INGREDIENTS:
- 8 cups watermelon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon tannin
- 3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 campden tablets
- 1 teaspoon nutrients
- 2 1/2 teaspoons acid blend
- 1 package wine yeast
- 8 cups water
- Remove rind and cube the watermelon flesh. Use an electric juicer or place cubes in a nylon straining bag and crush, squeezing out the juice. Pour into the primary fermentor. Add all other ingredients except the yeast. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Let sit over night.
- The next day, check the specific gravity. It should be between 1.090 and1.100. Add yeast and mix in well. Cover primary fermentor. Stir daily for five days or until frothing stops. Put into secondary fermentor and place airlock on the bottle.
- For a dry wine, Rack in three weeks and return to secondary fermentor. Rack again in three months, and every three months until 1 year old. Bottle.
- For a sweet wine, rack at three weeks. Add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in1 cup wine. Stir gently, and place back into secondary fermentor. Repeat process every six weeks until fermentation does not restart with the addition of sugar. Rack every three months until one year old. Bottle.
- This wine is best if you can refrain from drinking it for a year and a half from the date it was started.
- NOTE:
If you like a medium sweet wine, taste it at each racking to decide if it is sweet enough yet. Each addition of sugar starts the yeast working again. The result is that sweet wines have a higher alcohol content than a dry wine -- by up to 4 or 5 percent.
| Sargent: 775-9234 | St. Mary’s: 253-5666 | Regent: 661-6150 | Fife: (204) 694-1298 |