Pear Mead Recipe doesn't look correct

[DrtDoctor]

Here is a pear mead recipe we are thinking of starting. Notice that no honey or sugar is added prior to fermentation, is this correct? Seems like the SG would be very low???

Homemade Pear Mead Recipe (Perry)


1 gallon water

5 lbs very ripe pears

6 cups honey

1 ½ teaspoon acid blend

1 Campden tablet

½ teaspoon pectic enzyme

1 teaspoon yeast nutrient

1 package wine yeast



Boil water in large pot. Crush pears and place in primary fermentation container.
Pour water over fruit. Crush Campden tablet and add to container. Add acid blend
and pectic enzyme and stir. Let rest one day. Add yeast and yeast nutrient, stir
and cover. Stir once a day for one week. On the 7th day, strain and throw out pulp.
Add honey and stir. Pour into secondary fermentation container and attach airlock.
Rack every three months for one year. Rack into bottles at one year, and let rest
for one additional year.


Thanks

DrtDocter

 

[NorthernWinos]

Hummm....that's a puzzler....I have seen where they add honey during fermentation....

Maybe find another recipe and compare.

 

[Wade E]

Hey Drtdctr, a few things I would do is add the honey up and actually shoot for an SG of 1.085. another thing is to use ascorbic acis=d to some water when crushing or cutting up the fruit so that the fruit wont brown. Another thing is to wait 12 hours before adding pectic enzyme after adding campden and then another 12 before adding yeast.

 

[DrtDoctor]

Yeah it looked odd. I've added vitamin c and the k meta already. Didn't add the honey or pectic enzyme yet. I think I'll add the honey up to 1.08 or so and them maybe add some more when racking to secondary.

Thanks

 

[Wade E]

If you want to drink this within 6 months then I wouldnt go much higher then 1.085 and Pear is very delicate and the flavor can get lost quick in higher abv's.
Edited by: wade

 

[Bert]

6 cups of honey will give you about4 1/2 lbs of honey...That will give you a pretty high SG. plus the sugar from the pears.....a low alc. yeast will probabillity finish pretty sweet......just how I see it .....I think I would think about cutting the honey to about 4cups......Good Luck

 

[DrtDoctor]

Thanks everyone! This forum is awesome.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

Aren't pears high in sugar to Begin with? Looks almost like a Port style recipe, chapitalizing with the honey to reach a balance of high ABV to the sweetness you should have. What is the sg with only the pears in the fermenter?

 

[DrtDoctor]

The starting SG without the addition of honey was only 1.010. I'm going to add 4 cups and retest.

 

[Wade E]

The bigger the fruit the less sugar it contains.

 

[JWMINNESOTA]

<DIV =answer_fact_>

I dunno bout that idea...but while at work today I looked up the USDA approximations....for Pears on Average:
<DIV =answer_fact_>Total sugars
<DIV =answer_fact_>1.0 cup slices has 16.17g of total sugars
1.0 NLEA serving has 16.27g of total sugars
1.0 pear, small (approx 3 per lb) has 13.62g of total sugars
1.0 pear, medium (approx 2-1/2 per lb) has 16.27g of total sugars
1.0 pear, large (approx 2 per lb) has 20.48g of total sugars
<DIV =answer_fact_>
<DIV =answer_fact_>Now how ripe a fruit is would directly affect the sugars...not so much size. With that low of a starting gravity I would guess these were picked fairly early, good thing is your checking before pitching yeast and making necessary adjustments, should turn out to be a good one, sure sounds like a good combo of flavors.

 

[DrtDoctor]

They were not underripe or overripe. We have three bushel and plan to make a 6 gallon batch of pear wine. We picked out the ripest to make the one gallon mead. Remember the fruit is chunked and water is added prior to measuring SG.