Looking for a pineapple cider recipe

[David Kozelenko]

Hi guys, I was thinking of making a small batch of pineapple cider. I'm going to use real fruit(cubed from pineapples) in a 2 gallon fermenter. I was hoping to make this pineapple cider have an abv around 5 to 8 percent. So do you cider makers have a suggestion for yeast to use to have a lower abv or do i water down my finished fermented cider with filtered water to achieve the lower abv range? Thanks in advance for any help given. Happy brewing guys!

 

[fluketamer]

i would make regular cider and back sweeten with pineapple juice . thsi comes out really good. i find you get more fruit flavor that way then trying to ferment with the fruit.

 

[David Kozelenko]

Hi fluketamer, back sweetening with juice sounds like a good idea as i am trying to capture the pineapple flavor. Thanks.

 

[fluketamer]

you can back sweeten with any fruit juice.

i have found that if you add the juice before the yeast tend to strip a lot of the flavor out.


the juice is usually not sweet enough however and you may need more sugar,.

ilike 1/2 cup of sugar per 5 gallons but its to taste everyone is different.

 

[DaveC73]

I've made a pineapple/jalapeno cider a few times that I like. I prefer my fruit flavours subtle, so I put everything into primary and I backsweeten just enough to boost the fruit without making the cider sweet.

I'll but 4-6 oz chopped pineapple and 1/2 a chopped jalapeno (seeds and all) into a fermentation bag, weight it down with glass pickle weights and toss it into 1 gal of apple juice. Store bought juice is typically between 1.05 and 1.055 sg, which gives an abv of 6.5 to 7%. So, there should be no need to dilute. If you're bottle carbing it'll add around another 0.5% or so to the abv.

I've done this with M02, DV10 and one other I can't remember. Pretty much any cider/wine yeast should do the trick. It'll just depend on your personal preference.

 

[Kickass]

Almost always have this on tap:
5 gal recipe
5 gallons of store bought apple juice.
1/2 pound dark brown sugar
Yeast nutrients
Ec-1118 wine yeast
After fermentation, stabilize with sulfites and k meta.

Back sweeten in the keg with
2 cans of frozen pineapple juice concentrate
1/2 can frozen apple juice concentrate
1Tbsp cinnamon tincture

It’s killer!

 

[fluketamer]

Almost always have this on tap:
5 gal recipe
5 gallons of store bought apple juice.
1/2 pound dark brown sugar
Yeast nutrients
Ec-1118 wine yeast
After fermentation, stabilize with sulfites and k meta.

Back sweeten in the keg with
2 cans of frozen pineapple juice concentrate
1/2 can frozen apple juice concentrate
1Tbsp cinnamon tincture

It’s killer!

that does sound good , once i started back sweetening in the keg my ciders dont last long on tap

 

[David Kozelenko]

I've made a pineapple/jalapeno cider a few times that I like. I prefer my fruit flavours subtle, so I put everything into primary and I backsweeten just enough to boost the fruit without making the cider sweet.

I'll but 4-6 oz chopped pineapple and 1/2 a chopped jalapeno (seeds and all) into a fermentation bag, weight it down with glass pickle weights and toss it into 1 gal of apple juice. Store bought juice is typically between 1.05 and 1.055 sg, which gives an abv of 6.5 to 7%. So, there should be no need to dilute. If you're bottle carbing it'll add around another 0.5% or so to the abv.

I've done this with M02, DV10 and one other I can't remember. Pretty much any cider/wine yeast should do the trick. It'll just depend on your personal preference.

I will be using fresh pineapples for my source( i bought 2 today) and will peel and chop them and put them in a fruit bag for fermentation. I will add yeast nutrient, sugar as well to the starter. I was thinking of buying a cider yeast to ferment. After fermentation I will stabilize and back sweeten somehow. I might try apple or pineapple juice or maybe sugar or wine conditioner. So many options I like how your recipe gives you a OG around 1.05/1.055 as it will land right where I want to be. This will be my first cider and I didn't know if my fruit addition would end with me having a higher OG like a %10-%15. I will check with a hydrometer before casting yeast and see where I am. Thanks again!

 

[DuncB]

Freezing the fruit and defrosting might help the breakdown in the fermenter.

 

[sbro]

I just kegged 4.5 gal pineapple cider. I used 2 fresh pineapples diced in a food processor that I left in till about 1.02 SG.
Cold crash at about 1 month and ready to keg. At this point it is dry and has that pineapple acidic mouth feel.
When I keg it I add some caramelized sugar to sweeten it and bring the pineapple flavor foreward.

 

[David Kozelenko]

I just kegged 4.5 gal pineapple cider. I used 2 fresh pineapples diced in a food processor that I left in till about 1.02 SG.
Cold crash at about 1 month and ready to keg. At this point it is dry and has that pineapple acidic mouth feel.
When I keg it I add some caramelized sugar to sweeten it and bring the pineapple flavor foreward.

It sounds like a nice recipe. I too will back sweeten to taste and am thinking of adding pineapple juice to really push the pineapple flavor. I will post how it goes...experiments in brewing

 

[bernardsmith]

Hi guys, I was thinking of making a small batch of pineapple cider. I'm going to use real fruit(cubed from pineapples) in a 2 gallon fermenter. I was hoping to make this pineapple cider have an abv around 5 to 8 percent. So do you cider makers have a suggestion for yeast to use to have a lower abv or do i water down my finished fermented cider with filtered water to achieve the lower abv range? Thanks in advance for any help given. Happy brewing guys!

Interesting question. I wonder if what I am about to say comes too late to help but here goes. Almost all table fruit has similar amounts of sugar - around about 1 lb of sugar in every gallon of expelled juice, so a starting gravity of around 1.045 - 1.055 . That means if your don't add any sugar to the fruit and you extract juice , that juice will have a potential ABV of about 6 -7%, or what I expect from a well-made cider. That means, my bet is that your pineapple WILL produce a cider-like level of alcohol if you refrain from adding any sugar BEFORE you pitch your yeast. How much sugar you may want/need to add to backsweeten AFTER fermentation has ceased will depend on your preferences for a) sweetness, and b) any need to push forward the fruit flavors that are often masked by fermentation.