Adding a spigot to a watermelon

[pengyou]

I saw an infomercial advertising a handheld "whipping type" high speed blender...interesting ideas. One thing they did - they took a seedless watermelon, cut a hole about 1" across and prepared watermelon juice inside the watermelon. I had two thoughts when I saw this:

1. wouldn't it be cool to put the watermelon up on some kind of legs and install a spigot underneath so that people could get their watermelon juice "on tap"? Does anyone have any idea on how to do this without cracking the melon? It would make a neat way to present it...with a sharp, fine knife I could do a little bit of carving of the watermelon to make it more presentable.

2. Straight watermelon juice is a little overpowering (sweet), in my opinion. Does anyone have any suggestions for adding some other juices to water it down a bit? I have thought about draining some of the juice off, putting crushed ice inside and mixing it...another way to tone down the sugar.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

Hi pengyou,

the only thing which comes to my mind, is to cut the top of the watermelon, extract all the pulp, prepare the juice , put the juice in, put the top back on, insert a spigot, cross your fingers and see what happens! It would be probably safer to test the spigot filling the watermelon just with water...
I agree with you that watermelon juice is VERY sweet, you could try some corrections, maybe adding some lemon juice or similar.

Let me know how this experiment of yours proceed!

 

[Hoot]

I reckon the trick would be to keep it from leaking around the spot where the spigot is inserted. You would likely need to seal around it somehow. Luca is right, test it with water first.
As for the liquid, you can make unsweetened lemonade and mix it with the watermelon juice until it suits your tastes.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

I reckon the trick would be to keep it from leaking around the spot where the spigot is inserted. You would likely need to seal around it somehow.
...

You could try to insert and fix some sort of big, round patch inside the fruit skin, in the point through which the spigot drills it.

 

[Hoot]

Here is an informative website:
How to make a Watermelon Keg

There are some good suggestions in the comments after the article.
Good luck..Let us know how it turns out!

 

[Cerise]

Drunken Watermelon Punch Keg Recipe | stupidDOPE.com

Vodka, Sprite, lemonade, punch.

 

[Hoot]

After reading more of the comments...A very good point is made.
You should avoid brass fittings and if you use stainless, it should be food grade stainless, especially if you use alcohol in the mix. There is a danger of lead poisoning, according to some of the comments. No sense in taking unnecessary chances. You might want to take a look at plastic or even wooden spigots.
If there is a homebrew supply vendor near you, that might be a good place to find a suitable tap.

 

[Hoot]

Of course, you could always use a dipper to serve it.

 

[Luca Lazzari]

Of course, you could always use a dipper to serve it.

I'm with Hoot on this.
You could rather focus on building a superfancy "prop" to achieve a WOW factor, and go for a good old dipper for serving

 

[TATTRAT]

After reading more of the comments...A very good point is made.
You should avoid brass fittings and if you use stainless, it should be food grade stainless, especially if you use alcohol in the mix.

EXACTLY.

Tap a Watermelon with this Watermelon Cocktail Keg Kit! - Faucets


$30, shipped.

 

[Aunt Bea]

How did we all survive before internet shopping!

 

[Luca Lazzari]

EXACTLY.
...
Tap a Watermelon with this Watermelon Cocktail Keg Kit! - Faucets

$30, shipped.

Thanks TATTRAT!

 

[pengyou]

wow! awesome...this is one of the reasons why I love this forum...people here have diverse interests...intelligent...and are just a little bit crazy!