Tired!!!

2/12/2011

Well, I just got through busting my ass. I have been dealing with just juices and honey on the batches of wine I have started. While great as starter wines I decided to step it up a notch. I think the only mistake is I didn't really weigh my watermelon. I think I ended up with about 10 pounds. I added everything else by directions and am now looking forward to the 12 hour mark when I can add my yeast. The recipe is below if you would like to try this.

• 6 lb watermelon
• 1-1/2 lb fresh table red or green grapes
• water to 1 gallon
• juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 4-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 crushed Campden tablet
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• wine yeast

For the watermelon I used 3 round melons I found on the rack at Wal-Mart. They were cheap, only being $3.00 each. I think the grapes were about the same price as one melon. I already had the lemons in my fridge. Leftovers from my son's science fair project. All the ingredients are extremely easy to get year round. That was not the work here.

Have you ever decided to take 3 watermelons and make them pulp? Not the easiest thing to do in the world. I brought in my wife's cake blender and that just got me sticky. I really need a shower. I used a potato masher I found in a drawer and that made things easier. I crushed the grapes by hand and that was an act of God if I have ever seen one. I have about two gallons of the stuff in my plastic food grade pale behind me. Top secure and an air lock in place. Waiting for the tablets to do their work and then allow me to add yeast and see if I am going to get liquid through my airlock again. Goddess! I hope not. I hated it when I started the Cran Apple wine.

One last thought, on the last entry I have a picture of the mead that I am making. I never let you all know that the image at the top was the actual mead. I was rather impressed with how well it turned out so I will be doing more images in the future. Also, the image at the top of this entry is the label I will be using on my wine bottles. I liked it and grabbed a packet of them. When I run out I will order directly from the company.

Keep it bubbling!
Chuck