Want to brew hard sparkling pear cider from scratch, will this process/recipe work?

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thatjoshguy

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So i've been looking around for the whole process to make a sparkling hard pear cider from pears, and have noticed that I can't find exact recipes anywhere... I've taken what I could from each resource and came up with a process which I think will work, but thought I would consult the experts first. I plan on using an ale yeast. I also want to make a 5 gallon batch. So here's my process, does anyone have any input?

  1. pick fresh pears, wash, and allow to ripen for a few days
  2. peel and mash the pears in a food processer
  3. allow mashed pears to sit covered overnight in a cool place
  4. press the mashed pears in cider press
  5. simmer the juice with seasonings over medium heat for 45 min, do not boil
  6. add honey to raise OG to about 1.055
  7. top up with unpasturized apple cider if more volume is needed
  8. check the pH - GOAL pH: 3.9-4.0
  9. to lower pH add malic acid
  10. to raise pH add precipitated chalk
  11. pitch with yeast into carboy
  12. after about a week, rack into second carboy
  13. bottle after 24 hrs if no activity, otherwise rack into carboy again
  14. age at least 3 months

Should I prime the cider with anything before bottling? I've read that using honey will result in a sweeter cider, which is what I'm looking for.

Again, I've made an extract beer so far and it came out nicely, btu I've never made a cider. I'm open to any and all input you may have as the wife and I would love for this to be a hit!
 
i am extremly curious to see how this turns out...
once you get rolling can you fill us in with some numbers?
how many pounds, or pieces of fruit, you used?
can you let us know which yeast youve decided on?

the only thing to recommend that others havent: if you wanted a clearer beverage, you might want to add some pectic enzyme.. i think its 1/2tsp per gallon.. but my numbers could be off..

also ive heard(but not tried, so forgive me) is that grape tannin will give it a bit of a tart bite.. so you might want to look for that if the pear flavor mellows out..

In month or two theres a small town near here with acres and acres of apple and pear orchards.. Ill be heading up to get fresh pressed juice and want to have 3-4 empty carboys by then :D

keep us updated on how this turns out!
 
I pressed about 60kg of pears this year. The pH of the juice was 4.5. I think you are overcomplicating this:

No need to wash the pears unless they have fallen on bare ground.
No need to peel.
Firm fruit will be easier to press juice from.
No need to heat.
Press the mashed fruit straight away, it will go brown from oxidation and lose flavour if left.
Use plenty of AJ, it will add flavour.
Good luck.
 
thanks everyone for the input. I probably am overcomplicating this, as like I said this info came from a collection of about 5 different sites, lol. I have a tendancy to overanalyze things I've never done before, hence this thread!

The reason I'm washing the pears (and simmering them) was to rid them of as much of the wild yeast as possible. I want to use an ale yeast, not wild yeast. Is there a better way to get rid of the wild yeasts? I was going to stay away from the campden tablets because I've heard they can produce a strong sulphur smell that takes longer to clear up, and I'd like to be drinking this by christmas.

Also, if I can't heat the pear juice, is there a better way to season with cinnemon and the like? Can I just toss a few sticks in the carboy?

One article I read recommended letting the fruit sit overnight to allow the tannins to do something or other, and it said that pears are harder to juice than apples unless they are set out. Is this bad information? I agree that that would cause browning, and I don't want that...

So from what I'm reading I should pick, chop, and press pears in one sitting and immediately pitch with honey (and cider)?

As far as yeast, I want to use an Ale yeast due to the range or fermentation temps I'll be dealing with (best I can do is about 73 degrees F stable), and I want something that will go well with the fruityness. I had a name, but now I can't remember it... Started with an 'n' I think... I'll have to find my notes (left them on my desk at work, doh!)
 
based on the stickied post by CvilleKevin (thanks!) I think I may use Safale S-04 yeast. I like the idea of it leaving a lot of fruit flavor after it's fermented dry
 
Sorry, I was assuming you had grown your own pears, if you live in the city you should probably clean the pears (or move), wild yeast arent the problem many imagine them to be. If you rehydrate your yeast it will overwhelm any wild yeast, but if you don't want to use camden you should make the whole process as fast as possible.
Camden is used to stop oxidation while pressing if you add it to the mashed fruit, this preserves as much of the flavour as possible, though I don't do it myself.
 
damn.. i typed up this whole thing and then lost it to a timeout. ::sigh::

ok.. So i know youre adverse to Campden, but honestly i think its the best bet to sterilize your juice. its really not that much campden.. 1 tablet per gallon (heres a picture of what i used for my 5 gallons.. about 1tablespoon) and i doubt youll even notice it... i didnt when i did my first hydro and taste test..

