1st time cider brewer tell me what to do

[rookie-brewer]

Never made cider before but i have found a good source of seconds pears which are not good enough for market but fine for juicing /cider makeing i prefer pear cider to Apple anyway so that suits me just fine
watched a couple of vids on YouTube and it seems like its just juice sugar and yeast

My plan is to juice the pears in a jucer as i don't have a press

I plan to fill my 20ltr fermenter as the pears are only $1nzd per kg

The things i need to find out are
1.if there is anything else other than juice the pears add sugar and pitch yeast ingredients wise?
2.what yeast to use?
3. How much dextrose to add
4.is second fermentation required?
5.any other information needed

I prefer a slightly sweeter cider not overly
sweet but not real dry ether

Any help will be greatly appreciated
thanks alot

 

[bucketnative]

Have you started with the "Cider for Beginners" sticky at the top of the forum. That is a great source information, most of which is contained in the first few pages. IT will answer most of your questions.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=508303

 

[Maylar]

BTW, pear cider is a "Perry". We have names for everything around here...

 

[dmtaylor]

You don't really need to add anything to your pear juice besides yeast... and even that is optional since the juice already has wild yeast in it. Personally I always heat pasteurize to gain more control of the end result. To do that I heat to about 70-75 C for 15 minutes, then cool. If you don't plan to pasteurize at all, then you'll want to add 7 or 8 Campden (sulfite) tablets to the juice about 48 hours before adding your own yeast. This will kill most of the wild bacteria that could produce off-flavors.

For yeast, I strongly recommend Red Star Cote des Blancs if you can find that one, it's my favorite. If done right, it can give you a sweeter perry, and I'll tell you how to do that below.

If you want to add sugar, limit it to no more than 500 g unless you want to make a wine out of it. Add this during the heating process if heating, or with the Campden if doing that. Personally I would not use any sugar, it's not necessary as it just boosts the final alcohol level, and you'll get about 6-7% ABV even without any added sugar.

To end up with a sweeter perry, you'll want to rack early and often to remove most of the yeast. It is also best to ferment cool, around 13-15 C if you can find a place that cool to do it. After about the first 7 days of active fermentation, rack the perry and check the specific gravity. Keep a close eye on the gravity, racking and checking at least once or twice per week from this point on. As soon as specific gravity hits about 1.010 (or about 2.5 Brix or Plato) then you will want to add gelatin to remove most of the yeast...

To add gelatin: Heat or microwave about 2 cups water or juice to a boil, then add 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (I use Knox brand), and stir well to dissolve (it takes a couple minutes to get it all dissolved). Then add this to your perry. After about 24 hours, your perry should be clear as crystal. This is because the yeast has formed a gel on the bottom of the fermenter.

Then rack and chill the perry and keep cold for another month or two, checking gravity about once every week or so to monitor that it is no longer changing/fermenting. When gravity becomes stable for an entire week or two, then you should be safe to bottle and enjoy.

:rockin:

 

[rookie-brewer]

Have you started with the "Cider for Beginners" sticky at the top of the forum. That is a great source information, most of which is contained in the first few pages. IT will answer most of your questions.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=508303

nope missed it just seen it now as i scrolled down to check this thread will have a read now though

 

[rookie-brewer]

Have you started with the "Cider for Beginners" sticky at the top of the forum. That is a great source information, most of which is contained in the first few pages. IT will answer most of your questions.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=508303

You don't really need to add anything to your pear juice besides yeast... and even that is optional since the juice already has wild yeast in it. Personally I always heat pasteurize to gain more control of the end result. To do that I heat to about 70-75 C for 15 minutes, then cool. If you don't plan to pasteurize at all, then you'll want to add 7 or 8 Campden (sulfite) tablets to the juice about 48 hours before adding your own yeast. This will kill most of the wild bacteria that could produce off-flavors.

For yeast, I strongly recommend Red Star Cote des Blancs if you can find that one, it's my favorite. If done right, it can give you a sweeter perry, and I'll tell you how to do that below.

If you want to add sugar, limit it to no more than 500 g unless you want to make a wine out of it. Add this during the heating process if heating, or with the Campden if doing that. Personally I would not use any sugar, it's not necessary as it just boosts the final alcohol level, and you'll get about 6-7% ABV even without any added sugar.

To end up with a sweeter perry, you'll want to rack early and often to remove most of the yeast. It is also best to ferment cool, around 13-15 C if you can find a place that cool to do it. After about the first 7 days of active fermentation, rack the perry and check the specific gravity. Keep a close eye on the gravity, racking and checking at least once or twice per week from this point on. As soon as specific gravity hits about 1.010 (or about 2.5 Brix or Plato) then you will want to add gelatin to remove most of the yeast...

To add gelatin: Heat or microwave about 2 cups water or juice to a boil, then add 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (I use Knox brand), and stir well to dissolve (it takes a couple minutes to get it all dissolved). Then add this to your perry. After about 24 hours, your perry should be clear as crystal. This is because the yeast has formed a gel on the bottom of the fermenter.

Then rack and chill the perry and keep cold for another month or two, checking gravity about once every week or so to monitor that it is no longer changing/fermenting. When gravity becomes stable for an entire week or two, then you should be safe to bottle and enjoy.

