PEAR Cider Headache

OK Now that I have a little info and some options. If I use the austin pear puree do I need all the additives such as the yeast nutrients ,acid blends, etc...? I have made a apple/cran cider before and it came out great but i didnt use any additives but it also didnt come from a concentrate or puree does this matter?
Thanks For the Help
Woody

Acid blends and nutrients and whatnot don't have so much to do with the puree/concentrate/fresh juice.

Nutrients and energizer will ensure a fast, thorough fermentation. They're a pretty good idea most of the time when you're not dealing with barley, but I don't believe they're strictly necessary. They're also cheap as hell, though.

Acid blend is added to taste in wines, meads, and ciders. I think it's pretty common in perry because pears have a somewhat flat taste on their own, but I've never actually made one, so that belief could be mistaken. Again, though, acid blend is cheap and you add it at the end, so if you don't want it, don't use it.

Please point me to this info and the options mentioned.

I've got a pear tree in my backyard that yields such a load every year that it breaks it's limbs down if I don't brace them up with boards.

However, it's a cooking type of pear, Bosc (sp?) I think.

Even though every pear doesn't ripen and fall off in one day, they drop gradually over 4 to 6 weeks, my primary, and only, fermenter is a six gallon stoneware churn.

I don't have, or have access to, a press.

What kind of hurdles am I faced with jumping to maximize this opportunity coming this fall?

Pogo

Hey Thanx For the info, that really helps. I wish I had a pear tree than I could make the cider from scratch and truly call it my own. However, I looked into pressing my own apples for cider and did some research and found it takes about 120lbs of apples for 5gals of juice. So you might need about the same amount of pears. You may also be able to jar the pears to preserve them so they can all be used at once.

Pogo, shouldn't be to hard. blanch to peel, chop them up into small pieces, freeze to break cell membranes, let them thaw mash them with potato masher(or use food processor)
and make mead. pear sounds like a good sweet or dry mead.

Wow...120 pounds...I've got a lot to learn.

I can remember years ago, my grand pappy, and uncles, would use the leftovers from canning fruits, jams and jellies (the peelings and cores) to mix up a little something in their barns.

But, it was so hush-hush, it was a dry county (still is), even I was never privy to the process.

The internet and forums like this one are wonderful things.

Thanks woody and beerT for the input!

Pogo