Let's Make Some Pineapple Beer!

Intro: Let's Make Some Pineapple Beer!

I've been making pineapple beer from a young age. Whenever I managed to salvage some pineapple peels before it went to the compost heap, I would drop it in a bowl with some water and sugar and let it stand. A few days later I had some sweet, pineapple flavoured water with a few bubbles. Delicious.

Forward a few years and things got a bit more precise. I started to experiment with quantities and different flavours to get the recipe just right — not only flavour and taste wise, but also to get a bit of buzz from the brew.

In the past I've used an enamel bucket my mother bought years ago for brewing ginger beer. It has a lid with a dome for ventilation and I got about 6 liters of brew from it. But for this Instructable I'm going to upscale everything and go for around 25 liters.

So let's begin...

STEP 1: What We Need

Ingredients

4 Pineapples (about 600g each). Make sure they are nice and ripe. Remove the crown and any loose leaves, but do not peel!

1 cup of sugar per liter of water, about 22 cups or 4kg

22 liters of very hot water

2 x 20g packets of granulated yeast (Brewer's yeast)

Equipment

25 liter container/fermentation tank

Blender (sort of optional)

Measuring cup and funnel

Cutting board and knife

Enough 2 liter plastic softdrink bottles to bottle your brew. I never fill my bottles to the top, so keep that in mind. (I do not recommend glass bottles. They can explode.)

Hydrometer (optional)

STEP 2: Before We Start...

Clean everything.

Use hot water and soap and clean everything. Your work area, your cutting board, knife and especially your fermentation tank, blender and bottles. Make sure no soap remains in the tank and bottles. Wash the pineapples under running water too.

We do not want unnecessary things to grow in our brew that can alter the flavour or even destroy the brew.

All set? Let's go!

STEP 3: Prepare the Pineapple Base

Note: using a blender is optional. I like to get as much flavour and juice out of the fruit. If you do not have access to a blender, just finely chop up the pineapple and collect as much juice from the cutting board.

Chop up a pineapple and put the pieces in the blender. Add 500ml boiling water and, starting with the Pulse function, blend into a smoothie. Pour into the fermentation tank. Repeat the process until all the pineapples are pulped and in the container. Now boil another liter of water and "wash" the blender to get every last bit of pineapple into your tank.

By now we have used 3 liters of water (4 x 500ml + 1 liter). That means we need to add 3 cups of sugar to the tank (since we use 1 cup of sugar per liter of water).

STEP 4: Filling the Tank

Now we can start adding the sugar and water. I start by adding 10 cups of sugar to the tank, followed by 10 liters of very hot water. *The water from your hot water tap is fine (if you can drink your tap water of course). The reason we use very hot water is that all chlorine has been evaporated (chlorine can kill the yeast). It also helps the sugar to dissolve.

Continue adding water and sugar until you reach the desired level in your tank. Do not overfill, when the brew starts to ferment, the gasses need to go somewhere.

Before we can add the yeast, the mixture needs to cool down.

* EDIT 2016/07/25: Online forums are divided whether you can use hot water from a tap or whether you should boil the water. I asked a homebrewer I know and he says boil. I've never had any problems with very hot tap water. So... up to you.

STEP 5: Adding the Yeast

When the temperature of the mixture reaches about 25-26°C you can add the yeast. If the mixture is too hot it can kill the yeast, too cold and it will not activate.

Put the cap loosely back on the tank. Do not tighten it — the gasses need to escape somewhere. An alternative is to put a clean dishcloth over the opening and keep it in place with a rubber band.

Optional: if you are using a hydrometer you need to take an Original Gravity reading after cooldown but before adding the yeast. (For interest sake, my brew's OG was 1.040.)

STEP 6: Ferment

Find a nice warm space for your fermentation tank. Leave it there for at least 7 days.

STEP 7: Bottling

After 7 days your brew should be ready for bottling. Take a bucket or any other container and cover it with a cheese cloth or clean dishcloth. I discovered something called mutton cloth and it works really well. Securely fasten the cloth with string. Put the bucket under your fermentation tank and drain your brew through the cloth.

If the bucket becomes full, transfer the liquid to the plastic bottles using a funnel. I use 2 liter bottles and fill it to where the neck part starts. After bottling, fermentation continues. If you want to vent the bottles from time to time or open a bottle to drink, this space will allow you some time to control the venting. Otherwise the brew will just explode out like a geyser.

After bottling, screw on the caps tightly. I leave the bottles outside for another few days to continue fermenting and only put it in the fridge before drinking.

