Pineapple Melomel failure?

[spagnot]

I heard of B. Nektar doing a pineapple coconut mead from YouTube and I jumped in and gave it a try with not much to go off of. It's about 4 weeks old but already if was a very dry and bitter taste to it and somewhat watery consistency. I think it might need thrown out but I am giving it time to see what it does. I made a 1 gallon test batch with all Dole pineapple juice and no water. I used 2.5 pounds of Orange Blossom honey and the normal yeast nutrient additions as well as pectic enzyme. I used Lalvin 1116 yeast so I don't know why it's so dry already. In the beginning it did foam up pretty strong and popped the air lock off the top.
Let me know what I can do next time. Thanks.

 

[botigol]

What was the OG? What is the current SG? Is it bitter or very tart? Offhand, I would be betting on tart from the pineapple juice. Why don't you think that 1116 would take it to dry?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

I heard of B. Nektar doing a pineapple coconut mead from YouTube and I jumped in and gave it a try with not much to go off of. It's about 4 weeks old but already if was a very dry and bitter taste to it and somewhat watery consistency. I think it might need thrown out but I am giving it time to see what it does. I made a 1 gallon test batch with all Dole pineapple juice and no water. I used 2.5 pounds of Orange Blossom honey and the normal yeast nutrient additions as well as pectic enzyme. I used Lalvin 1116 yeast so I don't know why it's so dry already. In the beginning it did foam up pretty strong and popped the air lock off the top.
Let me know what I can do next time. Thanks.

You used pure, undiluted pineapple juice? I think that's the problem right there. Pineapple juice is far too acidic to use without diluting it. Oh it might still ferment, but it'll be so tart that you won't be able to drink it. You should be able to salvage this by diluting with water or doing some acid reduction with calcium carbonate. You could also attempt to stabilize & backsweeten.

The reason it's so dry is the yeast. It ate all the sugar & wants more. KV1-1116 is often referred to as the "killer" yeast. It can ferment as high as 18% ABV. So it ate all the sugar out of your juice.

If you want to make a pineapple melomel in the future, I think your best bet would be to simply make a standard mead & add fruit to secondary or tertiary. Far easier & much more reliable that way.
Regards, GF.

 

[Matrix4b]

I always put pineapple in the secondary. Using real fruit in a mesh bag. The must usually breaks the pineapple down to a kinda ropey pulp that resembles a wet yellow towel. I have found that pineapple has a lot of liquid in it.

Matrix