No-water, No-Sugar Pineapple Wine?

[The Belly of the Yeast]

Every pineapple wine recipe I've seen calls for a considerable amount of water and sugar. I've scoured the forums wondering why not use just straight juice? Too acidic or something? The closest answer I've heard is that fruit with too high of sugar levels can cause sluggish or stuck fermentation. Is that because fruit juice isn't as easy on the yeast as cane sugar or honey?

I'm still new and trying to learn, so thanks for any helpful feedback.

 

[Rish]

Welcome to HBT! I've never done just straight pineapple juice. I'd suggest you try it on a one quart batch to see how it turns out. You can see how it goes without costing too much. Good luck!

 

[The Belly of the Yeast]

Welcome to HBT! I've never done just straight pineapple juice. I'd suggest you try it on a one quart batch to see how it turns out. You can see how it goes without costing too much. Good luck!

Thanks Rish! I'm feeling up to a little experiment. Just didn't know if there was something obvious I'm missing. Maybe I'll try both ways and compare.

 

[Rish]

Thanks Rish! I'm feeling up to a little experiment. Just didn't know if there was something obvious I'm missing. Maybe I'll try both ways and compare.

Good idea. I did a little looking and it seems pineapple juice acidity is similar to store bought apple juice, so that shouldn't be an issue. Also looks like without added sugar ABV should be around 5.5% with Dole 100% pineapple juice. Let us know how it goes.

 

[The Belly of the Yeast]

Good idea. I did a little looking and it seems pineapple juice acidity is similar to store bought apple juice, so that shouldn't be an issue. Also looks like without added sugar ABV should be around 5.5% with Dole 100% pineapple juice. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for the research! The only brewing experience I have is with store-bought cider, so that works.

 

[fluketamer]

straight juice doesn't make good fruit juice wines. it has something to do with the high concentration of sugar in the skins of wine grapes. that is lacking in other fruits. thats why the skins are so important in winemaking. tannins are also in the skins thats why you add black tea. i think you want to try to mimic the high sugar concertation in the skins by adding around1 kilo of sugar to a 1 gallon DJ. plus 1-2 liters of fruit juice and top up with water. you want to make more of a sugar wine thats flavored heavily with fruit juice.

theres a reason all the recipes you see have a lot of sugar and water. like rish above mentioned try it small first. i find that all juice makes more of a cider than wine. the wines def come out better with sugar and water.

yes i dont think yeast like fruit juice as much as sugar. i dont think they particularly like honey either. you still need nutrient to help it with all the table sugar.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/supermarket-juice-wine-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/

i have definately seen pineapple wines in the above thread.

just my 2 cents.


and welcome

 

[The Belly of the Yeast]

straight juice doesn't make good fruit juice wines. it has something to do with the high concentration of sugar in the skins of wine grapes. that is lacking in other fruits. thats why the skins are so important in winemaking. tannins are also in the skins thats why you add black tea. i think you want to try to mimic the high sugar concertation in the skins by adding around1 kilo of sugar to a 1 gallon DJ. plus 1-2 liters of fruit juice and top up with water. you want to make more of a sugar wine thats flavored heavily with fruit juice.

theres a reason all the recipes you see have a lot of sugar and water. like rish above mentioned try it small first. i find that all juice makes more of a cider than wine. the wines def come out better with sugar and water.

yes i dont think yeast like fruit juice as much as sugar. i dont think they particularly like honey either. you still need nutrient to help it with all the table sugar.

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/supermarket-juice-wine-how-to-guide-and-recipes.49462/

i have definately seen pineapple wines in the above thread.

just my 2 cents.


and welcome

Thanks for the insights and the link! Looks like some nice gems in there. I'm using only store-bought juices, so that's perfect.

 

[fluketamer]

i left out the base juice of 1-2 liters of white grape juice. oops.

so for example

1.5 liters of white grape
1.5 liters of pineapple.
800 grams of sugar
or whatever brings it to 1.080 or so
top up to 1 gallon with water
nutrient
black tea
pectinase
juice of a lemon
cdb or montrachet

this will make a good wine
you could try 2 to 1 pineapple to white grape to try to bring out the pineapple. more pienapple than that may start to taste wierd.
my take is that we are use to driniking wine which is grape based and an aquried flavor like all alcoholic beverages. (some take longer to aquire than others. lol) . so if you make a pineapple based grape wine it shouldnt be too far off from what you are use to tasting as wine. maybe hopefully with some added fruit flavors aromas essence etc. remember wine doesnt really taste like grape juice just like cider doesnt really taste like apple juice. and mead doesnt taste like diluted honey. so fermented pineapple juice wont taste like pineapple juice. and i bet it wont taste that great or it would be a regular beverage like wine cider or mead. even mead is a stretch for some (me) . IMO this is why these recipes work so well. you are trying to make a wine with hints of fruit. and these come out better than trying to make grape wine from store bought juice which is hooch . i am not going to make grape wine from store juice as good as the junkiest vineyard. they have been doing it a lot longer than me and with fresh pressed grapes, so why try.
if you have acces to enough grapes and a press etc by all means make regular wine. i would but i cant get that many grapes to press or a press.

