If you don't mind spending a bunch of money replace the sugar with watermelon jolly ranchers or the old time watermelon discs. The artificial watermelon doesn't wash out in the ferment. I never distilled it but it makes a nice wine.
How about cantaloupe or honeydew shine? Or a "Fruit Salad" shine? Canned fruit cocktail. Plus I'm "Still" waiting for a report on the Popcorn Shine. And what happened with your wood experiment with the different types of wood and char for aging?
@@dbomber69 The problem with watermelon and many other things is the experience is mostly retro nasal. If you hold your nose and dont breathe while eating watermelon it's not particularly sweet, and slightly tart but it isn't much else. 90% of it is aroma compounds and when you ferment it those aromas are either consumed by the yeast or driven off by fermentation so you get this mostly bland slightly tart water that tastes of cucumbers more than watermelon. Same thing happens with pears it just turns into this sour weird tasting stuff that is nothing like the original and the only way to get that experience back is to either back flavor it or use something artificial that is more stable that the yeast won't consume. The crazy thing to me is aromas like citrus, apple, pear, blackberry, banana and apricot are only like a atom or two different and they all behave very differently when you ferment them. Blackberry makes a fine wine, apricot not so much and the only difference is the oxygen group is moved over a bit. Here's a diagram that might make more sense media.cheggcdn.com/media%2F2b8%2F2b81aba6-56a1-40b2-846b-dc60f6df272e%2FphpFv40Wo.png
I have been rocking 14 of their shirts for the last year and they all look damn near new. I work at a Museum with dinosaurs and space halls so they had a ton that immediately went into the cart. I get constant compliments about my shirts every day.
I made a strawberry watermelon shine. My friend has several farm stands and had a couple of pallets of strawberries where some were bad, so they couldn't sell them, so they gave them to me and I sorted them. Ended up with 4 1 gallon freezer bags of strawberries. They also had 5 watermelons that were fine, but just had blemishes outside that they wouldn't sell. So, I blended the fruits, added 16 lbs of raw sugar. Fermented with DADY and cut the results with pure filtered watermelon juice instead of water, to 80 proof. Put 4 sliced strawberries in each quart. Strained after a month. Tasted like you had a strawberry jolly rancher in one cheek, and a watermelon jolly rancher in the other. It was so smooth that it would sneak up on you!!
@@BeardedBored my friends wife and her friends didn't heed my warning. I told them it was 80 proof, so the 3 of them polished off a pint, straight!! My buddy just laughed
I dont drink much, but I love watching the moon fairy polishes it till it shines. The stuff thats not used goes into a container and when its full, the moon fairy polishes that till its 90% and mixes it with a lill bit of petrol. My classic car loves it
I picked up 25 giant watermelons last summer. Made a wash without any added sugar. Og of like 1.034. About 30 gallons. Fermented for 3 days. Ran it. Tasted like bleh funkyness up front. But once you swallowed you got that fresh watermelon juice flavor all the way down your throat.
Man, awesome timing! I've "hypothetically" been wanting to do a watermelon moonshine for almost a year. I've been building my equipment for the last few months (still not done, but close) and your build/brazing/electronics videos have been super useful! Real cozy content right here
Really Enjoyed Your Video , Thanks ! P.S. I've seen people buy Watermelon 🍉 from the Store , sit Em down inside the house , and have Em Blow Up , Bust . Spilled Juice all over the floor . When you buy Em , people don't take into account , picking em , stacking Em , shipping Em , storing em , selling Em . Then they have to wait until someone actually Cuts into one . I grow my own . Pick what I need, by the Calendar , one week early . Cut in 1/4 sections , cut the meat out , put in a Bucket 🪣 and stir with a sheetrock mixer on a Drill until liquid , which was 1.026 . Added Sugar until 1.100 . Added my Yeast . Now , Watermelon 🍉 is something that is Time sensitive , it can Spoil in minutes . Used 3 packs of Yeast . Took the Lid off and Pushed the Fruit Cap down , 3 times a day . Best hours for me was , 7 in the morning , 3 in the afternoon and 11 at night . When it went Dry I Backsweeten , adding 20 points , 15 points and 10 points , each time . Didn't want it too Sweet in the End . Just over a year old . I brought in a gallon of Cucumber 🥒 and a gallon of Watermelon 🍉 this Week . Took some of Each to Game 🎯 Night , Friday . They Thought it was the Best thing since Sliced Bread 🍞🥪 . Especially the Watermelon 🍉 . And I take Samples of my Wine 🍷 and Brews to Game 🎯 Night , every Week . Watermelon 🍉 can be done . But , You have to Think 🤔 about every Single Step . How to get it Fermented , before it Soured or Spoiled . If You get it Right , NOTHING BETTER ! 🐯🤠
You probably should have fermented with the pulp to bring out more of the watermelon flavor, and added watermelon to a thumper to bring out more flavor.
Olive Nation has an awesome additive. But 4 cups watermelon juice, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp Vanilla, and a little sprinkle of lemon zest. Pour in to 2 cups 120p Shine. Juice your mellon and strain into sauce pan. Add all other ingredients less the shine and simmer for 30-45 min. Cool and strain into 1/2 gal Mason jar. Then add the Shine. Let marry for 1 to 2 weeks.
Just starting watching this video but had to put a message NICE to see another video from you, You and Barley and Hops Brewing got me back into moonshine, did my first run when I was 27, stopped when I was about 35 and started again after seeing Barley and Hops Brewing video call "How my PWM is wired" and your video called "Tasting MOONSHINE & RUM AGED for 12 MONTHS!" I am not as good as you guys but I have made some good stuff the fairies would be happy with LoL Just started a strawberry wine for Christmas (should of started it earlier)
We did the same project last year, only a pickup bed load ok melons. Got the watermelon rind flavor also. It’ll be interesting to see what you do with it as I still have ALOT to experiment with. Good to see you back.
