Pineapple Pale Ale

[TwoHeart]

Hi, I am a newbie here, and to brewing in general.

I currently have a Pale Ale in a primary fermenter. It is the Extra Pale Ale kit from Northern Brewer. I have altered the recipe a tad and was looking to get some info on adding pineapple. I added a pound of light DME to the boil and plan on dry hopping with an oz. of cascade and another oz. of centennial.

I would really like to add some pineapple to it. I was not initially planning on using a secondary, but I am thinking I may have to if I want to add pineapple.

Any information on if I should add pineapple? And if so, how, when, and how much should I add?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fall-line]

First, welcome to the forums!

I can't say that I've ever tried this, but it seems as though others have. Take a look at these search results from elsewhere on this site.

Best of luck!

 

[TwoHeart]

Thank you fall-line.

I have done some research, and I think I am going to go ahead with it. I believe the best bet would be to add some pineapple extract to the beer in the bottling bucket.

The only question now is how much. This is the extract.

Olivenation Pure Pineapple Extract

Any input?

 

[dneubeck85]

I've always been a fan of adding the actual fruit and not extract. Personal opinion tho. I usually use three to four pounds of whatever fruit I plan on using. Purée it and add to secondary. Rack the beer onto it.

 

[histo320]

I made a Magic Hat clone in which I added Apricot Extract to a secondary fermenter for 7 days. It was fine but I have no doubt that if I would have just added the actual fruit in a secondary it would have been better.

Welcome to the forum

 

[TwoHeart]

I was initially thinking about pureeing the fruit and adding it to secondary. However, I was reading that the sugars could excite the yeast and would ferment leaving an off sour taste with no original pineapple flavor.

Did I read wrong?

 

[Davefox15]

So I have done both. In the beginning of my brewing career I have added extract and it just always tasted a little weird for me...I can't really explain it, it just did. Now I am a real fruit guy. What I started to do after that was to add frozen blueberries to the carboy for my blueberry ale. You just buy a bag of frozen fruit (obviously in your case frozen pineapple) and add it to the carboy (secondary tank). The frozen will ensure that it is sterile and has no bacteria on it plus the beer you are racking on top of it is already alcoholic and will kill anything usually anyway if you are worried..Just put the fruit on the bottom and rack the beer on top and leave for a week or two or more depends on you.

A word of warning though, make sure you leave plenty of room in the carboy because once you rack the beer on top of the frozen fruit it obviously lowers the temperature, slowing the fermentation. Once the fruit thaws out and the temperature rises the fermentation starts back up and now has the sugar in the fruit so it gets going again...fast. Well the fruit is now on the top and expand and the gas will actually push the fruit into the plug and airlock and shot them out but also blow the fruit right out of the top of the carboy. Speaking from experience as I watched the blueberries get shot out the top like a carnival game. Now I leave room, no problems...

 

[histo320]

BTW, I think the Pineapple IPA is a great idea. I may have to use this idea.