My first non kit wine: Pear... pictures

[rshosted]

Ok. I've been reading this forum for just over a month. Having you all do fruit wines has made the wheels in my head start to turn. I couldn't resist and started to get jelous of you all... So here is the story that will hopefully turn into a nice fruit wine. Since this is my first wine, I will be drawing from everyone's experience quit a bit and will look forward to any advice you all can give.

Since it's January, and not too much really good fruit around in Salt Lake City Utah, I decided to go see what I could find. I fired up the company car and decided to take a field trip to a local "fruitstand" that I've driven by a million (no exageration) and never stopped. I found myself outside of Cy's Market.... More on next post....

Inside the walkway...

Edited by: rshosted

 

[rshosted]

Ok, so I go in and there's a short lady who doesn't bother to look up from her 'hobby craft' magazine, but still says, "welcome." Her accent so thick that it sounds as if she just got 'off the boat'. Of course me being part pizano </span>myself, I feel a real welcome. They don't have a huge selection of fruit, and I get ready to go to Costco (my second choice for decent bulk fruit). Instead, I decide to ask her if she has any fruit with a lot of sugar. I tell her I want to make wine.

She grabs a knife! I take a step back, becuase I know how crazy those Itialian mothers can be

.

She walks over and grabs the ugliest D'Anjou pear she could find and cuts a huge slice off and hand's it to me. I tast this fruit. The best pear I have *ever* tried. It was like eating 'sandy sugar' (to steal from an old Meg Ryan, Nickolas Cage film).

I decide, I have to try to turn this into a drinkable wine. I buy 30lbs of it. She asks when I plan to start the wine? I tell her next weekend. She picks through all her fruit to find pears that will be in pefect ripeness next weekend. (Though I had to ask her to repeat herself several times because of her thick accent). She also procedes to tell me how to care for my newly bought fruit (never gotten that at Smith's before!) It was great, you could see how proud she was of her fruits.

So I take my fruit home and here are some pics. She tells me the uglier this D'Anjou fruit is the better is tasts. The pics below will show you one that looks very young, and the other still in good condition compared to the one that I ate there.

Taking my new babys home....

In the house.... (where she told me the *had* to be kept)

And without further adu, Two of what will hopefully prove to be very drinkable wine pears....

 

[rshosted]

Can anyone recomend a good Yeast for this fruit? Or give me some advice....

Think I should freeze it after it ripens next weekend, or just get it started?

THough I have to admit waiting to freeze it might make me go insane...

Also, when reciepes say to use sugar, is that just basic table sugar?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post. I'm so excited I can't stand it....

Oh yeah, anyone want to ask what the nice old pizano gal at the store offered me? I'm even more excited about this... I'll give you all a hint it's something she brought back from Tuscany.....

 

[masta]

Now you have built a relationship with her and I know you will be going back for more fruit in the future. The little extra time she spent taking care of you is what separates a great business from the rest of the stores who just care about selling stuff!


Back to the wine...sorry bout going off! I am really a rookie when it comes to fruit wines but I would say wait till they get really ripe then freeze them as it will help break down the fibers and allow more juice to be extracted when it comes time to make this wine.


Here are a few links that might help:


http://winemakermag.com/feature/50.html


http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request203.asp

 

[bilbo-in-maine]

I think that pears are a fruit that turns to mush quickly in the fermenter, so
use a fine mesh strainer bag. Freezing them will probably make them even
softer. Personally, I'd just cut them up and begin making wine. Luckily they
are a fruit low in pectin. Jack Keller's recipe that Masta references tells you
everything you need to know. Jack says to use finely granulate table sugar,
but I've always just used the standard sugar in the 5 pound bag. It dissolves
well in boiling water. Thirty pounds of pears will make a lot of wine - hope
you like it! I'll be interested to hear later on how well it clears, so keep us
informed!

Did she offer you a genuine Italian floor corker?

Bill

 

[rshosted]

Ok, I am still thinking about the wine... where does one get a 'strainer bag'?

She said that she smuggled some wine grapes directely from monticello. She said she would give me some starter shoots.

I've already got a row of cab sav, and merlot... looks like I'll be adding another row of vines this summer.

 

[Angell Wine]

George has straining bags but if you are in a hurry go to the paint store.