Before i got my 1st still, I had been doing homemade wine for several years. The absolute worst I ever made was watermelon wine. Wanted to try it for years, knowing the old Tom T Hall song, lol. Epic fail, so I quit there. Good to see ya back ! Have a good 1 !
I did a watermelon mix. I used 65 ABV and mixed with watermelon juice to proof it down to about 40 ABV. Mine turned out pretty good. Keep adjusting your recipe, it might get better.
DUDE!!! good to see ya again! i’ve been tryin to get some watermelon stuff for awhile. always has that flat earthy taste even with quite a bit of sugar. I always taste the melons to make sure they’re good too. hmmm
Not sure where your at in Texas but we’re I’m at we are covered up with mustang grapes… ran a batch this year and it is the best brandy I’ve made.. food for thought!
Good to see you are still alive and kickin’, Brother Bearded. I get concerned when you don’t surface for an extended period, I start thinking about Ol’ George’s sudden and unexplained disappearance. I have always wondered about watermelon, you did the research for us so we don’t have to. Still grinning about your “melons”, you are a guy, how could you resist? Thanks much and please keep up the good work!
Not only did Bearded make a reference to his melons, but he admitted to wearing a skirt (that didn't get blown up). I am of Scottish heritage, I would probably say "It didn't blow my kilt up". Bearded, is there something you haven't been telling us? LOL!
You are definitely not the only one. I tried this last year and sounds like we have similar results. I would agree with one of the other comments that adding a simple syrup of watermelon juice to your spirit helps but if I want just a clear spirit, that needs some modification the next time I attempt this.
Yeah, I was hoping it would make a good brandy as a base for fiddling. One person mentioned strawberries in their mash to boost the flavor. I think that might be a good way to go.
I make watermelon brandy every year and there are a few tricks to get it spot on, you have the basics correct. I normally wait until mid summer and source the big sweet ripe watermelons. The trick is, after your run, put it in your oak barrel, I age mine 3 years, then I cut to 43% and add a little bit of invert sugar syrup, this just enhance that watermelon taste, it comes out very smooth and great tasting on the rocks.
well, I was watching that show that starts with tune "bad boys, bad boys..." to see what happened to you. I didn't find you there and glad to see you here. Looking forward to see what you gonna make of this. cheers.
Bearded, watermelon and cucumbers are in the same family, which might explain the flavor. Maybe a watermelon-chili bloody mary? Maybe a watermelon gin? Those are probably the directions I'd head towards, especially if it tastes like cucumber.
Inspired by your original Apple Jack video, I made a strawberry/watermelon moonshine a few years ago, and it was okay, but got much and much better over time. It ended up tasting, after a few months of aging (in a neglected bottle on my kitchen counter) like a really tasty brandy.
hope you are ok Bearded, good to see you back. Distilling failures, Apples I cannot get a apple taste to come through - a waxy apple peel but not actually the taste of an apple.
I got some good seed-free watermelon juice using the tomato juicer attachment for my kitchen Aid mixer. Someone at the Beattyville Bourbon and Moonshine Festival made watermelon shine- OMG, it was awesome! Not sure how he made it, but I wanted to drink it all day.
I have done this several times and have been less than impressed. So I took my brandy and used some flavoring from Olive Nation. Now that is a good straight watermelon flavor. I like it straight out of the freezer. My wife likes it with some strawberries slices and 7-up on ice
A few things that might help. First when you are picking your watermelons to use, make sure you taste them first. You want ones that have a rich "watermelon" flavor rather than just a "meh" one. This is a common issue since lots of watermelons don't actually taste that good, especially if you are getting them off season. When separating out the flesh, you want to make sure you don't get any rind. Better to lose a little bit of the red. Throw all the flesh into a pot and heat it low to medium on your stove, stirring and mashing it. Almost all the flesh should turn to liquid, with only a little stringy solids remaining. Watermelon has basically no nutrients in it so always requires yeast nutrients. I know he added nutrients but you have to work hard to balance them for watermelon. Treat it the same as you would a straight sugar wash. Looking at the ratios used for wines is helpful here. For your yeast, bread yeast will actually produce the best flavor and at the ABV possible should be fine. Lots of commercial distillers actually use bread yeast because of how good it taste and how well it carries over flavors of what you are distilling. Finally and most importantly, back sweeten the final product. Without sweetness it will never taste like watermelon. I would recommend starting with a small sample and slowly adding simple to it a little at a time until the flavor shows up. The flavor will seem to just suddenly appear once you hit the right level. From there you can calculate how much simple you need and any additional water to hit your target ABV.
You can try dicing the watermelon and put it in a jar and add sugar and make some syrup. Also I have heard that the peel is where the flavor is. I’ve tried watermelon 2 times and haven’t gone back. If that tells you anything. 😢
Glad to have you share the mistakes as well as the successes. When experimenting, there are always going to be some oopses Your second tequila with the charred pina leaves (I used agave) and the sweet potatoes (I also charred some pineapples and used a pound of black malted barley) is the real deal
Hi there I’m an old man looking at this old time blessing and just starting out with pot. Had to stop smoking it cos it screwed with hospital blood test results, so just boozing slowly now. Basically only got to your videos couple of weeks ago. Good stuff, interesting projects keep it up. Been liking the ones I have seen, so thought it time to post comment as well to help the tube number crunching to promote your content. Sometime soon I hop to have some shine news of my own.
