Pineapple Concentrate

[InspectorJon]

I'm trying to figure out how many points pineapple juice concentrate will add to my Pineapple IPA. I haven't really come up with a recipe for that yet but I think I will base it on my standard NEIPA and just add the concentrate after fermentation has died down before I dry hop. I know it will kick up fermentation again a second time.

The can says there are six servings with 25 grams of sugar per serving for 150 grams or a little over 5 oz of sugar in the container but I am not sure what percentage of that is fermentable sugar. I am guessing 90%. Does anybody know?

Does anybody else want to share their experience of adding pineapple juice concentrate to beer?

 

[InspectorJon]

Anyone? I am planning to brew this weekend and given the lack of information I find on using this product in beer I am wondering if it is a foolish idea or if nobody has tried it yet.

 

[day_trippr]

What did you glean from the other, related thread?
If you're using a recipe builder I'd just plug in the 150 grams and assume it's as fermentable as corn sugar...

Cheers!

 

[SanPancho]

All simple sugars. Ferments out.

now where the hell did you get the frozen concentrate. Cant find it anywhere

 

[InspectorJon]

Winco Foods - Folsom, CA

I guess my original question was about figuring the sugar. I'm also looking for any experience others have had using the concentrate. I can't find any examples of people using pineapple juice concentrate that includes results or conclusions. I see folks using juice and using fruit pieces or puree, both fresh and canned, but I don't find anything about using straight pineapple juice concentrate. I figure I'll get the sugar and a little flavor with very little reduction in gravity, maybe a boost. I'm sure some percentage of what's in the can is water.

 

[SanPancho]

just figure out the brix of the container grams sugar per liter. then convert to SG. then figure out what it will do to your wort as you will be adding some liquid as well as sugar.

it will ferment out, should give you some flavor that lasts. ive used liquid concentrates, the kind used for soda guns. but not exactly the same as they had preservatives.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I'm interested in seeing how yours turns out. In the past, I've used canned and/or fresh pineapple in IPAs...turned out nice with a hint of flavoring (can't remember the hops I used but they already had a pineapply finish to them). Good luck!

 

[SanPancho]

@InspectorJon How did this turnout? Decent pineapple flavor?

 

[InspectorJon]

I have been drinking this for a few days now. The pineapple flavor is great. I'm pretty happy with the process. I added the undiluted concentrate directly to the fermenter a few days after pitching the A38 Juice yeast and the original krausen had largely fallen. Fermentation kicked back up quickly. One odd thing though, I used a milkshake IPA style recipe that should have come out hazy but it dropped clear. The haze in the picture is largely condensation on the outside of the glass. I bottled this on July 5. I'm not sure if the pineapple concentrate had anything to do with it clearing. The beer taste great. I call it Pineapple SkIPA.

 

[SanPancho]

decent pineapple flavor? hint of pineapple?

 

[InspectorJon]

Pretty well defined pineapple flavor. Not overpowering but definitely pineapple. I used the equivilent of 1 lb lactose for 5 gallons so that leaves it with a bit of a sweetness which probably enhances the pineapple flavor. There is a strong pineapple aroma.

Brewers Friend Recipe Link

 

[JM-brew]

Funny. I just had the same question using that pineapple concentrate in a beer I'm making. If I did my math right using this calculator Winemaking Calculations

it comes out to about 36.37 brix. In beersmith, I used the pineapple puree as a template and adjusted the brix. Adding it to 'primary' should give a decent approximation of the OG

 

[InspectorJon]

I just figured it as a cup of water and 150 grams of sugar added to the wort. I think that should come out close.

 

[CatsCradle]

Winco Foods - Folsom, CA

I guess my original question was about figuring the sugar. I'm also looking for any experience others have had using the concentrate. I can't find any examples of people using pineapple juice concentrate that includes results or conclusions. I see folks using juice and using fruit pieces or puree, both fresh and canned, but I don't find anything about using straight pineapple juice concentrate. I figure I'll get the sugar and a little flavor with very little reduction in gravity, maybe a boost. I'm sure some percentage of what's in the can is water.

Hey did you ever figure out the exact gravity of the pineapple concentrate? Doing the same thing and trying to figure it out. I read on another forum that apple juice concentrate is equal to 46 points/gallon per pound. But maybe different fruit concentrates have different gravities depending on the fruit

 

[InspectorJon]

Well there are 6 servings @ 25g of sugar per serving. So 150g of sugar. The sugar should be 46 PPG. The rest doesn’t really matter. It’s just water and a small amount of solids. There could be some pectin but I think that would make it less likely to drop clear.