Can I use this to juice pears (or apples) for perry (or cider)?

[roastquake]

Hi Folks,

My FIL has a few pear trees that put out a whole bunch of canning pears (super hard fruit). We want to make a perry, and he was given this contraption that we know is used to make apple sauce. You can't see it but there is an auger inside the screen that forces the fruit though. Will this thing be useful for perry or cider making?

We know a fruit press is ideal, but unless we can fund one that is amazingly cheap, that just ain't gonna happen.

All suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance

 

[BadMrFrosty]

Cant help with your Q but my inner boozenerd feels the need to comment Perry is made with Perry pears, if you use any other type of pear its just pear cider.

 

[Pie_Man]

Cant help with your Q but my inner boozenerd feels the need to comment Perry is made with Perry pears, if you use any other type of pear its just pear cider.

Here in the US, at least in terms of the BJCP judging, there are two recognized types of Perrys. One from traditional "perry pears" and the Common Perry indicating pears from common/table pears, http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style27.php#1d.

To answer the OP's question, I am no expert on ciders, but if that contraption is the best you have, it seems like it'll work. I say give it a try.

 

[Agate]

I have something similar for apple sauce, but it's really just meant for cooked fruit. Forcing hard fruit through it would take excessive force and probably break it. I've had success turning it to pulp in a large food processor and squeezing it through a colander; perhaps it would be able to squeeze the juice from purée?

 

[roastquake]

Thanks Agate, I think that's what I'll do to be safe, will I need to core the pears first, before making the puree?

 

[Agate]

I don't think you would want to chop up the seeds, so to be safe I would probably core them quickly. I quartered them and cut out the core to get them to fit in the processor, and remove any wormy bits. Very labor intensive, but not that bad if you're only processing a gallon. Since then, I've invested in an apple press!

 

[roastquake]

gotcha, I'm pretty casual with making booze from fruit, and more serious about brewing, so no big investments in cider making. the only cider I've made was from store bought "soft" cider, and the extent of my fruit processing experience in crushing muscadines by hand. I'm excited to see how this turns out! If it's good I'm sure more possibilities will open up, I'm thinking some sort of peach concoction since those are so plentiful in these parts. Surely softer fruit will crush in this thing

 

[neo71665]

I have a motorized version of that and I wouldn't use it to juice pears.

I have used the meat grinder attachment then pressed the pulp for my pear cider. Not something I will do again or suggest.

 

[WVMJ]

If you let them set at room temp for a few days they should get soft enough that you can mush them up or just us a board in a bucke to crush them and then put them in a strainer bag and wring out the juice. Freezing would also help make them softer. What you have there is a fruit stainer, good for berries and tomatoes, probably break your arm trying to force hard pears thru it WVMJ

 

[roastquake]

If you let them set at room temp for a few days they should get soft enough that you can mush them up or just us a board in a bucke to crush them and then put them in a strainer bag and wring out the juice. Freezing would also help make them softer. What you have there is a fruit stainer, good for berries and tomatoes, probably break your arm trying to force hard pears thru it WVMJ

Thanks for the advise, I may try freezing them but these canning pears are no joke. they have already been at room temp for more than a week and they are still rock-solid. I'm definitely going to try the puree idea, I may actually let them sit in a pot of hot water (not so hot as to cause pectin haze) hopefully to soften them up.

 

[jkoegel]

That contraption is a Squeezo food strainer. Used to make apple sauce, tomato sauce, squash berries etc.......quarter and cook your apples, then run them through it stems and all. sauce comes out the chute, skins and seeds come out the end. Unless you know how to get cider from apple sauce it wont help you. But I use mine a lot to can a lot of produce from my garden.

 

[wreckinball9]

Once you have the sauce- Line a bucket with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. Boil some water, disolve. 4 lbs of white sugar, leave to cool.

Put mushed up fruit and sugar-water into the bucket, and top up with fresh water. Add desired yeast (Ale, wine or champagne), cover with a clean kitchen towel or the like. Ferment 5-7 days, then remove the pulp of the fruit via the paint strainer bag, allowing all the liquid to drip into the fermenting bucket. Cover with a proper tight sealing lid and airlock and allow to continue fermeting following normal wine/cider procedures from here.