Pear Eau De Vie

[D20]

Hello there.
I have an tree absolutely heaving with pears at the moment - not eating pears, but table pears - and after watching Escape To The Chateau, I want to make pear Eau De Vie, and I'm asking for help.

Obviously I need to harvest them, crush/juice them whole, and ferment, and that's where I'm stuck, as I have cider/perry, so have never made it. After main ferment, it obviously needs distilling, which I can sort out.

TIA
Tim

 

[philrob]

Good luck with it, but you are obviously aware this forum's rules do not allow discussion of distilling.

 

[sp0rk]

Good luck with it, but you are obviously aware this forum's rules do not allow discussion of distilling.

I was of the understanding that the rules had changed to allow it, I see now the distilling subforum is gone though
If the rules changed back, when was that and was it obviously noted to the broader community?

 

[philrob]

To my knowledge it has been off limits for years.

 

[D20]

Sir,
I can sort the distilling part myself so as not to attract the rage of those above who forbid it's discussion. It's the making of the pear cider/must that I'm of needing of help with.

Good luck with it, but you are obviously aware this forum's rules do not allow discussion of distilling.

 

[sp0rk]

To my knowledge it has been off limits for years.

It was only a couple of years before you joined that it was made kosher
I'm sure admin can confirm, it was very taboo for many years but then obviously they decided there was no harm in allowing it

 

[MHB]

There are a bunch of specialty "Fruit" fermenting yeasts including from Le Safe, Mangrove Jacks (maybe under their Vintners Harvest brand) and Prestige. Same people offer Whiskey and Rum yeasts, Have used the Whiskey style yeast to try and get some of the ester flavours in Innis and Gun which is an out of the ordinary beer.
Pear juice can be very high in sugars, that and water is about all that's in it, I would think putting in nutrient, one of the complex ones not just DAP.
Wash all fruit well, its a good idea to rinse of in some Metabisulfite solution to suppress wild yeast. A good industrial basket juicer would be ideal. If you have a continuous juicer (the type that throw the juice one way and the pulp another) wetting the pulp and reprocessing it will give you more juice. Crushing by hand isn't very efficient, its also very time consuming and frankly pretty hard work.
From there, its a brew to yeast makers instructions regarding temperature and the like.

 

[sp0rk]

Here we go, it was linked externally for a while and from what I recall discussion was OK
https://web.archive.org/web/20160802073720/http://aussiehomebrewer.com/

 

[MHB]

As far as I know it was verboten for as long as I've been a member.
When the new management took over they put in a redirect to an off forum (outside Oz) group.
As noted home distilling is illegal in Australia and not discussing illegal activates is one on the many terms and conditions we all agree to when we sign up.

There are some interesting overlaps between the production of grain mashes and as in this case fruit washes and perry/cider making, the use of wood in maturation and so on.
Mark

 

[Grmblz]

There's certainly laws regarding home distilling in Australia, but a blanket "it's illegal" isn't quite correct.
Restrictions on still size, and product produced certainly exist, but "home distillation" per se is not illegal in Australia.
Having said that, the type of product, and still sizes likely to be discussed on this forum would in all probability be considered a breach of the law, in some circumstances
OK, pedants hat off, but distillation of any form is not illegal in Australia as long as you have the necessary licenses, so it's not "illegal" any more than growing opium or manufacturing cars is not illegal, provided all the licenses are obtained.
If the site rules state that discussion of distillation is forbidden, then fair enough, but I don't believe that is the case, as Mark states the rules are about illegal activities such as ********* well they can't be discussed can they?
End of day this forum IS about brewing, and there are plenty of sites dedicated to other hobbies, but sometimes there is a cross-over between alcohol related hobbies, so perhaps a more tolerant approach to casual comments/questions that stray into grey areas might be appropriate.

 

[MHB]

Well that was interesting, used to be that if you found the Terms and Rules button (presently on the bottom right of every screen) it said explicitly that discussion of distillation was forbidden.
Now it says I cant upset anybody, post nudes or defame slur or vilify and must agree to abide by the laws of the state of Texas, try getting an Australian court to agree to that one.
Meh lets just all remember we are here under sufferance and can be disappeared without trace on a whim. So lets just not push our luck.
Mark