I came across 25 pounds of pears the other day and decided a pear cider would be a tasty fun experiment.
After a bit of searching, I found absolutely nothing that would help me with a recipe, so I pretended I knew what I was doing and made it up as I went along.
Yesterday the pears were quartered and thrown them in the blender (except the core; that was just thrown into the fermentor. I didn't want to crush any of the seeds or those brown crunchy things on the bottoms).
After all they were all processed, I had a mass of thick apple sauce looking goop in my fermentor. You would think 25 pounds of pears would yield a substantial amount of goop, but it was less than 3 gallons total.
Knowing all the lees this stuff is going to throw after it ferments and clears, I really had no idea how much actual cider I would end up with, so I threw in a gallon of apple juice (and campden).
Now it looked like slightly less thick goop, but srsly, this stuff is difficult to stir. It's maybe 3.5 gallons. 4 if you cross yours eyes and look at it funny. But still, it's not much.
Added pectic enzyme 12 hrs later. Stirred again, but it took some effort to get a good swirl on.
This morning I was running late for work, so I threw in some Notty and didn't stir. When I came home, the yeast was still sitting on top of this stuff. I stirred it all in and it seems to be doing... as well as can be expected.
My question is what do I do with it now? I have every intention of letting it ferment, but do I add another gallon of apple juice? Do I ... [insert brilliant idea here]. Should I introduce malo in a few months? Add oak chips?
After a bit of searching, I found absolutely nothing that would help me with a recipe, so I pretended I knew what I was doing and made it up as I went along.
Yesterday the pears were quartered and thrown them in the blender (except the core; that was just thrown into the fermentor. I didn't want to crush any of the seeds or those brown crunchy things on the bottoms).
After all they were all processed, I had a mass of thick apple sauce looking goop in my fermentor. You would think 25 pounds of pears would yield a substantial amount of goop, but it was less than 3 gallons total.
Knowing all the lees this stuff is going to throw after it ferments and clears, I really had no idea how much actual cider I would end up with, so I threw in a gallon of apple juice (and campden).
Now it looked like slightly less thick goop, but srsly, this stuff is difficult to stir. It's maybe 3.5 gallons. 4 if you cross yours eyes and look at it funny. But still, it's not much.
Added pectic enzyme 12 hrs later. Stirred again, but it took some effort to get a good swirl on.
This morning I was running late for work, so I threw in some Notty and didn't stir. When I came home, the yeast was still sitting on top of this stuff. I stirred it all in and it seems to be doing... as well as can be expected.
My question is what do I do with it now? I have every intention of letting it ferment, but do I add another gallon of apple juice? Do I ... [insert brilliant idea here]. Should I introduce malo in a few months? Add oak chips?