First try at custom brew recipe

[tlthom]

Since my first post on 19 July 15, I now have 5 brews under my belt, 1extract (1st Brew, American Wheat, turned out great!) and 4 AG's - La Petite Orange (bottle conditioning, will try this weekend), Honey Kolsch (bottle conditioning), Hefeweizen (bottle conditioning), and an IPA(primary fermentation).

I figure it's time to start experimenting.

My first experiment is going to be a pineapple beer. I have read many posts with different results/opinions. so I figure WTH, let me try it for myself. I have taken info from various posts to create this recipe. Please let me know your thoughts.

Recipe (first experiment will be with extract)

Ingredients:

3lbs Bavarian Wheat
3lbs Light DME
1.5oz Cascade Hops
.5oz Cinnamon Stick
4lbs Frozen Pineapple
Wyeast 1056

Process:
Using 8 Gallon Brew Kettle:

Boil 6g Water (60 min)
Add Bavarian Wheat (60 min)
Add .5oz Cascade hops (60 min)
Add .5oz Cinnamon stick (15 min)
Add 1oz Cascade Hops (1 min)
Add Light DME (flameout)

Yeast
Made a starter with Wyeast 1056

Primary Fermentation (2 weeks)

2ndary Fermentation (2 weeks)
Add 4lbs frozen pineapple and rack beer into 2ndary on top of pineapple.

Bottle and condition 3 weeks.

 

[noggins]

I'll never understand why so many folks try to go all crazy on their first recipe attempt...to each his own. Here's some threads you may wanna read through if you haven't already:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=235956
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=13986
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=399677
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=227705

either way, let us know how it turns out!

 

[m00ps]

yeah i see all sorts of weird ideas. I guess its usually the recipe idea that got them brewing in the first place or something. If I had done that, I wouldve been trying a malted milk ball stout for my first beer. Saved that one for a number of batches down the road

I tried to make a simple hefe for my first beer. That way, I knew when it turned out wonky that it wasnt the recipe, it was my shoddy brewing technique

how much is 0.5oz cinnamon stick? I usually see it in # of sticks. Ive used 3-5 with good results. 2 in at flameout then 2-3 in primary. Also, how are you sanitizing the pineappl?

 

[Phil_Ozzy_Fer]

It's a pretty wild first recipe, but hey, go with it. My only piece of advice is to be prepared to take a lot of notes (especially given the recipe you're brewing), and take some time to reflect on the whole process to see what worked and what could have worked better.

My first recipe was a simple pale ale with only LME, hops, and a smack pack of yeast. This is way more adventurous than I was my first time out. Best!

 

[Hello]

I don't agree that the recipe is crazy. You have basically base malt and hops.
I must be missing something. The cinnamon and fruit additions aren't really crazy either.

I think the recipe looks good. I don't know how pineapple ferments in terms of taste.

 

[noggins]

I don't agree that the recipe is crazy...I must be missing something.

I don't know how pineapple ferments in terms of taste.

Exactly.

 

[Hello]

Exactly.

No exactly. A fruit addition is not crazy. The kid has a solid base recipe and wants to toss fruit in it. Crazy? Not even close. He doesn't have weird hop additions and it's not some kitchen sink recipe. If a fruit addition is crazy then I'm nucking futs.

 

[hanuswalrus]

I would think the pineapple would be ok going in secondary..

I remember when I first started out homebrewing there was so many things I wanted to try brewing myself. I think a lot of people get so excited that they just try too many different things in one brew. This recipe, however, does not seem too over the top.

 

[noggins]

Since my first post on 19 July 15, I now have 5 brews under my belt, 1extract (1st Brew, American Wheat, turned out great!) and 4 AG's - La Petite Orange (bottle conditioning, will try this weekend), Honey Kolsch (bottle conditioning), Hefeweizen (bottle conditioning), and an IPA(primary fermentation).

I figure it's time to start experimenting.

My first experiment is going to be a pineapple beer. I have read many posts with different results/opinions. so I figure WTH, let me try it for myself. I have taken info from various posts to create this recipe. Please let me know your thoughts.

