holy poo, insanely strong!

I have finally learnt why high ABV is not lovely. Been in Scotland for the week and i got back tonight to find my pineapple wine (1 imp gallon) had stopped and moved it into a fresh demijohn. ( left the primary quite long...)

I used 1 litre of pure pineapple juice, 2.3 pounds of sugar and some yeast nutrient and pectic enzyme, and it seems to have given the wine some decent body. However an inch of lees was on the bottom after 3 weeks. i tried it and holy god it tastes like vodka with a shot of pineapple in it. It is about 4/6ths full at the moment which may explain why it is so strong! ( i left room to ferment and lost alot of mass in pulp which is now in the bin after the primary)

I think i will top it up with more pure pineapple and then add clearing agent, perhaps back sweeten? will this make it drinkable, its so strong i couldn't even swallow a mouthful.

i tried to make pineapple wine one time and it turned out horrible, i drank 7 bottles and dumped it out, it tasted like jet fuel and pineapple with a hint of garbage can. I think there is a reason you dont see it on the shelves... backsweetening does help a bit but it then just became sweet garbage can wine. Im guessing fresh pineapples would probably make a better product but I dont really have the guts or wallet to have a go at it.

Wow, I made a gallon of pineapple wine and really liked it. MUCH better that the crap watermelon wine I made, but the funk is aging out of the watermelon/pear, so maybe there is hope. I also wanted to use fresh pineapple, but it was too expensive. I just started a 5 gallon batch the other day, which did get loose because I got greedy and filled the bucket too full. Anyway, I found that if you don't let it sit on the lees for very long (I rack mine EVERY 5 days, faithfully) it comes out very smooth. Hope this helps...Oh and I use 3/4 of a gallon of syrup and backsweeten it with 2 cups of sugar in 1 pint of distilled water....

ive never made watermelon wine so i cant really compare my pineapple to it but all I know is the stuff was nasty and id rather stick with a recipe i know will make good wine then spend the money and hope it turns out okay. I would really like to taste some fresh pineapple wine though just too see how much of difference it makes from juice. If it checked out i would probably do it...

I have been keeping my eyes open for when pineapples go down to $1.98, then I will try and make a gallon or two, just so I can compare the two. I try and use what ever fruit is in season to make my wine, but I don't know just exactly when that is for pineapple. That is why I made way to much watermelon wine two months ago, it was cheap, local, and very fresh. Unfortunately, those characteristics DID NOT come out in my wine! :cross:Still experimenting with other flavors, and keeping detailed notes, so I don't make the same mistakes twice. Kudos to you for drinking your pineapple wine...I had to throw some of the watermelon crap down the drain...the rest, I am saving for the relatives, at Thanksgiving!!!

I would suggest watering it down a bit. Adding more pineapple juice is going to add fermetables. If the yeast have survived, they will start doing their job again. Water has a gravity of 1. You can add water and check gravity until you get the alcohol level to something a bit more manageable.

*Warning* I have never tried this, but wish I had on my last strawberry wine.

lol at the relatives thing

a liter pineapple juice at about 1.05 SG (12.8 brix) plus 2.3 lbs sugar ... resulting in 1 imperial gallon should result in abv around 12.82%. This should be strong tasting but not horrid.
I might suspect the over development of fusel alcohol for the rocket fuel flavor. This could be from too high a fermentation temp ... Some yeasts are also subject to fusel production (e.g. mead yeast, for instance Wyeast Sweet Mead Yeast).

If you do another pineapple batch you might try a yeast used for longer low-temp ferments.

For your current batch you might save it and blend it with another batch of wine ... apple wine or white grape etc ... and then let it age out a bit.

It will be fine...in 2014.
The fusel alcohol "hot" flavors will go away with age, bottle it and hide it in a closet until next year (or the next).

What was the OG and FG ?