Fruit mash with thick cap.

[JohnsMyName]

I recently did a pear mash for brandy. I cored about 40 pounds of pears and ran them through the extractor. I put both juice and the pulp into a 6 gal bucket and topped it off with water. Fermentation took of right away and it was going great for a week untouched. Just checked it today and it has a hard cap about 6-8 inches thick. I punched it down and everything seems fine. My two questions are, 1) should I just punch it down once a day and let the ferment run or something else? 2) if I do this again would it be a better idea not to use the pulp or maybe throw it in a mesh bag or press it and pitch???