Making Pear Cider

[Hammy2424]

Anybody ever made any Pear Cider, they call it Perry I think? Or I guess Cider from Whole Apples? I have a buddy who has a Pear tree that is so prolific he has yet to ever get rid of all the pears it produces. We were talking about making a Pear cider, but I have only ever made beer, and one wine kit . Any help on how to approach this potential circus is appreciated.

[Bugeater]

Actually, making cider and perry is virtually the same as making a country wine, i.e. using fruits other than grapes. I haven't made any for some 20 years but I can give you some general hints.

First you will want to wash the fruit really well and cut out the bad spots. The next step would be to figure out how to juice the pears. If you have a juicer or a press, that part is easy. If you don't have either, I would cut the pears into chunks and freeze them for a couple of days and let them thaw. This freezing and thawing will break down the cell walls and make it easier to get the juice out. You then mash the things with either a hand potato masher or an electic mixer. Line a bucket with cheese cloth and dump the mush in there. Gather up the cloth and squeeze the juice out. Messy, but it works. You may want to hang the bag up and let it drip. Obviously you will need to do this several times to get the volume of juice you need.

Once you get the juice you will need to dissolve a couple Campden tablets in a little water and stir into the juice. Let this sit covered for at least 24 hours to let the campden tablets kill the wild yeast and other unwanted stuff. This will also let a bunch of pear solids sink to the bottom. Rack the juice off the sludge into your fermenter and add your yeast.

You should take a gravity reading on this before pitching your yeast so you can get a rough idea of how potent this will be. You may want to add a little sugar if you want to boost the gravity and final alcohol level. Instead of sugar you could even add some honey like you would for a cyser. (Would that make it a pearser? )

For yeast you would have all sorts of options. Use a wine yeast if you want a pear wine. A sweet mead yeast would also work. I've used neutral ale yeasts like Nottingham and WLP001. I have also tasted some nice ciders using a belgian yeast.

Other folks around here can probably give you more specific advice, but this should get you started on your thinking as to how you want to proceed.

Good luck with this project. It sounds tasty.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[Hammy2424]

Should have figured you'd be the one with the answers on this, Bug

Thanks for the help, now I just need to find a good juicing device...Woo Hoo, more equipment

Any thoughts on spicing it, cinnamon, etc? Like I said never actually made a cider either, so this will be all new for me. Then again I have only been at this for two years and change, so there is still a good bit of stuff that is new to me.