Everybody thinks they gonna have watermelon shine and watermelon crawl cranked up drinking stuff like this and come to find out it can be very different than what is hoped for or expected. Glad you pulled a trick and got er to work! Iam wanting to go grab a couple pumpkins tomorrow and do some tinkering i think
I've tried many times to make it as well and ran into the same issues, I finally got it to work by adding a bag of Watermelon Jolly Ranchers to the wash and letting each jar age with 1 cup of jolly ranchers.. OH , Ya got to remove them from the plastic wrapper.. Yes I forgot my first time and poured the bag without remembering to remove the wrapper.. My excuse is, I may or may not have been doing an excessive amount of tasting some of my "Collection Of Flavored Spirits" too see what improved and what didn't.. Thank you for sharing.. Go ahead and try it, see if it works for you..
int nobodies state in the US lets you distill, but great to see you still working with the fairy. My distilling god did cranberry, elderberry with some root beer and it was quite tasty after he was done
Yea I have only run watermelon once and it did not come out good. I ended up adding it to another run that turned out better, but I had high hopes for watermelon. I mean I could have used watermelon juice to mix it and that turned out okay on my sample, but I wanted to keep it clear and it just was not happening. Interested to see what you do with it.
At least you’re honest. I made a few beer batches that just didn’t come out good, and I couldn’t serve them to anybody because I wasn’t proud of them. I will watch her next video.
My first thoughts were your rockmelon shine, which i tried to replicate and it nearly destroyed my laundry. I havent ever had a foam over so bad in my fermenter 🤣
I'm almost out of the rock melonshine. Kinda wish I'd decided to revisit that one. That pulp will really mess up your day. Try a blow off tube or just an open ferment next time.
Like some of the other people have mentioned, maybe infuse it with the fruit? What I do is more of a mixed drink. 40% shine with 60% Simply watermelon juice. Sweeten to taste. If you lock down a watermelon mash let us know! 🔥🔥❤
I did infuse it with watermelon and mint at the end of the video, but it really didn't help unfortunately. I think your mixed drink is the best way to go.
Hi! Let me say something about it. At first - yeast eats flesh of the fruit etc. When we use only juice - all (whatever) is taste like shit. It is. How to correct it? Always leave fruit flesh inside bag. After yeast will eats up what he can there is no much left, but we have taste. Now I am in process of beets+apples+pears+rhubarb wine. There is this simple technique in motion. +100C water and 3 bags - drowning inside for about 10 hours. Than add sugar+yeast in fermenter - all bags inside. Results are excellent for this lazy style of brewing. Cheers! 🥂
I hate both cucumber and watermelon, but I have heard that if you dip your cucumber in sugar and eat it, it will taste like watermelon. So maybe a little sugar in it will do the trick?
@@BeardedBoredalso for what it's worth, I had a watermelon fall off a trellised vine a couple weeks ago. The inside was white and tasted like cucumber.
Hey man 💪💪 been missing you. My thoughts have been going to you this summer. I've been picking a lot of plums, and feeling it all the way 😁😂🤣 Cheers to you 🍻
@@BeardedBored Aii aii, Slivovitz and Caramba. I'm gona make Plum Brandy, and age some of it on toasted Elder wood and some on sugar and plums for a smooth plum liquor. Cheers.
Use the pulp cracked corn and raisins in your wash. 4 lbs of sugar wont cut it use 8lb for 6 gallons. Use fresh watermelon and some of your wash in your thumper.
I've got a watermelon wash going right now but my hopes aren't very high. Three days ago I juiced (9) watermelons and got about (10) gallons of watermelon juice. I added (12) LB's of sugar (I thought watermelons were loaded with natural sugar) and bread yeast. I didn't have any wine yeast or I would have used that. I normally make corn liquor and day three it's kicking C02 off pretty hard still. I just checked the watermelon wash and barely saw a few bubbles. I'd like to try and save it if there is any way. I spent about $125 on ingredients. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Had a huge haul of watermelon from garden, got 6 gallons of juice thats just finished fermenting. I was thinking about trying a seltzer, guess I'm going to use a bunch of watermelon extract lol
Well...thanks for doing that for those of us that have been thinking of doing it. Think I'll just proof down some of my UJSSM with some leftover watermelon juice that I get after my wife cuts watermelon for the kids and call that my watermelon shine. Cheers bud
This makes me sad that it didn't work out great for you I only made it once with only one watermelon that was overripe, and before going bad, I decided to use it for shine. Same process and all but i got loads of watermelon flavour. Proofed down to 35% with some added sugar and added little pink food coloring. Made a great summer liquor.
Just a thought but maybe try starting with 3-4 times this much watermelon then boil it to reduce it down to SG you're aiming for instead of using sugar.
The base flavor was just so strange that adding sugar or not wouldn't have made much difference. But, cooking the juice down could change the flavor in a good way. Interesting thought.
Tried to make watermelon wine once, came out like pickled rhinds, was not pleasant at all. So, I gave the batch to a leprachuan and he stilled it twice, and turned the spirit into something more neutral and then made a sort of schnaaps out of it with extracts and sugar and glycerin, which made it at least drinkable.
All of the sugar associated with the watermelon is being fermented and changed over to alcohol, which is why you're encountering the mild cucumber flavor but not much else. What you're talking about at the end of the video is an infusion, which is a much better way of flavoring an alcohol. ie, throwing chunks of watermelon in vodka and letting it steep. Same concept as making a cup/gallon of tea.
You need to use pectic enzymes for fruit brandies to get all of the sugar out of the fruit and a gin basket would make a huge difference for the better.
