pear brandy

[raildog]

Gentlemen,
Yesterday I ground 4- five gallon buckets of pears, s.g. reading of 1.055 added sugar to bring it up to 1.070, added potassium bisulfite to kill the wild yeast. This morning I made a starter with my Lalvin EC-1118 yeast and pitched it into the must. I'll let furment to dryness. What I don't understand, as i have read conflicting advice, is do I do a single run or do I do a strip and spirit run? My pot still on a strip run starts at about 66 percent on a UJSM run and 84-85 percent on a spirit run. I want as much pear flavor as possible but have never tried to do the cuts on a single run other then removing 300 ml of foreshots. Any advice on what to expect? This will be my first fruit run. Thanks.

[Hutch-]

I did pretty much that same wash last year, single run trying yo be as careful as possible with cuts. Loads of pear aroma, and flavor. I've been double distilling my grappa, might try a sing pass with better cuts based on the success with the pears. FYI - I strained off the juice from the ground pears as much as possible to avoid scorching and minimize clean up.

[raildog]

Hutch,
I was planning on putting the pulp, after the ferment is complete into pillow cases and squeezing it out with an apple press. We have tons of pears around here this year.
How did you handle the product after distilling? Any oak ect.?