryan DeLutis. The combination of fresh watermelon juice and a little watermelon extract combine to provide a nice watermelon kick on the palate while not being overwhelming.
Watermelon Wheat, All-Grain
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.052 FG = 1.012
IBU = 13 SRM = 5 ABV = 5%
Ingredients
6 lbs. (2.7 kg) German wheat malt
4 lbs. (1.8 kg) 2-row pale malt
0.5 lb. (0.23 kg) Briess Carapils® malt
3.75 AAU Mt. Hood pellet hops (60 min.) (0.75 oz./21 g at 5% alpha acids)
6 cups watermelon juice (fresh squeezed, not pasteurized)
Less than 1 oz./watermelon extract to taste (at kegging)
White Labs WLP320 (American Hefeweizen Ale) yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar (if priming)
Step by Step
Mash grains in 3.5 gallons (13 L) of water at 150 °F (66 °C) for 60 minutes. Sparge with 4.75 gallons (18 L) of 170 °F (77 °C) water. Boil the wort for 60 minutes. At the beginning of the boil, add 0.5 oz./14 g of Mt. Hood hops. I also add yeast nutrient at 15 minutes, but no Irish moss in a wheat beer. When boil is done, chill to 65 °F (18 °C) and pitch yeast. When your primary fermentation is complete, prepare your fresh watermelon. I use a sanitized steel bowl and potato masher to mash fresh watermelon and run the juice through a funnel with strainer.
Collect 6 cups of juice and place in your secondary vessel. Rack your beer on top. The juice and (pink) beer will begin a vigorous secondary fermentation. When complete, it will leave cool pink and white melon/yeast rings in the bottom. The final beer will pour yellow with a slightly pink head. Rack to your keg or bottling bucket and taste. Add watermelon extract (less than an ounce) to taste. Bottle or keg your beer as usual.