I did one with frozen concentrate that had a similar result, and by chance, when I went to dump the backset, it smelled fantastic, so I tasted it, it was like the lightbulb moment. Did about a 40(spirit)/50(backset) split and the remaining 10 being some simple syrup from the fruit. It's still one of the best I've done, was it the result I initially wanted? No, but it also was able to be salvaged and turned to something that I'm gonna have to revisit.
Very interesting. Fun fact, take a slice of cucumber and coat it in super. The result tastes somewhat like watermelon. So it kind of makes sense that the inverse would happen what the watermelon fermented dry. ….how’s the tequila doing?
I tried making some watermelon shine years ago. My best comparison to the end result was..... "Kerosene might be better." Needless to say, I haven't tried again
Good stuff, I have a quick and random question for ya bud. So do you have any idea how much Honeysuckles you would need to infuse with say a quart jar if liquor? And how long do you think I should let it go before straining it into a new container?
@@BeardedBored I collected a good amount and filled the jar quite almost all the way lol but it seems to still fit 95 percent of a quart jar of liquid. I'll check it in a few days, thanks for the info. Do you think it would do too much to let it go a week or 2?
Our failed watermelon 🍉 experiment was doing that “make a hole, cut slits through the melon and fill with 180+ proof alcohol for a drunken watermelon”. We didn’t like it all that much 🤷♂️ Love fresh 🍉 as is though😋!
My biggest distilling fail was distilling monstera fruit wine. It makes a beautiful complex liquor bit the distillate tastes a lot like bin juice. Like the smell of what drips from the bottom of a dumpster. It's still in jars. I'm hoping it might magically become drinkable. I know full well this isn't going to happen 😂
I’ve done this and also wasn’t impressed. After trying to back sweeten with fresh watermelon juice, and not being satisfied, I ended up using an Olive Nation Watermelon extract to make it taste like watermelon.
You basically took some recipe for watermelon wine. Few things, why strain the solids? Those are good as nutrients and for flavor! As a general rule, when making fruits brandy using the solids in both fermentation and distillation is a recommended thing! With watermelon especially, never tried it myself yet, the solids are pretty loose so it should not present any problem with fermenting and especially distilling. Sugar content in watermelon should be pretty consistent if picked the right fruits, like fully ripened, however the flavor is pretty mellow so I would not expect much going through the fermenting and distilling process. I would try watermelon as well, though. Try apricots, peaches, pears. But use the solids! ☺
The only "product" my wife and I ever threw away was made out of watermelon. It tasted like straight-up squash. DEFINITELY not what we were looking for.....😂
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If you don't mind spending a bunch of money replace the sugar with watermelon jolly ranchers or the old time watermelon discs. The artificial watermelon doesn't wash out in the ferment. I never distilled it but it makes a nice wine.
@@SyBernot I'll try it out:-)
How about cantaloupe or honeydew shine? Or a "Fruit Salad" shine? Canned fruit cocktail. Plus I'm "Still" waiting for a report on the Popcorn Shine. And what happened with your wood experiment with the different types of wood and char for aging?
@@dbomber69 The problem with watermelon and many other things is the experience is mostly retro nasal. If you hold your nose and dont breathe while eating watermelon it's not particularly sweet, and slightly tart but it isn't much else. 90% of it is aroma compounds and when you ferment it those aromas are either consumed by the yeast or driven off by fermentation so you get this mostly bland slightly tart water that tastes of cucumbers more than watermelon. Same thing happens with pears it just turns into this sour weird tasting stuff that is nothing like the original and the only way to get that experience back is to either back flavor it or use something artificial that is more stable that the yeast won't consume.
The crazy thing to me is aromas like citrus, apple, pear, blackberry, banana and apricot are only like a atom or two different and they all behave very differently when you ferment them. Blackberry makes a fine wine, apricot not so much and the only difference is the oxygen group is moved over a bit.
Here's a diagram that might make more sense media.cheggcdn.com/media%2F2b8%2F2b81aba6-56a1-40b2-846b-dc60f6df272e%2FphpFv40Wo.png
I have been rocking 14 of their shirts for the last year and they all look damn near new. I work at a Museum with dinosaurs and space halls so they had a ton that immediately went into the cart. I get constant compliments about my shirts every day.
I made a strawberry watermelon shine. My friend has several farm stands and had a couple of pallets of strawberries where some were bad, so they couldn't sell them, so they gave them to me and I sorted them. Ended up with 4 1 gallon freezer bags of strawberries. They also had 5 watermelons that were fine, but just had blemishes outside that they wouldn't sell. So, I blended the fruits, added 16 lbs of raw sugar. Fermented with DADY and cut the results with pure filtered watermelon juice instead of water, to 80 proof. Put 4 sliced strawberries in each quart. Strained after a month. Tasted like you had a strawberry jolly rancher in one cheek, and a watermelon jolly rancher in the other. It was so smooth that it would sneak up on you!!
Dude, that sounds awesome! I didn't even think of mixing other fruit with it. That, and the juice proofing sounds like a real winner. Thanks!
@@BeardedBored my friends wife and her friends didn't heed my warning. I told them it was 80 proof, so the 3 of them polished off a pint, straight!! My buddy just laughed
I dont drink much, but I love watching the moon fairy polishes it till it shines. The stuff thats not used goes into a container and when its full, the moon fairy polishes that till its 90% and mixes it with a lill bit of petrol. My classic car loves it
I picked up 25 giant watermelons last summer. Made a wash without any added sugar. Og of like 1.034. About 30 gallons. Fermented for 3 days. Ran it. Tasted like bleh funkyness up front. But once you swallowed you got that fresh watermelon juice flavor all the way down your throat.
