Apple Cider: merits of pear juice additions

[bingggo]

[SIZE=medium]Hi folks,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I've been happy with my dry apple ciders, brewed from fresh orchard juice. But put 20L in my 25L fermenter last night and starting to think about adding some pear juice, if I can find some preservative free at the shop. But I've never been much of a pear cider drinker (commercial brews being too sweet for me) - what flavours will up to 25% pear add to a dry apple cider? I can't stop experimenting [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]What's in the fermenter so far:[/SIZE]

• [SIZE=medium]19L apple juice [/SIZE]
• [SIZE=medium].5L black tea, 0.3L lemon juice, 1kg honey, 100g raisins, .5L steeped cassia/vanilla water[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=medium]SafCider yeast[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Cheers,[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]B[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]edit: clarified: fermenter, not keg [/SIZE]

 

[Airgead]

Well... it will add a pear flavour.

Actually, what you will perceive mostly is sweetness. Pear juice contains Sorbitol which is an unfermentable sugar so adding pear juice adds unfermentable sugars and raises the residual sweetness of the finished cider. Too much pear and the cider is too sweet.

how much is too much? hard to say. Each different type of pear has different levels of sorbitol and levels also change season to season.

25% is probably too much. Unless you like it really sweet.

You could ferment the pear separately then blend it in until you get the sweetness you want.

Also be warned that sorbitol is also a laxative. In pear (and perry) country there is a well known description of drinking too much perry - "the perry shits". So be careful.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Deep End]

The Golden Circle Pear Juice at the supermarket is preservative free, comes in a can and is a bit costly really, but I have used it before, put three or four cans in a brew and was quite happy with the results. It is unfiltered and gives the finished product a nice cloudiness too, if you into that.

 

[///]

Used that juice to refermented a 4% Belgian ale, worked a treat