# Canned Pineapple Wine.



## UglyBhamGuy (May 19, 2010)

i have gathered up all the ingredients for Jack Keller's Canned Pineapple wine.
i did buy double the pineapple (from listening in these forums)
Anyone think of any other tweaks i might wanna make?

CANNED PINEAPPLE WINE

* 2 16-oz cans crushed pineapple
* 2 lbs granulated sugar
* 1 11.5 oz can Welch's 100% White Grape Juice frozen concentrate
* 7 pts water
* 1 tsp acid blend
* 1 crushed Campden tablet
* ½ tsp pectic enzyme
* ¼ tsp tannin
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* 1 pkt Champagne wine yeast 

Drain juice from fruit and add juice to water. Stir sugar into water until dissolved. Pour pineapple into nylon straining bag and tie closed. Put bag in primary and add all ingredients except pectic enzyme and yeast. Stir well, cover primary, and set aside for 12 hours. Add pectic enzyme, recover and set aside another 12 hours. Add activated yeast and ferment 5 days, stirring daily. Remove nylon straining bag and allow to drip drain without squeezing. Discard pulp and continue fermenting until specific gravity falls to 1.025. Rack into secondary and fit airlock. Rack, top up and refit airlock every 60 days for 6 months. Stabilize and sweeten to taste if desired. Wait 10 days and, if stable, rack into bottles. May taste after 6 months. [Recipe adapted from Terry Garey's The Joy of Home Winemaking]


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

off the top of my head ..

I'd not let the initial SG be higher than 1.080..

Jacks recipes are often too high in sugar.

edited to add..

I'd just put the juice, bagged pineapple, campden tablet, water, tannin, nutrient, concentrate and pectin together in the primary. leave for 24 hours..take the unsugared must SG.. just for curiosity sake..( I'd actually like to know what the natural SG is anyway) ..

then dissolve in the sugars to required SG.

and pitch yeast/starter.

that way you get 24 hours of the enzyme working before the active yeast interferes with it.

Allie


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

meant to ask..

Curiosity again..

are you using pineapple in natural juice or syrup?

Allie


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 19, 2010)

Natural Juice. Two 20oz rings in own juice (Del Monte) & two 20oz crushed in its own juice (Great Value/WalMart). i was worried about the 2 cans of Del Monte not being enough and then i noticed they were rings so i bought something comparably priced in crushed. The Del Monte was only available in rings for $1 a can. Both brands list ingredients of only Pineapple and Pineapple Juice.

Sorry, i go off on tangents sometimes... (Ex: First trip to the homebrew store for father and son.)
So take the initial SG after the 24 hours?

i have read several different recipes from across the Interwebs, and noted alot of similarities with what may be tweaks done to each one.

2 tsp of acid blend (as opposed to above 1 tsp) - http://www.crfg.org/
.5 tsp pectic enzyme (.25 tsp -above) - http://honeycreek.us/
.5 tsp tannin (.25 - above) - http://www.crfg.org/

Would it hurt to make each of these changes? You know, just going with the higher amount of each of those. Any that i should other than these? Do you suggest more on any of these, or other?


There i go again.
Douglas.

EDIT: The external recipe links now go straight to the recipe.


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

recipe tweaks are a personal thing, you will naturally start to tweak your wines through experience.. this is the first time you have made this particular recipe.. when you make it a second time.. you will start to play with additions.. keep good notes, it really helps..

.. I don't know what you prefer in a wine..

if it was mine.. I'd up the pectin to a teaspoon.. I just use a teaspoon per gallon of wine as a standard measure anyway..

for tannin I'd add a cup of strong black tea, two bags in a cupful of hot water does the trick ( I don't have any powdered and a good strong ceylon tea works fine)

again I don't use acid blend or an acid tester for fruit wines..

my thoughts for this particular recipe, is that pineapple is naturally acidic.. so I wouldn't add anything there. Taste it though and add a bit of lemon juice if you like.. that's basically a natural citric acid with a bit of flavour to add to the mix.

hope this helps.

Allie


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

you could take the initial SG and also take it again after 24 hours, before adding the sugar.. I do like to mess about taking readings..

just to see what is happening.. 
(that may not be of interest to you lol)

Allie


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## winemaker_3352 (May 19, 2010)

I would suggest getting/using a hydrometer for SG readings - this will help you in the sugar addition - as allie indicated keep the starting SG no higher than 1.085.

