# Ginger Pear Cider?



## surly (14/4/13)

Hey guys, 

I just finished setting up a 5L demi of JAO. The small batch size and cheaper outlay has gotten me feeling adventurous. 
Not being a fan of apples (at all), I was toying with the idea of a pear cider or a ginger beer. It occurred to me that a small amount of ginger in a predominantly pear cider might be quite nice. I usually find commercial pear ciders much too sweet, so some ginger bite might assist.

Based on reading posts on here and absolutely no experience of my own, I was thinking the following:

4 litres of Pear juice
100g's of fresh ginger. crushed (too much?) 
White wine or champagne yeast
Some lactose to sweeten.

I am assuming the wine yeast will work through nearly all the sweetness from the pear, therefore requiring I add some back in. 

Basically, I would love to hear your thoughts on the plausibility of this. If you think it will be terrible, have tried something similar etc.

Thanks, 

Tim.


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## surly (15/4/13)

From further research, I understand that the sugars in pear juice are unlikely to fully ferment, thefore leaving the final product at least a little bit sweet. This may negate the need for further sweetening?

Also, do you guys find it necessary ro add yeast nutrient?


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## Bribie G (15/4/13)

I use YN with my Aldi / Coles ciders - I use about a quarter tsp of the brown variety. I don't use YN with Black Rock kits as I assume they are fully complete. I buy a kit now and again just to renew the yeast stocks, only works out a few bucks more than the supermarket variety in any case.


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## mikec (15/4/13)

surly said:


> From further research, I understand that the sugars in pear juice are unlikely to fully ferment, thefore leaving the final product at least a little bit sweet. This may negate the need for further sweetening?
> 
> Also, do you guys find it necessary ro add yeast nutrient?


Yeah if it were me I'd leave out the lactose.
Reality is if it finishes and it's not sweet enough, you can easily add the lactose then.
You can't do the opposite if it finishes too sweet initially.


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## surly (15/4/13)

Well, bit the bullet and gave it a go.
Will definitely have a taste before I add any lactose.


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## surly (28/4/13)

Bottled this today, made a little mess siphoning it into the bottles, but went fairly well for a first attempt.
Had the obligatory taste, was only a little bit sweet. I found the pear and ginger flavour to be milder than expected and there was a definite "tartness".
Will age in the bottle for a while before I have another go.


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## Fossey (6/5/13)

I used Melrose Pear Concentrate to prime/backsweeten a perry I made. Comes in 360mL jars from several online health food stores. Turned out great and not sweet like a commercial - more like a Westons Perry but the taste was "thicker" and my use of dark brown sugar was noticeable in a good way.

I also have an Apple/Ginger cider in primary made from Cawston Press juice - its only 2L and well overdue for racking.


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## surly (6/5/13)

Hey Fossey, sounds like a good idea.
I was a little drink on Sat night and threw a bottle of my ginger-pear into the esky. Wanted to try, despite being so young.
It was actually ok. Tasted sweet enough for me, had some ginger flavour, but not much heat at all. The smell was sour though. Tasted much better than it smelled.

Will wait another month or so and try one sober


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