1st pear batch

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fathead

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Hi everyone, I have been reading on this site for a while and finally have a question of my own. I started a batch of pear from fresh fruit on 12-10-09. Got the pears from Wally-Wally and belive them to be of the bartlett variety. I used 30lbs to make my 5 gallon batch with 10.5 lbs of table sugar, and Red Star cot des blancs. Starting Sg was a little high at 1.109 but didnt slow primary frementation at all. Transfered to secondary on 12-18 and flavor was great. As the lees began to settle out, they stopped half way down the carboy and no further. Racked on 1-8-10 to see if that would improve the settling past halfway. Sg was 0.996 so I added 5 more crushed campden tabs. Taste was a little acidic, but not too much. After 24-48 hours lees had settled halfway again as of today has not shown any progress. Do I need to be patient or should I add some sort of clearing agent. I plan on bulk aging for 6 months or more so waiting isnt a problem, just dont want to ruin my batch. Thanks in advance.
 
I too am making pear wine. I pressed mine thru my fruit press and had a little more pulp than I wanted so clearing has takin a little longer than expected.

You can let it clear on it's own or you can use a clearing agent as Sparkeloid. The best is to be patient.

After a few weeks you could rack it off the sediment and let it sit for a while. I normally let it sit 6 weeks to clear and I use sparkeloid. After that I rack and bulk age it.

You could place it in a cool area as that will help it clear a little faster. Don't let it freeze though.

You don't want to jump the gun and rack it more than needed. Let nature take it's course. It's good taht you are going to let it sit awhile.

Are you going to sweeten it when you're 1 month from bottling?
 
Did you degas? This will help in clearing. Like said above you should add some kind of clearing agent. If you plan on back sweeten and or adding a f-pac I would add sorbate.
Then TIME will clear as well. You cant rush fruit wines. ^ months is minimum for me to bottle.
 
No I havent degassed yet and I'm not sure if I am going to back sweeten or not. I will try to get a picture up of the carboy so you guys can see what I'm talking about. I'm sure time will cure it, but just dont want the lees to get stagnent and ruin the batch.
 
Degassing will clear the wine much faster. Otherwise the gas will suspend the particles for a much longer time.
Degas and then add a clearing agent like Isinglass or SuperKleer.
 
Yep you have alot of solids. All fruit wines do. If you look close you will see a thicker layer on the bottom. Kinda looks like puree. I would rack all but about an inch. Then Gegas and add Super kleer. If you dont it will take a year or so without. You will lose a fair amt so if you have a 5 gal carboy and a couple of 750ml bottles that would help keep the head space up.
Ops! it is a 5 gallon batch
 
Well I may only get three or four gallons out of it. Oh well got the pears on sale for
.88! :mny Gonna let it sit for a little while before I rack again, since it was just friday when I racked the first time. Thanks for all the advice and experience guys!
 
What I've decided to do from now on is when I'm initally making my wine, I'll try to get 5 1/2 gallons of wine. After the second racking I'll have that half gallon to use to top off the 5 gallon carboy.

Plus I usually take what ever sediment is left over from all of my carboys and pour it all into one carboy. Solids and all. I put it in the refer. for a few days with an airlock and then siphon off what juice has floated to the top. I get a little extra wine this way.

I used to have all these 1/2 filled bottles with wine that had to settle a day or two then we'd carefully pour out a glass. It's easier to group it all together and I'll get a gallon or so of house wine. That we keep just for us.
 
not a bad idea dj. only issue is that the lees can make bad wine. you "must" (lol) be careful that you check and taste if it's gone south. i just heard a seminar about "off-flavors" and sanitation. a big point in both of them is topping wines and getting solids out. i did not realize that some commercial wineries actually add bentonite before fermentation for this reason. they settle it out for a few weeks before they start fermenting. seems extreme, but maybe it works?

i like your idea because i don't like adding water to wine during or after fermentation. another option is gas.
 
Midwest V., the wine us all the sediment is together for a day or two allowing everything to settle. It's in the refer with an airlock then I'll siphon it off (a bottles worth) and we'll drink it then. We know it won't be the best but it's a little extra. Can't spill the wine!

By now I have so much fermenting going on I have enty to top off. When I first started I had an awkward time because all I had were 5 gal. carboys.
 

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