A 7% pear cider as a base for then fermenting mead,

[blastedkane]

This is my first post and my first attempt at cider and so I was hoping for some advice.

I love mead and want to make some of my own. however first a little background. For my birthday I was given a cider making course which was loads of fun and I got to make a 1gal demijohn of Pear Cider. This has now fermented out to just under 1 and therefore is very dry and, according to my calculations should be at about 7%

Whilst waiting for that to finish a friend of mine gave me access to their orchard which used to be a cider orchard and i managed to get about 60 kilos of apples, so I pressed them and got about 25 Litres of juice. 20litres is currently fermenting and I pasteurized 5 litres to keep as just juice.

The pear cider seemed to halt fermentation for about 2 weeks and So i have racked it off into a clean demijohn and topped with water. but as mentioned it is very dry and acidic. I was worried about overfermenting (as mentioned this is my first time and i think I should have read more before starting) and so I dropped a campden tablet in to halt the process so I have a flat acidic drink at 7%.


NOw onto the questions.

These are 4 fold.

1. I have been experimenting with back sweetening the Pear with the pasteurized apple and it makes for a really nice drink. If I blend 50% apple and 50% pear with the alcohol content drop to 3.5 ?

2. What is the ideal alcohol content for long term storage?

3. If I do the above then I will have a demijohn of blended cider which I hope to bulk age and then bottle in about 3 months. any thoughts on potential spoilage?

4. Finally (and this is why I posted here) I am thinking about taking half of the pear cider, adding about 2 Litres of water and 3 Lbs of honey. Pitching some yeast and then re fermenting to make a pear melomel. will the end product take on the pear characteristics or will the fact that the pear is already fermented cause any problems?

 

[rowan57]

This is my first post and my first attempt at cider and so I was hoping for some advice.

I love mead and want to make some of my own. however first a little background. For my birthday I was given a cider making course which was loads of fun and I got to make a 1gal demijohn of Pear Cider. This has now fermented out to just under 1 and therefore is very dry and, according to my calculations should be at about 7%

Whilst waiting for that to finish a friend of mine gave me access to their orchard which used to be a cider orchard and i managed to get about 60 kilos of apples, so I pressed them and got about 25 Litres of juice. 20litres is currently fermenting and I pasteurized 5 litres to keep as just juice.

The pear cider seemed to halt fermentation for about 2 weeks and So i have racked it off into a clean demijohn and topped with water. but as mentioned it is very dry and acidic. I was worried about overfermenting (as mentioned this is my first time and i think I should have read more before starting) and so I dropped a campden tablet in to halt the process so I have a flat acidic drink at 7%.


NOw onto the questions.

These are 4 fold.

1. I have been experimenting with back sweetening the Pear with the pasteurized apple and it makes for a really nice drink. If I blend 50% apple and 50% pear with the alcohol content drop to 3.5 ?

2. What is the ideal alcohol content for long term storage?

3. If I do the above then I will have a demijohn of blended cider which I hope to bulk age and then bottle in about 3 months. any thoughts on potential spoilage?

4. Finally (and this is why I posted here) I am thinking about taking half of the pear cider, adding about 2 Litres of water and 3 Lbs of honey. Pitching some yeast and then re fermenting to make a pear melomel. will the end product take on the pear characteristics or will the fact that the pear is already fermented cause any problems?

I will try and help with very limited experience, others maybe able to help more

1. I believe you would likely restart the ferment. Campden tablets are not designed to stop fermentation (http://blog.eckraus.com/blog/wine-making-tricks-and-tips/campden-tablets-what-they-can-and-cant-do)
2. Wines / Meads for long term storage are typically 12% ABV +. Cider wouldn't typically be stored 'long term' i.e. it would traditionally be drunk within the year of making.
3. I think you would likely restart the ferment - I'm not also not sure you would gain anything from bulk ageing. Your process is kind of wonky but I think you realise that
4. I'm not really sure if this would be successful. Again a slightly back to front process

If you don't like what you have, you have nothing to lose by trying it I suppose .