Hi! Glad you are back, hope things are good. Used time to review old videos. Also made some really nasty rum. Thanks!
Thanks Gary. We've all made nasty rum. Sometimes that's the best way to learn;-)
I'd be thinking a great base for a Gin !!! Glad to see you back again.
;-)
I've been wondering where you've been. I'm glad that you're still kicking.
Man, awesome timing! I've "hypothetically" been wanting to do a watermelon moonshine for almost a year. I've been building my equipment for the last few months (still not done, but close) and your build/brazing/electronics videos have been super useful! Real cozy content right here
Thanks brother. Glad it was helpful. Best of luck on your build👍
Thanks for sharing even the ones that aren't successes. Glad to see you back.
Thanks so much👍
Glad to see you back brother shine on
Thanks brother!
Really Enjoyed Your Video , Thanks ! P.S. I've seen people buy Watermelon 🍉 from the Store , sit Em down inside the house , and have Em Blow Up , Bust . Spilled Juice all over the floor . When you buy Em , people don't take into account , picking em , stacking Em , shipping Em , storing em , selling Em . Then they have to wait until someone actually Cuts into one . I grow my own . Pick what I need, by the Calendar , one week early . Cut in 1/4 sections , cut the meat out , put in a Bucket 🪣 and stir with a sheetrock mixer on a Drill until liquid , which was 1.026 . Added Sugar until 1.100 . Added my Yeast . Now , Watermelon 🍉 is something that is Time sensitive , it can Spoil in minutes . Used 3 packs of Yeast . Took the Lid off and Pushed the Fruit Cap down , 3 times a day . Best hours for me was , 7 in the morning , 3 in the afternoon and 11 at night . When it went Dry I Backsweeten , adding 20 points , 15 points and 10 points , each time . Didn't want it too Sweet in the End . Just over a year old . I brought in a gallon of Cucumber 🥒 and a gallon of Watermelon 🍉 this Week . Took some of Each to Game 🎯 Night , Friday . They Thought it was the Best thing since Sliced Bread 🍞🥪 . Especially the Watermelon 🍉 . And I take Samples of my Wine 🍷 and Brews to Game 🎯 Night , every Week . Watermelon 🍉 can be done . But , You have to Think 🤔 about every Single Step . How to get it Fermented , before it Soured or Spoiled . If You get it Right , NOTHING BETTER ! 🐯🤠
I'll try that next time. Thanks Tiger!
Man I was just wondering, where the heck has bearded gone! Nice to see you again buddy!
Yep, not dead, just busy with life stuff. Finally getting back into it and I have a bunch of videos I'm working on for this month:-)
@@BeardedBored Excellent!
Glad to see you back!! Really enjoy your videos. I always like it when the liquor fairy visits my house.
Thanks brother!
You probably should have fermented with the pulp to bring out more of the watermelon flavor, and added watermelon to a thumper to bring out more flavor.
Nice to see my favourite RUclipsr posting again. I was thinking you are dead! Or worst, incarcerated.
Nope, not dead. Totally alive and not locked up. Just under life's boot heel for a bit. Back at it now:-)
@@BeardedBored Yep, locked up. Nice to have you back man🍻
i'm glag to see you again!!
Welcome back brother.
Thanks brother. That copper beauty you gave me is working overtime this month:-)
I bet. I've got a ton of stuff in the works as well.
Olive Nation has an awesome additive. But 4 cups watermelon juice, 2 cups sugar, 1/2 tsp Vanilla, and a little sprinkle of lemon zest. Pour in to 2 cups 120p Shine.
Juice your mellon and strain into sauce pan. Add all other ingredients less the shine and simmer for 30-45 min. Cool and strain into 1/2 gal Mason jar. Then add the Shine. Let marry for 1 to 2 weeks.
Just starting watching this video but had to put a message
NICE to see another video from you,
You and Barley and Hops Brewing got me back into moonshine, did my first run when I was 27, stopped when I was about 35 and started again after seeing Barley and Hops Brewing video call "How my PWM is wired" and your video called "Tasting MOONSHINE & RUM AGED for 12 MONTHS!"
I am not as good as you guys but I have made some good stuff the fairies would be happy with LoL
Just started a strawberry wine for Christmas (should of started it earlier)
We did the same project last year, only a pickup bed load ok melons. Got the watermelon rind flavor also. It’ll be interesting to see what you do with it as I still have ALOT to experiment with. Good to see you back.
Hoowee, that's a lot of earthy, rindy hooch! I'll do my best to rework it into something delicious:-)
Someone just told me it would have tastier if I’d add pectin to the wash. Any thoughts?
Any follow up thoughts on rid flavor?
Before i got my 1st still, I had been doing homemade wine for several years. The absolute worst I ever made was watermelon wine. Wanted to try it for years, knowing the old Tom T Hall song, lol. Epic fail, so I quit there. Good to see ya back ! Have a good 1 !
Yeah, it seems like such an obvious good idea, but damn disappointing.
I did a watermelon mix. I used 65 ABV and mixed with watermelon juice to proof it down to about 40 ABV. Mine turned out pretty good. Keep adjusting your recipe, it might get better.
Thanks for the advice:-)
DUDE!!!
good to see ya again!
i’ve been tryin to get some watermelon stuff for awhile. always has that flat earthy taste even with quite a bit of sugar. I always taste the melons to make sure they’re good too. hmmm
Yeah, it is definitely a tricky one. Some other commenters have suggested some tricks to make it better. I might try some next summer.
Not sure where your at in Texas but we’re I’m at we are covered up with mustang grapes… ran a batch this year and it is the best brandy I’ve made.. food for thought!
Glad to see you back! Can't wait to see what you do to save this.
