Weak tasting and unclear Pear Wine

[RegarRenill]

You can buy fruit bags or grain bag at a LHBS for like $10...or you can be frugal and go to a hardware store and buy a 2 pack of nylon paint strainer bags for like $3 for 5 gallon bags. I like to use sanitized zip-ties to keep the bags closed.


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[Turock]

OH--I got you NOW, about the poundage!!

Don't do the f-pac until the wine is clear. Now I know that sounds crazy. But you have to use sorbate with the f-pac and the bulk of the yeast cells need to be racked off the wine for the sorbate to prevent the few remaining yeast cells from re-fermenting. So bulk age the wine for a few months and get it fairly clear before the f-pac.

Listen to Regar---those paint straining bags at the big box store will work very well for a f-pac.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You dont squeeze the bag like King Kong on soft fruit like peaches or the fine stuff comes out of the bag and leaves 10 inches of sediment. You can make a much better pear wine by crushing the pears into a pulp and pressing the juice out and using the 100% juice. I dont see how anyone can make even a fair pear wine without going with 100% juice. Chopping them up and floating them around in a bag is just not going to get the flavors out, if you think that tastes good then make one by crushing and pressing the fruit, it will be like 100X better. WVMJ

. One thing I didn't do was squeeze the pears to extract as much juice as possible. I have read articles that say don't squeeze the produce because the wine won't clear and then I have recently read to freeze the pears and squeeze the crap out of them. Which do you do?

 

[spyder89]

You dont squeeze the bag like King Kong on soft fruit like peaches or the fine stuff comes out of the bag and leaves 10 inches of sediment. You can make a much better pear wine by crushing the pears into a pulp and pressing the juice out and using the 100% juice. I dont see how anyone can make even a fair pear wine without going with 100% juice. Chopping them up and floating them around in a bag is just not going to get the flavors out, if you think that tastes good then make one by crushing and pressing the fruit, it will be like 100X better. WVMJ

Since I'm still a novice please break down your process of starting a pear wine. Ripe or unripened fruit? If I tried to crush the pears I used I would have to hit them with a baseball bat as hard as I could. I don't have enough room in my freezer for 40# of pears either.

 

[Runningwolf]

Since I'm still a novice please break down your process of starting a pear wine. Ripe or unripened fruit? If I tried to crush the pears I used I would have to hit them with a baseball bat as hard as I could. I don't have enough room in my freezer for 40# of pears either.

We do what we have to do. My first year of doing 150 pounds of crab apples, I crushed each one with the end of a 2x4, then used a metal paint stirrer on a drill to further break them down. It was worth it in the end, but also a lesson in having the right equipment when you get a chance to get it.

 

[spyder89]

Best to start over with this new batch? Tasted the new batch last night and it is pretty weak. I just dumped the yeast starter solution is last night too.

 

[Runningwolf]

I would not dump it. You can always use this to blend in with a high acid wine or for topping off another carboy. Go ahead and ferment it. It could also be a great base wine for something you want to make.

 

[697713132]

cidersupply.com makes a specific pectinase for pears, some special arabinose or something pears have in them make them hard to clear. Not sure why you went thru all the trouble to core peel and deseed your pears, lot of wasted work. As often quoted by Turock, 100% juice especially for something as lite at pear. WVMJ

I for one am thankful for you putting that site on here, I just got in contact with them after reading where they at ( on the net ) for my pear, apple, crab apple blend I just started, I ask a lot of dumb questions, but I do spend hours reading fresh as well as old threads trying to learn,, you've helped me again,,

tanks wvmjack

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

How we make our pear cider and perry cyser last year. Was driving down a road and saw a bunch of pears laying on the ground next to a huge old pear tree. Pulled into guys yard and asked if we could pick some for wine, he said sure, leave the ones on the ground for the deer. Went home and got wife, bins and pickers, they were ugly, hard as rocks, covered in surface blotches. Picked until arms tired, tree 40 feet tall had more pears left on they we could ever pick. Took them home and let them sweat for a week, a few started turning yellow and would suddenly turn into mush so we allowed many to turn yellowish and started to get softer and ran them thru a scratter. We added the pectinases from cidersupply for pears to the pomace and let it set a little while and then pressed in a wine press using pressing bags. Let that settle overnight with KM, racked off the juice, added honey to one batch and nutrients and yeast and let it do its thing for about a year and bottled it. Young it had a black pepper taste, very unusual, as its aged a little that has fallen into the background and now tastes very nice, though NOT of big sweet ripe pears. We have since planted a few different pear trees, not perry trees, they dont do well around here. I also want to plant a urses pear, its kind of like the crabapple of pears, a little bitter astringent pear that can be used to improve the quality of a perry made with a lot of dessert pears. I think crabapples would do a good job also. WVMJ

 

[spyder89]

How we make our pear cider and perry cyser last year. Was driving down a road and saw a bunch of pears laying on the ground next to a huge old pear tree. Pulled into guys yard and asked if we could pick some for wine, he said sure, leave the ones on the ground for the deer. Went home and got wife, bins and pickers, they were ugly, hard as rocks, covered in surface blotches. Picked until arms tired, tree 40 feet tall had more pears left on they we could ever pick. Took them home and let them sweat for a week, a few started turning yellow and would suddenly turn into mush so we allowed many to turn yellowish and started to get softer and ran them thru a scratter. We added the pectinases from cidersupply for pears to the pomace and let it set a little while and then pressed in a wine press using pressing bags. Let that settle overnight with KM, racked off the juice, added honey to one batch and nutrients and yeast and let it do its thing for about a year and bottled it. Young it had a black pepper taste, very unusual, as its aged a little that has fallen into the background and now tastes very nice, though NOT of big sweet ripe pears. We have since planted a few different pear trees, not perry trees, they dont do well around here. I also want to plant a urses pear, its kind of like the crabapple of pears, a little bitter astringent pear that can be used to improve the quality of a perry made with a lot of dessert pears. I think crabapples would do a good job also. WVMJ

Thank you very much for all the info. Next time around with the pear wine I will press the pears and rack the juice then use just the juice without the water. For this time I will have to resort to f-pacs thanks to Turock.

 

[Turock]

Don't throw it out--you'll be pleased with how the f-pac helps it. Just be sure to use enough pears for the f-pac.

I agree with doing what you need to do to get the job done--there's more than one way to skin a cat. (My apologies to all cat lovers. DO NOT PM me--LOL)