Pear Cider

[Sander]

Hey y'all,

Tomorrow I'm brewing my first cider! It's going to be a pear cider! I bought 40kg of pears and 2 kg of strawberries. I've put them in the freezer so they break up a bit and give more juice.

I'm planning to juice 'em tomorrow and than simmer the lot for 1/2 hour. I'm thinking of adding some sugar, depending on the natural gravity my juice will have. At the end of the boil I'd like to pour in a fair bit of honey, this is to add alcohol and flavour/aroma. (I'm aiming for sg 1050 - 1055)

Now I'm not sure if want to sweeten the lot up a bit. I'm using champagne yeast (w-yeast 2049) and I'm a bit scared I'll end up with a cider that dry that it's going to razor my throat.
I do like a dry cider but with the strawberries and all I would like to keep some fruitiness and a little bit of body to it.

In the fermenter I'll throw in the yeast and some yeast nutrient.

The wife came up with a good idea the other day, she suggested to add a lavender aroma. It was a bit to late to make lavender sugar by tomorrow so I thought to make it by the time I have to bottle and use it as carbonation sugar.
I'm not sure if, at this stage and with the small amount of sugar I'm using, this will still make a difference to the aroma.

Any way if any one has any comments/additions/adjustments/praise/... let me know!

Cheers
Sander

 

[barls]

i would heat it as you risk setting the pectins in the juice and ending up with a jelly or jam.
personally i sterilise all of my juices chemically and find it a better way.

 

[kalbarluke]

I recently made a pear cider, my first one. I juiced two bowes of pairs and that made about 8L of juice. The juice alone came out at SG1.058. It was very sweet. Keep this in mind, especially if you are thinking of adding honey.

Call me a pussy, but I didn't want it that strong so I added water (probably a big no-no, but I don't care). I used S04 yeast at 18deg.

I kegged it at around 1.005. It tasted fairly nice, but had a bit of a dirty aftertaste. I'm hoping this clears up over time in the keg. I'm sure champagne yeast will probably be better.

 

[Sander]

i would heat it as you risk setting the pectins in the juice and ending up with a jelly or jam.
personally i sterilise all of my juices chemically and find it a better way.

I am heating it or do you mean not heat to not set the pectins?
I do like to try everything I make as chemically free as possible so I wont use any chemical sterilization.
Do you reckon boiling it longer might help the risk of setting?

 

[Muscovy_333]

I am heating it or do you mean not heat to not set the pectins?
I do like to try everything I make as chemically free as possible so I wont use any chemical sterilization.
Do you reckon boiling it longer might help the risk of setting?

I pretty sure you need around 60brix to make Jam. Personally i dont think Pectin will be your problem...
I have done a few ciders (pear/apple), and it seems from other discussions and my own experience that the dryness is always the challenge.
A few people back sweeten on drinking (add a % of fresh pear/apple juice/sugar to balance the dryness).

Id split your batch and make a couple of smaller experimentals if you have a second fermenter.

 

[hsb]

I think you want to heat the fruit to a certain temperature to kill bugs but not so hot as to release pectin, so not boil it.
That comment directly from my hat but I would investigate that issue a bit further before boiling the juice.

Wont the honey just ferment out as well, so not add flavour, just sugar? You will need to do something to stop fermentation or backsweeten or it will be very dry.

Good luck! Strawberryperry FTW!

 

[manticle]

Don't heat it at all in my experience and opinion.

Certainly don't simmer it unless you want a stewed fruit pear cider. Pretty sure Barls meant to type 'wouldn't' as in wouldn't heat it.

If you want to avoid chemicals, just make an active starter with your yeast and add it as soon as you can. If not making commercial cider, I see no reason to add either sulphites or pasteurise the juice. The wild yeasts of my experience simply aren't that angry.

 

[Greg.L]

It's funny how often the heating question comes up on this forum, understandable I suppose, AHB being mainly a beer site. Absolutely no need to heat cider or juice. Cider is basically a wine so you just follow the procedures for wine (except for carbonating).

 

[Muscovy_333]

It's funny how often the heating question comes up on this forum, understandable I suppose, AHB being mainly a beer site. Absolutely no need to heat cider or juice. Cider is basically a wine so you just follow the procedures for wine (except for carbonating).

Bang on the money, you are making a light weight wine!
Forgot to mention that i make it using fresh juice. No heat at all, just need to be clean (as usual).
If you heat you loose all of the wonderful delicate stuff in flavour and make thin apple/pear sauce.

Curious to find out what people know about Pectin in fruit juices. Apples and citrus pith are the usual commercial source of pectin.
I threw my two bobs worth in earlier about Pectin not being a problem, but that was off the cuff and not in the spirit of this forum. (sorry).

Could the yeast digest the pectin after it has finished with the sugars?
As i understand pectin is a carbohydrate (non fermentable). Given that maltodextrose is a non fermentable CHO and helps with body and head retention in beers, is it possible that Pectin could provide some positive attributes, as in a bit of body?

My background is as a food scientist, and i have a reasonable understanding of the chemistry of Pectins, but i have no idea what our little single celled beasts do to it...funky flavours??
I feel an experiment coming up!

Apologies for leading slightly off topic

 

[Sander]

My dad used to boil his fruit and such when he was making wine I think :s

 

[Raf]

If you are concerned About bugs in the juice you need to pasteurize the juice like they do with milk. Heat the juice to 63degrees and hold for30 min. This will remove the worry of making jam by boiling the juice but will kill all bugs in fresh juice. All store bought fruit juice is pasteurized @72degrees for 15secs min.

 

[barls]

I am heating it or do you mean not heat to not set the pectins?
I do like to try everything I make as chemically free as possible so I wont use any chemical sterilization.
Do you reckon boiling it longer might help the risk of setting?

that should read wouldnt.
you can set the pectins at a lower sugar level and it results in a haze in the cider. also you destroy your aromatics
sorry missed this one yesterday when i looked. maybe i shouldn't drink while surfing.


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