If i were able to press my own juice i might try something like this:
1. pick and wash friut
2. chop and press
3. Crush 1 campden tablet per 1gallon of juice and add it to carboy or fermentation vessle of chioce.
4. add juice, cover and let sit for 24 hours. (i let mine sit for way too short a period.. only a 2 hours, i misread directions... hopfully that since it was store bought 'Simply Apple' i wont have any issue >_< )

that should get your base liquid all set.

as for cinnamon and whatnot. heat 1/2 to 1 gallon of water and dissolve sugar/dextrose/honey in it. add cinnamon stick and let steep for 20 minutes or so. cool to room temp. add this concoction to your fermentation chamber(so make sure you left enough room!) mix well, and then pitch yeast.. throw on a airlock and let it ferment away~

as far as extras like pectic enzyme, pH balance and grape tannin, ill differ to a higher knowledge.. oh! youll probably want to take a hydro reading before airlocking it up adjusting as needed.

Edit: Ive been told that if youre using a ale yeast like Nottingham or Safale 04 to make sure that enough room is left in the fermentation chamber for the krausen. From what ive learned, they are top fermenting yeasts and if you dont leave enough room, it can be a very messy situation.
 
Camden is not for preventing browning; it's for killingnwild yeasts. Ascorbic acid is for prevention of browning and oxidation. It's also known as vitamin c.
 
Ascorbic acid is an anti-oxidant - so is SO2 (camden tablets). Using ascorbic acid without camden tablets is risky in wine and cider making because it can actually cause spoilage. The browning is purely oxidation. I learnt all this in wine science 101.
 
Go with the potassium metabisulphite (campden but not brand name and usually cheaper). You will not notice it. Do you notice it in the commercial wine you drink?
Don't heat the juice. I would just put the cinnamon(cassia?) in the fermenter and let it sit there until you bottle.

Are you using ale yeast because of the temp and you can't use lager yeast(who would with cider/perry) or have you considered cider or wine yeast? They both tend to be more temperature forgiving and don't produce the krausen that ale yeast does.

With the pH being rather low and the addition of honey, I bet this takes right around a week to ferment out. This means don't rack after 1 week. Let it sit longer and let the yeast re-uptake some of the byproducts of fermentation that contribute to the green characteristic. You wouldn't believe what this does for making a clean beverage.

Next I would recommend bulk aging rather than aging it in the bottle. But I don't like 1/2" of lees in my bottles.
 
So I'm wondering how you plan on tasting the pears with all that honey & apple juice. Pears have a very delicate & mild flavour, and are easily overpowered by other flavours. Regards, GF.
 
WOW! thanks for all the input everyone!

I did grow the pears in my back yard. We ate a ton of them last year and they were very sweet. What we couldn't eat we made into baby food and pear-sauce.

After the help, I'll definately go with the campden tablets. I'll also substitute water for the apple juice to hhelp preserve as much of the pear flavor as possible. In my mind, the process would now be something like this:

  1. pick pears
  2. chop and press pears
  3. add 1 campden tablet per gallon of juice
  4. allow to sit covered for 24 hours
  5. take OG
  6. add to carboy
  7. heat enough water to make final volume 5 gallons
  8. dissolve honey to raise OG to about 1.055 in water with seasonings, allow to cool
  9. pitch with yeast into carboy
  10. after about 3 weeks, rack into second carboy
  11. bottle after 24 hrs if no activity, otherwise rack into carboy again
  12. age at least 3 months

Does that seem like a better route to take? I'm going with an ale yeast because I want it to be similar to an english cider in that respect. I have no idea what a pear cider should taste like as I've never had one, so if adding honey means I'll lose the pear flavor, what should I use? I was going with honey because, well, I like honey and have been told it can help clarify the cider a bit. I'm also going to go without the pectic enzyme, as from what I understand pears are much lower in pectins than apples are. Heck, if the worst thing about this cider is the color/clarity, then I'm still on the right track. I want something that tastes good, the looks come later :D

Oh! and I want this to be sparkling cider. How could I bulk age this and let it carbonate? Would I need a few growlers or something?
 
WOW! thanks for all the input everyone!

I did grow the pears in my back yard. We ate a ton of them last year and they were very sweet. What we couldn't eat we made into baby food and pear-sauce.