in any case you are better off fermenting 2to 1 or so white grape to pineapple all the way dry then backsweeteing with pinepapple juice. that will make a crazy good pineapple aroma white wine.

darn now i have to try it.

tips:
1)works better in narrow neck DJ to reduce air interface. some people top up with previous wine batch to reduce headspace after fermentation.
2)bentonite is my favorite clarifier.
3) you can rack cloudy wine to clear it but never bottle cloudy wine.
4 ) wine bottles are free on recycling days. . you need about 4-5 per batch.
5) clear juices settle exponentially faster than cloudy ones (mango,nectarine, pear, PINEAPPLE) and both benefit/ need pectinase and bentonite.
6) make bigger batches because it will be better than expected.
7) dont try other sugars table sugar works best.
8 ) use red grape for dark fruits like blue berry black currant, cherry, use white grape or apple for light like pineapple peach, or pear.
9) dont use juice with k meta (vit c or ascorbic acid is ok) and only use 100 percent fruit juice (juice from concentrate is ok)
10) oak chips in primary add a lot to these wines. especially dark ones.
get to work. lol . your freinds will love it and it makes the best gifts.

theres a million comibinations at the supremarket.

 

[The Belly of the Yeast]

i left out the base juice of 1-2 liters of white grape juice. oops.

so for example

1.5 liters of white grape
1.5 liters of pineapple.
800 grams of sugar
or whatever brings it to 1.080 or so
top up to 1 gallon with water
nutrient
black tea
pectinase
juice of a lemon
cdb or montrachet

this will make a good wine
you could try 2 to 1 pineapple to white grape to try to bring out the pineapple. more pienapple than that may start to taste wierd.
my take is that we are use to driniking wine which is grape based and an aquried flavor like all alcoholic beverages. (some take longer to aquire than others. lol) . so if you make a pineapple based grape wine it shouldnt be too far off from what you are use to tasting as wine. maybe hopefully with some added fruit flavors aromas essence etc. remember wine doesnt really taste like grape juice just like cider doesnt really taste like apple juice. and mead doesnt taste like diluted honey. so fermented pineapple juice wont taste like pineapple juice. and i bet it wont taste that great or it would be a regular beverage like wine cider or mead. even mead is a stretch for some (me) . IMO this is why these recipes work so well. you are trying to make a wine with hints of fruit. and these come out better than trying to make grape wine from store bought juice which is hooch . i am not going to make grape wine from store juice as good as the junkiest vineyard. they have been doing it a lot longer than me and with fresh pressed grapes, so why try.
if you have acces to enough grapes and a press etc by all means make regular wine. i would but i cant get that many grapes to press or a press.

in any case you are better off fermenting 2to 1 or so white grape to pineapple all the way dry then backsweeteing with pinepapple juice. that will make a crazy good pineapple aroma white wine.

darn now i have to try it.

tips:
1)works better in narrow neck DJ to reduce air interface. some people top up with previous wine batch to reduce headspace after fermentation.
2)bentonite is my favorite clarifier.
3) you can rack cloudy wine to clear it but never bottle cloudy wine.
4 ) wine bottles are free on recycling days. . you need about 4-5 per batch.
5) clear juices settle exponentially faster than cloudy ones (mango,nectarine, pear, PINEAPPLE) and both benefit/ need pectinase and bentonite.
6) make bigger batches because it will be better than expected.
7) dont try other sugars table sugar works best.
8 ) use red grape for dark fruits like blue berry black currant, cherry, use white grape or apple for light like pineapple peach, or pear.
9) dont use juice with k meta (vit c or ascorbic acid is ok) and only use 100 percent fruit juice (juice from concentrate is ok)
10) oak chips in primary add a lot to these wines. especially dark ones.
get to work. lol . your freinds will love it and it makes the best gifts.

theres a million comibinations at the supremarket.

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That's awesome fluketamer, thanks! Everything I need to know to get started.
White wines are my favorite, so even if it turns out like a white grape wine, I'd be happy. The last time I drank a bad white wine, my wife added pineapple juice to it, which made it enjoyable in my opinion (you can tell how refined my palatte is). And I love pineapple, so it's a win-win unless it turns out like gym socks or something. And I really like your idea of backsweeteing it with pineapple.

Unfortunately, even half a glass of something with added sulfites gives me a pounding headache, which is what got me into brewing my own in the first place. I managed to find a white grape concentrate with apparently no added sulfites by Nature Blessed, but it's pretty expensive and white grape has naturally occurring sulfites anyway. But I have an üllo sulfite filter which works great, but again the cost of filters adds up quick. I've heard of some brewing cider and pineapple together, so I guess that's an option too.
I'll try to be sure to let you know how it goes!

 

[MaxStout]

Take @Rish's idea of a small test batch, but do a couple others with varying amounts of sugar added. If you made, say, a quart or 1/2 gallon each, you could split one yeast packet between them. Really, you'd only need a pinch of yeast in each tiny batch.

See which one you like best then scale it up to a full batch.