Pineapple wine

[csypulski]

I am a beginner wine maker and have not any success in my previous attempts. I am making 1 gallon of pineapple wine out of pineapple juice. I put the wine into a glass secondary about a week ago. I’m on the step where it says once it reaches a S.G. Of 1.000 to siphon it into another glass secondary, which they say about 3 weeks it should take. The 3 weeks shouldn’t have been up until the 30th. There are a few bubbles coming up in the glass. A few bubbles in the airlock every 2 minutes or so.

When I tested it today it was 0.990. Did I mess it up or do I re-rack it to get it to clear more? Any recommendations??

Pineapple Wine (from the winemaker’s recipe handbook)
1 gallon pineapple juice
5 pts water
2 lb sugar
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1 campden, crush
1 pkg wine yeast

METHOD: Select fully ripe pineapples. Cut off stalk and outside rind. 1. Cut in half and remove hard core. Chop in small pieces. Put in nylon straining bag, mash and squeeze out juice into primary termen- tor. Keeping all pulp in bag, tie top and place in primary. With pineapple juice (recipe 80) this work is already done. 2. Stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT yeast. Cover primary. 3. After 24 hours, add yeast. Cover primary. 4. Stir daily, check S.G and press pulp lightly to aid extraction. 5. When ferment reaches S.G. 1.040 (3-5 days) strain juice lightly from bag. Syphon off wine sediment into glass secondary. Attach airlock. 6. When ferment reaches 1.000-- (about 3 weeks) syphon off sediment into clean secondary. Reattach lock. 7. To aid clearing syphon again in 2 months and again if necessary before bottling.

Wine in Jug:
Checking the S.G.:
Video of wine bubbling:

 

[Ohio Bob]

The bubbles indicate you are still generating CO2 so the wine is protected. You will need that since you seem to have possibly a not-full jug. Also see a fair amount of lees, probably the pineapple pulp dropping out. If it was mine I would rack provided I have more juice or wine to top off. Since you are still generating CO2 that might be the best tactic. If you let it go another week(s) you will need wine/juice to top off and Kmeta and the CO2 might be going away.

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome to WMT. At 0.990 the wine is probably about done fermenting. It will continue off gassing CO2 for a while. I also would siphon into a clean secondary and top up with more pineapple juice (a bottle from the store would be fine), air lock it then let it sit in a cool dark place for a few months.

After it clears you will need to siphon it off again, then add sorbate and back sweeten to taste to bring out the pineapple flavor.

I’m curious, why have your other attempts been failures?

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

A few things to know. Wine is not necessarily able to be made on a schedule. its not the same for every ferment. Your best friend is that hydrometer during the early stages. You did good moving to secondary under airlock at 1.000.
usually when it hits 1.010 or lower it’s time to move to secondary this can happen in 6 days, or it could happen in 9 days etc.

the fact that it went from 1.000 to 0.990 Is a good thing. That tells you those bubbles were fermentation happening. Now that it’s at .990 it is probably done fermenting out and has eaten up as much sugar as possible for the yeast. it could go lower by a bit. It may still bubble, but it would likely just be C O2

pineapple takes a long time to clear. Patience may do it, but maybe a fining agent will be necessary. its Been in secondary for a week or so. Personally I would consider racking it off the lees now ( I can see about 3/4 to an inch on the bottom. Some of the sages here say leave it for 3 weeks. That next racking will help clear it a little, time will help as well.

also some excellent info in the above replies. It looks fine.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!

With more experience you'll learn to ignore the calendar. You're not going to ruin anything if it's done a little earlier or later.
Recipes are guidelines and they don't have to be followed exactly or the world will end.
I think your pineapple is going to be alright!

I'm curious also why your other attempts didn't work. Tell us more! Perhaps we can identify what went wrong.

 

[sour_grapes]

You are doing well.

Welcome to WMT!

 

[winemaker81]

Welcome to WMT!!!

The advice provided so far is spot on. One thing you can do -- after racking top with a mild tasting white wine, e.g., Pinot Grigio. That will fill the container and will not affect the flavor of the pineapple much, if at all.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT! I am going to start my own pineapple wine soon. Yours looks great so far!

 

[csypulski]

Welcome to WMT. At 0.990 the wine is probably about done fermenting. It will continue off gassing CO2 for a while. I also would siphon into a clean secondary and top up with more pineapple juice (a bottle from the store would be fine), air lock it then let it sit in a cool dark place for a few months.

After it clears you will need to siphon it off again, then add sorbate and back sweeten to taste to bring out the pineapple flavor.

I’m curious, why have your other attempts been failures?

Thank you for the helpful tips. I think I was just very unexperienced and didn't ask for help. I am sure the previous wines would have been fine if I asked for help in the first place after reading all these helpful tips on the forum. A few more questions:

1. I also have a peach wine going about the same stage that my pineapple wine is at. You recommended to siphon it off again and add pineapple juice to top it off. Would that be essentially the same thing with the peach like peach juice or nectar?

2.After you said to let it clear, you advised to add sorbate and back sweeten it. The recipe I followed from the book says to add Stabilizer then add sugar. Do you prefer sorbate over stabilizer? What's the difference?

