Pineapple Moonshine Recipe


Following this Pineapple Moonshine recipe will allow you to make perfect distillate with a discreet pineapple fragrance. With the right approach, you’ll be able to get as much pineapple aroma as possible while retaining a mild taste.

Theory. Ripe pineapples contain up to 15% of sugar. That means that 2.2 lbs/1 kilo of pulp can yield up to 165 ml of 40% ABV moonshine. Given that the raw materials quite expensive in order to increase the amount of distillate you can to add beet sugar—additional 2.2 lbs/1 kilo will yield 1.1-1.2 liters (40% ABV). But the more sugar you add the less exotic aroma and taste the moonshine will have. That’s why it is necessary to look for the happy medium.

Distillers yeast allow making a wash that will ferment in about 4-7 days, but the smell of moonshine will be noticeably worse. It’s more desirable to use raisin ferment or wine yeast as it’s the most efficient option. Although, this will significantly increase fermentation time—up to 25-50 days. If you have time I advise you to prepare a raisin ferment 3-4 days before working with pineapples or using wine yeast.

Ingredients:

  • Pineapples – 4.4 lbs/2 kilos
  • Sugar – 1-2.2 lbs/0.5-1 kilo (optional)
  • Water – 5 liters and another 4 liters per 2.2 lbs/kilo of sugar
  • Yeast (Distillers yeast or Wine yeast)

Pineapples require more water than any other fruit wash because you need to decrease the acidity of wort.

Pineapple Wash Recipe

  1. Keep the pineapples in a freezer for 3-4 days in order to break down the acids which prevent fermentation.
  2. Defrost the pineapples. Cut off the top and bottom parts—they might cause bitterness of the moonshine.
  3. Peel the pineapples unraveling soft pulp. Cut off any spoilt parts.
  4. Cut the pulp into pieces and then mince them.

If your moonshine still is equipped with a steam dome you can freeze 3.5-5.2 oz/100-150 grams of the pulp to use it later during distillation to give the distillate more flavor.

  1. Put minced pineapples into a fermentation container.
  2. Add sugar and stir. Leave it for 45-60 minutes (but don’t forget about it as the mixture will go sour) for better juicing. If you’re making pineapple wash without sugar ignore this step.
  3. Add water and dissolved yeast (ferment). It’s better to leave at least 25% of free space for foam.
  4. Stir the wash and install an airlock on the neck of the vessel.

Fermentation with a homemade airlock

  1. Transfer the pineapple wash into a dark place (or cover it) with a temperature of 18-28°C. Depending on the yeast used, amount of sugar and temperature fermentation will last for 4-50 days. The process is considered finished when the air lock stops bubbling (emitting gas) or the glove deflates, there’s a layer of sediment at the bottom, and the wash itself becomes noticeably lighter and a bit bitter without any sweetness (that’s the most important sign).

How to Prepare Pineapple Moonshine

  1. Filter the wash through several layers of cheesecloth or thick fabric and squeeze the pulp well. If you skip filtering solid particles might burn during the heating.
  2. Pour the wash into a moonshine still. Distill the wash for the first time without separating into fractions. Finish the distillation when ABV goes below 25%.
  3. Measure ABV of the distillate. Calculate the volume of pure alcohol: ABV percentage times volume in liters and divided by 100.Dilute the moonshine with water up to 18-20%. Don’t perform the charcoal filtering or any other form of filtering in order to save the characteristic smell.
  4. Run the second distillation. Gather separately the first 12-15% of the pure alcohol calculated at the previous step. This harmful part is called “heads.”
  5. Put the frozen pulp into the steam dome (optional). Gather the middle run (“hearts”) until ABV goes below 40%. After that finish the distillation process and gather separately the last fraction called “tails.” If you used the frozen pulp in the steam dome the final beverage might become slightly yellow.
  6. Dilute the obtained pineapple moonshine with water to get the required ABV. Bottle and hermetically seal it. To improve the taste of the moonshine leave it in a fridge for at least 2-3 days to let the taste stabilize.

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