BeerBorg

This weekend, for a friend, I will be brewing a Pale Ale with pineapple, similar to a Sculpin Pineapple IPA but hopped like a pale ale.

The last time I added fruit to a beer was when I brewed a Mr. Beer Stout with cherry puree, maybe 6-7 years ago. What is even more challenging to me is the fact that I have never tried a pineapple beer before. Initially I was going to fully ferment the beer, then transfer it to a secondary on top of canned cubed pineapple or canned pineapple juice, adding potassium sorbate to prevent new yest cell growth.

I am open to suggestions from the Borg on this one and would really appreciate any information that you are willing to share.

Vince, I am a total newb at adding fruit and there's obviously many ways to do it. But, when the time comes for me to try it, I think I'm going to use a puree from Vinters Harvest. I kept hearing that name on the Experimental Homebrewing podcast (it's a pretty different type of podcast that I enjoy listening to). I went to their website and they have purees for most fruits (no pineapple yet it seems) and some homebrew shops like Austin Homebrew sell these 49 oz cans. They are already pasteurized and ready to go. They keep adding more flruits, (especially for the big brewers in 42 lb sizes) and many on podcasts have praised their quality.

But, what you mentioned sounds perfectly fine to me. I'm looking forward to hearing about this.
We just started getting Sculpin here and pineapple did not get here. I'm only so-so on their grapefruit version though.

I'm not sure on how to go about making a pineapple ale but I have had a few pineapple beers at Rivertowne pour house here in western PA. My impression of the RiverTownes version is that it seems to me they make a blonde ale and just add pineapple juice after it fermented.




Hala Kahiki
Pineapple Ale
ABV: 4.8%

A beer so enticing you may think it's nectar from the gods. The name "Hala Kahiki" (hahlah-kah-hee-kee), originates from the Hawaiian words for pineapple. Feel the way it rolls off your tongue? Our sweet and refreshing beer will take you away ...have a sip ...grab a lei!

That's how I would do it, too. Not sure how much pineapple to use, though. I haven't brewed a fruit beer since old Mr Beer days either.

The nice thing about adding it in secondary is the ability to control intensity of flavor.

In fact, I would probably use juice only as that would shorten the amount of time needed to 'flavor' the beer... Once you get it where you want it, hit it with the potassium sorbate and you should be good to go in 24 hours or less.

You could even use a fining agent at that point if desired...

BigPapaG wrote:The nice thing about adding it in secondary is the ability to control intensity of flavor.

In fact, I would probably use juice only as that would shorten the amount of time needed to 'flavor' the beer... Once you get it where you want it, hit it with the potassium sorbate and you should be good to go in 24 hours or less.

You could even use a fining agent at that point if desired...

Thank you George and everyone for your feedback. I plan to use a combination of potassium sorbate and Campden tablets, to permanently stop fermentation once the pineapple flavor seems right.

Treating the beer in the secondary, at a rate of 1.0 campden tablet and a 0.5 teaspoon of potassium sorbate per gallon, will stop the yeast dead in their tracks. Both potassium sorbate and campden are easily dissolved in boiling water and when cooled can be added right in with the pineapples.

I will report back with my results.

+1 on adding after primary fermentation.

I've done a few fruit beers and best ones by far have been when added after initial fermentation slows down or stops.

Maybe try this?

http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/OttoSup ... 15crop.htm

alb wrote:Maybe try this?

http://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/OttoSup ... 15crop.htm

Funny you should mention that.
I have thought an orange pineapple American wheat would be nice. 50/50 wheat/barley, clean yeast, low bittering hopping, fresh pineapple and orange peel in secondary. Maybe roast the pineapple a bit?

The past week has been an interesting one to say the least. It seems reports of White Labs WLP051 - California Ale V Yeast™ fermentations producing sulfur aromas are greatly under estimated. At least to my nose. Thankfully the sulfur smell is less today than it was the first 4 days in.

I had to open the lid of the chest freezer daily, to vent off some of the smell, then leave the garage door wide open to air out the garage. Anyone who has fermented with this yeast indoors knows what I am talking about. They must also be very passionate about their beer.

Interesting.....the description is similar to WLP001 which I've never had any sulfur from. I assume, like other strains, that it will dissipate as the yeast finish up.

It's been some time since I've used 051 but as I recall, I stopped because I thought it was a poor attenuating yeast. But I think with aeration and getting better with my yeast starters, that was not the case. I don't ever recall it smelling any different than most of the ale yeasts I've used. I may want to revisit trying this again so please post your results and if you feel it helped with giving the beer more body.

ScrewyBrewer wrote:[I plan to use a combination of potassium sorbate and Campden tablets, to permanently stop fermentation once the pineapple flavor seems right.

Treating the beer in the secondary, at a rate of 1.0 campden tablet and a 0.5 teaspoon of potassium sorbate per gallon, will stop the yeast dead in their tracks. Both potassium sorbate and campden are easily dissolved in boiling water and when cooled can be added right in with the pineapples.

I will report back with my results.

Sorry for the hijack, but I want to continue down this road. I've heard of this process to stop fermentation in a cider, but my first attempt at it failed. So I wanted to follow up, as I'd like to do this for my current cider batch. Have you done it before? I'm guessing about 1/4 cup of water?

I've never used potassium sorbate to stop a beer fermentation, but I have used it to stop a wine fermentation. When I did that, I never dissolved in water first, I just added it right to the carboy as it was being racked. The movement of the liquid during racking dissolved it perfectly.

I would assume it would work fine in beer too, that is, if your racking.

MrBandGuy wrote:Sorry for the hijack, but I want to continue down this road. I've heard of this process to stop fermentation in a cider, but my first attempt at it failed. So I wanted to follow up, as I'd like to do this for my current cider batch. Have you done it before? I'm guessing about 1/4 cup of water?

This will be my first attempt. Using 1/4 cup of the mixture in each corny keg seems perfect.

Next weekend I will prepare the mixture, transfer from fermenters to cornies, on top of the mixture and pineapple juice, then set n forget on Co2 for a week.



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