Newest Threads

truckjohn · 01-28-2011, 05:23 PM

Hey all,

Just wanted to post a little message on my 2011 perry experiment.

Batch details:
Pear juice + 44 oz honey
OG = 1.094
Batch size = 5 gallons.
Yeast = Nottingham
Nutrient - a few tsp of Fermax.
Campden tablets used

Started with 4 gallons of juice @ 1.074 12/13/10. Added another gallon of juice @ 1.094 + 44 oz honey 1/7/11. Still fermenting away in my basement as-of yesterday.

Pear type - "Wild" feral flowering rootstock pears - small brown, hard, grainy pears about the size of a golf ball.

Picked before they freeze - they are quite flavorful and sweet, but amazingly bitter..... Picked after they freeze and turn from yellow/orange to brown, they are *Really* flavorful, sweet and very tangy!

If you live in an area where ornamental flowering pears are common - don't overlook using the small fruits as a bittering/acid addition to perry made from dessert pears (Which can be quite bland) as you would use Crabs in apple cider. Picked before hard freeze, the small pea size pears are quite bitter... Picked after they freeze and turn brown, those small pears take on a totally different character.

Especially keep an eye out for pears that have golfball size brown fruit that is still hanging long into the winter - Apparently, quite a few of these are old rootstock pears that were grown out from perry mill seed.... They become intensely sweet and tangy as they sit on the tree into the winter.....

Thanks

**nebben** · 01-29-2011, 04:55 PM

How is the clarity so far?

truckjohn · 01-30-2011, 03:58 AM

Still cloudy.... Airlock is still active - so I kinda expect that at this point....

I am really curious where this stuff will stop SG wise - as pear juices allegedly aren't 100% fermentable like apple juice...

Thanks

John

truckjohn · 02-02-2011, 01:31 PM

Checked the SG last night and tasted a bit too.... Still quite cloudy - lots of yeast still up and about...

Looks like fermentation is mostly stopped... Getting an occasional bubble, but I think it is degassing....

SG is 1.02. Fermentation temp has been pretty steady at 60F.

Taste is decidedly "Beerish" right now.... Likely it will clean up a bunch as it bullk ages. Next year's batch will be made with a proper fruity white wine yeast rather than ale yeast....

Thanks

**CidahMastah** · 02-04-2011, 04:17 PM

My perry /cider mixed test batch has been very cloudy too, longer than most of my ciders. I am thinking, that perhaps it has something to do with the pears. I know when I tasted mine, it tasted very fusel like, but it also was starting to round out the tartness. I suspect it is going through a malolactic fermentation (this can cause temporary haziness for months). I experienced this hazy effect with one of my big wine ciders. It has just cleared up, though still malolactically fermenting, and I started this on in mid October.

truckjohn · 02-06-2011, 03:51 PM

That's probably it - malo-lactic fermentation... It's sitting at 1.02 right now pretty stable, but still bubbling....

We're going to just let this stuff sit and do it's thing for however long it takes....

Thanks

**CidahMastah** · 02-07-2011, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truckjohn

That's probably it - malo-lactic fermentation... It's sitting at 1.02 right now pretty stable, but still bubbling....

We're going to just let this stuff sit and do it's thing for however long it takes....

Thanks

That is the best method with cider, let it sit

If a year goes by, just drink it ha

truckjohn · 02-10-2011, 01:05 AM

Yep - definately malo-lactic..... Degassed it tonight.... I can tell by the smell and taste..... That smell is hard to mistake...

Thanks

truckjohn · 03-05-2011, 04:25 PM

Well... It has mostly stopped bubbling. Racked it off the lees last night, then topped it up with a pint of sweet hard apple cider from this year's batch.

SG was 1.020 before I racked - so that puts me somewhere around 10% alcohol.

It's still pretty cloudy, and very sour.... I have a feeling that I will need to make a batch of fairly bland but aromatic perry to mix with this stuff... Unfortunately, it's not pear season... so it will just have to age out and clear till the fall.

Thanks

truckjohn · 05-13-2011, 08:24 PM

Ok... Mental note... Next time - use Wine yeast instead of Beer yeast... That stuff falls out *Really* slow compared to proper wine yeast..... I have racked it once... and it's still cloudy and throwing lees.... and those Beer yeast lees seem to be quite fluffy... not at all the "Compact, Stay put" sort of Lees one would like to have....

I will probably rack it again this weekend if all goes well...

Thanks