SGs for asian pear cider/perry

[apshaffer]

A friend gave me ~60 lbs of asian pears, and I've borrowed a press from a neighbor. The guy I borrowed the press from said he has tried asian pears before and suggested adding sugar. Not sure if he meant back sweeten, or add sugar to boost the SG.

Anyone have a ballpark idea of what the SG should be for asian pear cider? Same as apple cider? This is my first attempt at pressing 'real' cider, or perry in this case.

 

[johnny5000]

I've heard it can vary a lot. Other than that, I don't have any info to offer you.
I've also read that pears have more unfermentable sugars than apples, so a pear cider/perry will be naturally sweeter without adding sugar.

 

[apshaffer]

for anyone interested, my raw asian pear cider/perry came in a 1.040.

 

[Tarzanchuck]

i know i have an asian pear mead going right now. personally the juice that i pressed tasted fine as juice, however i would add some sugar because a .04 isnt going to give you a very strong drink.

then again i add a fair amount of honey to the ciders i make and usually end up with 7.5-8.5% abv when all is said and done.

i am getting another 100 pounds or so from a friend in the next day or two. not sure what im going to do with them. im thinking ill probably want to start with something around 1.06.

by the way, tested gravity on my mead last week and it was not ready for first racking. it had gone from 1.09 to 1.04 and it tasted amazing.

 

[Tarzanchuck]

i also tend to add honey to boost sugar content in my ciders but that is just because i like honey.