Pear Juice Storage?

I got my hands on about 40 pounds of pears and figured I'd try my hand at some graff with it. I juiced about 30 pounds last night and ended up with 2 gallons. I plan to mix this with another 2 gallons of store bought apple juice when I make the batch. I won't be able to make it for 3 more weeks or so do to space and lack of fermenters.

I put the juice in two glass wine jugs and put them in the fridge last night. Now I'm worried about how they'll store for 3+ weeks w/o pasteurization. I read not to boil the juice, so should I add campden tablets or something to help keep wild yeast etc. at bay until I make it? This is my first cider attempt, so I figured I'd see what you folks thought.

Do you live in the middle of nowhere? Can you just not go and buy a couple fermenter buckets and just start the process now?

Revvy said:

Do you live in the middle of nowhere?

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Turns out I actually live closer to somewhere , but my fermentation freezer is full, so even if I had another bucket, I'd be stuck fermenting w/o temp control. I don't have a basement, and house temps are mid to upper 70s. I'm planning to use some WL001 since I've already got it, and figured those temps were too high.

Is keeping the juice in the fridge that long just as detrimental as high ferm temps?

Make a swamp cooler with water and frozen soda bottles....

The issue is that wild yeast present in the fruit is going to start fermenting that, whether you like it or not...It may be good or it may be nasty. I would get a CONTROLLED fermentation going asap....

Well, we just kicked one of my cornies last night and I think I can squeeze it in the chest freezer as a temporary fermenter. I still don't have the specialty grains or DME for the recipe, but would it hurt to get the pear juice fermenting now, then add the malty concoction a few days later? I'm not out in the middle of nowhere, but I am an hour from a homebrew store, so it'll probably be Monday or Tuesday before I can get the rest of the ingredients.

Feasible solution?

How does the juice taste and how is the acid level?

Most commercial eating pears I have fooled with are acid deficient and the flavor is oh-so-delicate and subtle... and they make a horribly bland, insipid cider.... Like a pear scented alcoholic water.....

If you have a chance to do so -- get ahold of some "Perry" pears or a pile of the small ornamental pears. Make sure they are properly frozen solid and slimey ripe.... or they will be quite astringent....

They have a massively intense, fragrant pear flavor and quite a bit of acid - so they blend well with the standard sweet eating pears.....

If you do want to wait -- get the Campden/sulphite into it quick. That will kill the wild nasties and give you a few days to fool around.... You could probably then store it outside in the cold -- It should store reasonably well with temps like we have been getting lately...

Alternatively, I don't think it would be much trouble to add your Graff ingredients after it has started fermenting....

Thanks

truckjohn said:

How does the juice taste and how is the acid level?

Most commercial eating pears I have fooled with are acid deficient and the flavor is oh-so-delicate and subtle... and they make a horribly bland, insipid cider.... Like a pear scented alcoholic water.....


Thanks

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i second that. tried once with a nasty result. but the only place i have ever encountered perry pears is worcestershire england

Well, I went with the corny keg as my fermenter so I could fit it in the chest freezer. Saturday I added campden, Sunday I mixed the 2 gals of pear juice with 2 gals of central market organic apple juice and pitched yeast. Monday, I already had yeast oozing out of the top with just the 4 gals of juice, so I added a blow off tube and added the malty portion of the recipe.

It's been bubbling ever since with temps between 60F to 65F the entire time. The pear juice was from a relatives pear tree and the juice it made wasn't acidic tasting at all. Just reeeeeeeeeally sweet!!! Hopefully, the extract and apple juice will help out and it won't end up too bland.

I've been reading some in the cider forums about not letting it finish too dry. Should I try and stop the ferment at a certain gravity, or just let the WLP001 take it as far as it can like I do with beer? My wife did mention that she wanted it somewhat sweet, so now I'm wondering if I should take action at some point or just let it ride. I have the ability to crash cool or add campden.

Thoughts?

does my vote count? i say kill it at 1.011 and keg it! wifey will be pleased.
i'm sure it will be better than my pear failure which was from very sweet cooking pears only (dutch variety Gieser Wildeman). i tried to resurrect it with a bit of tart apple and some redcurrants after it had fermented almost dry. now it tastes like salad dressing

In terms of the original question... you could consider freezing it. Just be sure to leave enough extra space to account for volume expansion with the freeze.

dinnerstick said:

does my vote count? i say kill it at 1.011 and keg it! wifey will be pleased.
i'm sure it will be better than my pear failure which was from very sweet cooking pears only (dutch variety Gieser Wildeman). i tried to resurrect it with a bit of tart apple and some redcurrants after it had fermented almost dry. now it tastes like salad dressing

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Sounds like it would make some amazing vinegar.... Use it to make salad dressing...... Most cookbook recipes for "Vinaigrette" are made with Lemon juice....

You could also use it for cooking... sounds like it would give some really amazing flavors to quite a few foods....

An interesting bit of history I recently learned.....
The Nursery trade used Perry pear seed out of the French Perry mills for their pear rootstock for years.... This means that "Wild" pears found around old homesteads may be seedlings of old French Perry Pears..... The ones around here look like brown golf balls....

In fact - I found one like this recently in a friend's yard... Quite astringent fresh, but AMAZING when they are killed by the frost and mushy... I pitched yeast last night into 4-gallons of "Feral Perry Pear" juice.... We will see how it turns out... OG straight off the tree was 1.084

The jelly would have been amazing if I hadn't scorched it a bit.... Now, it has a Carmelly pear-flavor... Maybe it would be good as an ice cream topping....

Thanks

vinegar! not a bad idea at all. i just bottled it to put away and forget about it for a long time, but maybe i will open some and vinegarize! (never made vinegar before, do i just aerate the hell out of it and wait?)
very interesting about the perry pears also. and that is incredibly high og! report back with results please,,,, anything made with volunteer fruit is ++satisfying.
my search for a suitable perry pear in holland will wait until next year. here there are standard eaters (conference) and the cookers i used (sweet as anything and amazing firm texture) but nothing with any acidic bang.
i bet my sad perry could be a good poaching liquid for stewed pears now that i think about it ...
cheers

Alright guys, all this vinegar talk is making me nervous! I'm all for a good salad, but I really don't want my precious cider to end up as 5 gallons of dressing

I'm going to keep a close eye on it and probably cold crash it around 1.01 if I can catch it. I'll keg it, so I'm not really worried about it coming back to life as it shouldn't ever get warm enough.

I am with you on not wanting a totally dry Perry either.... Some of the reading I did said that Perry frequently comes out a little sweet -- allegedly, not all the sugars are totally fermentable like in Apples.... We can hope can't we!

I also am not really aiming for Vinegar -- I already have 4 gallons of the stuff from a batch of Cider gone wrong.... and while Pear vinegar is good stuff.... I don't really want to make any more vinegar....

But... If you do want to make it -- buy yourself a little bottle of "Organic Vinegar" that advertises "With the Mother".... That has the mother of vinegar you need to kick it over.

Pour your cider into a big open mouth glass/ceramic bowl or jar. Add Mother of Vinegar. Cover with cheese cloth/muslin/old tee-shirt and let it sit a *LONG* time.... A few months later -- it will be vinegar...

A word of warning, though... Home made vinegar is 2-3x stronger than store vinegar.... Intensely potent stuff.... you gotta water it down a bunch or it is just overwhelming....

Interesting. I'll stick that tidbit in my back pocket and just hope I don't need to pull it out this go round