A couple questions about pear cider

There are a couple of trees near me that I'm going to pick in a few hours. I think I will get 30-50 lbs. I have 4 empty growlers and was thinking of splitting the batch into them, and each one try something a little different such as spices or adding other fruit juices.

I have some D47 yeast on the way. I know that this cider could turn out pretty dry, and i"m ok with that. I tasted one of these pears last night and they aren't super sweet, so I may add something to raise the gravity. How about table sugar or malt extract? Was also thinking the pH might be too high, so what is a good acid to use? Is pectic enzyme really that important?

I think I will bottle these different ciders like wine, and let it age for a while. I may carbonate 1 or 2 bottles though.

I've never made any cider, but I can't stand to see all those pears go to waste! I would appreciate any advice, thanks in advance.

Bump.

any sugar is good, i know that sounds bad , but its true table or corn will just add punch honey ferments out all the way too so it does not add much more that alcohol ether . you can use brown or raw sugers or and some molasses they will add flavor . malt added to a cider would be like a braggot (malt mead), honey add is a cyser but you are making a perry how are you going to press them ? if the pears are bland you will want to get some "acid blend" and maybe some tannic additive .. or OAK it

also gravity = time. if you go over 10% it will taste like booty for 6~8 months and then just like magic may taste supper wonderful. if you have a ton of pears i would make some 5-6% suff and some hitest stuff around 10+ to experiment on.

These pears do taste pretty tannic on their own, but love your suggestion of using oak. I do not have any oak powder on hand, I may wait until primary is almost over to add the oak.

I'm perfectly fine if this wine takes 6 months to mature, in fact I expect that it will. I'm really looking for that dry crisp, clear taste, more like a fine white wine.

How about some apple juice concentrate to boost my gravity? I don't think the frozen stuff has potassium sorbate in it.

I am building a press with an old jack, will be using a bed sheet and bucket setup. I do not have a garbage disposal to run them through, so for this time I will use my Kitchen Aid food processor.

I am going to pick up some acid blend for sure.

Thanks for your advice.

Cidersupply.com sells a pectinase supposed to be just for pears to help macerate them and get more juice and clear it. I have not used it, trying to find some pears. Your D47 sounds like a good plan, I think honey would be best (beekeeper) to add body also as well as a little extra taste and sweetness. WVMJ

Update.

I ended up picking about 40 lbs of pears, after pressing I got almost 2 gallons. The juice is darker than I thought it would be, gravity was 1.054. It tastes great by itself.

I added 1 gallon of Great Value Apple Juice to the pear juice, I've heard good things about that brand of apple juice and since this particular fermenter holds 3 gallons I went for it.

I added sugar until my gravity reached 1.092. I added acid blend until the pH was 3.62. I added about a half tsp of pectin enzyme. I added 3 campden tablets.

I plan to pitch the yeast tomorrow evening, and am still contemplating the oak.

Thanks for the help so far.

Did you test the pH of the pear juice alone?

Hopefully there aren't any nasty chemicals/preservatives in the juice you added. For future refference use either "tree top" or "motts" namebrands.

Sounds like too much sugar to me, but will be interested to see how it turns out. Age it for at least four months after fermentation is finished.

Paps said:

Hopefully there aren't any nasty chemicals/preservatives in the juice you added. For future refference use either "tree top" or "motts" namebrands.

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The ingredient label was pretty simple. I had done a search for the best brand apple juice to use, and Great Value appeared in many many threads so that is why I chose it.

I plan to keep this cider/wine on hand for about a year, but will update you guys with tasting notes as I progress.