Perry Pears

[bugs]

Thought I'd share what I got pressed today having collected about 130kg of unknown variety green perry pears from a nearby orchard yesterday (hopeful WPCS DNA tests will reveal the pear variety shortly..)
There's a very few (possible) blakeney reds in there too - 2 of the old perry pears in the orchard have two different varieties on them - most of the reds haven't fallen yet though I've got about 50kg of them to press shortly..
Not too high on tannins, quite acidic (about 3.2) SG 1.054

Got about 15Gal pressed in the afternoon:
- 5 gallons will have nothing done and will remain in the garage for slow natural fermentaion
- 5 gallons have low addition of camden tabs & I will pitch yeast tomorrow (probably lalvin) and keep in the garage
- 2.5 gallons will have nothing done, but will ferment indoors
-2.5 gallons will have the camden & yeast treatment before indoor fermentation

(this is my 3rd year now of doing perry & cider - last year I did most indoors with cultured yeasts & yeast nutrients - wanting to go more natural this year but given the large batch of these pears I figured I could do some control experiments)

Some pics:
- 5 bags collected
- basic washing & getting rid of the few rotten (some were very soft - ?bletted? - apparently still perfectly good for perry)
- scratting
- pressing in the vigo basket press (?38L?) - tends to work best if only half filled really
- 2nd-hand 5gal containers I got from a local cider maker who'd got them from Smiths in the Forest of Dean - drilled for speidel tops & big bubblers

 

[Graz]

Nice :thumb:

Love a proper perry. Wish I had access to fruit like that (and the time/inclination).

 

[freester]

Nice work as above wish I had access to pears like that.

Did you press straight after scratter? I read somewhere perry is better if you leave the pomace 24 hours before pressing...

 

[bugs]

Yeah, I'm pretty damn lucky! When I saw the trees earlier in the year I felt I was in heaven!

Yes, I did press quite quickly (hour max) but had recently heard about the maceration process with high tannin pears (these weren't too high tannin I didn't think) - Tom Oliver suggests leaving for at least 24 hours, for example. I did wonder whether I should do half of the batch straight up and half left overnight, but I wasn't likely to have time to press the following day, so that kind of decided things.

Basically this year I'm continuing to experiment and get more of a feel for it - everyone says that perry is more difficult / unpredictable than cider.

By the way, if anyone is in the Monmouth sort of area and interested in cider apples (Norman, Dabinett, Yarlington - old bulmers 70s planting) I would be interested to hear from people who may like to help with maintenance of an old cider orchard in return for fruit - there's over 100 trees and I certainly can't use them all! Basically interested to make connections..

 

[freester]

By the way, if anyone is in the Monmouth sort of area and interested in cider apples (Norman, Dabinett, Yarlington - old bulmers 70s planting) I would be interested to hear from people who may like to help with maintenance of an old cider orchard in return for fruit - there's over 100 trees and I certainly can't use them all! Basically interested to make connections..

:-( if only I was in that region!

 

[bugs]

I didn't expect to, but got the 50kg of possible blakeney reds scratted today - actually with the help of my 4 yr old son - so, further experiments! He was surprisingly really good with it, well behaved & interested, and we got through it pretty quickly & efficiently + had fun.

I'm going to leave the pomace overnight and press tomorrow afternoon with him (probably) -- partly as I've already done a 5gal batch of straight pressed red pears + wouldn't have had time to press + they tasted quite tannin-y.

Will post pics later of the lovely looking pears & maybe the wonderful trees they come from...