pineapple upside down cream ale

[mtbrewer403]

back in february i got a challenge to make a cream ale based on pineapple upside down cake. took me awhile to figure out the recipie what grains to use what hops to use and how much of everything. well the grains were easy to figure out i just took a recipie and changed some stuff around. the hops were more difficult to choose finally settled on Denali and as soon as i opened the package knew i made the right choice. as soon as i opened it got this big pineapple aroma coming out of there when i brewed this yesterday.


anyway enough story time recipie goes like this here


MASH
1.5 lb 2-row
.2 lb flaked corn
.1 lb cherry smoked malt
1 cup pineapple

BOIL
.03 oz Denali at 60
.03 oz Denali at 30
.03 oz Denali at 10
1 cup pineapple at 10
.15 lb brown sugar at 0

heres the specs based on that brewers friend program


OG: 1.055
FG: 1.013
ABV: 5.57%
IBU: 19.3
SRM:4.71(Morey)


while it was mashing the aroma was real nice and then when the boil started and i put in the first batch of hops got even better. i dont know if im going to accomplish what im trying to do here but either way it should be a real good beer

 

[Jtk78]

Very interested in how this turns out. What temp did you mash at?

 

[mtbrewer403]

mashed at 152 F

 

[Redtab78]

subbed for follow-up, looking forward to hear the outcome!!

 

[Weezy]

At first glance I'm thinking, fruit and corn? Why? But you're barely 10% corn. Can you taste the corn? Why not a blond ale base or something? Maybe the corn is just overwhelmed by the smoke and pineapple? (If you can't taste corn, it's not a cream ale)

Also, you shouldn't use raw pineapple in beer. Use packaged and pasteurized, or fresh that is cooked. There are enzymes in pineapple that react badly with yeast.

Sorry to nitpick!

 

[mtbrewer403]

oh the pineapple was crushed canned

 

[mtbrewer403]

i did a cream ale base because thats what the person wanted and i did have to cut some of the corn out because for pineapple upside down cake you use brown sugar and since brown sugars a fermentable if i kept the corn where it was supposed to be it wouldve went over the abv range for cream ale style. i guess i didnt need to use the cherry smoked but once again for pineapple upside down cake you use those maraschino cherries and i didnt know how else to include the cherry in it. so there was another tenth of a pound that couldve gone to the corn


now i was going to do this as an ipa and shouldve done it as an ipa but the person im doing this for dosent like ipas and wanted a cream ale base

ok?


i took a pic while i was switching the blow off tube for the airlock. looks pretty good

 

[AkTom]

Looks good. I'm also interested in how it turns out. I might have to modify my coconut IPA to add pineapple. Hmmmm, Mmmm.

 

[mtbrewer403]

bottled it and had enough for a sample. the corn flavor did come thorough as well as the pine apple. if you ask me the two actually worked well together. didnt get much from the cherry smoked but i was expecting that

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I was also fortunate enough to get a "bottling day sample."

It was pretty darned good, indeed, and had a great, refreshing flavor that seems just about right this time of year, with some complexities that really made it interesting. The Denali hops were definitely an excellent choice for this.

We'll see how it is after bottle conditioning, but I think that mtbrewer403 came up with something pretty good!

 

[Redtab78]

I was also fortunate enough to get a "bottling day sample."

It was pretty darned good, indeed, and had a great, refreshing flavor that seems just about right this time of year, with some complexities that really made it interesting. The Denali hops were definitely an excellent choice for this.

We'll see how it is after bottle conditioning, but I think that mtbrewer403 came up with something pretty good!

I am curious as to the sweetness of it, did it have the "cake" feel at all?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Hi, RedTab -

I'm not sure if "sweetness" would be the right term, but there is definitely a maltiness that does indeed add up to a cake-like flavor and mouth-feel. We'll see how it develops as it conditions in the bottle, but I am guessing that it will still have this quality.

As mtbrewer403 mentioned, a little bit of cherry-smoked malt was added in an attempt to provide just a hint of the maraschino cherries that you would find in a pineapple upside-down cake...also to bring images of the dark, toasty edges of a pineapple upside-down cake that is baked in a cast-iron pan. We didn't quite catch any of these qualities, and in my opinion it would be interesting to see if a little more of the smoked malt would achieve this...but, once again, I would personally want to wait until after it conditions for 3 or 4 weeks before considering any significant changes to the idea.

All-in-all, this is a pretty good beer so far ~

 

[mtbrewer403]

hey just tried one after bottle for two weeks which is the norm. it had good head and head retention. and the corn flavor became more pronunced, you can hardly even taste the pineapple any more. in fact it does remind me more of a lager than an ale like a cream ale is supposed to do.

and sorry redtab no it does not have "sweetness" usually associated with cake. but i would recommend you do try it for yourself

 

[Fly_Guy]

I'm assuming this was for a 1 gallon batch? If so I found what I'm looking for and have a couple of ideas to mess with this...I'm in a 'lactose a beer that's not usually lactosed' challenge and have been craving some PUD cake.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

FlyGuy - keep us updated!

 

[Fly_Guy]

I did not realize how old this thread was as I got far too excited when I saw this but here's what I came up with. Since the OP mentioned there wasn't much toast-y bits I added some darker grains and decided to go with an Amber base. Also upped the smoke, going for that "cooked in a dutch oven pineapple upside down cake"
For a 2 gallon BIAB batch:
Stats from Brewers Friend
OG: 1.063
FG: 1.004
ABV: 7.74% (not counting any fruit sugars)
IBU: 38
SRM: 16.37

Mash for 40 minutes @ 151 then mash another 30 minutes at 158 bring temp to 170 for a "flame-out"
3.5 lbs 2-row
0.75 lbs Caramel 40
0.75 lbs Caracrystal Wheat
0.35 lbs Cherrywood Smoked Malt
0.25 lbs Flaked Oats

Boil
0.25 Oz of Zythos (out of denali) @ 60
0.25 Oz of Zythos @ 30
Pineapple and Cherry Juice at 10 minutes
0.15 lbs of brown sugar at 0 minutes
0.3 lbs of lactose at 0 minutes (may change this to at bottling)

Cooling
0.25 Oz of Zythos at 150 for 10 or 15 minutes for a hopstand/whirlpool
Cool to 80, transfer and pitch OYL-200 Tropical Ale yeast

Fermentation
Add frozen cherries and pineapples (If sample tastes good going into fermentor) otherwise I have a backup plan
After fruit fermentation is over, add 0.25 Oz of zythos and dry hop for 5 days.

Any and all thoughts are welcome. This is still a plan, my LHBS is out of a lot of stuff due to the quarantine...they have all of this right now though.