Pear Juice

[Reviled]

hey guys

I tried a "Perry" a Pear Cider last night from some vineyard down in hawkes bay, it was sooooo damn nice that ive decided I want to try and make one... Problem is, where the hell can I get some Pear Juice? Or am I gonna have to juice a heap of pears myself?

Has anyone done this sort of thing before? Got any advice for me? Ive read that a mix of apple and pear juice is absolutely devine so I may try that as Apple Juice will be easier to obtain...

Cheers

[Rusty Chch]

I've been co-opted into helping a friend making perry. He reckoned that the pears would come right at the end of February. That gives you plenty of time to find an orchard

[Reviled]

Stink so I cant just juice any old Pear? Anyone own a Pear Orchard ;oP haha

[jt]

I think Rusty is saying have patience Grasshopper, wait until pears are in season and plentiful

[Reviled]

Shit, brewing just really pushes the whole patience thing on people aye :o( It has never been one of my strong points... But ive counter balanced it by brewing more beer, so I dont have to wait for it :o)

[Rusty Chch]

pretty much.

I've been doing a bit or reading on cider recently and the general concensus seems to be that underripe fruit will give you low alcohol/bitter drinks.

[Sam Possenniskie (TGM)]

Hallertau makes a very good Perry

[Reviled]

And fruit wines!!! I love Pukeko Grove beverages, mainly cos I can take SWMBO to Hallertau with me, I get to enjoy the beer, and theres something there for her too...

[Steve Nally]

Hi,
We're made perry before at the Invercargill Brewery and you are rite it's a fantastic beverage. We found when you pulp up the pears to put them through the press they turn to soup so we added the dry leftover apple pulp and rehydrated it and then put to through the press. This worked well as you got a touch of acidity from the apples.

It also pays to use some PMS to wipe out the wide bacteria and yeast, we learnt that the hard way last years one is now pear vinegar... which is very nice so we bottled it and sell it through our bottle shop.

If you are going to use actual pears get them very firm this will help them press. We used a champagne yeast. Pears have an unfermentable sugar so it will have some natural residual sweetness.You also need good sound fruit if you use cr*p that is what the result will taste like.

The other option is pear concentrate...just search the net unfortunately the companies that sell usually do so in 200litre lots. The thing about cider and perry made from conc is they lack that fine fresh aroma.

I am thinking about building another perry this year.

Cheers

[Reviled]

Hmm, cheers for that info Steve... Id probably be more keen to go down the concentrate path due to the fact that if I end up juicing Pears, id have to do it all on a small scale juicer instead of a press (unless I could use someone elses press)...

Also, whats PMS? Some kind of chemical? I thought that for getting rid of bacteria a 15 min boil would suffice?

A bit of a pity about the 200 litres lots, how many litres can you get out of one litre of concentrate? Does anyone want to go in on some Pear concentrate?

[denimglen]

PMS is potassium metabisulphite I believe, basically the same as the Sodium version.

Also wouldn't a boil extract too much tannin or pectin from the fruit?

[James P]

Although I thought some woman would be able to strip paint off a window sill with their look at that time of the month I was sure you weren't talking about the same PMS..... :)

[Reviled]

ROFL, maybe I can get a woman to juice the pears just by looking at them :oP hahahaha