Pears

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:52 am

I actually got to the pears this year, and have the first batch fermenting.
I went with 1/2 - 3/4 bushel of juicy yellow bartlet drops, 10lbs sugar, and just 1 pack of active dry bakers yeast, topped to 15 gallons. Started it on Monday, and it took off ALOT better than I would have thought. It is smellin' like a sweet wine right now, but still fizzin, so probably another week.
When i run it, I only want to run it through once, so I'm probably gonna take it real slow.

I still have 7 trees that are loaded and arent even yellowing yet...looks like it is gonna be a good year on the booze front. I might have to get a bigger freezer, cause the grapes are sugary this year, so I can't let those slip by.

luck_o_the_irish · Post by **luck_o_the_irish** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:06 am

this sounds good too...

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 5:12 am

been 1 week now, and it is still fizzing. I decided to take out one gallon to make into wine. MAN, it is gonna be a good wine.
I am suprized it is still fizzing like it is.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 8:52 am

Good luck with your pears spirit and wine, Pothead!

I've made a pears wash (30 l, 15 kg pears, 2kg sugar, Brewferm Aromatic yeast, nutrients) 10 days ago, and it still bubbles... Sweet odor, smell and nice taste...

I think we've to be patient wth pears.

Yesterday, made a wash of 40 kg apples (20 l juice) and today, it bubbles like hell... Never saw that!

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Mon Sep 25, 2006 2:55 pm

Bujapat wrote:Good luck with your pears spirit and wine, Pothead!

I've made a pears wash (30 l, 15 kg pears, 2kg sugar, Brewferm Aromatic yeast, nutrients) 10 days ago, and it still bubbles... Sweet odor, smell and nice taste...

I think we've to be patient wth pears.

Yesterday, made a wash of 40 kg apples (20 l juice) and today, it bubbles like hell... Never saw that!

I've never had to use yeast with apples, I have always gotten a strong ferment to start....but it has always slowed down fast, and never fermented past 8% abv (with no sugar or yeast)

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:29 am

Started a second batch yesterday,
I used about a half bushel of pears(not as ripe...most were still a bit green and not NEARLY as juicy), 10 lbs sugar, and added all the floating fruit from my first batch to this one. And topped up to about 13 gallons, then tossed in only about 3 grams bakers yeast. Within 4 hours it was fermenting, and this morning is was fizzing just as good as the first one. The fermentation really suprizes me because it has only been about 65degreesF .

After I took the fruit off the top of the first one, it seems to have started fermenting even harder. again, and it already tastes like it has fermented dry.

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Sun Oct 08, 2006 5:32 am

Well...
It started turning to vinegar, and I wasn't able to run it right away, so I had to use campden tablets

.
Last time I ran a batch that had campden in it I regreted wasting the time....for some stupid reason I thought it might be different, BUT, it wasn't. The product had the nastiest chalkiest sulfer aftertaste that ya just can get rid of out of the back of the throat. NASTY.
I'm just glad that I have another batch in the works that will be finished by next week, and I used PLENTY of yeast this time to fight off the nasties.

Word to the wise, campden is BAD in a distilled product..I mean BAD.

But, I will let you all know how this other batch goes.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:44 am

Distilled pears wash today : 1,75 l of 70 %ABV spirit and 2 l tails (from 55%ABV to 20%ABV)
Very nice stuff!

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:03 am

I'm getting anxious for my second attempt to stop fermenting.

sherriff Buffoerd pusser · Tue Oct 10, 2006 6:53 am

Ive got another pear wash started to run got one ready but it needs degasing to get rid of rotten egg smell so Im going to just make wine with it. Pot still is coming along well hope it will be ready by time wash is done.

furball · Post by **furball** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:50 am

Hey Pothead, I don't think that the campden tablets did that to your wash.
I made a pear wash with some slightly unripe pears, and a lager yeast, with about 15lbs of sugar. When I ran that wash in the still what came out was horrible, and no campden tablets were ever used in the wash. I was thinking that it may have been a byproduct of the yeast. It was bad enough that I stopped collecting after the 3rd quart. I gave it to my son inlaw who dropped in some dehydrated pears ( and I think I gave him some oak chips too) and let it sit for a year on the shelf. We took a sample of it last month and it had a very unique taste to it, that was actually very good,. Suprised the hell out of me!
But the tast when it came out of the still was just as you described- sulphery that clung to the back of your throat and wouldn't go away. If you saved anything from that run, just put in a little bit of dried pear and some oak chips, and let it sit for a while.

Furball

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 10:05 am

furball wrote:Hey Pothead, I don't think that the campden tablets did that to your wash.
I made a pear wash with some slightly unripe pears, and a lager yeast, with about 15lbs of sugar. When I ran that wash in the still what came out was horrible, and no campden tablets were ever used in the wash. I was thinking that it may have been a byproduct of the yeast. It was bad enough that I stopped collecting after the 3rd quart. I gave it to my son inlaw who dropped in some dehydrated pears ( and I think I gave him some oak chips too) and let it sit for a year on the shelf. We took a sample of it last month and it had a very unique taste to it, that was actually very good,. Suprised the hell out of me!
But the tast when it came out of the still was just as you described- sulphery that clung to the back of your throat and wouldn't go away. If you saved anything from that run, just put in a little bit of dried pear and some oak chips, and let it sit for a while.

