Help with a fruit recipe! Please.ish

[AzOr]

hello. I’m thinking of making a pineapple pilz-ish beer. I just bought a 5lb bag of frozen pineapple chunks from Costco. I may do a 3 gallon test batch first. I’ll probably purée the fruit and add to high krausen.
Here’s my q’s;
1) what flavor/aroma hops play well w pineapple? I love pilz type hops but would be open to others that would compliment the pineapple. I don’t necessarily want a tropical explosion, just a pilz w a bit of pineapple aroma and finish.
2) I’ve done fruit beers before and they tend to dry out the beer. Would a few ounces of honey malt help to balance?

Thanks for reading

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The first hops that come to mind when you say "pineapple" are Denali and Bru-1, but I imagine you want to counterpoint the pineapple rather than reinforce it. Likewise the "mild" Bretts like claussenii and WLP644 will add to the pineapple flavour - but maybe aren't particularly appropriate for a pils. Having said that, I''m not sure a pils is really the right beer for pineapple - the bitterness doesn''t really fit a fruit that adds sugar (ie dries out the beer - and pineapples are ~10% sugar) and acidity (pineapple chunks are typically pH 3.5, ie nearly 100x more acid than wort and 10x more acid than finished beer).

For your first pineapple beer I'd be tempted to go more for a wheat beer, which should suit pineapple better, and the wheat will help improve mouthfeel.

Hops-wise, I think some of the modern German hops would work nicely, things like Hallertau Blanc, Mandarina, Huell Melon, that kind of thing.

If you want something a bit more left-field, have a taste-test of pineapple with herbs like basil and rosemary (not in beer to start with), they work quite well together.

Do keep an eye on pH though.

 

[thedevilandgod]

Agreed with NorthernBrewer, add wheat to fill the mouthfeel. Huell Melon would work well for late hop addition. I’ve had a few good citrus pils, you just want to counterpoint with bittering and flavoring hops, then use a good amount of aromatic (10 min>) to help “boost” the aroma of the pineapple.

 

[AzOr]

Northern Brewer and thedevilandgod,
Thanks for your input. You’ve definitely made me think about jumping in and doing a whole 5g batch. I’ve made fruited wheat beers before, but I had this crazy idea that came to me when I saw the frozen pineapple chunks at the store.
I think what I may do is brew a pilz and then split the batch and add the fruit to the secondary of the 2.5g.
If it piques my interest, I’ll do a regular batch and play with the hops as well.
I’ll defin report back.