Homemade moonshine from watermelon: 2 mash and distillation technology

Everyone knows that watermelons have an excellent diuretic effect. Their effectiveness as a means of moonshine, that is, distillate-drinking, has been poorly studied. Nevertheless, the “berries” have potential – watermelon brandy turns out to be tender, delicate, drinkable, suitable for consumption in its pure form, aging on oak or making tinctures. In general, we take the remedy – watermelons – set the goal – high-quality moonshine – and go!

Watermelon is not often used for homemade alcohol. It seems that the fruit is both sweet and tasty, but it is painfully watery, and there are not enough acids. However, there would be a desire, but there is an opportunity. With the help of some manipulations, you can cook, for example, wonderful watermelon wine – it also easily becomes watermelon mash for moonshine. There are also many recipes for liqueurs on watermelon. By the way, tinctures of fresh fruit on watermelon moonshine sometimes give simply amazing results! In general, there is room for imagination.

Watermelon mash for moonshine – two proven recipes

Making moonshine from watermelon at home is even easier than wine – the mash does not need to be boiled down to increase the concentration of extractive – that is, dry – substances and enhance the taste. The distiller will do this for us. There are two main problems, classic for any fruit brandy – yeast and sugar. Watermelons contain little wild yeast, they are only on the shell, which is not used in the must. Therefore, we use a pure yeast culture – wine CKD is best for white light wines, at least – alcohol for fruit brews, but not bakery ones. Fertilizing for yeast will also not hurt – store-bought from a bag or, for example, raisins. Occasionally, for better fermentation, the mash is also acidified.

Watermelon mainly consists of liquid, so water is not added to the mash. Sugar – from a measly 50 to a maximum of 110 g per kilogram of product. That is, to expel a liter of 40-degree moonshine – so, sip – you will need from 10 to 12 kg of pulp, 2 large watermelons. Agree, it’s funny. Therefore, it is necessary to sweeten the mash – and it will ferment better, and more distillate will come out. It has been experimentally proven that the addition of 1 kg of sugar does not have a noticeable effect on the organoleptic brandy. It is better to add sugar in the form of fructose – in ripe, not stale fruits, this particular monosaccharide predominates – or invert syrup, in which sucrose is broken down into glucose and sucrose. How to invert syrup read in this article.

The first recipe for watermelon mash

American recipe. By the way, in the United States, watermelon brandy is very common, produced industrially, both aged on a barrel and in a transparent version. It is not surprising that in the country of “moonshineers” they learned how to make moonshine from watermelon at home. The only catch is that brown sugar is used here. In our country, high-quality cane sugar is rare, but it costs a million. Therefore, we boldly replace it with fructose, invert syrup or ordinary white sugar.

Raisins are used here for two purposes – to feed yeast and to give moonshine a more expressive, full-bodied taste and aroma. Raisins should be chosen exclusively not treated with sulfur dioxide. If you are not sure about the quality of the dried fruit, it should be soaked first, and then heated well – up to 60-70 degrees – to ensure that wild yeast is destroyed. In general, you can do without this supplement at all, using only watermelons and juice.

1. We cut the watermelons into large slices and cut out the pulp from them. We crush it or grind it with a blender. Braga needs to be freed from watermelon seeds – for example, using gauze or a large sieve. The cake can be left in the wort – it will be more fragrant, or you can squeeze it out and throw it away.
2. We add sugar and prepared raisins to the liquid. The author recommends heating the must to 60-70 degrees, but this can be avoided, since pure wine yeast is able to destroy weaker wild strains – the so-called “killer principle”.
3. Yeast is added to the must, cooled to 30 degrees, according to the instructions – some of them need to be pre-fermented, and some do not. We cover the vessel with gauze and wait until the yeast starts to work – from 2 to 12 hours.
4. Pour the fermented mash into a container with a water seal, leave it in a warm, dark place until the sugar ferments completely. Usually CKD work 3-7 days, sometimes more. Braga should lighten, become completely dry in taste, form a dense sediment at the bottom.
5. We remove the wort from the sediment with a tube according to the principle of communicating vessels. Discard the yeast sediment along with the remnants of the pulp. To be sure, you can keep the mash for another week or two in a cool place – a basement, for example. During this time, it should become completely transparent and completely free from waste yeast, which, during distillation, can give an unpleasant moonshine aroma.

