Pineapple wine advice please

[WinBase]

Hi

Im thinking of making 2 gallons of pineapple wine, and either i buy fresh pineapples from the supermarket and prepare them myself, or i buy frozen pineapple such as the four season chunks from Aldi. I have had success before using frozen fruit not only because of less mess and fiddling, but because freezing makes it breakdown easier, but does anyone have any opinions on any pro's and con's between the 2 types for pineapple, and is the taste noticably better using one or the other - what would you do?

Thanks

Bob

 

[Graz]

I've only ever made a wine with pineapple juice. That was 1 gallon with a 1 litre carton of white grape juice (back when you could get it) and a 1 litre carton of pineapple juice. Sugar added to make it up to the desired strength, think I used maybe 800g dissolved in boiled water, and then topped up to the gallon with water. Turned out pretty good from what I can remember.

Also beware that pineapple can produce some pretty explosive fermentations. The wine above spent several days trying to climb out of the airlock.

 

[Mr_S_Jerusalem]

I've made a pineapple wine from tinned pineapples a few times. I fact I have 2 gallons on the go right now lol.

This one is 7 x tins 540g pineapple chunks in juice, 250g chopped sultanas, sugar to 2.5kg, no lemon, usual suspects.

Pineapple juice was good but because it started in the demijohn I lost a bottle due to racking and the difference in flavour wasn't immense to me.

 

[WinBase]

thanks for the 2 who replied, i bought some 'fresh' 'ripe' pineapples from morrisons, and when i cut into them they were awful, no pineapple smell, a mushy brown layer under the skin, hard all over under that, and just not right, so i returned them and got my cash back, then bought tins of del-monte chunks. it fermented great in a primary bucket for a week, smelled lush, and is now actively bubling away in secondary, so i'm happy :)

 

[MrJay83]

Could you share a recipe for this please. The wife came across pineapple wine on YouTube and I've been told I have to make it for her
I've found a video of an Italian guy making it. His looks great but he gives no details on fermentation temps.

 

[WinBase]

Could you share a recipe for this please. The wife came across pineapple wine on YouTube and I've been told I have to make it for her
I've found a video of an Italian guy making it. His looks great but he gives no details on fermentation temps.

Hi

here's what i did. I always make more than what i need & use the excess to top up after racking. sometimes i end up with an extra litre at the end or that i bottle as well. instead of using demijohns i use old robinsons orange juice bottles as that are thick PET plastic. I make a hole in the screw top, fit a grommet and use a regular bubbler or handy airlock. when i store & condition the wine post fermentation i usually use breathable bungs or airlocks just to be sure they dont pop

if you have any q's just add them to this thread

cheers & hope it helps

Bob


Ingredients

8 x 435g tins del monte pineapples in juice (this includes 1.3ltr juice) *
9 litres Water
2kg Sugar
250g sultanas (Golden Raisins)
1/16th tsp Sodium Metabisulphite (E223) per gallon **
cup strong black tea 3 bags
1/2 tsp Acid Blend in total
2.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme in total
2 tsp Yeast Nutrient in total
1 Sachet Yeast (Lalvin EC-1118)

Made 13/2/22 (1pm)

• Sanitise & clean bucket
• add pineapple to bucket
• Chop raisins and add to bucket
• Mix sugar into 2ltr boiling water and add to bucket
• Add 2ltr more boiling water
• Top up with remaining 5ltr cold water
• Add black tea
• Leave to cool to room temp

When at room temp (4pm)

• hydrometer reading 1.074
• Add 1/16th tsp SodMet per gallon and leave for 12 hours
• add the yeast nutrient, pectic enxyme, acid blend, stir & Leave for 24 hours.

14/2/22 (4pm)

• Sprinkle yeast
• Cover bucket
• Stir daily

19/2/22

• straining bucket through a mesh bag into a clean bucket
• rack into 2 demijohns and leave until fully fermented out
• put excess over 2 gallons into a robinsons orange juice bottle fitted with airlock

07/3/22

• Racked off into 2 demijohns using excess to ‘top up’
• Hydrometer 0.992
• Add 1/16th tsp sodmet per demijohn mixed in a little tepid water
• Add ½ tsp fermentation stopper per gallon. ***

After 2 months

• rack off sediment

16/8/2022

• Rack off ****
• Backsweeten to taste. I used 180ml of a 50/50 mix of sugar dissolved in water per gallon.
• Add 1/16th tsp sodmet per gallon
• Hydrometer reading 0.999 ABV 10%
• Left in demijohns for a month until abs totally sure no more fermentation before I bottled, but you can bottle straight away

March 2023

Drank first bottle and was great but will definitely improve with time

Notes:

I based my recipe on one found here among others Pineapple Wine Recipe - Tropical Tasting Wine

* my first choice was to buy fresh pineapple, however after cutting into the first one, it just didn’t seem as juicy and sweet as tinned fruit, maybe because of the time of year so I returned the rest to morrisons and swapped for tins.

** I use Sodium Metabisulphite instead of Campden tablets as you don’t need to crush them, it’s a little easier to dissolve and there’s no ‘filler’ in the tablets to consider.

*** I add fermentation stopper at this stage because I once added a Campden tablet and fermentation stopper at the end just before bottling and the wine went a little less clear which pee’d me off so have always done this since.

**** I never filter or use finings. I try to make it as ‘natural’ as possible lol, and find that it’s best to let time take it’s course to settle out any bits

 

[MrJay83]

Far more detailed than I was expecting. Thank you.