Improving pear yield between rackings

[Hoxviii]

Well, this might tail in with the other pear post - but let's see.

I've made 1.5 pear wines so far. First was from a puree that led to a poor final yield, about 3 quarts from 1.5 gallons. The solids were just too much, and the 3 quarts included moving all of the lees into the fridge so they could cold separate, then adding the liquid back to the main batch.

The second batch I decided to start from whole fruit, 6 lbs for three gallons. Chunked the fruit into 3/4" parts, cold soaked 48 hours, added sugar, and started to let it run with the fruit in a mesh bag.

I just racked the second batch out of primary into secondary and was only able to recover 2 gallons of the 3; the rest of the stuff left behind has the consistency of applesauce. It's sitting in the fridge separating right now, and I will be recovering any liquid that separates off.

So any pointers on upping the yield recovery, or is pear just one of those fruits that you have to start big to get small results?

Thanks all!

 

[bkisel]

I've not yet made pear wine but have done a number of other fruit wines. For my fruit wines I'll put the fruit into nylon paint strainer bags for primary fermentation. The bags get squeezed once or twice a day while in primary and are removed from primary, going into secondary, having a bunch of pulp left in them. While in primary I'm watching my must level - by pulling the bags up - so that I can add water if necessary to end up with ~ 6 gal/23L going into secondary.

 

[Hoxviii]

I'm using strainer bags - the stuff in the bags was the consistency of applesauce and carried a LOT of liquid away; it was enough to block the mesh of the bag.

That's what's sitting in the fridge right now, separating out.

The liquid that transferred to secondary is high solids, has a silt-like feel to it when you rub your fingers together because of all the pulpy material.

 

[Arne]

Can't remember for sure, but the one batch I had enough pears to make I ran them through the apple shredder, then thru the apple press. Just used juice. Came out great, don't believe I had much problem with a bunch of lees. Took a lot of pears, though. Next time I will let them sit longer so it is easier to get the juice out of them. Arne.

 

[mikewatkins727]

Did you use pectic enzyme?

 

[Blazedup]

Did you use pectic enzyme?

This at least 12 hours before pitching yeast. I find freezing the fruit first really helps break down the cell wall and release juice.

 

[Hoxviii]

Can't remember for sure, but the one batch I had enough pears to make I ran them through the apple shredder, then thru the apple press. Just used juice. Came out great, don't believe I had much problem with a bunch of lees. Took a lot of pears, though. Next time I will let them sit longer so it is easier to get the juice out of them. Arne.

In reading all the comments so far, I'm thinking this is the answer; treat it like white wine and just use the juice.

I'm willing to try whole fruit once more, using strainer bag, pectic enzyme, and adding bentonite to just try to knock the heaviest down.

 

[mikewatkins727]

I use Jack Keller as my "go to guy" for wine making questions because he is the one I found first. Here is his pear wine recipe site: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request203.asp that should give you some more insight into pear wine. I hope this helps

Mike

 

[WI_Wino]

I can tell you from my experience that pear wine had an absolute ton of lees and the overall yield is astonishing low.

 

[jburtner]

I had a lot of hope for the batch I made but it didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped. I have almost ten gallons in carboy now for some time so might try some infusion or blending tests to see what I might be able to do with it. There were significant gross lee's and I see that a lot with other wines - more gross lee's than I want to chuck which equals less yield. Looking for a clearing protocol that maximizes compacting of the gross lee's after initial AF. Any ideas?

Cheers!
-johann

 

[wineforfun]

I did the same as Arne mentions. Ran enough pears through a garbage disposal/grinder and took all the "mush", put into a press, and ended up with straight pear juice (thanks again @knifemaker ). Wine turned out great.

 

[Scooter68]

Not having used one maybe this isn't a workable solution BUT how about a steam juicer for pears. It sounds like the pulp create huge quantities of lees so would a steam juicer work?

For the fruits wines I make I would never use a steam juicer but it just sounds like this be a solution for pears.

 

[Turock]

We make lots of pear wine and we freeze them first. We use the whole fruit and bag them to do the ferment and add no water.

The one thing that will help you is to use a better pectinase like Lallzyme C Max. It is a rapid acting pectinase which also helps with clarification. Also, add 1/4 tsp of tannin per gallon as tannin plays a partial role in clarification. And, of course, use bentonite around the 3rd day of the ferment. These 3 things together will help with pear because it's such a pulpy wine.