The second recipe for watermelon mash

This time the recipe is Mexican. In general, everything is almost the same, only lemons are added to the must – because of the acids, the fermentation process proceeds faster and more reliably.

Juice can be obtained in any convenient way – using a juicer, a blender and gauze, a wine press. To get this amount of juice, you need about 12-15 large watermelons. Also, for better fermentation, you can add grape juice to the must – from about 2-3 kilograms of fresh sweet white grapes.

This mash is made from watermelon for moonshine in much the same way as in the previous recipe. Slightly heat the juice, dissolve sugar or invert syrup in it. We also squeeze lemons and grapes there – if you use them. Cool to 30⁰С, add yeast. When fermented – under the water seal. When fermentation is over, drain from the sediment, clarify if necessary. Ready!

The first and second distillation of watermelon moonshine

There is also nothing revolutionary in the distillation of watermelon mash. For this process, even the simplest alembic will fit. Distillation, as usual, is carried out in two stages, intermediate moonshine is not cleaned so that it retains the taste and aroma of fresh watermelon.

1. Pour the clarified and prepared mash into a cube by 2/3. Turn on the maximum heat. When the first drops of distillate have dripped, we slightly reduce the fire. We select the raw until there is at least 30% alcohol in the stream – according to the alcohol meter.
2. Before the second stage, we measure the total strength of the SS and dilute it with clean water to 20⁰. We heat up. When the first drops of distillate have gone, reduce the fire to a minimum.
3. We select heads drop by drop. The approximate amount is 50-60 ml for the first mash recipe and 100-150 for the second. It is better to navigate by smell – while there is an unpleasant smell of acetone in the moonshine, we continue to select the heads. When the aroma has become watermelon, fruity and no longer causes negative associations, we substitute another container and begin to collect the body. We don’t need heads anymore.
4. The body is taken until the strength of 40-45 degrees is maintained in the jet. Here, too, you should rely on your own sense of smell – the distillate should smell pleasant, not have notes of fuselage and other extraneous aromas. Perhaps the selection of the body will need to be stopped sooner. We dilute the body to 40 degrees and let it rest in bottles for several days before further use.
5. We collect the tails in a separate bowl, they can be taken almost dry, up to 10-15⁰. The tail fraction is useful when distilling another fruit mash, and the tails can also be looped – collect the right amount from different moonshine and distill everything together – suitable raw materials for liqueurs / tinctures will come out.

What to do next? Extract, tinctures, cocktails with homemade watermelon brandy

The classic use of homemade moonshine from watermelons is drinking in its pure form, with fruits or sweets with a not too rich taste, small sips of cognac or grappa glasses. If the quality of the drink turned out to be not so high, you can drink it like vodka. By the way, pickled or salted watermelon will be an excellent snack for such brandy. Just like that, I would not eat such disgusting things, but in such an accompaniment – mmm!

Like any brandy, watermelon moonshine can be aged in a barrel or on oak chips – medium or light roast. Do not throw in too many wood chips, a couple of 10 cm sticks for 3 liters of distillate will be enough. I wrote in detail about the properties of oak chips in this article.

Another way to use distillate is to make tinctures. Naturally, it is perfect for watermelon tincture – just throw a few pieces of watermelon pulp into moonshine, hold for a couple of weeks, strain, sweeten – and get a bright, rich, but unobtrusive “summer” drink. I think that dried watermelon or bekmes, a jelly made from boiled watermelon juice, would have shown itself well in this matter.

And, of course, cocktails! In any cocktails containing watermelon pulp or juice, it is advisable to replace strong alcohol with watermelon brandy. Get an original and original drink that even the most active regulars of bartending festivals are unlikely to have tried. Finally – a recipe for a refreshing watermelon mojito.

To your health!