Thanks so much!
Good to see you are still alive and kickin’, Brother Bearded. I get concerned when you don’t surface for an extended period, I start thinking about Ol’ George’s sudden and unexplained disappearance.
I have always wondered about watermelon, you did the research for us so we don’t have to. Still grinning about your “melons”, you are a guy, how could you resist?
Thanks much and please keep up the good work!
I promise not to pull a George. I wish he'd come back. I'm here to stay as long as I can.
@@BeardedBored Thanks Bearded, that is good to know. I wish George would come back too.
Not only did Bearded make a reference to his melons, but he admitted to wearing a skirt (that didn't get blown up). I am of Scottish heritage, I would probably say "It didn't blow my kilt up". Bearded, is there something you haven't been telling us? LOL!
You are definitely not the only one. I tried this last year and sounds like we have similar results. I would agree with one of the other comments that adding a simple syrup of watermelon juice to your spirit helps but if I want just a clear spirit, that needs some modification the next time I attempt this.
Yeah, I was hoping it would make a good brandy as a base for fiddling. One person mentioned strawberries in their mash to boost the flavor. I think that might be a good way to go.
Watermelon and cucumber are family plants along with pumpkin and squash. ..cucurbits.
Refreshing to see a "fail" if you can call it that. I love what you do for the RUclips distilling ecosystem. More power to you
Thanks, I really appreciate that!
I make watermelon brandy every year and there are a few tricks to get it spot on, you have the basics correct. I normally wait until mid summer and source the big sweet ripe watermelons. The trick is, after your run, put it in your oak barrel, I age mine 3 years, then I cut to 43% and add a little bit of invert sugar syrup, this just enhance that watermelon taste, it comes out very smooth and great tasting on the rocks.
well, I was watching that show that starts with tune "bad boys, bad boys..." to see what happened to you. I didn't find you there and glad to see you here. Looking forward to see what you gonna make of this. cheers.
No laws broken here. I keep it all hypothetical for that reason:-)
@@BeardedBored I understand, it's like school science for grown-ups.
Bearded, watermelon and cucumbers are in the same family, which might explain the flavor. Maybe a watermelon-chili bloody mary? Maybe a watermelon gin? Those are probably the directions I'd head towards, especially if it tastes like cucumber.
Inspired by your original Apple Jack video, I made a strawberry/watermelon moonshine a few years ago, and it was okay, but got much and much better over time. It ended up tasting, after a few months of aging (in a neglected bottle on my kitchen counter) like a really tasty brandy.
hope you are ok Bearded, good to see you back. Distilling failures, Apples I cannot get a apple taste to come through - a waxy apple peel but not actually the taste of an apple.
I got some good seed-free watermelon juice using the tomato juicer attachment for my kitchen Aid mixer. Someone at the Beattyville Bourbon and Moonshine Festival made watermelon shine- OMG, it was awesome! Not sure how he made it, but I wanted to drink it all day.
This seems like a good candidate for using a thumper to try and get more flavor into the final product
That's one way to go;-)
I have done this several times and have been less than impressed. So I took my brandy and used some flavoring from Olive Nation. Now that is a good straight watermelon flavor. I like it straight out of the freezer. My wife likes it with some strawberries slices and 7-up on ice
A few things that might help. First when you are picking your watermelons to use, make sure you taste them first. You want ones that have a rich "watermelon" flavor rather than just a "meh" one. This is a common issue since lots of watermelons don't actually taste that good, especially if you are getting them off season. When separating out the flesh, you want to make sure you don't get any rind. Better to lose a little bit of the red. Throw all the flesh into a pot and heat it low to medium on your stove, stirring and mashing it. Almost all the flesh should turn to liquid, with only a little stringy solids remaining.
Watermelon has basically no nutrients in it so always requires yeast nutrients. I know he added nutrients but you have to work hard to balance them for watermelon. Treat it the same as you would a straight sugar wash. Looking at the ratios used for wines is helpful here.
For your yeast, bread yeast will actually produce the best flavor and at the ABV possible should be fine. Lots of commercial distillers actually use bread yeast because of how good it taste and how well it carries over flavors of what you are distilling.
Finally and most importantly, back sweeten the final product. Without sweetness it will never taste like watermelon. I would recommend starting with a small sample and slowly adding simple to it a little at a time until the flavor shows up. The flavor will seem to just suddenly appear once you hit the right level. From there you can calculate how much simple you need and any additional water to hit your target ABV.
Thanks for the advice!
You can try dicing the watermelon and put it in a jar and add sugar and make some syrup. Also I have heard that the peel is where the flavor is. I’ve tried watermelon 2 times and haven’t gone back. If that tells you anything. 😢
Yeah, I may try one more time next year, but this batch is going to get modified for sure.
Glad to have you share the mistakes as well as the successes. When experimenting, there are always going to be some oopses
Your second tequila with the charred pina leaves (I used agave) and the sweet potatoes (I also charred some pineapples and used a pound of black malted barley) is the real deal
Hi there I’m an old man looking at this old time blessing and just starting out with pot. Had to stop smoking it cos it screwed with hospital blood test results, so just boozing slowly now. Basically only got to your videos couple of weeks ago. Good stuff, interesting projects keep it up. Been liking the ones I have seen, so thought it time to post comment as well to help the tube number crunching to promote your content. Sometime soon I hop to have some shine news of my own.