Furball

I ran a batch of plum wine that had campden in it, and a batch of strawberry rhubarb wine before that had campden, and they both had that nastiness to it.
I am saving about a liter that I dropped 2 juicy pears and a couple strips of charred oak into, just to see how it turns out.
Another weird thing about this batch.....just for the hell of it, I put about a teaspoon of baking soda in the jug that had the rest of the run in it, and it turned an odd sea-green color. I vaguely remember hearing about this before, but I have NO idea what it could be. Then I took a brand new activated carbon filter(the the water dispenser/icemaker), and tried to pump some of this stuff through it to see if that helped....well, it came out clear, with no smell, but it has NO alcohol left in it, and it tastes like an extremely watered down pear juice. I am lost here as to what went wrong with this batch.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:51 am

Pothead,
I'm not a wine maker, but here's the way I go :
I put campden in the wash just after cruhing the fruits (0.5 to 1 g per 10 kg fruits). Then I wait minimum 6 hours before to put the yeast in the wash. I use wine yeast. I think doing this way allows campden to kill every undesirable bacterias, waiting 6 hours allows campden to disappear, and when I put the selected yeast, it hasn't competition with other bacterias.
The only wash that turned to vinegar was (as I said before) from apples and I'm sure the bad bacterias came from some little flies. (Fermenter wasn't well closed) I waited to long before to put the yeast in the wash (2 days) and campden had no more effect after such a long time. The way was opened to all bad bacterias.
I sometimes used "wild" yeast, without any problem, but in this case of course I didn't use campden.
Not sure this will help you, I hope you'll find an explanation!

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:59 am

Some additonal notes about Campden :

Campden tablets are made from potassium metabisulfite (don't know if it is the right translation).
Métabisulfite: sterilizing material, ideal to control bacteria's and wild yeast développement. By this way, it supports selected yeast action and developpement. It also helps in wine conservation.

When diluted in an acid liquid, it releases sulfurous gas (SO2).
1 g métabisulfite in water gives 0.5 g SO2. A TSP equals ± 3 g of metabisulfite. SO2 is a gas, that's the reason (I think) it disappears from the wash after a couple of hours and we have to wait ± 6 hours before to pitch the yeast in a sulfited wash.

Metabisulfite is inoffensive if used reasonably but may cause headaches if used at too high concentration.

It's disadvised to use too much metabisulfite before fermentation, because it's modified by the yeasts and the resulting product is nocive and may cause headaches. It also may give a sulfur taste to the spirit.

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:31 am

"When diluted in an acid liquid, it releases sulfurous gas (SO2)"

There are a few wine and champagne yeasts that add to the SO2 also.

I had a fealing campden was the culprit. Well next time I know NOT to use campden to stop a wash that has started to turn to vinegar. Next time I'll just pitch a bunch more yeast, and just enough more sugar to get the yeast to populate a bit more to kill off the bacteria.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:49 am

Wish you good luck next time...

I have an apple wash that turned vinegar, as I said in the post "vinegar".
Didn't distill yet, but now I can say the wash has a very "special" smell (not very good). I think I'd throw it in the WCs, but I'll nevertheless try to distill it... Maybe I'll lose my time, but I want to try!

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:35 am

I don't know what you guys consider to be 'vinegar'. Every wash I ever make has a sour, acidic taste when I distill it. I've always had good luck fermenting, the sugar all gets used, so when there's no sugar left, the wash does kind of have a sour, yuck taste to it.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:40 am

I understand what you mean UR, but my apple wash had a real smell and taste of vinegar. The flies where really on it. And fermentation wasn't finished at all.

So agree with you, my other washes are "acid" but not at a point to smell vinegar in the entire cellar!

hornedrhodent · Post by **hornedrhodent** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 3:21 am

="Bujapat"
I understand what you mean UR, but my apple wash had a real smell and taste of vinegar. The flies where really on it. And fermentation wasn't finished at all.

So agree with you, my other washes are "acid" but not at a point to smell vinegar in the entire cellar!

Apple cider vinegar is very expensive here.
Just kidding - move it out of your fermentation area, let it complete the process and use it as vinegar.

Kill the flies they're the culprits which spread the bacteria.
Expect a skin (bacterial mat) to grow on the vinegar. Leave it open to the air as oxygen is necessary to the process.
If you want to speed up the process build a column packed with woodwool and keep pouring the liquid through the column. The bacteria will attach to the wood fibres and there will be plenty of air for the reaction to convert alcohol to acetic acid.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 7:51 am

Thanks, better use that apple vinegar as vinegar than throw it to the WCs!

Watershed · Post by **Watershed** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:22 am

There's a big difference between acidic due to fruit acids and acidic due to vinegar - my pear wash was undrinkably sour but didn't have a trace of acetic acid. I used wild pears and let it ferment out completely.

The distillate after a two runs is superb - its got that high ester content that you find in some grappas that makes them practicaly crawl out of the bottle when it's uncorked.

I make loads of vinegar - but I make it deliberately.

pothead · Post by **pothead** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 8:51 am

I ran my other batch. I ran it slow...one pass thru the still. stopped collecting at about 100proof, and collect in a seperate conrtainer till about 70 proof.
It tasted a little rough right out of the still, So I added some of the lower proof back to it to take the edge down a notch. I wasn't that happy with it.
BUT...I let it sit for just a few days, and tested it again....man it is nice. I'm glad I picked enough for a few more batches.

Not sure If I should age any on wood, leave it raw or make a sweet tater-style drink.

Bujapat · Post by **Bujapat** » Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:14 am

Congrats Pothead!

I took a part of my pears spirit to make a sweet liquor : simply added 200 g sugar and diluted to 38%ABV to obtain 1.5 l of sweet 38% liquor : very nice, sweet and tasty!