After the help, I'll definately go with the campden tablets. I'll also substitute water for the apple juice to hhelp preserve as much of the pear flavor as possible. In my mind, the process would now be something like this:

  1. pick pears
  2. chop and press pears
  3. add 1 campden tablet per gallon of juice
  4. allow to sit covered for 24 hours
  5. take OG
  6. add to carboy
  7. heat enough water to make final volume 5 gallons
  8. dissolve honey to raise OG to about 1.055 in water with seasonings, allow to cool
  9. pitch with yeast into carboy
  10. after about 3 weeks, rack into second carboy
  11. bottle after 24 hrs if no activity, otherwise rack into carboy again
  12. age at least 3 months

Does that seem like a better route to take? I'm going with an ale yeast because I want it to be similar to an english cider in that respect. I have no idea what a pear cider should taste like as I've never had one, so if adding honey means I'll lose the pear flavor, what should I use? I was going with honey because, well, I like honey and have been told it can help clarify the cider a bit. I'm also going to go without the pectic enzyme, as from what I understand pears are much lower in pectins than apples are. Heck, if the worst thing about this cider is the color/clarity, then I'm still on the right track. I want something that tastes good, the looks come later :D

Oh! and I want this to be sparkling cider. How could I bulk age this and let it carbonate? Would I need a few growlers or something?

You should not lose the pear flavor with the small amount of honey you'll be adding. Also, do not heat that honey up much if you do want to get anything from it. I would just use the warm water from your tap.
 
WOW! thanks for all the input everyone!

I did grow the pears in my back yard. We ate a ton of them last year and they were very sweet. What we couldn't eat we made into baby food and pear-sauce.

After the help, I'll definately go with the campden tablets. I'll also substitute water for the apple juice to hhelp preserve as much of the pear flavor as possible. In my mind, the process would now be something like this:

  1. pick pears
  2. chop and press pears
  3. add 1 campden tablet per gallon of juice
  4. allow to sit covered for 24 hours
  5. take OG
  6. add to carboy
  7. heat enough water to make final volume 5 gallons
  8. dissolve honey to raise OG to about 1.055 in water with seasonings, allow to cool
  9. pitch with yeast into carboy
  10. after about 3 weeks, rack into second carboy
  11. bottle after 24 hrs if no activity, otherwise rack into carboy again
  12. age at least 3 months

Does that seem like a better route to take? I'm going with an ale yeast because I want it to be similar to an english cider in that respect. I have no idea what a pear cider should taste like as I've never had one, so if adding honey means I'll lose the pear flavor, what should I use? I was going with honey because, well, I like honey and have been told it can help clarify the cider a bit. I'm also going to go without the pectic enzyme, as from what I understand pears are much lower in pectins than apples are. Heck, if the worst thing about this cider is the color/clarity, then I'm still on the right track. I want something that tastes good, the looks come later :D

Oh! and I want this to be sparkling cider. How could I bulk age this and let it carbonate? Would I need a few growlers or something?

You should not lose the pear flavor with the small amount of honey you'll be adding. Also, do not heat that honey up much if you do want to get anything from it. I would just use the warm water from your tap.

You're step 12 is completely unnecessary(not the bottling part). Racking is not to stop the yeast from going, it's just to get them off the lees. The purpose of the secondary is for clearing not fermenting. All fermentation should be done in the primary. That is a misnomer. Secondary fermenter should just be called a clearing or bright tank if you will.
 
I really think if you're adding camden you should add it to the crushed fruit before pressing. Its what winemakers do when crushing white grapes. Dissolve the camden in a jug of water and sprinkle over the fruit as it is crushed. Oxidation really does strip flavour and pressing causes lots of oxidation. Sometimes winemakers go to the lengths of using inert gas in the press to minimise oxidation. You also need to add camden when racking to secondary as all of it is used up in primary.
 
If you are picking and pressing these pears yourself, not taking any fruit that has been on the ground any length of time, sanitize your press and all equipment before you start, then in all likelihood, you don&#8217;t really need the camden

I can understand wanting to use it, especially if this is your first batch, as an extra insurance against an infection. In my opinion, the insurance is not worth the premium that you pay in the taste &#8211; a raw acidic bite that takes many months to mellow. If you are planning to let this age for at least 6 months, then it probably doesnt matter. If you want to drink it sooner, you might want to rethink the camden

I have been adding k-meta just like everyone for years. Halfway through this season, I got some good advice from a cider maker who used to worked as a microbiologist for one of the major wineries. He didn&#8217;t use k-meta and said the place he used to worked for only used k-meta before fermentation if they suspected they had a problem, which was rarely, and for bleaching some whites

The &#8220;recommended&#8221; dose of k-meta (1/4tsp in 5 gal or 1 tablet per gal) is based on being able to create a certain amount of free SO2 when the k-meta is added to the grape juice. However grape juice is very different than apple juice (and I suspect pear as well). Much more sugar and different acids. While you are not supposed to be able to taste the &#8220;recommended&#8221; dose of k-meta in grape juice, you can definitely taste it in apple juice. If anyone doesn&#8217;t believe me, next time you are making a batch, pour off a little juice before you mix the k-meta. Then after you add the k-meta and let it react for a few minutes, pour off another little cup. They will taste very different. I can taste 1/3 the recommended&#8221; dose of k-meta in cider, and my taste buds are not all that. I would advise no more than 1/3 or ½ the recommended dose in apple cider. Pears are likely different as well.

