Pear wine from dessert pears

[Bill W]

Hi All,

I have access to several kilos of small, sweet pears, variety "Petit Poire". There are far too many to eat, so I'd like to make some pear wine with them. Anyone have a favourite recipe? Any pitfalls or tips to working with ripe pears?
I've found this recipe Simple & Delicious Pear Wine Recipe it calls for mashing the pears in a straining bag and pouring hot sugared water over them, which sonds like I could have clarity issues later. Any thoughts?

 

[johncrobinson]

Pears are slightly short on both acid and yeast nutrient,So make sure to add both.
A bit of pectolase wont hurt either,(Help with any clarity issues AND juice extraction.)
The flavour is quite mild when made into wine so dont skimp on fruit quantities.

I would reccomend using a "pulp" fermentation in a fermenter bucket,Rather than trying to express the juice into a demijohn from the start.

They can also be a bit prone to carrying acetobacter (vinegar fly) especially when ripe,So dont forget to add the campden 24hrs before the yeast.

 

[Bill W]

Pears are slightly short on both acid and yeast nutrient,So make sure to add both.
A bit of pectolase wont hurt either,(Help with any clarity issues AND juice extraction.)
The flavour is quite mild when made into wine so dont skimp on fruit quantities.

I would reccomend using a "pulp" fermentation in a fermenter bucket,Rather than trying to express the juice into a demijohn from the start.

They can also be a bit prone to carrying acetobacter (vinegar fly) especially when ripe,So dont forget to add the campden 24hrs before the yeast.

These are ripe. Several are windfalls, so that's really helpful info about vinegar fly.

I'm planning on doing an initial pulp fermentation in a straining bag in a beer bucket. Fruit quantity is not a problem, so I'll err on the side of more fruit, less water. adjusting the added sugar accordingly to get an appropriate O.G.

 

[johncrobinson]

Sounds good.

 

[Bill W]

I cracked on with it this morning. Rinsed the pears well in the sink, then spent an age removing stalks, removing cores and chopping hundreds of tiny pears into tinier pieces.
To ensure I would be going fruit-heavy, I weighed them after processing, at 4.8 kilos, so decided a 2 demijohn batch would be about right.
I put all the chopped pears inside a large straining/brewing bag inside one of my beer bucket FVs and chucked in 3 tea bags for tannin and two crushed campden tablets before pouring 6 litres of boiling water over and giving it a good stir.
I'll let it cool before adding 2 teaspoons of pectolase, then it can sit for a few days to steep. Then I'll squeeze the bag and see what volume of juice I have, add nutrient, sugar and water and adjust the O.G. up to 1.110, or thereabouts, for a medium wine and pitch the yeast. It can then ferment for a few days in the bucket. After that I'll rack it into Demijohns and let it get on with it. I don't have any mixed acid to hand, so I'll just have to add that later.

 

[johncrobinson]

Do you have hard water ? if yes you need the acid BEFORE starting fermentation.
Its no use adding it later the damage will be done,To be exact an incureable off flavour.

The juice of a few lemons would do if you are out of acid powder.

Its not a taste thing,!!! the yeast absoloutly need an acid enviroment from the very start
If they dont have this they will produce a glue like off flavour for which there is no cure.

 

[Bill W]

Do you have hard water ? if yes you need the acid BEFORE starting fermentation.
Its no use adding it later the damage will be done,To be exact an incureable off flavour.

The juice of a few lemons would do if you are out of acid powder.

Its not a taste thing,!!! the yeast absoloutly need an acid enviroment from the very start
If they dont have this they will produce a glue like off flavour for which there is no cure.

Thanks John, for the heads-up on the need for acid in a hard water area. Our water is so hard you could slice it!

Acid blend is recommended in the recipes I've found, so I assumed it was a taste-balancing thing. I have some citric acid in the cupboard, so I'll chuck half a teaspoon of that in now, while the pulp is still cooling, and see if I can get some Tartric acid and Malic acid from the pharmacy tomorrow. I believe that acid blend is a ratio of 40-40-20, Malic, Tartaric and Citric acid, so a teaspoon of each, if I can get them. If not, I'll use more citric or lemon juice before pitching yeast.

