Pineapple Wine (Sparkling or Still)

[Mr.Lobotomy]

Hello,

First time posting, this seems like a pretty good place to get input so I am hoping to get some ideas from the community.

The objective is to make a pineapple wine worth drinking preferably sparkling. I have looked at the 2 recipes I can find on here for pineapple wine and I think I've pretty well met both recipes in terms of end result and disagree with their assessments of "good taste". One of the recipes is quite simple and very similar to what I have done, one has a lot of additives nutrient, energizer etc. etc. that don't really affect flavour AFAIK but who knows maybe you can correct me.

To qualify things I am a fairly new brewer but I don't think this is an issue of ingredients or actions ruining it. I've used good quality juice, frozen pineapple that I enjoy eating regularly, yeast that I have enjoyed using before, Lalvin 71B, D47 and EC-1118 as well as all of my practices being the same as they have been with other brews that have turned out fine.

I'll elaborate on what I've done below and see what the community has to say.

Taste wise I prefer boozy/dry if this helps at all as well.

I have completed 3 trials with pineapple wine.

1st attempt I used roughly .7 gallons of Dole pineapple juice, enough white sugar to bring the starting gravity to 1.10 and I added dried mangoes to bring it up to a reasonable level in a 1 gallon large mouth fermenter. Fermented to 1.0 gravity. In secondary I racked into 3 1L mason jars and popped a cut up habanero into 1 on of them. This was obviously a bit ambitious for a pretty new brewer but it itself turned out drinkable. Definitely has a stale water flavour and barely any pineapple flavour. The mango really dominated the whole batch including the habanero branch, but of course the habanero branch had the added heat which at least drew some attention away from the dishwater taste. This used EC-1118.

2nd attempt 1 gallon batch same roughly .7 gallons juice, white sugar to 1.10 gravity, using 71B. My thoughts were EC-1118 gets hate for being champaign yeast that doesn't add anything besides high ABV and good carbonation so I wanted something that might have fruity esters included and 71B was finally in stock in my area so I hopped on it. 71B absolutely demolished the sugar, it finished fermenting in a week but I left it to de-gas and hang out in the glass 1 gallon fermenter for approx 3 weeks before racking. It then sat for 2 more weeks in mason jars. Stale dishwater, very minor pineapple taste. Of course this is young but I'm not convinced the taste will come back on it's own. I have some bottle aging now.

3rd attempt 2 gallon batch 1.5 gallons juice, white sugar to 1.10 SpGr, frozen pineapple that was thawed to fill fermenter. Using D47 known for its fruity compliments AFAIK. 2 Weeks initial fermentation, 3 weeks secondary. Dishwater with the added bonus of 1 1/4 inches of sediment in the bottom of the fermenter this time.

So what is the issue here ? Is pineapple just difficult to get a flavour out of on it's own ? Should I be using extracts or other flavour enhancers ? Has anyone else achieved a pineapple wine they like ?

I have 2 1 gallon fermenters empty right now and am willing to give any good suggestions a go for the greater good and advancement of our knowledge of this mystery prickle fruit booze.

 

[MilesBFree]

Was the Dole pineapple juice pure pineapple juice? Or did it have other stuff added like grape juice concentrate, which is basically sugar?

Also, a lot of juice has ascorbic acid or chemicals added as a preservative which may be having an effect. I kinda doubt it since the pineapple has plenty of Vitamin C, but doesn't hurt to consider.

But your 3rd batch was frozen pineapple so unless it was treated with any preservatives (again, doubtful if you bought a bag of frozen pineapple from the freezer section of the store) that is probably not an issue.

I was considering making pineapple wine after I read an article about people making it locally to get around an alcohol ban in their country and I love pineapple so seemed interesting. Let us know how it goes.

 

[cottonwoodks]

I've made several batches of pineapple wine, the first with 3 lbs of frozen pineapple and a couple quarts of my own frozen cherries, and Premier Blanc yeast, and it was REALLY yummy (the best wine I've ever made), another with 3 lbs frozen pineapple and 3 lbs frozen peach and the same yeast that wasn't quite as good, but still with a really nice pineapple flavor. Both ended up at 0.994. And this year I made 2 gallons just pineapple and EC1118 that's currently aging, so I don't know how it's going to turn out. I've got notes on the whole process, but I'm still so new at all this, it really seems like things are random. All I know so far is that aging helps a lot to bring back the pineapple flavor.....

 

[Chubbydrunk]

My first ever wine was made using store-bought pressed pineapple juice.
This was winter time. I impatiently tried it after a month. Though incomplete it made a fantastic drink young, since it retained a lot of it's fruit juice flavours. It almost tasted like a strong IPA in terms of flavour profile.
Fast forward a few months my bottles had quite a bit of fizz in them due to residual sugars fermenting in spring. By then it had lost its fresh fruitiness, became clear and dark orange in colour. It was still quite tasty in a "winey" sort of way.
Once it hit the 1 year mark the taste just went off. It wasn't tainted exactly, but the palate had gone and the aftertaste was not pleasant. Perhaps it was the fluctuating temperatures in my house or maybe pineapple compounds just don't age that well with time. If I even make it again, I'll be sure to finish the lot within 6 months.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I make my pineapple wine with the cheapest pineapple i can get.
then either crush it in a grape press or pulverize it in the blender.
everything goes in the bucket. maybe 5lbs of puree per gallon.
it gets topped up with canned pineapple juice.
i usually add pound of table sugar.
I'm looking for a refreshing lite drink so try to keep it around 5-6%.
then i ferment with red star Champaign yeast i think it's called premier blanc now.

when it's done i get out my brew bag and strain the chunks out squeezing everything i can out of the puree then still the yeast with Camden tablets and potassium sorbate.
let it cold crash.
then i go get some kid cans of pineapple juice and start adding to taste in the bottling bucket.

people love it.
sometimes too much which is why i stopped making it at the limit of the yeast ~15%.

 

[devil]

how long are you aging this

 

[SatchIce9]

Original poster describes stale dishwater or watery taste. A wine recipe book I have describes "flabby" wines from certain fruits as lacking tannin, so recipes using those fruits add wine tannin powder or a cup of strong black tea. You could also add tannin by including dried fruit like raisins or sultanas.
I've recently made some Pineapple and Apple wine using cartons of fruit juice (2l Pineapple + 2l Apple per gallon). I had a small taste test at last racking and wasn't disappointed. It's in a cool place clearing now, so the final verdict is yet to be made.