Pineapple "wine"

The Goal: ~19% ABV Pineapple Wine with a bit of complexity

The Inspiration: About 5 recipes found here and elsewhere AND Maui brand wines

The Recipe
10lbs fresh pureed pineapple
96oz 100% pineapple juice preservative free
16oz white grape juice concentrate
16oz mandarin orange concentrate
1lb molasses
brought to 3gal with water
~1/2lb lightly toasted oak chips
~2tsp salt and enzyme mix (tannin, amylase, pectic enzyme, MgSO4 and KCl)
1tsp yeast nutrient
1pk Lalvin KIV-1116
OG: 1.072

Will layer with 4 additions 1 day apart of 1.25lb dextrose to drive up the potential ABV. Gravity readings will not be taken as the theoretical ABV will be near 19% by adding 5lbs of detroxe in total and I will just check the ABV at the end at work.

With the additions of dextrose, 3/4 tsp of pectic enzyme will be added.

Will add bentonite 3 days after final dextrose/pectin enzyme addition.
Will be racked to secondary on or about 2/5/12
Will rack to tertiary and add Kmeta and Ksorbate on or about 2/20/12
Will clear with SuperKleer on or about 2/24/12 if the wine looks clear otherwise I will add more time as necessary.
Will filter/bottle for consumption and aging on or about 3 days after adding SuperKleer.

Any thoughts?

SG of 1.072 will not get to 19%, closer to 12%.

DoctorCAD said:

SG of 1.072 will not get to 19%, closer to 12%.

Click to expand...

SG of 1.072, assuming an FG of 0.098 will yield 12% - 13%. Correct. I think maybe you missed the staggered addition of the additional 5 lbs of Dextrose. I don't personally know offhand what ABV increase each pound will add without doing a search, but I'm sure it will be at least 1% per pound - ish.

What I don't have a good grasp on, and maybe the OP or Yooper can weigh in here, is how to take accurate measurements of FG when you start at one SG (1.072), and add fermentables at staggering rates. I'm unable to wrap my feeble mind around it after a few drinks.

Lalvin K1-V1116 is advertised at 18% tolerance, so I think you should be real close. I just don't understand the science of how to devise staggered additions and ABV.

Looking forward to your results though........I love anything pineapple related.

There is a lot of acid in pineapple, I think it's going to be too tart to drink without backsweetening and/or aging. Drinking it 3 days after fining is way too soon IMHO, especially at the target ABV of 18-20%; it's going to taste like tart fuel that young.

I think you'd have a much better product if you reduce the acids by dropping the orange juice concentrate, MAYBE cutting the pineapple juice down a bit, or using a wee bit of calcium carbonate for acid reduction.

Aging can & will reduce some acidity/tartness, but it takes a while; how long depends on the levels of acid in the must/wine. Could take a couple of years, but it might be worth the wait.
Regards, GF.

OpenContainer said:

SG of 1.072, assuming an FG of 0.098 will yield 12% - 13%. Correct. I think maybe you missed the staggered addition of the additional 5 lbs of Dextrose. I don't personally know offhand what ABV increase each pound will add without doing a search, but I'm sure it will be at least 1% per pound - ish.

What I don't have a good grasp on, and maybe the OP or Yooper can weigh in here, is how to take accurate measurements of FG when you start at one SG (1.072), and add fermentables at staggering rates. I'm unable to wrap my feeble mind around it after a few drinks.

Lalvin K1-V1116 is advertised at 18% tolerance, so I think you should be real close. I just don't understand the science of how to devise staggered additions and ABV.

Looking forward to your results though........I love anything pineapple related.

Click to expand...

Do you not just take the SG before you add the new fermentables, and the SG AFTER you've added the new fermentables and add the difference onto your OG to work out your final ABV?

Dicky

1...it will be aged but i can't stop wifey and friends from drinking some off the bat. ultimately, if pestered enough, anyone can enjoy my brews so if they want to drink it young...so be it. i'm going to TRY to put up at least half the batch to age but that didn't work out well with my cider. If it tastes really acidic when I rack from primary, I'll alert the wife that she has to wait.

2...adding 1lb per sugar to a 3lb batch does not equate to 1% abv.

Layering allows the yeast to get accustomed to the brew environment in terms of acidity and alcohol level. it is a way to get higher gravity and avoid stuck fermentation AND reaching yeast tolerance too quickly. it has worked wonderfully for my sake so i'm trying it here. It is how I drove my apple cider up over 18% using the same yeast.

3...thanks for the Ca carbonate idea...I didn't think of that. Its too late to reduce the juice because its already begun. I can dilute with water and make the batch larger but I'm ok with a tart flavor.

4...I am not going to take gravity readings after each addition. I'm actually done with taking middle gravity readings. For me, its just OG to see if my recipe calculation was right and 3 FGs to see if fermentation has stopped. Remember, SG calculations aren't 100% accurate for ABV because we have corrections to make so the amount of error built in to calculating ABV after different additions is more than I feel like coping with. I think I mentioned this in other threads but I'm a neuroscientist and have plenty of equipment at my disposal including a mass spec that can tell me exactly what I have.

Dicky said:

Do you not just take the SG before you add the new fermentables, and the SG AFTER you've added the new fermentables and add the difference onto your OG to work out your final ABV?

Dicky

Click to expand...

that is correct except that the increasing inherent error in SG readings, the wood chips floating in it and the yeast actively moving about will make it just a guess. its better than nothing but realistically, you will be off

I'm on board with this. We just had some pineapple turn so I put it in a test carboy. I hope you have the drop on it. I do the staggered additions also but this os my first pineapple.