 

[johncrobinson]

Acid blend is nice but citric will do on its own
About 4-5 full teaspoons worth should do for 9ltrs (Two demijohns worth).

Since you do have hard water err slightly on the side of too much rather than too little

I am glad you were online and got back so quick.

 

[Bill W]

I lied about the citric acid. My wife had used it in jam making. However, I found a full 250ml bottle of Morrisons lemon juice, which, by my rough calculation equals about 2 good teaspoons of citric acid or about 4-5 big lemons, so that went in instead.

 

[johncrobinson]

Well it will certainly be better than nothing

A lot of the fruits used in wine making contain acid so normally only small additions are required indeed if any,But pears are an exeption they contain very little acid.

The lemon should add an interesting "note" to the finished wine,As opposed to citric acid which would be almost tasteless.
I often add lemon or orange zest to my wines especially meads.

 

[Bill W]

Well it will certainly be better than nothing

A lot of the fruits used in wine making contain acid so normally only small additions are required indeed if any,But pears are an exeption they contain very little acid.

The lemon should add an interesting "note" to the finished wine,As opposed to citric acid which would be almost tasteless.
I often add lemon or orange zest to my wines especially meads.

I guess we'll find out in some months time what impact the lemon has on the finished wine. I'm aiming for something in the medium range, not too dry, not overly sweet, so a slight hint of citrus might not be a bad thing. It will be nice if some of the pear fragrance comes through too.

I just watched a Youtube video made by an Australian-sounding chap, where he makes two gallons of pear wine by a similar method. He adds the juice of 3 1/2 lemons, which is a bit less than I've done, but then I've used more pears per gallon.

 

[Bill W]

I squeezed out the straining bag tonight, added another litre of boiled water and 3 kilos of sugar, bringing the starting gravity up to 1.110. added 2 heaped teaspoons of yeast nutrient and two teaspoons of general wine yeast. I've got about 2.5 gallons in total, so plenty of scope for letting it ferment for a week or two in the bucket and rack into two demijohns without getting too much sediment.

 

[johncrobinson]

Keep the thread going so we can see how you get on. i like your Pictures especially,Its true they are worth a thousand words.
My latest project is a blackberry/elderberry/apple "Port" Still at the fruit gathering stage at the moment.

 

[Moonraker]

Still at the fruit gathering stage at the moment.

Hi John, how do you store between gatherings and what proportoin black/elder/apple are you aiming for?

 

[Bill W]

Keep the thread going so we can see how you get on. i like your Pictures especially,Its true they are worth a thousand words.
My latest project is a blackberry/elderberry/apple "Port" Still at the fruit gathering stage at the moment.

Will do. Sorry I didn't get a picture or two of the latest stage.

Your "Port" project sounds interesting. I can imagine those ingredients coming close to a Port after fermentation. Will you be fortifying with brandy when done?

 

[johncrobinson]

So far I have about 6 small bags in the freezer about 3kg in total (still need more.)
Will have to have a good think about the Elderberry,Too much and it will take a month of sundays to mellow.
Apple juice will be from cartons
No added water.
I hope to get two full demijohns worth.

I will start the ferment off at about 1.070 and sugar feed the yeast ( ec-1118) to get to about 17%abv then fortify with cheap brandy to get to about 20%.

 

[Bill W]

I racked the pear wine from the bucket into 2 demijohns this evening, a fortnight after starting it. A powerful alcohol blast hit we in the nose on opening the bucket and there was a thick yeast ring around the sides at liquid level.
It's been in the DJs about an hour and no airlock action just yet, so I'm guessing it has done most of its fermenting already in the bucket.
I've got a feeling this one will take a long time to clear but it has a nice pale yellow colour to it.
I also racked off a gallon of redcurrant wine I started a couple of months ago. It has cleared beautifully and I couldn't resist taking off a little taster. It's very nice already and promises to be exceptional with a bit more maturity.