 

[Maui Joe]

Ah...how lucky some people can get!

As for the pears, I would prepare the fermenter to receive the fruit prior to adding the pears. Pears if left in the fermenter while doing the opposite, will rapidly begin browning even faster it seems than apples...if you are going for a white to clear wine. If it doesn't matter on color, then you can take your time.


As far as yeasts go, I get good results using Lalvin 1122 when using fruits that contain mainly Malic acids. There are "better" yeasts available out there but cost is a factor for me. This yeast has a tolerance of 14%...but I have pushed it abit higher with luck in a cooler enviroment and slow sugar feeding. You can get more reading on yeasts by "google" searching. Hope this helps!

 

[PolishWineP]

I wouldn't bother freezing the pears. If you don't start it until next weekend they should be ripe and may even fall apart as you cut them.


I bet if you order today George can have a bag to you by the weekend.


Please keep up posted! I am wishing I could taste the pears.

 

[rshosted]

Does anyone think that I should add some grape concentrate to this wine? I'm wondering if strait pears might be a little flat....

 

[Angell Wine]

If you're using Jack Keller's recipe, I would substitute bananas for raisins, and brown sugar for white sugar. But it's not my wine. Thats why I love this hobby, different taste, different recipes, the experimenting.

 

[rshosted]

I like the brown sugar idea... Think I will thanks. But I will have to take a pass on the bananas since they are not my favorite thing in the world.

I've also decided on the Lalvin 1118 yeast.

I hate to put water into my wine, so I'm still considering using grape juice as a base...

 

[NorthernWinos]

Word has it you can't taste bananas...personal taste I guess.

 

[Angell Wine]

Grape juice is fine, you just need to watch the Sg on the Grape juice,it hasalot of sugar already in it. I would mix the pear must and grape juice, acid blend etc.. Take a Sg. reading then bring it up to a Sg. of about 1.080 with the brown sugar. Add campden let sit for 24 hrs. Take another Sg reading and then bring it up to 1.095

 

[masta]

If you use White Grape Juice be very careful to read ingredients as Welches has plenty of sulfite added (100 ppm) and DO NOT add any sulfiteto the must if you use that brand.

 

[rshosted]

I'll probably buy an actual wine grape juice from a can.... Good info though. I'll keep you posted on what I do.

 

[ms.spain]

Pear wine can take a while to clear.You could probably add 1 tsp. of pectic enzyme, instead of the usual 1/2 tsp. per gallon( the powdered type).


This wine really comes into its own after being in the bottle a year( haven't gotten past a year old bottle yet, but I'm sure it gets better and better!

)

 

[rshosted]

Ok, I started it and need a little help on how much sugar I should add... Here's what I did so far.
29.5lbs D'Anjou pears
46 oz (alexanders reisling grap juice concentrate)
15 oz golden raisens
2.75 gal water
4tsp pectic enzyme
2tsp acid blend
4tsp yeast energizer

I took the reciepe from Jack Kellers web site and changed it a little. I wanted more mouth-feel so I decided to add some Reisling concentrate (but only a 2.5 gal kit batch of it) My fermenting bucket is topped up to six gallons. The grape concentrate had some sulphites in it, so I didn't add any (other than spraying the fruit with a mixture while I cut it up) (I'll post pics later if you all want).

I used a titrate tester to test my sulphite levels and it's currently about 22ppm.

My S.G. is at 1.042.

I want to add brown sugar to get it up to a good level. Do you all think that 1.110 is good enough?

And should I add some more camden/potasium metabisulphite?

Also, can anyone else see what I may have missed adding?

Does anyone know if more sugar will come from the pears because of the pectic enzyme? I was afriad to add more sugar at this point....

I'm waiting 12 hours to add my yeast.... I may add more sugar tonight if I hear back from anyone soon enough.

Thanks,
Ryan

 

[Angell Wine]

put 3 1/2 lbs of sugar in it. Let everything set for 12 hrs and soak. Recheck in the s.g. some sugars should come out of the pears but not enough to change the s.g. that much. everything looks good. lets make some wine.

 

[rshosted]

Can anyone second check that for me before I add this much?
(oh yeah, is that the same for brown sugar too?) That does seem like a lot.... BUt then again I don't know...
Thanks a lot Angell.

Edited by: rshosted