Watermelon Wine Recipe
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. How we choose products.
On this page
The short answer: watermelon on its own makes a thin, bland wine, so the recipe that works adds a second fruit. For one gallon, cube 6 pounds of watermelon without the rind, crush 1½ pounds of red or green table grapes, add the juice and zest of 2 lemons, 1⅔ pounds of sugar, water to a gallon and a crushed Campden tablet. Add pectic enzyme and nutrient after 12 hours and wine yeast 12 hours later, ferment 5 days, strain, and rack monthly. Stabilize, sweeten to taste, and give it a year in the bottle.
That advice comes from Jack Keller, the wine judge behind the most widely copied home wine recipes. He made a pure watermelon wine, found it lacked body and lost its melon flavor, and poured it out. Every watermelon wine he recommends uses just enough of another fruit to support the melon without covering it.
Recipe card
Watermelon wine (watermelon and grape), 1 US gallon
- Makes
- About 5 bottles (750 ml)
- Time to drink
- About 18 months, including a year in the bottle
- Difficulty
- Easy
Ingredients
- 6 lb watermelon, rind removed, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1½ lb fresh red or green table grapes
- Juice and zest of 2 lemons
- 1⅔ lb granulated sugar
- Water to make up 1 gallon
- 1 tsp pectic enzyme
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 Campden tablet, crushed
- 1 packet wine yeast
- ¼ tsp potassium sorbate and 1 more Campden tablet, to stabilize before sweetening
Method
- Cut off the rind, cube the melon, pick out loose seeds and put the melon and its juice in the primary.
- Add the lemon juice and zest. Wash, destem and crush the grapes and add them with their juice and the crushed Campden tablet.
- Add water to 1 gallon and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Check the gravity. Cover and wait 12 hours.
- Add the pectic enzyme and nutrient. After another 12 hours add the yeast.
- Ferment 5 days, stirring daily, then strain into a 1 gallon jug and fit an airlock.
- Rack and top up after 30 days, again 30 days later, and again after 60 more days. Stabilize, wait 10 days, sweeten to taste and bottle.
Jack Keller’s Watermelon-Grape Wine, from his Requested Recipes Collection. The gravity check is our addition; see the note on sugar below.
Why Pure Watermelon Wine Disappoints
In his Requested Recipes Collection (compiled 2020), Jack Keller answers a reader who wanted a straight watermelon wine. He had chased one himself, made it, and discarded it: thin, lacking body, and with a melon flavor that did not survive fermentation. Elsewhere in the same collection he puts it more briefly, that watermelon alone lacks body and can make a disappointing wine.
His fix is the one winemakers use for many thin fruits: add a second ingredient for body. Keller compares it to adding raisins, figs or dates to other country wines. He gives three versions, each using only enough of the second fruit to support the melon:
| Version | Per gallon | Second fruit |
|---|---|---|
| Watermelon and grape (this card) | 6 lb watermelon | 1½ lb fresh table grapes |
| Watermelon and elderberry | 6½ lb watermelon | ¼ lb dried elderberries |
| Watermelon and peach | ¼ of a large watermelon | 2 peaches and ¼ cup chopped raisins |
The grape version is the easiest to shop for and keeps the color pink. The elderberry version makes a darker, more structured wine; our elderberry wine page covers dried elderberries.
Preparing the Watermelon
- Weigh after trimming if you can. Keller’s recipe calls for 6 pounds of watermelon and then cuts off the rind, so his weight may include rind. Erring on the side of more flesh does no harm.
- Cube, do not blend. Keller cuts the flesh into 1 inch cubes and lets the fermentation break them down. Keep every drop of juice from the cutting board.
- Pick out the loose seeds. Crushed seeds can add bitterness, a general caution University of Wyoming Extension’s fruit wine guide gives about grinding seeds and skins into a wine.
- Use the lemons. Watermelon is low in acid. The lemon juice and zest supply the acid and aroma the melon lacks.
A Note on Sugar
Keller’s recipe uses a fixed 1⅔ pounds of sugar. Melons vary a lot in sweetness, so check the must with a hydrometer before the yeast goes in. Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Wine Making for the Home Gardener raises fruit musts to a specific gravity of about 1.090, which gives roughly 12% alcohol. If your reading is well below that, add sugar a little at a time; our sugar calculator works out how much.
The Best Yeast for Watermelon Wine
Keller’s recipe calls for wine yeast without naming a strain. For a delicate fruit wine you want to keep fruity, Lalvin 71B is a good match: Lallemand lists it at 14% tolerance, 15 to 30 °C (59 to 86 °F), with a sensory contribution of esters, the fruity aromas that suit a melon wine. Lalvin EC-1118 (18% tolerance, neutral) is the safe choice if you want a dependable, dry finish. More strains are on our best wine yeasts page.
Scaling Up: 5 Gallon Watermelon Wine
| Ingredient | 1 gallon | 5 gallons |
|---|---|---|
| Watermelon | 6 lb | 30 lb |
| Fresh table grapes | 1½ lb | 7½ lb |
| Lemons (juice and zest) | 2 | 10 |
| Granulated sugar | 1⅔ lb | about 8⅓ lb, adjusted by hydrometer |
| Water | to 1 gallon | to 5 gallons |
| Pectic enzyme | 1 tsp | 5 tsp |
| Yeast nutrient | 1 tsp | 5 tsp |
| Campden tablets | 1, plus 1 at stabilizing | 5, plus 5 at stabilizing |
| Potassium sorbate | ¼ tsp | 1¼ tsp |
| Wine yeast | 1 packet | 1 packet (check the packet’s batch size) |
What you need for a 1 gallon batch
Gear and additives for the recipe card. You add the melon, grapes, lemons and sugar.
-
1Fermenting kit
Home Brew Ohio Upgraded 1 Gallon Wine from Fruit Kit
A 1 gallon kit for fruit wine; the listing says it includes instructions, a recipe book and a mini auto-siphon for racking.
-
2Straining bag
Bellamei Brew Bags, 16 x 11 and 18 x 16 Inch (2 Pack)
Two fine polyester mesh bags (250 micron); fermenting the melon and grapes in one makes the day 5 straining easy.
-
3Wine yeast
Lalvin 71B Wine Yeast, 10 Packs
Lallemand describes 71B as an ester-forming strain, which suits a fruity melon wine.
-
4Pectic enzyme
Home Brew Ohio Pectic Enzyme, 1 lb
Breaks down fruit pectin for easier straining and a clearer wine, according to the listing.
-
5Yeast nutrient
The listing doses it at 1 teaspoon per gallon before fermentation begins.
-
6Campden tablets
Craft A Brew Campden Tablets, 50 Count
Sodium metabisulfite tablets; the listing recommends 1 tablet per gallon, crushed between two spoons.
-
7Potassium sorbate
North Mountain Supply Potassium Sorbate, 2 oz jar
Stabilizer used with sulfite before sweetening, as the recipe does, so the yeast does not restart in the bottle.
Common Mistakes With Watermelon Wine
Using watermelon alone
Keller’s experience is the clearest warning on this page: pure watermelon wine is thin and loses its flavor. Use the grape, elderberry or peach version.
Leaving the fruit in too long
Keller strains the watermelon and grape must after 5 days. Melon flesh breaks down fast, and a long soak only adds haze.
Skipping the stabilizer before sweetening
The recipe stabilizes with potassium sorbate and a Campden tablet, waits 10 days, then sweetens. Sweetening an unstabilized wine risks refermentation in the bottle, as Virginia Tech warns.
For the method behind every fruit wine see how to make wine from fruit, or browse the recipe collection. Make and drink wine responsibly, and only if you are of legal drinking age.