Applewine Question - Adding Fresh Picked Pears?

Hello,

I am going to my parents house this weekend to help out with some yard work and they have a pear tree that needs to have some dead branches removed. They said the type of pears are more for cooking/canning than eating but I am more than welcome to take what I want...and we have eaten them in previous years, they taste fine.

My question is, what would be the best way to utilize some of these fresh pears if I pick some this weekend?

My idea with some questions:

I have about 20 gal of apple wine going currently(2-5 gal batches in primary & 2-5 gal batches in secondary) and was thinking of adding some of the pears to that. What would be the best way to add them to the apple wine? What I am mainly wondering is if I should add them to the secondaries when I transfer my 2 primary batches? or should I transfer my already secondaried applewine onto some pears in a tertiary(sp)?

Finally, do I have to do anything in terms of cleaning the pears to make sure I do not contaminate my batches? Do I cut them up and boil/pasteurize or something like that?

I have no idea about a recipe- I've never done anything like that.

I do know how to take care of fruit, though! Generally, it's easier to mash them up if they've been frozen first so I freeze my fruit. Then, when I'm ready to use I crush a campden tablet and dissolve it in 1/4 cup boiling water. That is then poured over the fruit. I like to use a sanitized mesh bag for the fruit, and then pour the campden over it. Cover and let sit overnight, then you can use it. The campden will kill stray yeast and bacteria so you don't infect your cider.

I don't boil fruit, as that will set the pectins (think jelly) and also give a "cooked fruit" taste.

I'd freeze them then pour some boiling water over them to sanitize (I don't use campden) then shove them in some sanitised muslin. I usually rack onto the fruit in a secondary fermenter, but you don't usually have to if you want to add to primary.

I have some pears cut up and in the freezer now waiting on me to decide what to do with them. I'll probably add them to the apples in there next to them that I'm going to mash to get as much juice out of them as possible. I am fairly certain that I read somewhere that pears become a slimy, sludgy mess when used as pieces of fruit. But then again what doesn't down in the bucket? I haven't had any experience with them yet though and couldn't say for certain.

GTG

Read the next to last post here - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/so-many-pears-146977/

GTG

So, you are saying to just cut the pears up and freeze until ready, correct? I would like to rack some already fermented applewine (1.5 months old) right on top of the frozen pears. Also, before I actually rack the applewine onto the pears are you saying to boil some water and rinse the frozen pears with that boiled water first? Does the boiled water/frozen pear mixture go into the carboy together before racking or do you just let the pears sit in the boiling water for a short time and then remove pears from water before combining with applewine?

Let me know if I am making sense or not...lol.

elpresidente said:

So, you are saying to just cut the pears up and freeze until ready, correct? I would like to rack some already fermented applewine (1.5 months old) right on top of the frozen pears. Also, before I actually rack the applewine onto the pears are you saying to boil some water and rinse the frozen pears with that boiled water first? Does the boiled water/frozen pear mixture go into the carboy together before racking or do you just let the pears sit in the boiling water for a short time and then remove pears from water before combining with applewine?

Let me know if I am making sense or not...lol.

Click to expand...

That wasn't me that talked about pouring boiling water over the pears- I've never done that. I can't speak to that.

You'll want to use a sanitized mesh bag or something to contain the pears. I treat my fruits with campden, so there isn't wild yeast or bacteria to infect my wine.

The only issue I see with racking your apple wine onto the beers is that you'll want to do it in a bucket or something like that- the fruit will be a pulpy mess and I don't know how you'd get it in (or out) of a carboy). You'd have to be cautious about oxidation, but the pears should kick up fermentation again so the bucket (with an airlock) should be fine.

elpresidente said:

So, you are saying to just cut the pears up and freeze until ready, correct? I would like to rack some already fermented applewine (1.5 months old) right on top of the frozen pears. Also, before I actually rack the applewine onto the pears are you saying to boil some water and rinse the frozen pears with that boiled water first? Does the boiled water/frozen pear mixture go into the carboy together before racking or do you just let the pears sit in the boiling water for a short time and then remove pears from water before combining with applewine?

Let me know if I am making sense or not...lol.

Click to expand...

The only reason I use boiling water is to sanitise, because a lot of my friends and family are allergic to the sulfites which are produced by the campden tablets. I've never once had any infections or jam-like pectins from my method, but Yooper's method is just as acceptable! I usually mush the fruit up after thawing, sit the fruit in my muslin material in a bowl or something, then pour boiling water over it. If you're going to use this method, make sure that you add some pectinase (pectic enzyme) in before fermentation.