Note: I use the hydrometer that has the thermometer as well - that way you can accurately measure the SG at the given temp of the must.

I would also suggest getting/using an Acid Test Kit - this will allow you to measure the must's acidity - and you can add Acid Blend accordingly.

A fruits sugar and acidity levels can very.


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

hehehehe..

Yes, I tend to 'wing it' a bit and go by taste, not the most scientific way to do it.

An acid testing kit is something that is very useful and I should really buy one next time I have a bit of spare cash.

Allie


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## winemaker_3352 (May 19, 2010)

Well i suppose if one has been doing it long enough - you can get away with winging it. I know I am not at that stage yet. I rely on my readings still.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 19, 2010)

i have 2 hydrometers (someone said i should have at least 2 of anything that is breakable, lol) and an acid titration kit the latter i didn't like the first time i used it (red wine, hard to notice change), but this is a light colored wine and may be easier to see the change.


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## winemaker_3352 (May 19, 2010)

Yeah - i don't know about red wines - all i have done is white - and this year have done apple spice and strawberry - they both did fine with the color change.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 19, 2010)

mixed all except acid blend, sugar and yeast.
1.030 pre-sugar.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 19, 2010)

should i adhere to the "no squeezing when removing the bag" instruction?
what harm could it cause that time to clear (or a fining agent) wouldn't solve?
unless... the pulp is just disintegrating from being eat up by the yeasties.

i sqoze (LOL, sqoze) the bag to break up the rings and extract a little juice from them in the beginning. ::

i need to check and see how much actual juice there is when adding the sugar, i can't help but think it is more than a gallon, how much will affect the sugar added to reach target SG. 

Egads, i love WineCalc!
</shameless plug>


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## Tom (May 19, 2010)

UglyBhamGuy said:


> mixed all except acid blend, sugar and yeast.
> 1.030 pre-sugar.


Download WineCalc from Google search. This program will tell you how much sugar to add to get 1.085


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## St Allie (May 19, 2010)

I squeeze too lol..


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 20, 2010)

Which must make it okay. You are the "Queen Goddess of Fruit Wines" on WMT.


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## St Allie (May 20, 2010)

UglyBhamGuy said:


> Which must make it okay. You are the "Queen Goddess of Fruit Wines" on WMT.



hehehehe..

I'll get my tiara out of the safe!

I can wear a tiara whilst scrubbing labels off bottles ..right?..


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 20, 2010)

what yeast do you recommend? 
from the following:

red star montrachet
red star pasteur champagne
red star premier cuvee
lalvin ec-1118

the montrachet scares me because the yeast has the opportunity to be stressed a bit in this, i think.


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## St Allie (May 20, 2010)

I only have access to Lalvin yeasts and cider/beer yeasts

EC1118.. so that's what I'd use..


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## winemaker_3352 (May 20, 2010)

I use Lavlin ICV-D47 for everything-has worked well on all my grape, strawberry, and apple spice wine.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 20, 2010)

Added 3.25 cups (1.625 lbs.) to bring SG to 1.082-ish. 
pitched the 1118.
how soon after fermentation starts should i start checking SG and how often after that?


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## St Allie (May 20, 2010)

Unless you want to take daily SG readings for your own notes.. you can leave it about 5 days before checking it... depending on how warm it is where you are.

Your original recipe recommends straining the pulp out after 5 days anyway. That would be a good time to check it and move it into a secondary as most of the vigorous fermentation should be over.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 20, 2010)

i had to forget something, i knew i would so i added a tsp of acid blend last night, to be safe.
tonight, after i pitched the yeast, i checked the acid with an acid titration kit.
15 ccs must.
4 drops indicator.
one cc - pinkish then back to yellowish.
next cc - stays pink.
2ccs equals .20%, right?
and i am shooting for .60-ish%? that's 4 more tsp!
should i add that much more?

oh and did i kill the yeast putting them in this?

EDIT: and can i go ahead and put this under airlock? (kids, animals, etc.)


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## St Allie (May 20, 2010)

Tom will have to answer the TA testing.. as I don't have a kit .. or a clue!

adding the acid blend won't cause your yeast any problems.. it's basically like adding lemon juice.

you can airlock your primary.. remember to open it up and stir daily though.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 20, 2010)

i haven't had a good time with it myself, having used it twice now with crap results.


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

A balanced wien is...
THE CONCEPT OF BALANCE IN WINE 

This is a concept that on the surface seems very simple, but that turns out to be quite challenging. It is important to have some familiarity with what balance entails if you are to become a good wine taster. 

