cider with fresh pineapple

[GeneDaniels1963]

I tried to post this in the recipe section, but something weird happened. My thread ended up with someone else's recipe, yet posted under my name. Anyway, let me redo it here, and update.

After reading a lot of threads about the pros and cons of canned pineapple juice, I decided to try a fresh pineapple cider. Here is what I did in a 2 gallon fermentation bucket:

1 1/2 gal juice
2 cans FAJC
reused Mangrove Jack M02 yeast sludge
SG about 1.065, (8.5 or 9 PA)

In the meantime I cut up 2 whole pineapples and froze them solid.

I let the bucket ferment for 2 days, then added the thawed pineapple in a brew bag (not quite all fit in the bag, so I ate the rest).

Ferment on the pineapple for 3 more days, then moved to secondary and airlock. It is down to 0.998 now.

It has been the best smelling cider I have ever brewed! Filled the house with a rich tropical aroma. And the sample was wonderful straight out of the bucket. I am supper tempted to drink it right now, but I am trying to wait. I think I will leave it in the secondary for a week, then bottle and set it aside for another few weeks at least. But it would be well worth drinking now. As good or better than commercial ciders.

The fresh fruit was a little messy, but it was on sale for 2.28 each, so I had to give it a try. And I am so glad I did.

 

[huh?]

Ace Pineapple has been a favorite for years. My wife and I polished off a 6-pack of it last night along with some Crispin Artisinal and Mint Juleps, a Derby-day tradition.

Looking at the Ace Pineapple, it is apple cider with pineapple juice. It tastes awesome and yours will too from the description. thanks for the idea.

Also, with only 1 ferment under my belt I already see the benefit of reusing yeast. Yeast was about 25% of the expense the first go round and really spikes my cost/benefit spreadsheet. (highlight of spreadsheet is $500+ "profit" on fermenting 2 BBLs with wholesale orchard juice vs. buying Gumption in store). Nice thing about the spreadsheet, the more I drink, the faster I recoup my capital investment!

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Yep, homemade ciders are better than most store bought, way cheaper, and give you bragging rights. What's not to like.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Opened a carbonated bottle of this stuff, man was it good!! Lots of pineapple, just a tiny bit of residual sweetness. Probably the best cider I have made to date.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Sorry to resurrect a dead thread, but I had too

I just made another batch of this pineapple cider with 2 fresh pineapples. I just bottled it up and it already tastes amazing! So much pineapple taste while "green"! No off taste at all.

The only difference this time was I used a full 2 pineapples. I could not get all of the chunks in my bag, so I did it twice. I am guessing it came in around 8.5%, but I am not sure since I did not check the OG.

I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who likes pineapple.

 

[Master]

I will have to give it a shot. Any particular brand of FAJC you used?

 

[Chalkyt]

Sounds very tasty... might try it. I am guessing from your original recipe and a few rough sums about what volume a pineapple occupies, that the pineapple pieces took up about 25% of the volume. So fermenting 2 gallons of AJ with pineapple in it yields about 1-1/2 gallons of cider. Is that about right?

 

[Epond83]

How can you figure out OG if you add pineapple after a few days?

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

I try to use Old orchard, but sometimes I use the store brand. Haven't noticed a difference on any cider I make.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Sounds very tasty... might try it. I am guessing from your original recipe and a few rough sums about what volume a pineapple occupies, that the pineapple pieces took up about 25% of the volume. So fermenting 2 gallons of AJ with pineapple in it yields about 1-1/2 gallons of cider. Is that about right?

I ferment in a 2 gal bucket. This last time I used two 96oz bottles of apple juice, two 12oz cans of FAJC, and two chopped and frozen/dethawed pineapple. The result was just short of 2 gal of cider.

If your fermenter is big enough to hold a full 2 gal of juice, you will end up with more than 2 gal cider because of the volume of juice that you will extract from the pineapples, probably a bottle or two more.

 

[rdback]

Interesting recipe. What yeast did you use for this latest run?

Thanks for sharing.

 

[GeneDaniels1963]

Notthingham. I use it on most ciders. It is clean and adds little of its own flavors, so in this case the pineapple can shine through.

 

[Ertai]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread. New to cider and stumbled upon this awesome thread! I had quite a newbie question, so please forgive me!

The recipe at the top, are you referring to 1 1/2 gallons apple juice or pineapple juice? And does FAJC mean frozen apple juice concentrate?

Sorry for such the beginner question, but really want to get this one right!!! Have a great day and thank you for the information!