Pineapple wheat/weizenbock

[thenewtbaron]

Hello everyone, I have haunted the forums for information for a while but I have a couple of questions that maybe someone could help me with regarding this situations.

Let me start out by saying I was using the joys of homebrewing while I was at the local homebrew store. It was a spur of the moment and I didn't have a receipe in mind, was thinking about something light/wheaty and a little fruity(pineapple). So, I looked up the Wheat beer section and I basically confused the wheat and weizenbock...yea.

on brewday - saturday, I decided to kinda split the difference and just add a bit less to the weizenbock. I expect the weizenbock to be less thick/dark and more light... well, I also bought 3 of those dole 1lb 4oz cans of pureed pineapple. Here is my receipe and my plan regarding the pineapple... does anyone have any suggestions, things to look out for, or such?

--

1lb of crystal caramel malt
.6lbs of chocolate malt
steeped in cold water on a hot stove for 30 minutes.

6.6lb of wheat extract
1.5lbs of amber dme
1oz of mt hood hops
got temp up to atleast 180 and started 60minute timer(temp was about 200-210 by end.

1oz of mt hood hops
for the last 3-4 minutes.

strained and added to 1 gallon of cold water.

I took a bit out and measured
at 70 degrees F, it measured as 1.064 gravity
adjusted to 60 degrees, OG is 1.068-1.07

added last night, appears to be going well today, is bubbling.

- next steps. wait about a week or however long for the yeast to do its work.
re-rack beer and add 2-3 cans of crushed pineapples.unsure about if 2 cans will be too little or 3 cans will be overkill. after added, I will leave the beer for about another week or so to let the fermination die down from the addition of the pineapple sugars.

 

[MrHopScotch]

Interested to see how this turns out...

 

[dcp27]

I'd split it and only add the pineapple to half. i think pineapple goes terrible in beer, and i dont think it'll mesh well with that recipe

what yeast did you use?

 

[Fathand]

Although I've never used pineapple in a beer I have made a pineapple mead and fermented pineapple juice does not taste like pineapple. Just something to be aware of.

 

[Texconsinite]

I've had pineapple wine, and I agree, it doesnt taste like you would think. Its like a light crisp, dry white wine, less body than grape. Don't know how this will translate to beer, but have been wondering myself, as I have a gallon of pineapple juice in my pantry that will be fermented in some capacity soon...

Let us know how it goes. Im interested how the pineapple flavor blends with the wheat sweetness and esters

 

[thenewtbaron]

My only issue with splitting it is that I don't really have anything smaller than a 5 gallon carboy and bucket, and I am worried that putting only like 2 gallons in a 5 gallon bucket will cause oxidation or some other problems. have you done that before?

the yeast I used was Safbrew WB-06 - dry wheat ale

here is my assumption(which maybe wrong)
if i used this yeast on pineapple itself, it would eat many of the sugars which make the pineapple flavor - leading to a white wine flavor

since I am putting it into the secondary, the yeast will have gotten the beer to between 3-6% alcohol(will measure gravity when it when I re-rack). I assume the alcohol tolerance of this yeast is between 5-10%, probably around 8%. so if things go well, the yeast won't be able to eat much of the sugar from the pineapple without killing themselves. thereby leaving more of the fruit sugars and flavors in there.


is this a correct way to think about it?

 

[dcp27]

if it was primary, 2G in a bucket would definitely be fine, but I'm not sure if the pineapple will be enough to fill all the headspace with CO2. a week or 2 would probably be ok

AFAIK, no yeast only has a 8% tolerance. in any case, there will likely be enough water with the pineapple that it's not going to raise the abv much. i dunno how many cups are in each of those cans, but looks to be about 7g sugar per 1/4cup (~1/8th of pure sugar). approximating about 4 cups per can, thats about 12oz sugar total. the yeast will have no problem eating all that.

