Pineapple wine is an easy-to-make-at-home fruity wine that gets served for Christmas, Easter, or other family gatherings along with all the other wines, cocktails, and drinks. Here’s how we do it here in Bombay aka Mumbai.
Ingredients for the Homemade Pineapple Fruit Wine
But first, the list of ingredients we use.
800 grams pineapple
2 litres water
750 grams sugar
10 grams yeast – we use active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
50 ml warm water
2 pods vanilla – Optional
1 egg for clarification or 1 sheet veg gelatin or 5 drops milk – Optional
*reduce the amount of yeast and sugar you use as you increase the amount of wine
EQUIPMENT YOU MIGHT NEED TO USE
- Barni (Traditional Ceramic Jar)
- Demijohn
- Fermentation bucket
- Wooden Spoon
- Sieve
- Muslin Cloth
- Stainless steel pot
Steps to make Wine from Pineapple Fruit
Please make sure it is legal to make homemade wine in your city or country before you try out this recipe to make wine from pineapples.
Start by cleaning the pineapple and chopping it into small pieces. Get rid of any overripe pieces as these will make the wine bitter. Some people also use the skin of the pineapple to make wine, and you can too if you want to.
Proof the yeast by adding it to a bowl with sugar and 50 ml warm water and leaving it aside for 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, the yeast starts to bubble, which means it’s active.
In a large ceramic jar (we call them barnis) add your 2 litres of water and the 750 grams of sugar. Next, add in your proofed yeast and stir. Then add in the chopped pineapple and vanilla pods and stir with a wooden spoon.
On the first day, you might need to stir the wine 3 or 4 times to release the gasses as the levels rise.
After that, stir the must (wine mixture) daily to release the carbon dioxide. Oh, and try to be smarter than we are and use larger barnis. This picture is of the time when the wine almost overflowed because the carbon dioxide inside made the pineapples rise to the top and all the gas was pushing upwards.
Also, these barnis come with ceramic lids which are good to use. They will keep the oxygen out and help release the carbon dioxide slowly. If you’re not using barnis, tie a cloth around the top of your glass jar or cover it with a balloon.
And if you’re wondering whether you have to stir the wine, you don’t have to. But it’s recommended. Stirring the wine gets rid of the excess carbon dioxide that might be suffocating the yeast. It also gives them access to a bit of needed fresh oxygen, get rid of sulphites, and keep your sugars moving. You don’t need to know this, it’s just here if you’re interested. So carrying on…
We sometimes keep a small jug for testing outside, so that we can see how the wine is doing. It’s not a necessary step. Just depends on whether you want to see how the wine is progressing or not.
After 7 days of stirring, strain the wine into a large glass jar or steel vessel. This is Day 7 or Day 8.
Taste the wine to confirm that it’s fine. If it’s sweet and fruity, you’re good to go. If by chance, your pineapple has lent the wine some of its bitterness, you can back-sweeten the wine by adding in 200 grams or 250 grams of sugar. There’s no need to worry about it being seen. The remaining yeast will gobble up the sugar over the course of the next few days, and your wine can soon be on its way to your glass.
Note: *In case you’ve already bottled the wine before realizing it needs to be back-sweetened, use a funnel to add the sugar in spoon by spoon. This will reduce some of the bitterness, not all of it.
Now the important notes before bottling the wine on Day 14 or Day 15. When the wine is just formed, it’s quite cloudy. So take a glass or decanter and fill it with the pineapple wine, then add just a teaspoon of the white of an egg to it and stir well. Add this wine back to your glass jar or steel vessel and stir the wine. Next step is bottling it and waiting another 7 days to drink it! (The egg white will help the dregs settle and clarify the wine till it becomes clear like below by Day 21.)
If you’re worried about the wine becoming acidic, use half a teaspoon of baking soda instead of the egg white. This will both clarify the wine and reduce acidity.
If you’re a vegetarian and can’t use eggs, use a sheet of veg gelatin instead or 4 to 5 drops of milk or a pinch of baking soda to clarify the wine on Day 14 or 15. Don’t add too much, mind you! Then bottle in glass bottles and store.
(*Note: “Veg Gelatin” as it’s called in my country is made from carrageenan powder.)
And that’s it! Wait another week, and your wine is ready to drink. If you can’t wait for the wine to clarify, you can actually drink the wine now itself. It just depends on how much patience you have. Wink wink!
Homemade Pineapple Wine
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Ingredients
- 800 g Pineapple
- 2 l Water
- 750 g Sugar
- 10 g Active Dry Yeast Or Wine Yeast
To Proof The Yeast
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 50 ml Water Warm
Optional Ingredients
- 2 Vanilla Pods Optional
- 2 Dried Red Chillies Dried – Optional instead of vanilla pods.
- 1 teaspoon Egg Whites Optional (See notes for veg substitutes)
- 250 g Sugar If you need to back-sweeten the wine on Day 7 or 8
Instructions
To Proof The Yeast
- Add 1 tablespoon sugar and the 50 ml water to a small vessel or pot.
