How ripe do you need your pears?

[benkrupt]

I am refining my pear cider recipes... They seem to be on the money with champagne yeast and peckham pears, with no added sugar. However I was wondering at what ripeness should you juice your pears before adding to primary. What is the difference in flavour, alcohol content from really ripe pears to relatively firm pears? Any help on this would be mug appreciated

 

[gregbathurst]

I mill and press my pears while still firm. Pears ripen in 2 stages, first they achieve high sugar and are physiologically ripe while still firm, second they soften and become nice to eat. For cider you don't need the second stage, and they are much easier to press while still firm. I get an sg of around 1.048 and pH of 4.0, if you wait longer the pH will get even higher, but the sugar won't get higher. They are ready to pick when the stems come off the branch easily by lifting the fruit.
I don't think pears have a lot of flavour anyway, but the flavour won't improve much by letting them soften. 1.048 will give you around 6.5% alcohol, but this depends on the level of sorbitol in the pears.

 

[benkrupt]

Thanks mate. That info certainly help. You da man