Pineapple Beer

So for a host of various reasons I had some pineapples that were going off. Rather than throw them out I thought I'd give this a go. Fresh ones would have been best but beggars can't be choosers etc.

From looking at reports elsewhere, there is an issue with explosiveness when bottling. I would guess then I wouldn't need to add any carbonation tablets at the bottom of the bottles, would that be correct?

Any advice welcomed!

BeerNut

Dónal wrote: »

Any advice welcomed!

Rather than bottling 24 hours into fermentation, let it ferment out and then prime it with a controlled amount of sugar. You'll get proper fizz and no explosions.

Yeah that was my plan, I was thinking about waiting a good week before even thinking about bottling. I'll keep an eye on it to see how it's getting on.

Degsy

Dónal wrote: »

So for a host of various reasons I had some pineapples that were going off. Rather than throw them out I thought I'd give this a go. Fresh ones would have been best but beggars can't be choosers etc.

From looking at reports elsewhere, there is an issue with explosiveness when bottling. I would guess then I wouldn't need to add any carbonation tablets at the bottom of the bottles, would that be correct?

Any advice welcomed!

My advice is ditch that recipie and just ferment a few litres of Lidl pineapple juice with some sugar and yeast.
Let if ferment for a good two weeks and then bottle it..you shouldnt need to prime it either as the yeast will go on working on the pineapple solids in the liquid.
As an experiment you could perhaps prime half your brew and leave the other half without..whichever you prefer is the way to go next time.

Anyhoo..it tastes great imo and is incredibly easy to do...

rubadub

Be sure to leave lots of headspace if brewing pineapple juice. I brewed it before and all the bits/pulp gathered at the top and started to overflow out the top of the demijohn.

The best pineapple juice I have tasted is M&S pressed one in clear bottles, very expensive though.

spoofilyj

From reading the recepie is it the outer peel he's talking about fermenting or is it the standard pineapple rings?
I wonder would this work with mellons... I have three mellons that need to be eaten at hone and two empty demijohns waiting for a brew...:rolleyes:

Degsy

spoofilyj wrote: »

From reading the recepie is it the outer peel he's talking about fermenting or is it the standard pineapple rings?
I wonder would this work with mellons... I have three mellons that need to be eaten at hone and two empty demijohns waiting for a brew...:rolleyes:

Sure it'll work.

Peel the melons and take the seeds out...pulp the fruit and make up your brew with water or fruit juice..add sugar and leave to ferement.

You may need to strain it before you bottle though as there would be quite a bit of pulp.

spoofilyj

spoofilyj wrote: »

From reading the recepie is it the outer peel he's talking about fermenting or is it the standard pineapple rings?
I wonder would this work with mellons... I have three mellons that need to be eaten at hone and two empty demijohns waiting for a brew...:rolleyes:

I just chopped it all up (bar the stalk) and threw it all in, and I included the raisins. It's been bubbling away since Sunday. So sure go for it.

From what I've tasted so far it seems nice enough, but then again pineapples, sugar, raising and water would be hard not to taste nice (even at this early stage). Still, looking forward to a few weeks down the line.

t1mm

Degsy wrote: »

My advice is ditch that recipie and just ferment a few litres of Lidl pineapple juice with some sugar and yeast.
Let if ferment for a good two weeks and then bottle it..you shouldnt need to prime it either as the yeast will go on working on the pineapple solids in the liquid.
As an experiment you could perhaps prime half your brew and leave the other half without..whichever you prefer is the way to go next time.

Anyhoo..it tastes great imo and is incredibly easy to do...

Sorry for dragging up an old thread but your idea here sounds really good Degsy - would you mind telling me how much sugar, pineapple juice and yeast you use? I've never brewed anything before but this looks like a nice cheap way to start! Cheers!

oblivious

Dónal wrote: »

So for a host of various reasons I had some pineapples that were going off. Rather than throw them out I thought I'd give this a go. Fresh ones would have been best but beggars can't be choosers etc.

From looking at reports elsewhere, there is an issue with explosiveness when bottling. I would guess then I wouldn't need to add any carbonation tablets at the bottom of the bottles, would that be correct?

Any advice welcomed!

Just be aware that pineapple have a protease called bromelain present, the reason Ham and pineapple are matched as the protease is meat tenderizer. It can degrade head/body forming proteins an produce nucleation sites for poor carbonation.

canned pineapple are heat tread hand will have much reduced activity


On the pulse side the are one of the most acid fruits an will really kill of bacteria like lacto specie

wet-paint

Pineapple Wine! Or, as we called it in our geniusness, Wineapple Pine.

I used buy this stuff by the five litre drum in Africa. It was fermented in a hole in the ground, and came out brown as the earth it was made in. Five thousand shillings, and jesus it was rocket fuel.


Good times.

To update this thread - first brew wasn't great for a variety of reasons:

- Alcohol % was too low
- I used beer yeast so taste was odd, probably should have gone for wine yeast in hindsight
- I didn't mash the fruit much, just chucked it in.

SO! Second time trying this. And this is more Pineapple Wine rather than Pineapple Beer now! I've gone for the following:

- 4 litres pineapple concentrated juice (would have preferred non-concentrate but the price difference was too much to justify it for this try)
- MOAR SUGAR! Around 750g
- 1 pineapple, chopped finely, and mashed before I chucked it in
- Raisins
- Champagne yeast

The OG was around 1.070, which should hopefully give me a 10%+ percentage. Should be interesting to see how this time it turns out.

Khannie

Might try this when I get home (out of Ireland at the moment). Are you going to add fizz to it? Or just drink it flat?

Khannie

Khannie wrote: »

Might try this when I get home (out of Ireland at the moment). Are you going to add fizz to it? Or just drink it flat?

I made two demijohns of it so my plan is to carbonate one and leave the other one flat. I'll be ignoring them for a month then transferring to a secondary, maybe leave another while after that then bottle and leave it. Make sure to leave a bit of room at the top, there's a good bit of scum/foam produced.

The pineapple wine I had in Hawaii was really really good, which is why I'm looking at this! It's called 'Maui Splash', 'Maui Blanc' and I can't remember the other one. Can't get it over here without spending a fortune or flying there yourself (which is a great excuse!).

sharingan

Degsy wrote: »

Sure it'll work.

Peel the melons and take the seeds out...pulp the fruit and make up your brew with water or fruit juice..add sugar and leave to ferement.

You may need to strain it before you bottle though as there would be quite a bit of pulp.

I put all the solids into a muslin bag and tie it. Solves all the pulp issues.

sharingan

Reading this thread properly now, and it made me recall that the asian market up the road from my house was selling pineapples for scandalously low prices (3 for £1 or so).

Could definitely brew some of this up, with pure pineapple and maybe a bit of juice.

So after I transferred it to a secondary and left this to itself for a number of months... it's horribly dry. Not really that drinkable. I've attempted to backsweeten it to try to improve it but it might be another 'back to the drawing board' moment.

rubadub

What are you sweetening with? If it was me I would simply add fresh pineapple juice to each glass I am drinking, i.e. not sweeten the entire batch.

oblivious

Dónal wrote: »

So after I transferred it to a secondary and left this to itself for a number of months... it's horribly dry. Not really that drinkable. I've attempted to backsweeten it to try to improve it but it might be another 'back to the drawing board' moment.

Yea the protease in the pineapple are going to a number of the body (protein) of the beer !!