pre-wine making questions

[rlongfield]

I am slowly (very slowly) putting together my kit to start making some fruit wine and I have a couple of questions.

I am going to start with some 1 gallon batches and I was lucky enough to be able to freeze some pears from our trees last fall. So my first batch will be pear wine. It is my understanding that I will have about 4 and a half 750ml bottles when it's time to bottle. I read that instead of loosing this half I could use a smaller bottle or I could make 2 different types of wine and mix the 2 half bottles and see what happens.

So my questions

a. is this a good idea?

b. if it is a good idea, what mixes nicely with pear?

Thanks,

 

[vacuumpumpman]

Pear is a very delicate wine - You would have to personally have to try it for yourself and decide how you would like to change it -

You can always use 375 ml bottles to take up the difference ofa normal bottle of wine - 750 ml

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You havent even seen what you have and you are worrying about loosing a half a bottle of your wine from pears you grew and picked yourself and thoughfully froze and then delicately crushed and nutured into a fresh tasting pear wine? I think you have the makings of a good country winemaker with forward vision. Yes by all means you can put the little bit that is left in a split or even cheaper buy a case of small beer bottles. Remember quality is what you are after so rack off the less first before you bottle, and dont try to get every last drop or it will take the quality down of all the bottles. Plan forward though and make at least 1.5 gallons of must, when you rack it for the first time put in a gal jug and a half gal jug that you have just found you needed and then both of them drop clearer after about a month or so rack them into another gallon jug just taking the clear part. Try to make it as much 100% pear juice as possible, if you go putting water in this its going to dilute the flavor of the pears, think pear cider is what you want to start with if possible. What kind of pear tree do you have growing in your yard? WVMJ

 

[djrockinsteve]

You could add an apple or two or buy a few extra pears. You will be sampling along the way so you might not have any leftover to worry about. Drink it.

There are some tutorials in the Tutorial section to help you.

Making a 6 gallon batch is just as much work and 5 gallons better. You'll be fine.

 

[NorCal]

Loosing some of your must is just part of the process and needs to be planned for. I always buy way more than I need; 20lbs of fruit per gallon for my grapes. I can always find a use for extra juice

 

[wineforfun]

I am slowly (very slowly) putting together my kit to start making some fruit wine and I have a couple of questions.

I am going to start with some 1 gallon batches and I was lucky enough to be able to freeze some pears from our trees last fall. So my first batch will be pear wine. It is my understanding that I will have about 4 and a half 750ml bottles when it's time to bottle. I read that instead of loosing this half I could use a smaller bottle or I could make 2 different types of wine and mix the 2 half bottles and see what happens.

So my questions

a. is this a good idea?

b. if it is a good idea, what mixes nicely with pear?

Thanks,

Or........what I do when making a 1gal. batch is start with 1 1/4 - 1 1/3gal. in the primary. That way when I rack to secondary, I use a 1gal. carboy and a 750ml bottle and sometimes(depending on what I am making and the amount of lees dropped in the primary) a 375ml bottle too. That way with additional rackings and clearing stages, I have enough of the original "mix" to top up with and retain my full gallon, if not more.

 

[Wolfe]

Hi,

Pear was the first wine I made also from a tree in the garden.

I made 2 batches from different recipes, first a CJJ Berry recipe and then another with raisins added.

The first has turned out by far the best and whilst initially there was little pear to distinguish it from other wines it has grown better and better. I think it is going to be really good in 6 months. Started in Oct 2014 and looking to bottle end of April/May. I used about 2Kg of Pear per UK Gallon(4.5L)

I'm in work so haven't go the exact recipes with me but will post if you like when I can access my laptop.

I initially thought that more fruit the better but in the majority of recipes by writers and those of greater experience than myself they all opt for added water rather than all juice. So I figured they all can't be wrong. Think some experimentation is called for next pear harvest.

Cheers

Dean

 

[Wolfe]

Oh and on looking back the advice from D J above is excellent in regards to making 750ml more for a top up. Wish I had known this at the time but have done something similar for all my wines since