Balance in wine refers to the interaction and harmony between two or more of the wine's constituents. By far the most straightforward balance is that between sugar and acidity. Not all wines, of course, have residual sugar, though all have some acidity. Sugar-acid balance is thus limited to wines which have an interplay between these two elements. 

There is no accurate formula for calculating the perfect acid-sugar balance in a wine, despite the fact that there are some people who advance that very notion. In its simplest sense, a wine which has a good acid-sugar balance tastes neither too sweet nor too acidic: the sugar exists in the right quantity for the acid, and vice versa. 

By extension, a wine which is out of balance has either too much acid or too much sugar. There are plenty of off-dry-to-sweet white wines on the market which are more or less out of balance. A wine with too little sugar for its acid will taste harsh, sharp and acidic; the evolution of flavors in the mouth will be interrupted by the sensation of acidity. A wine with too much sugar will taste cloying, sugary and flabby, and will not refresh the palate. 

Some wines have too much sugar and acid. They are often the result of a winemaker trying to balance a high acid with additions of sugar. These wines don't work, because the other elements if the wine, especially 'extract', don't match the sugar and acid. Experienced tasters often describe such wines as having a 'sweet-tart' character. 

The balance between astringency (tannins) and acidity in red wines is of paramount importance. French enologist Emile Peynaud, in his book The Taste of Wine, makes the following points: 

* the less tannic a wine is, the more acidity it can support
* the higher a red wine is in tannins, the lower should be its acidity
* the combination of high acid and high tannins make for the hardest and most astringent wines

Another important balance is that between alcohol on the one hand, and acidity and astringency on the other. This is obviously most relevant to red wines. Too little alcohol will cause the acidity and astringency to dominate, making the wine harsh and thin. Too little acid and astringency will cause a wine to taste overly soft, heavy and flabby, with the spirity quality of the alcohol playing too much of a role. Back to Emile Peynaud: 

* a wine tolerates acidity better when its alcohol content is higher
* a considerable amount of tannin is more acceptable if acidity is low and alcohol is high

These concepts find very useful application during the barrel-aging of red wines. It is often found that a young Pinot, for example, tastes vaguely out of balance with regard to alcohol, acid and tannins. Small additions of acid to a laboratory sample seem to improve the wine. But what it really needs is more time in barrel, to pick up some tannins from the oak. After eight months or so the low acid becomes not only acceptable but desirable. 

In some wines, notably those from Alsace, there is an interplay between small amounts of sweetness and bitterness. Remove the sugar, and the bitterness becomes too apparent; remove the bitterness, and the sweetness (exacerbated by low acid and high alcohol) will play too much of a role in the finish. Alsatian wines in some ways redefine the concept of balance. 

Flavor intensity, sometimes referred to as extract, exists in balance with sweetness. Good late harvest wines, as well as sweet fortified wines, have an enormous amount of extract to give the wine interest. This is how such wines can be almost syrupy sweet while still managing to finish dry - a seemingly contradictory situation. These wines also have lots of astringency to aid in this effect. Australian wine tasters refer to the flavor intensity which balances sweet wines as 'lusciousness'. 

Other aspects of wines which exist in balance are oak vs. fruit and age vs. youth. As you can imagine these are almost entirely in the realm of subjective response; some tasters love very oaky wines, while others would call the same wines horribly unbalanced. Whole nations can exhibit a preference for one character over another - in Great Britain, for example, there has traditionally been a strong leaning toward wines with extreme bottle age. To these drinkers a wine showing any fruit flavors is one which needs more cellaring. 

The temperature at which a wine is served can have a dramatic effect on the balance of its various elements. Low temperatures make tannins seem much more apparent - try chilling a full-bodied red wine down sometime to demonstrate this to yourself. Most people find that wine tastes less acidic at a low temperature. Sweet wines taste sweeter at higher temperatures, and by extension slightly sweet wines, served cold, will generally be perceived as dry. 

High temperatures tend to make the alcohol in wine more apparent. This can be a problem with red wines drunk in the summertime - the alcohol, being very volatile, will spoil both the nose and the palate of the wine.


