Apple Pear Hooch

bigandy73 · 01-14-2010, 04:05 PM

Sort of in between a cider and a wine, so we'll call it hooch.

Apple Pear Hooch
Target 16% abv
Target OG 1.132, Target FG 1.008
Yeast: Red Star Premier Cuvee

Sanitize 2 gal fermenter. Peel and wash 6 pears and 6 apples. Core and dice them, and add to sanitized fermenter. Add 5.5 lbs white sugar to fermenter and then add 2 gal water or until within about an inch of the top of the fermementer. Dump water and sugar into brew pot while trying to reserve the fruit in the pot. Heat water while stirring to dissolve sugar. Once sugar is dissolved add fruit and heat to 100 degrees F while rehydrating yeast. Steep fruit for 30 minutes while proofing yeast. Remove brewpot from stove and cool to about 80 degrees F. Add to resanitized fermenter, take SG reading, pitch yeast and seal with airlock.

Primary fermentation: 3-5 days, after which rack to secondary. Squeeze juice out of fruit and discard fruit. Ferment for three more weeks or until FG is reached.

bigandy73 · 01-14-2010, 04:32 PM

When I made this up it actually hit an OG of 1.130!

It has been going a lot slower than I expected, but it steadily working. It is falling around 0.010 every week or 18 days, right now it comes in at 1.062, so we're already up around 9% abv. Tastes great, still just very sweet.