Recipe (first experiment will be with extract)

Ingredients:

3lbs Bavarian Wheat
3lbs Light DME
1.5oz Cascade Hops
.5oz Cinnamon Stick
4lbs Frozen Pineapple
Wyeast 1056

Process:
Using 8 Gallon Brew Kettle:

Boil 6g Water (60 min)
Add Bavarian Wheat (60 min)
Add .5oz Cascade hops (60 min)
Add .5oz Cinnamon stick (15 min)
Add 1oz Cascade Hops (1 min)
Add Light DME (flameout)

Yeast
Made a starter with Wyeast 1056

Primary Fermentation (2 weeks)

2ndary Fermentation (2 weeks)
Add 4lbs frozen pineapple and rack beer into 2ndary on top of pineapple.

Bottle and condition 3 weeks.

Let me sincerely apologize for high jacking your thread by suggesting your recipe may be out of the ordinary for your first recipe attempt. Clearly this was not taken well by the forum.

Now then, let's all pretend I didn't open my stupid mouth, and start giving this guy some actual feedback on his recipe rather than telling noggins how dumb he is for suggesting a simpler recipe.

 

[tlthom]

First off, I thank you all for your responses. I am not a conservative person and when gathering information to establish a recipe, I wanted to keep it somewhat simple and push the envelope as well. There is a myriad of information out there regarding pineapple beers, some good and some bad. It seems like a really challenging, yet simple beer to brew. The challenge, from what I’ve read, is getting the pineapple flavors to come through but the process seems very simple. Really no different than any of the other brews I have done.

My goal was a recipe that had a fairly simple base with some basic additions; fruit and hops. The cinnamon may be a little out of the ordinary but not too extreme.

I am brewing it tomorrow morning and I will be documenting every step in the process. I will definitely let you all know how it turns out.

@noggins, no apology necessary. I am a 22 year Army Veteran, so my skin is not thin. I can handle a little constructive criticism…lol.

Thanks again guys!

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

My only warning for a fruit beer, coming from someone who started out doing lots of fruit beers early in my homebrewing adventure. Make sure you let it well and truly finish fermenting the sugar coming off the pineapple.

Though you probably learned the "hurry up and wait" mentality in the military, patience truly is the key for fruit beers. I've had a LOT of fruit beers turn into super carbonated fizz bombs because of left over sugars in the fruit that didn't ferment out until bottled.

 

[tlthom]

Understood. In your experience, is two weeks long enough? And yes, I've mastered the practice of hurry up and wait...lol

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Understood. In your experience, is two weeks long enough? And yes, I've mastered the practice of hurry up and wait...lol

2 weeks will probably be enough, sort of depends on what you were doing with the pineapple before adding it to the beer. I saw you were freezing it which is good, break up the cell walls and such (how long has it been frozen? you could take it out and let it thaw out, then refreeze it, this will break up more of the cells and let out more of the juice and sugars, also any little nasties that might survive the first freezing will be less likely to survive a quick refreezing).

If you've got the chunks small and its pretty goopy from the freezing the yeast left over will chew through the sugar pretty quickly. If you beer already looks pretty clear when you transfer to secondary, it would probably be safer to wait 3-4 weeks (if theres not a ton of yeast in suspension they may take a bit to go through that fruit sugar).

 

[m00ps]

2 weeks is the minimum id recommend, and even then only for IPAs and low OG beers. For a fruit beer I would say more like 3-4 weeks since youll want to add the fruit once its approaching it intial FG

 

[tlthom]

I am going to buy prefrozen pineapples. I am not sure I can get quality fresh ones this late in the season. I will take your advice to thaw and refreeze them and plan a 2ndary of 3 weeks to be on the safe side.

 

[tlthom]

decided to brew tonight because I have appointments tomorrow and the wife and I are going to the beer and crab fest on Saturday. All went well I made some mods based on feedback. I added the Light DME for 60 mins and the Bavarian at flameout. I also added 4 cinnamon sticks (1.5oz) with 15mins left in the boil. I hit an O.G. of 1.052. Will keep updated as the beer progresses through the subsequent stages. Thanks again.

 

[tlthom]

Ok gents I finally bottled today after 3 weeks in 2ndary with 4lbs of pineapple:

OG - 1.052

Gravity upon transfer to 2ndary - 1.010

FG - 1.003

The wife and I sampled while bottling and the flavors were really good. An initial nice subtle taste of pineapple with a hint of cinnamon on the back end. Will update after about 3 weeks of bottle conditioning.

Again, I appreciate all of the advice.