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

How it works,

How to Use an Acid Testing Kit 
Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Technorati Tags : Wine, Wine_Making, Acid, Testing
Bookmark at Del.icio.us

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How to Measure Acidity Using a Titration Kit

One of the simplest and most effective ways to measure T.A. in wine is by the titration method, which uses an inexpensive titration or acid test kit. These test kits can be purchased for as little as $6.00 and can be used over and over again.
If you took chemistry in high school, you'll probably remember that titration is a process where you determine the concentration of an unknown substance in a liquid (in our case, we are looking for the amount of acid in must or wine) by slowly adding a small amount of reagent (a base called sodium hydroxide - NaOH - whose chemical concentration is known) until a change in color occurs due to the presence of an indicator (phenolphthalein).
To begin the test, you will draw a 15 cc sample (one cc equals one ml) of must into a test tube. Most test tubes that come with the acid test kits are marked with a line indicating this volume. If not, no sweat. Just use a small plastic syringe (provided) to precisely measure the desired amount into the test tube, and be sure to rinse the syringe afterwards.
Next, put about 3 drops of phenolphthalein indicating solution into the test tube. Swirl or shake the test tube so the indicator is mixed in with the must.
Using the syringe, draw out 10 cc of reagent (sodium hydroxide), making sure there are no bubbles in the liquid. Be careful to avoid contact with your skin or eyes. This NaOH stuff burns something awful!
Very carefully, add the sodium hydroxide to the test tube 0.5 cc at a time. After each addition, swirl or shake the test tube to mix the contents together. You'll notice that the color of the liquid will momentarily change upon the addition of reagent. If you are testing white wines, the color change will be pink; if testing reds, the color change will be gray. Just swirl and swirl until the color subsides. So long as the color of the must goes back to the original color, repeat this step until the color change is permanent.
When the color (either pink or gray) DOESN'T go away, stop and determine the amount of reagent used. From here, it is very simple to determine the acidity of your must. For each cc of reagent used, this equals 0.1 % TA.
For example, if you used 6 cc of sodium hydroxide to react with the must, the titratable acidity of your must is 0.6 %.
Pretty simple, eh? Just remember to throw away your sample, since this stuff is toxic. DO NOT add it back into your must or wine.
Lastly, wash and dry your test equipment before storing it away.
Article from Grapestompers


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 20, 2010)

i added 2 tsp blend and waited and just retested and it used 3ccs. .30%

would adding it 1cc instead of .5cc at a time make that much of a difference?
i can see if i were at the least close like 5.5cc ans 6cc, but im looking at 3cc.

either way, can i not retest at racking to secondary (5 days or so) and add blend then?
or will that cause an off taste (mediciney) ?


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## Tom (May 20, 2010)

Yes retest when U can


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## winemaker_3352 (May 21, 2010)

generally i think 1tsp will raise the acidicity .15%.

I when my acid is low - i add 1 tsp at a time - each time taking another acid reading. This will give you an idea how much the acid level is raising per tsp.

And you can accurately get to .60.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 21, 2010)

i believe that the must is more than 1 gallon.
yeah, that may be why 1tsp isn't doing as much as i thought it should.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 21, 2010)

Well the yeast obviously made it, i have "blooping" (technical term) every 8 seconds or so.


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## UglyBhamGuy (May 24, 2010)

The airlock was bubbling as fast as every second or so this weekend. it was just about every 3 seconds today when i went home for lunch. i checked the SG and it was less than 1.010, so i plan to rack to secondary tonight.
barring any negative posts, i will be squeezing the bag.
i figure i have more than a gallon coming out of primary, so i got a #2 drilled stopper for a bottle to handle the "top up".

How close to the stopper should i be? Will this be the same for the 1 gallon secondary as it is for the 750ml "topper upper"?

i will be doing a TA test after the racking? Or should i wait? The last TA was around 5. i thought that this was weird after i had added 5tsp, and wanted to wait.

Should this be "splash racked"? i have some telling me to avoid air when racking, and others saying i need to aerate it when i rack it.

When should i worry about degassing?


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## UglyBhamGuy (Jun 21, 2010)

i bottled this last night after "cold crashing" in the fridge for about 2 weeks. it actually did seem to help with the clearing (it probably would have cleared anyway, but...LOL).

I decided to bottle it dry and let people sweeten to their liking with syrup at opening.


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## Skylarkpilot (Sep 7, 2013)

I know this is an old post, but as I'm about to try this recipe (just doing everything x 5) I was wondering how it turned out ?
My first attempt at wine from fruit over the past two weeks has been an abject failure. Greengage must simply refused to ferment and I still have no idea why. Hey ho, hopefully a pineapple wine will work.


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## UglyBhamGuy (Sep 10, 2013)

it was good, watch the acid


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