 

[csypulski]

I am a beginner wine maker and have not any success in my previous attempts. I am making 1 gallon of pineapple wine out of pineapple juice. I put the wine into a glass secondary about a week ago. I’m on the step where it says once it reaches a S.G. Of 1.000 to siphon it into another glass secondary, which they say about 3 weeks it should take. The 3 weeks shouldn’t have been up until the 30th. There are a few bubbles coming up in the glass. A few bubbles in the airlock every 2 minutes or so.

When I tested it today it was 0.990. Did I mess it up or do I re-rack it to get it to clear more? Any recommendations??

Pineapple Wine (from the winemaker’s recipe handbook)
1 gallon pineapple juice
5 pts water
2 lb sugar
1/2 tsp acid blend
1/4 tsp tannin
1 campden, crush
1 pkg wine yeast

METHOD: Select fully ripe pineapples. Cut off stalk and outside rind. 1. Cut in half and remove hard core. Chop in small pieces. Put in nylon straining bag, mash and squeeze out juice into primary termen- tor. Keeping all pulp in bag, tie top and place in primary. With pineapple juice (recipe 80) this work is already done. 2. Stir in all other ingredients EXCEPT yeast. Cover primary. 3. After 24 hours, add yeast. Cover primary. 4. Stir daily, check S.G and press pulp lightly to aid extraction. 5. When ferment reaches S.G. 1.040 (3-5 days) strain juice lightly from bag. Syphon off wine sediment into glass secondary. Attach airlock. 6. When ferment reaches 1.000-- (about 3 weeks) syphon off sediment into clean secondary. Reattach lock. 7. To aid clearing syphon again in 2 months and again if necessary before bottling.

Wine in Jug:
Checking the S.G.:
Video of wine bubbling:

Alright so I siphoned it into another carboy to separate the lees. Do I fill the rest up with pineapple juice?

 

[Jovimaple]

Yes, definitely top it off. Kit wine instructions say to fill the carboy to within 2 inches of the airlock to minimize headspace.

 

[ChuckD]

. The recipe I followed from the book says to add Stabilizer then add sugar. Do you prefer sorbate over stabilizer? What's the difference?

I believe Sorbate and wine stabilizer are the same thing. There is also wine conditioner that has sugar and stabilizer in one package. I have only used sorbate.

You need to top up with something. Water is an option if the volume is small. Some
Use a similar or light white wine. If you use pineapple juice you will probably kick off fermentation again but that’s ok. If you are already at the limits of your yeast it may sweeten the wine.

Before bottling most people back sweeten to bring out the fruit flavors. Do this to taste. And take it slow. Especially if you like a dryer wine.

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

That’s a lot to fill. I would use a little white wine in place of all the pineapple juice or find a 2 smaller containers

 

[winemaker81]

Do you prefer sorbate over stabilizer? What's the difference?

Wine is stabilized with potassium sorbate + potassium metabisulfite, which prevent yeast from reproducing.

Commercial stabilizers probably contain the same.

I prefer to add my own, as then I know for sure what I'm adding.

 

[BigDaveK]

Wow, that's a lot left in the bottle!

This early in the process and with that much headspace I would pour the lees through a sanitized brew bag or multiple layers of cheese cloth. You could save a lot of liquid. This early it won't matter if a bit of sediment gets back into the wine.

Probably a moot point, though, and you've disposed of the lees.

Plan B - consider a smaller container.

 

[Michael Kusenko]

A few things to know. Wine is not necessarily able to be made on a schedule. its not the same for every ferment. Your best friend is that hydrometer during the early stages. You did good moving to secondary under airlock at 1.000.
usually when it hits 1.010 or lower it’s time to move to secondary this can happen in 6 days, or it could happen in 9 days etc.

the fact that it went from 1.000 to 0.990 Is a good thing. That tells you those bubbles were fermentation happening. Now that it’s at .990 it is probably done fermenting out and has eaten up as much sugar as possible for the yeast. it could go lower by a bit. It may still bubble, but it would likely just be C O2

pineapple takes a long time to clear. Patience may do it, but maybe a fining agent will be necessary. its Been in secondary for a week or so. Personally I would consider racking it off the lees now ( I can see about 3/4 to an inch on the bottom. Some of the sages here say leave it for 3 weeks. That next racking will help clear it a little, time will help as well.

also some excellent info in the above replies. It looks fine.

Amen to that. Wine doesn’t go by the schedule. I think that is the hardest things to learn.

 

[RRRwine]

Good luck with Pineapple. I have done a LARGE amount years ago and it produced something drinkable but.....and I compared it to more expensive pineapple wine brought back from Hawaii...and mine was about the same...not a taste I could find a lot of people cared for.

 

[csypulski]

Alright another update on the wine. This is about a week and a half later after I siphoned it from the lees last time.

When do I know you when the wine is done? Is it done when you don’t get anymore lees?

Do I siphon it again and fill it with a white wine to fill it up?

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

I see some bubbles there. It could be releasing co2.

let it sit like it is for another week or more. It’s starting to clear nicely.

 

[BigDaveK]

Looking good!
Waiting can be aggravating but the flavor and appearance will improve.
I agree, wait a week or two, rack. Wait some more, rack.
Yes, generally no more lees means it's "done".