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Its my first time ever trying to brew some sort of beer. I decided to try making a 5 litre batch of pineapple beer. I added one pineapple, 1 kg of sugar, approx 5 litres of boiled water and 14 grams of dry bakers yeast. All inside a 5 litre plastic bottle with a make shift airlock made out of pens and plastic straws. I wrapped it in a blanket to keep it nice and toasty. I added the yeast at around 30-35 degrees celsius. What kind of results should i expect and how long should i let it ferment for? Ive read that 10 days should be okay but im not sure. What kind of strength will i be looking at alcohol % wise? Ive read pineapple beer can range from 1% to 5%

If anyone is interested i can post a pic of it later and keep yous updated on how it turns out.

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    There is not malt at all in your recipe? I have no experience with fruit only recipes, so please keep me posted, I am curious ;-)
    – Philippe
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 2:36
  • I read the result is a bit more like pineapple wine because theres no hops or anything. Apparently i read it can go up to even 15% apv depending on the yeast
    – Paddy
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 7:08
  • It's hard to estimate the strength without knowing the original gravity of the pineapple mixture before fermentation. Also, I'm not sure how alcohol tolerant bread yeast will be. I haven't had a lot of luck with bread yeast. I know some people have. Just know you may end up with pineapple vinegar. Sounds good though. I can't wait to hear if it turns out.
    – mreff555
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 14:23
  • What's the total volume of the must (after adding everything)? You have 1kg of sugar and a whole pineapple, then the total volume that it's dissolved in will tell us about what you'll end up with.
    – Mumble
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 14:31
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    I added the yeast at around 35 degrees and my container stays warm at im guessing around 25 degrees from the yeast respiring and the blanket insulating it. Im getting a lot of pleasant fruity smells if i go near it and co2 is constantly bubbling thru my diy airlock (basically tubing going from my container into a glass of water) so im guessing so far so good. Im going to let it ferment for atleast 7 days or until the bubbling stops. Im planing to make a makeshift filter by using coffee filters and some water and siphon my solution through it using some plastic tubing.
    – Paddy
    Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 23:27

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So you have about 1kg of table sugar, and about 60g of fructose from the pineapple in a total of 5 liters of water. That should put your OG at around 1.080-1.085, depending on just how much and how ripe the pineapple was.

Since it's all white sugars, we can assume that everything has the potential to ferment out completely leaving you with about 11-12% ABV with full attenuation.

However, you used bread yeast, which has an unknown alcohol tolerance. I know some people use dry bread yeast for meads and achieve relatively high ABVs, while others claim bread yeast have problems surpassing 5-6%. My opinion on the subject is that it'll depend on what exactly the yeast is, and we just don't know. You also didn't use nutritional supplements, which will leave your yeast in less than optimal health.

Due to the unknown nature of your yeast, your final ABV will also be unknown. Most yeast will do 5-6% without problems, but when we make beer/cider/mead up to and past ~10% we usually have to deliberately pick yeast with high alcohol tolerance to ensure we get there.

My guess would be that you reach the alcohol tolerance of your yeast, and end up with a somewhat sweet product somewhere around 6-10% ABV.

If you do something like this again, I'd suggest you use a white wine or sparkling wine yeast since it will handle the alcohol and be happier in a high sucrose+fructose environment than baking- or brewer's yeast.

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  • If beer yeast is anything to go by there will likly also be lots of esters at 35c (95f) pitch posibly also high in methanol or other alcohols. I would not be the first to taste this brew.
    – ElvishPriestley
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 9:59
  • There will be very little methanol in this concoction since most of the fermentables are table sugar. Pectin and cellulose from the pineapple could contribute some, but unless he destills it, I wouldn't be worried.
    – Mumble
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 10:25
  • So i should let my friends test it first ;). Im wondering whats the best way to bottle it after fermentation. I was thinking of lifting my contsiner up high and standing it on my desk. I am thinking of creating a filter by using plastic tubing and a bottle and then adding coffee filter to the bottle. I could then start siphoning my brew by first sucking on the tubing and sucking water into it and through the whole system. Then once the water is through the filter i should be able to insert the tubing into my brew and gravity should suction it through the filter. Will that work?
    – Paddy
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 17:00
  • Do not try to filter it. A "cold crash" in the fridge for a few days will encourage the yeast and proteins to flocculate out and sink to the bottom, then you can siphon clearish liquid carefully off the top. A coffee filter won't catch anything other that the plant matter, but that should sink to the bottom with the yeast anyway. You could also add about 1/4 tsp gelatin powder to 75ml of boilng water and add to the fermenter as you put it into the fridge. It will help clear up some of the proteins that are making up some of the haze.
    – Mumble
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 19:21
  • I have a situation where most of the pineapple matter is floating on top even though it was blended in boiled water beforehand. Heres an image m.imgur.com/mXT3Aiz
    – Paddy
    Commented Mar 27, 2017 at 21:31

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