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Brewing w/Pineapple Juice

Northern Brewer General
#1

Based on a vacation to Maui last year, I am attempting to recreate a Pineapple Wheat beer. I have had success in the past with fruit beers, but my only experience has been with the flavorings and coconut.

I was thinking about brewing an American Wheat kit and either adding pineapple juice at bottling or during a brief secondary session (even though the kit doesn’t call for secondary).

Does this method seem appropriate? Would it be better to add it at bottling vs. doing a short secondary? Just wondering if I need to be concerned with the added sugars in the juice?

Thanks!

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#2

You definitely need to worry about the sugars. If you add it at bottling, figure out how much sugar is being added by the nutritional info, and substitute that for some or all of the priming sugar. It would give you better control to add it to secondary and then bottle as normal after fermentation completes.

I like to find really overripe pineapples and smash it up or purée it, because the flavor is pretty subtle and can add a lot of acidity. But some good quality juice should work too, just be careful because by the time the sugar ferments it can add a LOT of acidity. But it’s great in a Berliner Weisse style beer.

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#3

That makes sense. I think I will go with the secondary route. When you do the pineapple, do you typically put in 1 pineapple per 5 gallons?

I was thinking about doing the juice to keep it simple and would be curious as to how much juice would be recommended to add to secondary? My intial thought would be about 10 oz, but I could be completely off in that estimate.

#4

Beside sugar, you also need to worry about what it might do to pH.

#5

I’m really bad about measuring fruit additions, and usually just wing it based on what’s available. But I’ve used 1.5 small-ish pineapples in a 3 gallon batch (kids ate the other half). But this was in a sour beer, so I wasn’t all that concerned about how much acidity it would add. More important than pH is the total acidity, and I suspect that it would have added too much acidity in a non-sour beer.

10 oz is probably not too much in a 5 gallon batch, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pull off a gallon in secondary and dose it with a certain amount, let it ferment out, and taste the result. If you like it, scale it up to the rest of the batch, otherwise dose it again and see where you wind up.

#6

I never had good luck with pineapple for some reason. Almost comes across as butyric after the fruity flavor is fermented out.

#7

Did not use. Pineapple in brewing yet. But love this stuff. I would lean to fresh pineapple. Not juice. Most the time juice has some other things you dont like. Preservetives

#8

Not necessarily. I use readily available Dole pineapple juice and it’s 100% pineapple juice and preservative free.

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#9

Denny, how much juice do you typically use for a 5 gallon batch?

#10

As much as it takes! :wink: It’s usually maybe a cup, but I add to taste at packaging. Add a little, taste, adjust if necessary, repeat as needed. When it tastes good to you, you’ve got the right amount.

#11

i uses fruits juices at regular bases but i add very low sugar some time i dosent add sugar i used salt and blackpepper in juices but sometime i misses sugar taste than i add. but i used fruits for getting vitamins

#12

I’m new to world of home brewing, but this has always been a thought of mine well before owning equipment. I was thinking about trying to use some orange juice (freshly squeezed or quality prebottled). I’m assuming it would present the same issues as the pineapple juice, but does anyone know? Thanks in advance.

#13

Same here. I made a pineapple wine about 25 years ago and it was so acidic I couldn’t drink the stuff so I used it in marinades.

#14

I have brewed a pineapple saison thats pretty good for the spring/summer. For 5 Gallon batch, I get 6 ripe pineapples from costco, dice them up, blend them into pulp. Freeze them to break the cell walls then thaw and pasteurize. Once cool, put the goop into a mesh bag and throw it into secondary. Then rack the beer on top. Let it sit for about 4 or 5 days in cold storage. Racking off is kinda tricky but it can be done. For hops I use Perle, Galaxy, and nelson sauvin to balance out the sweetness. You could do without the mesh bag but it makes clean up easier and I feel like i have less particles in my beer.
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#15

My only fear is that the sweet flavor of pineapple is obviously made by sugars. That will ferment away, leaving the acidic tartness behind. That’s always been my fear, and why I have yet to try pineapple no matter how much I desire.

#16

It is hard to imagine pineapple without all that sugar however I think it could be nice. The blood orange saison I make is one of my favorite beers.

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