Need advice to save 45 gallons of pear cider

A friend of mine had a Bosc tree that gave him over 600 lbs of fruit. He thought, instead of wasting it, he'd get them pressed and make cider. He also was expecting me to help out, because I brew beer and that's the same.

Circumstances what they were, we didn't add the Nottingham until about two days after the pressing. The 7 carboys were already starting to take off on their own.

They've been sitting in a cool basement for about 6 months. They're at about 1.005. And they are as bitter as anything I've ever had.

They have sat there undesturbed for the whole time.

Is there anything we can do to salvage this cider? We are going to try back-sweetening in small batches and see what works. Should we treat it with something? Degass?

 

If you are going to backsweeten you should add some Potassium Sorbate.

 

Rack it. Add Kmeta and K sorbate to it. Age it and drink it as needed. Add a co2 blanket as well when taking off what you need. You will only be able to force carb if that is what you like.


45 gallons is A LOT to store but will age well.

 

Pears are pretty watery and the juice contains a lot less sugar. That is probably why it is bitter.

 

Thanks for the replies. The plan is to force carb all of it. Most will be dispensed from keg, and some maybe going into bottle with a CP filler.

 

If you didn't add any metabisulfate after the pressing before adding the yeast, then you probably have Nottingham yeast AND wild yeast. That may be why it's a little sour/bitter. So yes add some metabisulfate and sorbate, then backsweeten, and keg it.