- Add in the yeast and stir briskly.
- Leave alone for 10 minutes till the yeast starts to bubble. (While the yeast is proofing, you can chop the pineapple.)
Prepare the Wine Must
- Pour 2 litres of water into your ceramic or glass jar along with the sugar.
- Chop your pineapple into small pieces and add to this jar.
- Add in the proofed yeast mixture.
- Add in two vanilla pods that you have slit open. (Optional)
- Stir the wine with a wooden spoon, cover and leave aside.
- On the first day, you may need to stir 3 or 4 times to release the excess carbon dioxide formed.
- On the next 7 days, stir once a day. (We usually do it every morning at the same time.)
- After 7 days, strain the wine into a large steel or glass jar. (Day 7 or 8)
- Taste a bit of the wine. If it's sweet, then perfect. If the pineapple has somehow turned the wine a tad bitter, back sweeten it by adding in another 200 or 250 grams of sugar. There's no need to stir too much, as the last of the yeast will eat the sugar over the course of the coming week.
Clarify The Pineapple Wine
- Take some of the pineapple wine in a small glass or decanter. (Day 14 or 15)
- Add in a teaspoon of egg white and stir well. If you're vegetarian, add in a sheet of gelatin or 5 drops of milk instead. *See notes.
- If you're worried about the wine being acidic, use half a teaspoon of baking soda instead of the egg white. This will both clarify the wine and reduce acidity.
- Add this mixture back to the pineapple wine and stir.
- Bottle the wine and leave aside for 7 days before drinking. This will take you through to Day 21. But if you don't want to wait, you can drink the wine on Day 14 itself.
- Chill and serve!
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Notes
- If you’re a vegetarian and can’t use eggs, add a sheet of veg gelatin to the wine mixture or 4 to 5 drops of milk to clarify the wine.
- The so-called Plant based gelatin or Veg gelatin in my country is made from carrageenan powder.
- If you’re worried about the wine being acidic, use a half teaspoon of baking soda instead of the egg white.
- If you can’t find vanilla pods, use dried red chillies.
- If you’re using stronger yeast, reduce the quantity used.
Nutrition (Per Serving)
Disclaimer: Nutrition Information per serving is estimated by a third party software based on the ingredients used, and is for informational purposes only. It will vary from product to product, based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients. Please consult the package labels of the ingredients you use, or chat with your dietician for specific details.
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I’m an East Indian foodie and travel blogger from Bombay, India. I love food, wine, and sharing my culture’s ethnic East Indian and traditional Indian recipes. You’ll find more info about me here!
I am currently on day 7 of pineapple wine following your recipe and using red chillies instead of vanilla. I love how it tastes so far! Thanks for a great recipe! If I were to make pineapple-ginger wine, would I just need to reduce pineapple by a certain amount and substitute that amount with crushed ginger, or would I need to make any additional changes to your pineapple wine recipe? Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks a lot!
Hi Rusha,
I haven’t made this mix before, but it’s approx 400 g of pineapple per litre of water, and 200 grams of ginger per litre. So say you’re making 4 litres, it would be 800 gms pineapple and 400 gms ginger. Increase or decrease amounts accordingly. Hope that helps.
Abby
Hello!! I checked the wine after 3 days it smells like vinegar. Is it supposed to be like that?
Hi Riz, in the middle of the first week, say day 3, 4, 5 it smells a bit like vinegar, but then changes to smelling sweeter as time progresses. If it changes, then it’s fine, if it continues to smell like that, then it’s a problem.
My pineapple wine has turned bitter. I have already sieved it. Is there any way to rectify the same. Thanks
Hi Glenda,
You can’t rectify it completely, but you can back-sweeten the wine a bit. Add about 200 to 250 grams of sugar to the entire batch and leave it alone for a week or two before tasting again. If you’ve already bottled the wine, use a funnel to add the sugar in spoon by spoon. This will reduce some of the bitterness, not all of it.
If you leave it alone for 6 months to a year, the bitterness will reduce even more.
Hope this helps,
Abby
Hay Abby thanks for the infomation i made it but it was n’t clear was it because i added tea bag
I don’t understand. Why did you add a tea bag to the pineapple wine? We don’t have tea in the recipe ingredients.
Thankyou for simplifying the wine making process. I followed your recipe but I think I added too much sugar. My wine tastes too sweet. Love the flavor otherwise. Is there some way I could reduce the sweetness ?? I am on day 15.
Thanks!
Hi Deepa,
It’s not really possible to reduce the sweetness at this stage. If you have the time, you could make another batch that’s less sweet, and once it’s ready mix the two batches together. That’s what’s usually done. 🙂
Alternatively, you could mix the wine with soda or sparkling water and serve!
Thankyou for the suggestions! I will Definitely try them out. My second batch is already on its way