If you want to play it safe and add some Camden tablets, then I suggest that before adding any, you pour off a small glass of juice. Crush the tablets and add them to the carboy one at a time. Each time, draw off a little bit of juice and compare to the original juice. If you can taste the difference, don&#8217;t add any more campden.

I started cutting back on the amount of k-meta that I use for cider this season. The improvement was noticeable. The ciders took much less time to be drinkable. I made 10 kegs with ½ the recommend dose and 7 more with no k-meta. Several of them were good to go a month after pressing. Eight months later, the ones that are left still taste fine.

If you do good quality control on the condition of your fruit and press, the risk of picking up a nasty spoilage bug like Brett or Acetobacter is very small. The yeast and alcohol will kill just about everything else.
 
Well we pressed the pears on Saturday. Got one gallon of juice before the 100 year old cider press broke. One of the main supports was a bit worm-eaten and couldn't handle the pressure :(

Still, one gallon is a start, so we ended up messing around with what we had and came up with this recipe:

1 gallon fresh pressed pear juice
3 cups Welch's Peach Medley
1 Cup honey
12 cups water
2.5 ounces corn sugar
White Labs WLP500 Trappist Ale Yeast

Yes, the Welch's was originaly from concentrate, but it was just to add a little more volume to the batch. I didn't want to water it down too much and I really wanted at least 2 gallons :) The trappist ale yeast is pretty forgiving as far as fermentation temps (as I can only keep it about 72 right now) and can supposedly impart a slight plum flavor which I thought would be neat.

The flavor was pretty neat. The pear flavor was definately there, and the peach/grape added a nice tartness to it. The honey really rounded out the flavor with a dark note I really enjoyed. It was hard not to drink it all before I pitched the yeast!

It's been fermenting for a week now, and I must say that the threads about how bubbling is not a good sign of fermentation are true. THere has been no visible activity in the air lock, but if I peek in the fermenter I can see the yeast doing it's work. After 6 days the gravity went from 1.052 to 1.036. I'm going to check it again in a few days. I'm hoping it will drop to about 1.010. I tasted the sample and the sweetness is still there so far and it has a nice warming character to it, but WOW... Sulfur stink! I added 1 campden tablet to the fresh pear juice and let it sit overnight before I did anything else. The smell is not overbearing, so I'm sure it will go away, but it's pretty nasty :)

Overall I'm happy with it so far, so thank's again for your help! I'm considering adding a cinnimon stick or two to the secondary too :)
 
It's been fermenting for a week now, and I must say that the threads about how bubbling is not a good sign of fermentation are true. THere has been no visible activity in the air lock, but if I peek in the fermenter I can see the yeast doing it's work. After 6 days the gravity went from 1.052 to 1.036. I'm going to check it again in a few days. I'm hoping it will drop to about 1.010. I tasted the sample and the sweetness is still there so far and it has a nice warming character to it,

Yeah did it drop ok? It seems to me that the apple cider I just started with a different ale yeast (s04) is also fermenting slowly relative to beer. Mine was 1.030 from 1.060 after nearly a week! I guess the juice must have less nutrients for the yeast than wort.

BTW I like your idea for WLP500. I`ve used it before and I might try it myself if my first batch is a success
 
the gravity did drop, yes. I cannot remember the exact figure, as to be honest I ended up dumping this. I should have let it age longer before giving up, but it fermented out WAY too dry when it was done. Maybe i could have stopped the fermentation when it was good, I don't know. I carbonated some and my wife liked it, but it was overcarbed and you had to pour it into a glass over the sink otherwise it made a big mess. The worst part to me was that it had an aftertaste of toast. I'm sure with some adjustments and a lot more time this could have been really tastey though, I just needed the bottles for beer :)
 
WOW! thanks for all the input everyone!

I did grow the pears in my back yard. We ate a ton of them last year and they were very sweet. What we couldn't eat we made into baby food and pear-sauce.

  1. pick pears
  2. chop and press pears
I didn't find any other threads on homegrown pears, but just harvested a crate from the yard. I think we have European (eating) pears and for eating they are supposed to be stored for a month at freezing to ripen. Is this necessary for extracting good juice?

Also, not sure if it is from lack of irrigation or pear scab, but most of the pears are deeply cracked. Obviously they won't store and might not be good eating, but will the cracked ones produce any problems in the chipper/press? I'm thinking of oxidization or more virulent wild yeasts as i don't use campden in my ciders...
 
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