Pineapple Wine Anyone?

[LAgreeneyes]

Pineapples are on sale at my local grocery store for $1.50 and I have got to take advantage of that and try to make some pineapple wine.

Has anyone made pineapple wine before? If so, spill the beans and tell me all about it. Any tips? Is there a difference in the taste when you use fresh pineapples as opposed to pineapple juice? How many pineapples do you suggest I buy in order to make 5 gallons of pineapple wine?

I'm excited!!!

 

[jamesngalveston]

i would use 30 lbs, clean the pineapples..not sure if i would remove the eyes, i mean its wine not to eat....then i would smash the heck out of the fruit.

 

[Loner]

Actually there was a post on here a few months ago about a BOGO deal on a Coastal White kit. I did one by the book and played with the remaining kit using gallon portions and adding different concentrates to flavor and back sweeten. The one my crew liked the best was pineapple. That doesn't help you on a recipe but may answer your question as to how it might taste.

 

[Wiz]

I have made pineapple wine. I do not like sweet wines and after making it I never waited so long to taste it as pineapple is probably one of my favorite fruits. Unsweetened, pineapple wine is very astringent on the tongue when finished. Even though it had a great pineapple smell, it was probably the very worse fruit wines I have made. Sweetened, I suppose it could be very good if you like sweet wines.

 

[jamesngalveston]

did you let it go dry before doing anything do it

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Pineapple wine came out very good - but it definitely had to be back sweetened

 

[Wiz]

Yes, I fermented to dry.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

i would use 30 lbs, clean the pineapples..not sure if i would remove the eyes, i mean its wine not to eat....then i would smash the heck out of the fruit.

Ok. I will follow your suggestion. Thank you!

 

[LAgreeneyes]

Actually there was a post on here a few months ago about a BOGO deal on a Coastal White kit. I did one by the book and played with the remaining kit using gallon portions and adding different concentrates to flavor and back sweeten. The one my crew liked the best was pineapple. That doesn't help you on a recipe but may answer your question as to how it might taste.

Yummy! That is great to know.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

I have made pineapple wine. I do not like sweet wines and after making it I never waited so long to taste it as pineapple is probably one of my favorite fruits. Unsweetened, pineapple wine is very astringent on the tongue when finished. Even though it had a great pineapple smell, it was probably the very worse fruit wines I have made. Sweetened, I suppose it could be very good if you like sweet wines.

Uh oh. Not good. Sounds like I need to add sugar sugar sugar.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

Pineapple wine came out very good - but it definitely had to be back sweetened

How much back sweetened?

 

[jamesngalveston]

wait till its fermented...taste it, if it needs sugar then stabalize and add sugar to taste...better yet, i would add f-pak if it lacks in fruit flavor you were trying to get to.

 

[BernardSmith]

LAgreeneyes, You ask how much to sweeten your pineapple wine. I have not yet made any pineapple wine but here's my answer for what it's worth: After you have fermented your wine dry wait six months or longer. Then check the gravity and taste the wine. Pour a known volume into four glasses. Leave the first glass untouched (the gravity could be .090 or .096 or even 1.000). Add enough sugar to the second glass to raise the gravity by .005, to the third, by .010, to the fourth by .015. Taste each one. If none are sweet enough, repeat the process using the fourth glass as your first glass (untouched) but you are now starting with a gravity of the final gravity + .015 as your base line. You then determine the gravity for the sweetness you prefer and (in my opinion) you aim for slightly less than that gravity (I think wine tends to taste more sweet as it ages because I think the acids blend and perhaps there is some bacterial or chemical action which like MLF increases the pH (makes it less acidic).
Fifty grams (or 2 oz) of sugar added to 1 gallon of wine will increases the gravity by .005 (that's approximately the same as 1 gm of sugar in 75 CCs of wine or 2/3 of a gm in 50 CCs ). If you know the final gravity (you measured it just before tasting the wine) and you know the gravity you prefer the wine to taste then you know how much to back sweeten. If you have fully stabilized your wine and you then add this amount of sweetener (whether as a simple syrup or as pineapple flavor pack) and you then wait a few weeks to make sure that all sediment that will again fall out has fallen out then you could bottle and after a few more weeks, (or months) enjoy.
In other words, only you can know how sweet you prefer your wine but you can determine how much residual sugar the wine must have to be the sweetness you prefer and you can add that amount of sugar to make it as sweet as you prefer it to be and you can do this by bench testing your wine. And it may turn out that your preference is for a pineapple wine that is far less sweet than Wiz prefers or far more sweet than James likes.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

Bernard Smith> Your statements are good, but don't forget that each wine is different. Acidity and sweetness need to be in balance, but as you said (and I've said many times before too) is that wine does seem to sweeten slightly with age.

