Crazy Pineapple Melomel

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Is it wrong to take my favorite fruit, and then serve it in one of my favorite ways, then bottle its sweet alcohol goodness. I want a good pineapple mead recipe but then substitute grilled pineapple in it's place. I love grilled pineapple on kabobs, or a burger, or just right off the grill. It would be really easy to do this, or you could try adding liquid smoke to a pineapple melomel.
 
Is it wrong to take my favorite fruit, and then serve it in one of my favorite ways, then bottle its sweet alcohol goodness. I want a good pineapple mead recipe but then substitute grilled pineapple in it's place. I love grilled pineapple on kabobs, or a burger, or just right off the grill. It would be really easy to do this, or you could try adding liquid smoke to a pineapple melomel.

Hi dudasaj: This sounds VERY interesting; not only would you get flavours from the unadulterated pinapple fruit, you'd also get flavours from the carmelized sugars & from the little bit of carbonization of those same sugars... Its the carbonization that i think might give you a problem. When combined with those other flavours of the sugars (reg. & carmelized) the bitterness of the carbonized sugars are at least muted, if not masked entirely. There is a distinct possibility that those bitter carbon flavours may be amplified by the removal of those sugars. Mybe they could be countered by acid and/or tannin addaitions, or by using a low attenuating yeast, or even by back sweetening; maybe not. I don't mean to dissuade you, just to point out that part of what makes grilled pineapple so tasty might turn out bitter in your brew. If you can grill pineapple without the carbonization, then preserve that flavour thru fermentation, I think you might have something quite unique & tasty. I think it would be a very fine balance though. I encourage you to try it! That's my 2 cents worth. Regards, GF.
 
OK, I'm a TOTAL novice here...just a few batches of crabapple cider bottled and a couple of beers...but I was looking for something interesting to do with pineapple. I was reading this thread and see that it is pretty old. Did Dudasaj ever follow up on the grilled pineapple mead? Honey is SO expensive that I am reluctant to go for it. Anyway, I was intrigued by Gratus Fermentatio 's concerns about the grilling process adding bitterness and wondered if a light smoking in a smoker...but not enough to brown it...would produce a better result? I don't have a smoker, but could probably rig something. Anyway...thoughts? Results?
 
Let me preface this by saying the ends always justify the means in mead making. If you want a good pineapple flavor in conjunction with some smokiness, I suggest you use dried pineapple (NO sulfur dioxide) and heavy toast american oak. Weird as it sounds, dried pineapple tends to give much more flavor than fresh. The heavy toast American oak should give you some of that smokiness you are after. Just be sure not to over oak or it will take forever to age out.
 
Let me preface this by saying the ends always justify the means in mead making. If you want a good pineapple flavor in conjunction with some smokiness, I suggest you use dried pineapple (NO sulfur dioxide) and heavy toast american oak. Weird as it sounds, dried pineapple tends to give much more flavor than fresh. The heavy toast American oak should give you some of that smokiness you are after. Just be sure not to over oak or it will take forever to age out.

That sounds interesting...I have a dehydrator. I guess I could dehydrate to a point, but not crispy and add it to the primary fermentation. I never used oak before...maybe rack into that for a short secondary...a few days? Can the oak be sanitized and reused?
 
That sounds interesting...I have a dehydrator. I guess I could dehydrate to a point, but not crispy and add it to the primary fermentation. I never used oak before...maybe rack into that for a short secondary...a few days? Can the oak be sanitized and reused?

After primary, add 5 cubes per gallon of mead. Taste everyday until it is where you want it. I generally find 4 days is good, but your taste and goals may vary.
 
I approve of grilled pineapple. I would put more pineapple in that you think as the flavor is not very strong. I think that it would be very good to carmelize it. If you are doing a 1 gal batch then I should think that 1/2 oz of oak cubes would be fine, you just leave it in less time. I use chips, 1 oz for a 5 gal batch and in for a month. I would think that for 1/2 oz I would put it in about 2 weeks and taste. That should be good.

Matrix
 
Good input, folks! Thanks! Now I need to check the price of honey at the home brew store and see if that's the best route bulk pricing.
 
I just went ahead and skipped the smoke and wood aspect for now in my pineapple experiment. I blended my pineapple in a blender with water and added crushed campden, honey, brown sugar and half a vanilla bean. I put this all in a 1 gallon carboy and added water to fill it about 3/4. (Starting small.) Pitched Safale s-04 24 hours later. Fermented for about 10 days and racked. (I got more than the half gallon that I anticipated.) If this were the final drink, I would have dumped it out; however, I've heard long bottle conditioning works wonders on a concoction like this. I'm going to clarify in secondary for another 10 days or so and then bottle and hide in a cool, dark place and forget about them for at least a year. Other bottles with some grilling or smoking or oaking options may join the cache eventually. Cheers!

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Since my last post on this thread, I think I have racked twice. The flavor has actually become pleasant! I have a half gallon carboy plus a 12 oz bottle. I've just added 1/4 oz untoasted American oak chips for a few days. Should be bottling sometime next week.

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