:rockin:

fantastic info mate looks like ill need more than one fermenter good excuse to get another I geuss :rockin:

just one question the last part when you say keep cold do you mean like in the fridge?

 

[dmtaylor]

just one question the last part when you say keep cold do you mean like in the fridge?

Personally I usually just put it in my garage, which here in Wisconsin tends to be quite cold in early winter, 0-10 C. The exact temperature doesn't really matter all that much.... anything less than 13 C or so is probably fine.

 

[rookie-brewer]

Personally I usually just put it in my garage, which here in Wisconsin tends to be quite cold in early winter, 0-10 C. The exact temperature doesn't really matter all that much.... anything less than 13 C or so is probably fine.

sweet as its 24c-27c here at the moment so will have to cool some how ill think about that before I start
thanks

 

[dmtaylor]

If nothing else, freeze it for now and ferment it a few months from now when the seasons change (you do have seasons there, yes?).

 

[maxtpower]

You don't really need to add anything to your pear juice besides yeast... and even that is optional since the juice already has wild yeast in it. Personally I always heat pasteurize to gain more control of the end result. To do that I heat to about 70-75 C for 15 minutes, then cool. If you don't plan to pasteurize at all, then you'll want to add 7 or 8 Campden (sulfite) tablets to the juice about 48 hours before adding your own yeast. This will kill most of the wild bacteria that could produce off-flavors.



For yeast, I strongly recommend Red Star Cote des Blancs if you can find that one, it's my favorite. If done right, it can give you a sweeter perry, and I'll tell you how to do that below.



If you want to add sugar, limit it to no more than 500 g unless you want to make a wine out of it. Add this during the heating process if heating, or with the Campden if doing that. Personally I would not use any sugar, it's not necessary as it just boosts the final alcohol level, and you'll get about 6-7% ABV even without any added sugar.



To end up with a sweeter perry, you'll want to rack early and often to remove most of the yeast. It is also best to ferment cool, around 13-15 C if you can find a place that cool to do it. After about the first 7 days of active fermentation, rack the perry and check the specific gravity. Keep a close eye on the gravity, racking and checking at least once or twice per week from this point on. As soon as specific gravity hits about 1.010 (or about 2.5 Brix or Plato) then you will want to add gelatin to remove most of the yeast...



To add gelatin: Heat or microwave about 2 cups water or juice to a boil, then add 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (I use Knox brand), and stir well to dissolve (it takes a couple minutes to get it all dissolved). Then add this to your perry. After about 24 hours, your perry should be clear as crystal. This is because the yeast has formed a gel on the bottom of the fermenter.



Then rack and chill the perry and keep cold for another month or two, checking gravity about once every week or so to monitor that it is no longer changing/fermenting. When gravity becomes stable for an entire week or two, then you should be safe to bottle and enjoy.



:rockin:

Does the perry carb in the bottle using gelatin if you sugar prime it? Or is it a still perry?
Thx
Max

 

[ErickJ]

Does the perry carb in the bottle using gelatin if you sugar prime it? Or is it a still perry?
Thx
Max

I agree, wouldn't the yeast need to be killed? Or it will eventually begin to multiply again once its warmed to bottle carb?

Was he talking about kegging? If kegging, to my understanding, one does not have to kill the yeast, just rack off the yeast cake, keg, carb. the fridge will keep the yeast in a dormant state.

If the cider was stopped at 1.01, wouldn't the yeast cells waken and begin to feed?

I keep hearing from a bunch of people to use a cider or ale yeast, not a wine or a champagne yeast, The wine and champagne species will consume all sugar.

 

[dmtaylor]

If you're patient and wait a good 3-4 months to bottle as I do, the yeast becomes super tired such that it won't be too active in the final bottling. It might carbonate after another 5-6 months in the bottles but should not explode. Patience is your friend. If you're not patient (which I guess no one but me is) then use sorbate and sulfite again at the end to stave off significant refermentation in the bottles or keg.

And no, a perry (or cider) certainly does not require any carbonation. It tastes great still. Get used to it. That's what REAL perry (or cider) is supposed to be like.

 

[Maylar]

Chili needs beans, and perry needs bubbles.
... Just sayin'

 

[dmtaylor]

Champagne needs bubbles. Most other wines do not. Perry and cider are more akin to wine than anything else. Woodchuck and Angry Orchard are more akin to wine coolers than anything else, as are most perries available on the market today.

 

[ErickJ]

Champagne needs bubbles. Most other wines do not. Perry and cider are more akin to wine than anything else. Woodchuck and Angry Orchard are more akin to wine coolers than anything else, as are most perries available on the market today.

Haha, I guess I'm a wine cooler kind of guys. I never thought about it. I do agree with you though.

I guess I like the "I made the sparkling cider myself".

 

[rookie-brewer]

Chili needs beans, and perry needs bubbles.
... Just sayin'

Yeah i agree you can't buy still cider/perry over here so never had it like that so ill be sticking with a carbonated version

I do understand what the man is saying and don't disagree im just not used to haveing it any other way than carbonated