From what I can tell from my pallet

xxx-1.000 dry
1-1.006 semi-dry
1.006-1.012 semi-sweet
1.012+ sweet

Now, with more or less acidity (pH and/or ta), that range can swing some. More of one type of acid in a fruit is a big reason for this.

 

[stklotz]

This is likely off-topic, but, I tried it as a 2nd stage fermentation addition to a beer. BAD. Tasted like nasty liquid rubber. Stick to using it as/with wine!

-- Steve

 

[LAgreeneyes]

wait till its fermented...taste it, if it needs sugar then stabalize and add sugar to taste...better yet, i would add f-pak if it lacks in fruit flavor you were trying to get to.

Oooooooooo, I didn't know about the f-pak. I will definitely have to get some of those. Thanks for the tip.

 

[LAgreeneyes]

LAgreeneyes, You ask how much to sweeten your pineapple wine. I have not yet made any pineapple wine but here's my answer for what it's worth: After you have fermented your wine dry wait six months or longer. Then check the gravity and taste the wine. Pour a known volume into four glasses. Leave the first glass untouched (the gravity could be .090 or .096 or even 1.000). Add enough sugar to the second glass to raise the gravity by .005, to the third, by .010, to the fourth by .015. Taste each one. If none are sweet enough, repeat the process using the fourth glass as your first glass (untouched) but you are now starting with a gravity of the final gravity + .015 as your base line. You then determine the gravity for the sweetness you prefer and (in my opinion) you aim for slightly less than that gravity (I think wine tends to taste more sweet as it ages because I think the acids blend and perhaps there is some bacterial or chemical action which like MLF increases the pH (makes it less acidic).
Fifty grams (or 2 oz) of sugar added to 1 gallon of wine will increases the gravity by .005 (that's approximately the same as 1 gm of sugar in 75 CCs of wine or 2/3 of a gm in 50 CCs ). If you know the final gravity (you measured it just before tasting the wine) and you know the gravity you prefer the wine to taste then you know how much to back sweeten. If you have fully stabilized your wine and you then add this amount of sweetener (whether as a simple syrup or as pineapple flavor pack) and you then wait a few weeks to make sure that all sediment that will again fall out has fallen out then you could bottle and after a few more weeks, (or months) enjoy.
In other words, only you can know how sweet you prefer your wine but you can determine how much residual sugar the wine must have to be the sweetness you prefer and you can add that amount of sugar to make it as sweet as you prefer it to be and you can do this by bench testing your wine. And it may turn out that your preference is for a pineapple wine that is far less sweet than Wiz prefers or far more sweet than James likes.

I love this experiment. I am printing this out to try this. Thank you for the details!

 

[xcaret]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNK6NQMhmIM[/ame]
Click on that youtube address for the worlds eassiest , quickest ,tastiest , ( like pinacolda) pineapple wine recipe.. Just tripple or quadruple evertyhing.Iv'e got some fermenting right now , no racking , no anything just wait 3 weeks and drink it , oh yeah pour the whole works through a nylon stocking , ( from dollarama) . I made this quite a few times ,and it has a high alchol content ,,

 

[LAgreeneyes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNK6NQMhmIM
Click on that youtube address for the worlds eassiest , quickest ,tastiest , ( like pinacolda) pineapple wine recipe.. Just tripple or quadruple evertyhing.Iv'e got some fermenting right now , no racking , no anything just wait 3 weeks and drink it , oh yeah pour the whole works through a nylon stocking , ( from dollarama) . I made this quite a few times ,and it has a high alchol content ,,

OMG!!!! So simple. I have to try this. THANK you for posting this. YUMMY!