Pear Wine

[cooknhogz]

An Amish friend of mine who makes fresh apple cider dropped off 6 gallons of fresh pear cider today for free. Of course first thing I thought of was wine but never made pear. So, to start knowing it’s unpasteurized I have 5 1/2 gallons in a 6 gal bucket which I added 1/4 tsp meta and 3 tsp Pectic enzyme to rest for 24 hrs. Checked gravity of juice which is at 1.048 yeasts on hand are Lalvin D47, EC 1118, K1-V116 and red Star Premier Cuvée. Thinking going with the EC-1118, Would like a finished abv of 12 to 13% any other suggestions? Thanks

 

[Tinwakr]

Nice score my friend!

 

[dralarms]

Nice. Wish I could even come up with a mess of pears.

 

[cooknhogz]

He likes hanging out at our camp down at the lake and going out on the pontoon so we’re always getting free goodies. Good friend.

 

[pgentile]

An Amish friend of mine who makes fresh apple cider dropped off 6 gallons of fresh pear cider today for free. Of course first thing I thought of was wine but never made pear. So, to start knowing it’s unpasteurized I have 5 1/2 gallons in a 6 gal bucket which I added 1/4 tsp meta and 3 tsp Pectic enzyme to rest for 24 hrs. Checked gravity of juice which is at 1.048 yeasts on hand are Lalvin D47, EC 1118, K1-V116 and red Star Premier Cuvée. Thinking going with the EC-1118, Would like a finished abv of 12 to 13% any other suggestions? Thanks

Good friend to have. I made a pear/pineapple last year and a pear/apple this year. Both were from pear concentrate, pineapples and apples from fresh fruit. But pear has the one of the best smells while fermenting.

This years pear/apple is very good.

Any of those yeasts are fine.

If you want to be at 12-13% you need to add some sugar and get the SG to around 1.090. As is at 1.048 it will finish around 7%. Probably need in the neighborhood of 4-5 lbs.

Good luck

 

[Jal5]

One of the best whites I ever made was from pears. I have a good bunch in freezer right now which will start after Christmas. Sounds like you are off to a good start!

 

[cooknhogz]

Pgentile, my thoughts exactly. Before I pitch the yeast today I was going to add white sugar to bring the SG up to where I’d like the abv to possibley be. Thanks everyone for your input and comments.

 

[Jal5]

Pears will be a light flavor so your ABV goal of about 12% sounds good

 

[Michael Alspaugh]

I have pear trees. I made 12 gallons of wine in two separate batches using Ec1118 last fall and early spring 18, it was very dry so I added a banana to it at around one month and let it sit for ten days. I did not back sweeten it and we all thought it was great. Now I have 50 lbs of cleaned pears frozen in the freezer for this years batch. I am thinking of adding a lil bit of oak chips after the second racking for a few days anyone out there try oak in Pear or apple wine if so how much and how long did yo leave it in?

 

[salcoco]

I would add some bentonite to the pear juice it will help clear the wine post fermentation.

 

[cooknhogz]

Well tonight (24 hrs later) added 12 cups white sugar mixed in very well to the 5 1/2 gallons of pear juice which brought the sg to 1.092 added yeast nutrient and energizer and Went with the EC-1118 yeast. To be continued

 

[Turning Leaf]

sounds like I should have gone to pick those pears this year!

 

[Jal5]

Picking was some work! But I like free fruit for wine!! About 24 lb in freezer if I remember right.

 

[Michael Alspaugh]

Tonight I will be bottling my strawberry Rhubarb wine 5 gallons, to make room for the start of my fall 2018 pear wine. I still don't know if adding oak chips will give it a more Chardonnay flavor or not? I'm waiting for any winemakers out there to give some advice based on their past. Anybody there?

 

[Michael Alspaugh]

I don't know about anyone else but I like my fruit wine to be around 13% alcohol plus... so when I make 6 gallons, at least that is what I start with it usually turns out to be around five after the several racks. I need to use about 3 4 lb bags of white sugar to get my starting gravity to about 1.100
and finish about 0.990

 

[cooknhogz]

I don't know about anyone else but I like my fruit wine to be around 13% alcohol plus... so when I make 6 gallons, at least that is what I start with it usually turns out to be around five after the several racks. I need to use about 3 4 lb bags of white sugar to get my starting gravity to about 1.100
and finish about 0.990

Like to know how it turns out with the Oak chips added. Checked mine this morning and it’s bubbling away. Might add oak to a gallon at secondary just to see how it turns out.

 

[Dennis Griffith]

Good thread. Most years I have an over abundance of pears. Next year I plan on making some perry (if I beat my son to the pears). I also saw an interesting recipe on another thread (Apple Wine) in a post by Farmside.

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/apple-wine.67067/#post-709048

I don't know if a caramel finish would work for many wines, but for apple or pear, I'm willing to give it a shot. And I like fortified wine as well.

 

[Michael Alspaugh]

Good thread. Most years I have an over abundance of pears. Next year I plan on making some perry (if I beat my son to the pears). I also saw an interesting recipe on another thread (Apple Wine) in a post by Farmside.

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/apple-wine.67067/#post-709048

I don't know if a caramel finish would work for many wines, but for apple or pear, I'm willing to give it a shot. And I like fortified wine as well.

When you say fortified is that with a oak flavor?

 

[dralarms]

When you say fortified is that with a oak flavor?

No. That’s adding alcohol to boost abv to about 22%

 

[Dennis Griffith]

When you say fortified is that with a oak flavor?

Fortified wines have something distilled added. The type of fortified wine will determine what and when the distilled spirits are added. Here's a good link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortified_wine