Perry, Pear Cider

[ViciousPenguin]

just moved the brew into my cellar, i took a photo of the clear bottle to show the sediment at the bottom. i'm hoping its going to clear over the next few weeks while its sitting.





thats the modified coopers european lager below the perry

[froggi]

Hi guys... having read this thread from beginning to end, I'm now itching to give it a go being a big cider/perry lover but I was wondering something.... Would using whole fruit (ie fresh pears) be as good, skins n all as there should be natural yeasts on/in the skins itself and still using the pear juice/nectar.... may take a bit longer and be less sweet, but trad perry has a tart-er taste and is a bit drier in my experience.... Oh and BTW, if I do follow this recipe, it'll be my first foray for a long time into the mystical world of brewing.... Any opinions welcome guys, feel free!!!

[ViciousPenguin]

I've quite new at this too, I suggest give it a go n see what happens

[froggi]

Well I gave VP's recipe a go (minus the pears) using Lidl's pear nectar..... The damn things seem to have died and are as murky as hell.... I mean the pulp is in suspension in the DJ's and there's no sign of it settling out.... WTH went wrong I ask myself??? Plenty of sugar added to suppliment the sweetness of the nectar. ONe of the 2 DJ's bubbled like a good 'un for a while and now nowt..... the other.... Well apart from a mild case of the DJ vomitting out a load of pulp and juice one night, totally comatose!!! What have I done to my babies???
Also, tried to ferment a cheeky Dandelion & Burdock but that's the same.... Zilch, zero, nowt, bugger all!!!! Been over 2 weeks now and I'm thinking it can't be done now!!!
Anyone help (of course you lot can, stupid question really)????
Cheers in advance

Forgot to add... Checked the SG and if I'm reading it right the hydrometer is reading 1.000 or am I reading it wrong?

[oldbloke]

I'm trying a demi of Lidl pear nectar, been bubbling madly since Sunday, tried to escape once, just starting to see a clearer band between the sinking pulp and the yeast crust (3" thick).
All I stuck in with it was a bit of tea, some pectolase, and some nutrient. I did use a full sachet of Young's cider yeast - maybe you under-pitched?

There's so much pulp I don't think I'll bother with this one again. Or the peach nectar.
I might try the canned pears, or if I can find pear _juice_ I might give that a go.

[froggi]

Dismayed, disheartened and pi**ed off.... The Dandelion and Burdock experiment appeared to have failed.... back to the drawing board with that one I guess
Perry ala VP via Lidl, mmmm not sure at the mo.... have bottled one DJ, added a bit of sugar to create some gas (the OH wont drink "flat" cider... not the same she says.... flamin' heathen!!!!) and not going to wait for a few weeks.
Started an turbo cider off (ordinary apple juice from Asda) and that seems to have worked ok - so far - as well as a DJ of turbo red wine.... That's been a resounding success so far..... Done the first racking on that one and tried a snifter.... Oh yes that'll do nicely the OH said.
Next step is to get another FV and start on a beery type beverage as well as some more Grolsch bottles
Happy brewing guys

[ViciousPenguin]

Its been two months since the brew settled into by cellar and I have just opened my penultimate bottle.



How does it taste? Well frankly its superb. The balance of flavours mixed in with the spice of cinamon is perfect. Using apple and the pears gives it the fresh sparkle of cider and the sweet satisfation of a perry.

But Its not all good though, I lost porbably a third of the batch due to the fact that some of the fruit solids made it into the bottles and when I opened them they went off like fountains. The first one caught me by surprise and it went all over the place. After that I opened them over the sink

All I can suggest to anyone who wants to have a go is filter it, rack it , bottle it and cross your fingers.

I did mention I have just opened the penultimate bottle, the last one is for second2none for a tastey brew. If you live anywhere near Derby your welcome to it.

[froggi]

i tried mine today .... just to sample of course..... i thought about the solids problem too vp..... i filtered mine before bottling, using coffee filters - too fine so reverted to plain white kitchen roll and a very fine sieve.... took absolutely ages but got rid of most of the pulp that way.... not very sterile but i've no issues here at all.
plenty of fizz due to the priming and cloudy as you like and unsure of the alcohol content but it does taste fairly strong - warming on the way down as i type..... it's been a big learning curve but worth it.... result

[ViciousPenguin]

I'm going to give it another go soon, ill try the coffee filters too. Will report back later

[second2none]

haha thanks for the brew... I loved it

Coffee filters take ages and get clogged up within seconds!
It took me hours to filter 5L I wouldnt recomend it at all.

Have you thought about using something like geletine?
you can gettin with the baking stuff in the supermarket and use a teaspoon per 5L or so
and it basically turns to jelly in the bottom of ur DJ but traps anything too big along with it
it also give "mouth feel" to ur brew what ever that is, but i've enjoyed using it so far in my some of my more crazy experiments.
I tried to ferment a choclate sauce and it did wonders clearing that!!
It was like BANG over night clarity, it shocked me, Might work... I'd guess its worth thinking about

[ViciousPenguin]

Sorry to bring this back form the dead, but I'm having another go at it.

Remember the problem I had with filtering it? We'll thsi time I have made a filter to go onto the inside of the FV attached to the tap.

I've used two sieves, tie wraps, cling film, and a bottle.










Well first off I didn't like the way it looked hashed together, secondly I completley forgot about the internal curvature of the FV and the end hits the side, and lastly I left it in steraliser for a few hours to try and get rid of the perfume from the showergel bottle. It wouldnt come out, so I made the thing below instead.






Using the same two sieves, extra tie-wraps, no clingfilm, but using the clear part of a 50 CD stack spindle. Tomorrow I make the brew.....

[Totem]

That looks really good. Would be interesting to see how it works.

[Pinto]

[ViciousPenguin]

I got an SG of 1.074 @ 26.3 Degree Celcius. Its going to be a bit strong if it goes all the way

I'll leave it for two weeks, and then rack it into another FV to settle for a few days before bottleing. Lets hope the filter works well enough....

[second2none]

Hahaha you put my original recipe to shame,
The photos are really good and ur ingredients in the pot look amazing
I bet ur kitchen smelled like heaven!

Have you thought of using gelatin after fementation stops to
"finn" the perry you will find it speeds up clearing and won't alter the taste too much
I would highly recommend trying some in a sample!