I love pomaceous fruits. After recently making an apfelwein, I wanted to replicate the process with pear juice. I decided to make a gallon test batch. If it's good, I'll probably make a three or five gallon batch. The only consideration would be cost, considering that pear juice is pretty expensive. I also added a agave nectar to boost up the booze and add some finesse to this brew, hence the Latin inspired name.
Peragave
Style: pear wine
Juice:
3 quarts of pear juice (Knudsen's).
A fourth quart of pear juice to add when racking to secondary to achieve desired volume.
Other fermentable sugars:
23.5 oz. light agave nectar (365 brand)
Yeast:
1 packet of Red Star Côte des Blancs yeast
Other Ingredients:
½ tsp. of Wyeast Wine Nutrient Blend
¼ tsp. of LD Carlson Yeast Energizer
The process was pretty simple. My must consisted of about 3 quarts of pear juice and a 23.5 ounce bottle of light agave nectar. Add 2 quarts of the pear juice to a sanitized gallon jug. Pour in the agave nectar, cork the jug with a stopper, and gently shake for five minutes to incorporate the ingredients and aerate the must. Add more pear juice until there is only about two inches of head space in the neck of the jug between the must and the stopper (roughly another quart). There shouldn't be a lot of krausen, but give yourself a little headroom just in case. Add yeast nutrient and energizer and stir gently for five minutes to incorporate. Then take a gravity reading; it should be roughly around 1.090. Then pitch the yeast and gently stir it in to the must. I used Red Star
Côte des Blancs, the same yeast that I use for my apfelwein.
Keep in the primary jug for two weeks, then transfer to a secondary one gallon jug. At this point there will be a lot of trub in the primary. There will be a yeast cake at the bottom, as well as a considerable amount of solids from the pear juice that have fallen out of suspension. Avoid transferring the bulk of this sediment to ensure a less turbid final product. After transferring to the secondary, add pear juice from a freshly opened bottle until there is only about an inch of headspace in the neck of the jug. Keep in the secondary for 2 to 3 months before bottling.
I'm guessing that this will finish with a final gravity below 1.000, as my apfelwein did, so the ABV should be around 12%. I'll post some tasting notes after bottling it in the spring. That will keep me going through this coming winter: the promise of good weather and homemade hooch!