 

[thenewtbaron]

well, it is already in the primary right now, so unless the pineapple really kicks up the Co2... i fear oxidation.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=126
(this isn't the brand i used but I couldn't find information on the safbrew)
many of the wheat yeast float around appx 10% alcohol tolerance - I also looked at some other calcs for abv in the style I am making and it puts the ABV anywhere from 6-8(9 if it goes really well)... so even if the tolerance is near 10%, my beer could be within 1-3% without the pineapple.

So, should I add more sugar or add more pineapple? I was always under the assumption that a certain percentage of sugars are not used anyway but also, the closer to the alcohol tolerance level, fewer and fewer sugars are eaten.

What is your suggestion in regards to making the pineapple come out more sweet and flavorful and not dry wine style then?

 

[dcp27]

your beer is going to be a lil over 6%, maaybe 7% if you're lucky, you won't be close to the limit before or after pineapple. the fruit may come out a lil sweet, but you won't be able to maintain a full pineapple flavor unless you stop the yeast

fyi, not sure what temp adjustment you used, but 1.064 @70 is 1.065, not 1.068-1.07

 

[thenewtbaron]

just re-read, I thought it was an adjustment per 5 degrees instead of 10 degrees. so, you are correct. I will look into editting that. good catch.

so, here are some thoughts. Do you think I should put a pile of sugar(some variety) in the secondary to load up the yeast so that it could not use as much of the pineapple sugars?

do you think I should put 2 cans 2.5 lbs into a secondary, let that ferment out, then put 1 can in a tertiary to keep the flavor?

if there another version of backsweetening I should do?

 

[thenewtbaron]

just re-read, I thought it was an adjustment per 5 degrees instead of 10 degrees. so, you are correct. I will look into editting that. good catch.

so, here are some thoughts. Do you think I should put a pile of sugar(some variety) in the secondary to load up the yeast so that it could not use as much of the pineapple sugars?

do you think I should put 2 cans 2.5 lbs into a secondary, let that ferment out, then put 1 can in a tertiary to keep the flavor?

is there another version of backsweetening I should do?

I have also thought about caramelizing the pineapple a bit before I throw it into the secondary, would that have any effect on the yeast usage?

 

[dcp27]

no, definitely don't pile in sugars to kill the yeast, you'll throw off the whole balance of the beer and it won't taste good. maybe something like infusing the pineapple into vodka or the like would get more of the sweet flavor? i'm no expert in the fruiting field tho, so definitely feel free to try it however you want. i just kno in the ones I've had I don't like the flavor of fermented pineapple.

i'd check out some of the similar threads below to see if there's any better info.

 

[thenewtbaron]

after reading in other places, I think i am going to go down the caramelization route.

apparently doing so doesn't change the fermentationability too much, it lowers it a few percentage points but the flavor of a fruit when caramelized stays a bit better in the beer.

I haven't yet added liquor to a beer yet - that is my next one, I am going to be trying out a vanilla bourbon nutbrown.

I checked out the threads, I think this is the longest one. most of the rest are about fresh pineapple, pineapple juice, and coconuts... ah well. When i get though this process.. maybe it will help someone else!

 

[thenewtbaron]

well, about two weeks ago, I transferred the beer to a new carboy. I also carmalized 4 3/4th lbs of pineapple and added it to the secondary

a week ago, I bottled it. I also measured the FG, the total alcohol content is around 7%

I have tried a few bottles this weekend. Some of them are wonderful, some are ok.
the pineapple flavor didn't come out so much, it is more of a citrusy hint afterwards.

basically it tastes like a richer, more boch-y wheat with light citrus hints/tones. some of the bottles have a light smell of antiseptic but it goes away quickly and the beer still tastes good.

I will have to re-evaulate some part of my situation to keep that anti-septic smell but I believe this is the first beer that I find completely drinkable. I tend to taste all the problems and mistakes with my own beer.

I would recommend against using actual pineapple if you want pineapple flavor and would recommend trying the flavors found at the LHBS.