Everybody thinks they gonna have watermelon shine and watermelon crawl cranked up drinking stuff like this and come to find out it can be very different than what is hoped for or expected. Glad you pulled a trick and got er to work! Iam wanting to go grab a couple pumpkins tomorrow and do some tinkering i think
I've tried many times to make it as well and ran into the same issues, I finally got it to work by adding a bag of Watermelon Jolly Ranchers to the wash and letting each jar age with 1 cup of jolly ranchers.. OH , Ya got to remove them from the plastic wrapper.. Yes I forgot my first time and poured the bag without remembering to remove the wrapper.. My excuse is, I may or may not have been doing an excessive amount of tasting some of my "Collection Of Flavored Spirits" too see what improved and what didn't..
Thank you for sharing.. Go ahead and try it, see if it works for you..
Cucumber flavor goes amazing in Gin...
So I hear ;-)
My thoughts exactly!
I recently made a watermelon mint mead that came out very well. I added fennel seeds and ginger as well.
int nobodies state in the US lets you distill, but great to see you still working with the fairy. My distilling god did cranberry, elderberry with some root beer and it was quite tasty after he was done
For watermelon I always do the jollyrancher method
That would have been way better:-)
Yea I have only run watermelon once and it did not come out good. I ended up adding it to another run that turned out better, but I had high hopes for watermelon. I mean I could have used watermelon juice to mix it and that turned out okay on my sample, but I wanted to keep it clear and it just was not happening. Interested to see what you do with it.
Glad you're back
At least you’re honest. I made a few beer batches that just didn’t come out good, and I couldn’t serve them to anybody because I wasn’t proud of them. I will watch her next video.
I happy to fail in public. Makes us all smarter;-)
Good to see you Bearded! It's close to fall I figured you be putting out some good stuff.
Shine On Man!!
Got a bunch of new videos on the way. Thanks brother!
My state won't let me be a cool moonshiner but Burnetts watermelon vodka will work for me
You got the 'like' at 'I think I need to talk to a therapist' :-) ... love your content.
Hahahaha, a man of culture, I see:-)
Welcome back,sir
Thanks!
Thanks for being honest. Most people just say it's great no matter what
My first thoughts were your rockmelon shine, which i tried to replicate and it nearly destroyed my laundry. I havent ever had a foam over so bad in my fermenter 🤣
And great to see you back mate!
I'm almost out of the rock melonshine. Kinda wish I'd decided to revisit that one.
That pulp will really mess up your day. Try a blow off tube or just an open ferment next time.
Like some of the other people have mentioned, maybe infuse it with the fruit? What I do is more of a mixed drink. 40% shine with 60% Simply watermelon juice. Sweeten to taste. If you lock down a watermelon mash let us know! 🔥🔥❤
I did infuse it with watermelon and mint at the end of the video, but it really didn't help unfortunately. I think your mixed drink is the best way to go.
@@BeardedBored or maybe put some fresh watermelon in a thumper? It’s super tasty and surprisingly refreshing.
Mediocre results are still results. Thanks to you, we all learned something.
Just glad I can add to the community data set:-)
Hi! Let me say something about it. At first - yeast eats flesh of the fruit etc. When we use only juice - all (whatever) is taste like shit. It is. How to correct it? Always leave fruit flesh inside bag. After yeast will eats up what he can there is no much left, but we have taste. Now I am in process of beets+apples+pears+rhubarb wine. There is this simple technique in motion. +100C water and 3 bags - drowning inside for about 10 hours. Than add sugar+yeast in fermenter - all bags inside. Results are excellent for this lazy style of brewing. Cheers! 🥂
Good to see you back . Next time slice in rings and cut in half . Then cut abought 1\2 in from the rind and remove any white that may remain .
Good tip;-)
I hate both cucumber and watermelon, but I have heard that if you dip your cucumber in sugar and eat it, it will taste like watermelon. So maybe a little sugar in it will do the trick?
Hmmm, I'll try it:-)
@@BeardedBoredalso for what it's worth, I had a watermelon fall off a trellised vine a couple weeks ago. The inside was white and tasted like cucumber.
Great to see you (and the liquor fairy) are back at it.
Thanks!
The flavor you are probably chasing is a neutral spirit with a handful of watermelon jolly-ranchers dissolved in :)
Jolly Ranchers work great! Used multiple flavors, and they were a hit!
Hey man 💪💪 been missing you. My thoughts have been going to you this summer. I've been picking a lot of plums, and feeling it all the way 😁😂🤣 Cheers to you 🍻
You going to make some Plum brandy? Have fun!
@@BeardedBored Aii aii, Slivovitz and Caramba. I'm gona make Plum Brandy, and age some of it on toasted Elder wood and some on sugar and plums for a smooth plum liquor. Cheers.
Definitely going to have to try this!
Use the pulp cracked corn and raisins in your wash. 4 lbs of sugar wont cut it use 8lb for 6 gallons. Use fresh watermelon and some of your wash in your thumper.
I've got a watermelon wash going right now but my hopes aren't very high. Three days ago I juiced (9) watermelons and got about (10) gallons of watermelon juice. I added (12) LB's of sugar (I thought watermelons were loaded with natural sugar) and bread yeast. I didn't have any wine yeast or I would have used that. I normally make corn liquor and day three it's kicking C02 off pretty hard still. I just checked the watermelon wash and barely saw a few bubbles. I'd like to try and save it if there is any way. I spent about $125 on ingredients. Any thoughts? Thanks.
Yes you did! Melons are my favourite!
A lot of the time it's just easier to make liquers and flavoured spirits from nice clean vodka.
Yeah, this is definitely one of those times:-)
Had a huge haul of watermelon from garden, got 6 gallons of juice thats just finished fermenting. I was thinking about trying a seltzer, guess I'm going to use a bunch of watermelon extract lol
I tried making a watermelon wine years ago and it was also not so great. 😂
So good to see you’re back. Hope everything’s going good. I’ve tried twice for watermelon brandy and both times it tasted like rind.