STEP 8: Enjoy!

Put your brew in the fridge to cool down. Remember to take your time opening a new bottle. It needs to vent very slowly. Please take my word on this — I've spent too much time cleaning the floor, the roof, myself after rushing the opening. (Those "flowers" you can see on the photo means a lot of fermentation happened after bottling).

Enjoy!

STEP 9: One Last Note...

I'm adding an air lock (for venting) and a temperature strip to my fermentation tank. I've ordered it, but it has not arrived in time.

Since you've read this far, here's a bonus: you can use this recipe for ginger and apple beer as well. Substitute the pineapples for 750g fresh ginger or 2,5kg red apples (I haven't tried green apples yet). When making ginger beer, add 2 or 3 chillies to the mix. Well worth it.

I'm waiting for the mango season, because I really want to try mango beer...

Comments

[JacoG1]

Hi everyone, just a quick update. Today is Day 4 so we are halfway through the fermentation phase. Things are merrily bubbling away and it smells awesome. I am a bit concerned about the temperature, after all it is winter down here in South Africa. But as long as the yeast don't go into hibernation I'm happy.

[dylanvanderwalt75]

Hello Jaco .
Thank you so much for the receipt .

If i left my fermentation only for 4 days and then drink the beer will it work ?

[JacoG1]

Yes, but the longer you let it stand, the more kick you'll get.

[geraldinecb78]

An old thread I know but my best friend said I should put brew in sun for a bit with a towel over it! Started bubbling more aggressively. We are going into winter now so brought them inside after sunset.

[JacoG1]

Update #3. I won a runner-up prize in the Homebrew 2016 competition with this Instructable! Thanks for all the views, the comments and everybody who voted!

[JacoG1]

Hi everyone, quick update #2. Yesterday was (a very messy) bottling day. I updated the relevant step with photos. The spigot eventually clogged up, but I got a siphon just in case. Everything look and taste really good.

[Craig9110878]

Hello Mike came out really well. Love it. Just one thing it bubbled really nicely but as I drank it, it wasn't really fizzy/gassy? I did give it a swirl in its tank during fermentation. Don't know should it be fizzy/gassy or not really?

It had more of a 'mimosa' texture. Juice mixed with champagne.

Otherwise really really loved it. Punchy, fruity, sweet with a nice kick! ❤ 🥰

[LEONPUTTER]

Natural carbonation has a different mouth feel from co2 carbonated drinks. It will be less fizzy

[andre.g2mail]

Rather not use boiling water as I burnt myself(bright spark I am ). With it in the blender

[LEONPUTTER]

Try this instead.

Blend the ingredients in cold water, (because the warm water expands the air in the sealed blender. Thats a disaster waiting to happen)
Once its blended then put it in a pot and bring it to boil for 2 minutes. the boiling kills the natural yeast and bacteria. Once boiled throw it into your
sanitized fermenting bucket and bring the wart down to 24 degrees celcius before pitching your yeast. I use ice to speed the process Now you have a sanitised batch of pineapple beer in the making. No headaches, good, clean and safe drinking.

[Tonyoca]

Hi Jaco
I made the ginger beer and the Pineapple cider. Both gave me an instant headache after 1 glass. What am I doing wrong. Help 🙈

[LEONPUTTER]

Soubds like methanol. Throw away, clean your equipment and sanitise your equipment. always sanitize

[JacoG1]

No idea. If it doesn't taste right or you have any doubts, toss it. It normally takes quite a few glasses to give me a headache.

[Tonyoca]

Hi Jaco
My Cider has been fermenting for 7 days now. Can I leave it for longer. Or is it better to strain it and decant it now and let it continue fermenting in smaller bottles. Thanks.

[JacoG1]

Taste it. If it taste right, bottle it. I stick to seven days fermentation.

[Tonyoca]

Perfecto mundo 👍

[Lee-Anne10]

We made this but with less yeast and with bakers yeast as we could get brewers yeast. Still tasted great but barely had any gas? Is it suppose be like that? How can I get it to be more bubbly?

[LEONPUTTER]

To carbonate you have to seal the bottles during the second fermentation process.

[irenewhite855]

Hi busy making your pineapple beer, can you confirm that you don't have to stir daily, as your instructions don't make mention of that. Please confirm. Thank you

[JacoG1]

I never stir mine. I prefer to keep the whole thing closed (not sealed) for the fermentation stage to prevent unnecessary outside stuff getting inside that could contaminate everything.