Making my 2025 Pear Cobbler Wine

[Rojoguio]

Taking the hint from another member here concerning fruit weight to the gallon of wine I had 30 pounds of Pears prepped & frozen for this batch of wine. To the 30 pounds of fruit I only added 1-1/4 gallons of water & 9 pounds of sugar.




Added 1 box of Golden raisins chopped.



Weighed all the sugar on a digital scale.





And tasted the Must for Acid. Since the Must seemed very flat I added Acid Blend till I could pickup a bit of Bite on the finish of the sample taste. I really could not get a specific gravity reading so this is a total guess. I will test the PH after the first racking with my meter.



Going for the Cobbler flavor in the background I added 1tsp of Cinnamon for now. After the first racking I will add a very high grade Vanilla extract, just a touch.



Here is a quick picture of my Meyer Lemon & Page Mandarin wines in the Secondary fermenters. I will be racking these into clean Carboys soon. The plan is to blend the two before bottling.

 

[Rojoguio]

Pitched the yeast today after giving the Pectic Enzyme a 30 hour head start.



Since we are looking for a "Fresh Baked" flavor to this Pear Cobbler wine I thought D-47 Yeast would deliver the best flavor. When D-47 ferments it produces a wonderful yeast aroma in the room. I can't say it will carry over but out of all the wine yeasts I keep here D-47 smells the most like baking bread.



This GoFerm yeast starter supplement really boosts the yeast colony's health. If you are making a yeast starter I highly recommend it.



Once I get the distilled water cooled to under 110 degrees I add the GoFerm then as it cools to 104 degrees I add the dry wine yeast without stirring.







These pictures are of a time lapse from adding the yeast to the measuring cup to 20 minutes later. Each photo is a time lapse of 5 minutes. the final yeast starter is Rockin'.




The mega dose of Pectic Enzyme did a good job of breaking down the fruit after 30 hours. I just dumped the yeast starter to one side of the bucket so it can acclimate on it's own as it wants. More later.

 

[Rojoguio]

I uploaded a video of punching down the cap the morning of day 3 after pitching the yeast. The Pear flavor is just kickin' too. Thanks for the suggestion to kick the 3 pounds of fruit to the gallon of water ratios out. Maximum fruit is making a Maximum flavor wine.

 

[winechef]

For vanilla and cinnamon. I'd use 1 or 2 vanilla pods cut in. half while aging, maybe a light oak would be good too. cinnamon is tricky to keep it from overpowering. I'd use a small. piece of cinnamon sticks put in about 1 week before racking. taste and maybe add more. better to go very light because you can't take it out.

I usually add flavoring after second racking. after all gross lees are gone.

for the fresh baked quality, i think your yeast choice is good. could also experiment with different tannins. black tea, tobacco leaf, try small 100 ml samples with different tannins to see which one works for that fresh bread

really sounds like a wonderful concept. hope it tastes perfect

 

[Rojoguio]

So far it tastes good but very early. I will wait till I manage to get the must into the Secondary. The yeast is really breaking down the Must but the solids are really high. I have fine mesh filter bags and think I'm going to have to Fab a Tube Rack to tie the bag off over the bucket giving it time to drain without squeezing. I saw a fruit fly buzz by while stirring this morning, I would need to figure out a way to prevent contamination. Maybe bag the whole operation with a giant shop plastic bag over the top.

 

[Rice_Guy]

have fine mesh filter bags and think I'm going to have to Fab a Tube Rack to tie the bag off over the bucket giving it time to drain without squeezing. I saw a fruit fly buzz by while stirring this morning,

If I was testing for Acetobacter on the fruit you started with, I would probably find at least one and more like 100 per kilo sample. We prevent Acetobacter by setting up conditions where it can not grow. If you exclude oxygen you will not grow Acetobacter.
Pressing is hard with mush. The factory has a system set up where the mush is allowed to drain some followed by light pressure which is followed by slightly more pressure. ,,, Once the cake is below 40% moisture it can be pressed with several hundred pounds similar to a more rigid fruit.

 

[Rojoguio]

If I was testing for Acetobacter on the fruit you started with, I would probably find at least one and more like 100 per kilo sample. We prevent Acetobacter by setting up conditions where it can not grow. If you exclude oxygen you will not grow Acetobacter.
Pressing is hard with mush. The factory has a system set up where the mush is allowed to drain some followed by light pressure which is followed by slightly more pressure. ,,, Once the cake is below 40% moisture it can be pressed with several hundred pounds similar to a more rigid fruit.

Got It, thanks

 

[Rojoguio]

The yeasts are really liquifying the fruit. I may have to transfer to a carboy today. I think I have figured out a way to purge the air space when I hang the bag of filtered solids to allow it to drip out. I have numerous cylinders of Argon here, thinking I can just displace the oxygen available during the process.

 

[Rojoguio]

So here is what I did with the leftover Pear Must. I twisted the filter bag to the point I could get a clamp over the Primary rim and secure the filter high enough for it to gravity drain.



I wrapped the top with commercial cling wrap then used rubber bands to secure it tightly. I expect the CO2 being produced will be enough to protect the wine till I get it in the fridge. There is a slight crowning to the plastic wrap now.



The carboy is full almost to the neck. I should have enough wine must to settle out of the refrigerator jug for topping up later.

 

[Rojoguio]

My Fruit trees are loaded with blooms, too bad no one here lives close. I'm going to have way too much fruit for eating, drying, and wine making.









This is just some of the fruit trees, Peaches, Pears, Apricots, and several Dave Wilson multi-species mixed trees are still dormant.

 

[Raptor99]

I have fine mesh filter bags and think I'm going to have to Fab a Tube Rack to tie the bag off over the bucket giving it time to drain without squeezing.

Following the example of what someone else posted here on WMT, I put a hook in the ceiling so that I could suspend the mesh bag over the bucket:

I found some large mesh bag that I use to line my primary fermentation bucket. I put the bags in at the beginning, and the must goes in the bag. Then when I am ready to rack, I can suspend the bag over the bucket for a few hours to drain.

The photo above is blackberry wine, but this is especially helpful for wines with a lot of solids, such as pear or peach. I usually squeeze the bag after it has drained for a while to get out more juice.

I saw a fruit fly buzz by while stirring this morning, I would need to figure out a way to prevent contamination.

I've stopped worrying about this. As @Rice_Guy said, acetobacter will probably make its way into most of our wines. It is aerobic, so as long as we exclude oxygen in the secondary, that won't be a problem.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Like you, I can forage way more blackberries than I can use. Consequently I don’t sweat trying to get every last bit of juice out of the fruit.

 

[Rojoguio]

Rice_Guy's post gave me a bit of comfort I've got to say. Still I would hate to make a mistake that develops later after more time was spent on the project. Since I'm doing the Winemaking in a bedroom I don't want to make a mess. If a spill gets under the sleeper floor boards it would smell for a while. I ended up with a gallon of Must for topping off which will be needed. There is a inch of sediment in the Carboy already.