Thanks brother. Glad I'm not the only one:-)
Well...thanks for doing that for those of us that have been thinking of doing it. Think I'll just proof down some of my UJSSM with some leftover watermelon juice that I get after my wife cuts watermelon for the kids and call that my watermelon shine. Cheers bud
This makes me sad that it didn't work out great for you
I only made it once with only one watermelon that was overripe, and before going bad, I decided to use it for shine. Same process and all but i got loads of watermelon flavour.
Proofed down to 35% with some added sugar and added little pink food coloring. Made a great summer liquor.
Just a thought but maybe try starting with 3-4 times this much watermelon then boil it to reduce it down to SG you're aiming for instead of using sugar.
The base flavor was just so strange that adding sugar or not wouldn't have made much difference. But, cooking the juice down could change the flavor in a good way. Interesting thought.
Maybe try using double the watermelon and boil it down to concentrate the flavor then send it off to the Liquor Fairy
Try using homegrown vine ripened ones.
Tried to make watermelon wine once, came out like pickled rhinds, was not pleasant at all. So, I gave the batch to a leprachuan and he stilled it twice, and turned the spirit into something more neutral and then made a sort of schnaaps out of it with extracts and sugar and glycerin, which made it at least drinkable.
My worst brewing experiment was trying to make watermelon wine… it went rancid during fermentation. I was hoping you’d have better luck.
It wasn't rancid, but it was not palatable. Tangy and cucumbery. Hopefully I can turn it into something good.
Hey can you tell me where you got those buckets at. 🤔
All of the sugar associated with the watermelon is being fermented and changed over to alcohol, which is why you're encountering the mild cucumber flavor but not much else.
What you're talking about at the end of the video is an infusion, which is a much better way of flavoring an alcohol. ie, throwing chunks of watermelon in vodka and letting it steep. Same concept as making a cup/gallon of tea.
Yep:-)
You need to use pectic enzymes for fruit brandies to get all of the sugar out of the fruit and a gin basket would make a huge difference for the better.
I did one with frozen concentrate that had a similar result, and by chance, when I went to dump the backset, it smelled fantastic, so I tasted it, it was like the lightbulb moment. Did about a 40(spirit)/50(backset) split and the remaining 10 being some simple syrup from the fruit. It's still one of the best I've done, was it the result I initially wanted? No, but it also was able to be salvaged and turned to something that I'm gonna have to revisit.
Interesting. My backset smelled like bandaids.
@@BeardedBored ah, then I would avoid it. I was using like 7 cans of concentrate, but yeah, I was super surprised as well with it.
Gin is where this needs to be at. Next episode 😉
;-)
Very interesting. Fun fact, take a slice of cucumber and coat it in super. The result tastes somewhat like watermelon. So it kind of makes sense that the inverse would happen what the watermelon fermented dry.
….how’s the tequila doing?
I tried making some watermelon shine years ago. My best comparison to the end result was..... "Kerosene might be better." Needless to say, I haven't tried again
Moonshiners made green lizard, no sugar and they used the rind.
My worst experience was with pineapple. Came out straight bandaid flavored lol
Ooof! That's a killer.
Maybe a little juniper, orange peel, coriander... 😉
;-)
Good stuff, I have a quick and random question for ya bud. So do you have any idea how much Honeysuckles you would need to infuse with say a quart jar if liquor? And how long do you think I should let it go before straining it into a new container?
A good handful to start with, a day or two, then taste it to see if it's ready.
@@BeardedBored I collected a good amount and filled the jar quite almost all the way lol but it seems to still fit 95 percent of a quart jar of liquid. I'll check it in a few days, thanks for the info. Do you think it would do too much to let it go a week or 2?
You don't know till you know.
Amen.
Our failed watermelon 🍉 experiment was doing that “make a hole, cut slits through the melon and fill with 180+ proof alcohol for a drunken watermelon”. We didn’t like it all that much 🤷♂️
Love fresh 🍉 as is though😋!
My biggest distilling fail was distilling monstera fruit wine. It makes a beautiful complex liquor bit the distillate tastes a lot like bin juice. Like the smell of what drips from the bottom of a dumpster. It's still in jars. I'm hoping it might magically become drinkable. I know full well this isn't going to happen 😂
I would of put orange blossom honey in it when it was fermenting ❤
Gin would be the way I'd go welcome back Bro
;-)
Watermelons are in the Cucurbit family(Cucumber)
That explains everything:-)
A little coconut cream a little strawberry syrup and some Mt. Dew Major Mellon. Boom: Tiger's Blood
I’ve done this and also wasn’t impressed. After trying to back sweeten with fresh watermelon juice, and not being satisfied, I ended up using an Olive Nation Watermelon extract to make it taste like watermelon.
You basically took some recipe for watermelon wine. Few things, why strain the solids? Those are good as nutrients and for flavor! As a general rule, when making fruits brandy using the solids in both fermentation and distillation is a recommended thing! With watermelon especially, never tried it myself yet, the solids are pretty loose so it should not present any problem with fermenting and especially distilling. Sugar content in watermelon should be pretty consistent if picked the right fruits, like fully ripened, however the flavor is pretty mellow so I would not expect much going through the fermenting and distilling process. I would try watermelon as well, though. Try apricots, peaches, pears. But use the solids! ☺
I tried that years ago and found the same.
The only way I've made anything watermelon I just added watermelon powder jello mix into it.🎉
The only "product" my wife and I ever threw away was made out of watermelon. It tasted like straight-up squash. DEFINITELY not what we were looking for.....😂
😂😂😂😂