Pear Vin

Vocabulary

Must

The ingredient in your primary container which will be fermenting

Rack

Siphoning off the clear liquid in the primary to the secondary

Muslin

small mesh which is used to cover the top of the primary allowing aire to freely flow with no pressure differential

Supplies

1. 4-5 lb skinned pears
2. 1.75 lb ( cups)sugar
3. 3.25 quarts water
4. 1 pkg wine yeast
5. 1/8 teaspoon ascorbic acid
6. 1 crushed campden tablet
7. 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
8. 1/8 teaspoon tannin
9. 1.5 teaspoons acid blend
10. 1/2 teaspoon pectic enzyme

Setup

Sanitize

1.)Cleaning the equipment with IODOPHOR

Test pear browning

Cut pear in half and let stand with the meat facing up for 15 minutes.

add 1/8 teaspoon of ascorbic acid if it is really brown otherwise ad 1/16 (pinch) if it is slightly brown to the primary after the pairs have cooled for 1 hour once boling water is poured over them

cut pears

1.)skin and cut 4-5 pounds of pairs into small chunks which will be mashed later like potatoes.

2.) wash the pear chunks in water

3.) be sure all the stems and seeds are removed

Procedure

1.) Place 4-5 lbs of mashed pairs in a nylon straining bag and then into the primary fermentation vessel.

2.) add 1.75 lbs ( 4 cups:1 lb = 2.25 cups)granular sugar to 3.25 quarts of boiling water

3.) pour the water with dissolved sugar over the crushed pears.

4.) cover the top of the primary and let it cool for 1 hour.

5.) add crushed ascorbic acid, the Campden tablet, yeast nutrient, tannin, and acid blend to the water after is has been cooled for 1 hour.

6.) wait 12 hours.

7.) add pectic enzyme after the above 12 hours

8.) make the yeast starter about 2-8 hours before another 12 hours has expired

9.) 24 hours has expired since starting.

10.) Now it is time to work on the liquid-to-water density ratio (specific gravity). The goal is to add sugar untl the specific gravity is between 1.08 and 1.085.

11.) now add the active yeast you prepared above in step 8. (1 package of yeast can do 5 gallons; I added it to 1 gallon though, oopps) DONT put the airlock until until the yeast has had about 4 days to grow.

12.) 1 week later you siphon out the liquid into a secondary glass container which can hold the liquid. It started to bubble in the secondary but not much bubbling was going on in the primary.

13.) "Rack"ing the wine means to remove the sediment (mostly dead yeast) by siphoning out the liquid. You need Rack the wine at least twice until no yeast falls to the bottom of the container after sitting for 30 days. Rack the wine every 30 days or so until no dead yeast drops to the bottom.

14.) Add 1/2 teaspoon of potassium sorbate another finely crushed and dissolved Campden tablet per gallon of wine. Also dissolve 1/2 cup of sugar into 1 cup of the wine and the pour it back into the wine.

15.) Wait 30 days after step 14 and Rack the wine into bottles. Age the wine for 6 - 12 months.

References

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/strains.asp

experiments

9/30/12

Red star premier cuvée wine yeast

9/30/14

Used Red star premier cuvee wine yeast again. Had enough pears to make 5 gallons. I filled one 3 gallon carboy to the top while the other was almost half full of the same liquid from the primary fermenter. The yeast fell out of the half full carboy and became clearer than the full carboy after 30 days. The half full carboy seems to have a higher alcohol content based on hydrometer readings. Perhaps wine production is better when you only fill the carboy half way allowing the yeast to have more oxygen over time?