Fruit/flavor addition ideas for perry?

[dlutter]

I have about 10 gal of home pressed perry sitting in primary that are ready for transfer to secondary. My wife and I have not been impressed with the flavor of commercial perries and I'm looking to improve on that experience.

Does anyone have successful suggestions for fruit/flavor additions?

I'm definitely going to try a can of tart cherry puree in 3 gal of perry. Lemon plus something perry sounds good but beyond that I am lacking for inspiration.

I appreciate any input! Thanks

 

[Blacksmith1]

If you do one gallon jugs you can try 10 different batches. Lemon blueberry came to mind when reading your post. Any fruit you like should work.
I would try both strong and delicate mixes just to see what they do, and if you like spicey, jalapeno slices.

 

[Pizombie]

My top three suggestions for a perry batches would be Vanilla Bean, Elderberry, and Black Currant.

 

[CKuhns]

Dry hop, Citra hops.

What Blacksmith1 said.

 

[dlutter]

Thanks for the ideas. I'm thinking lemon blueberry, vanilla bean, and Citra dry hop. Depending on how the volume shakes out I might also try Mosaic or Amarillo hops, as I already those in the freezer.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Could you add some pears to make it pear flavored?

I guess I'm weird. I want my apple cider to taste like apple, my mead to taste like honey, and my beer to taste like barley.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Could you add some pears to make it pear flavored?

I guess I'm weird. I want my apple cider to taste like apple, my mead to taste like honey, and my beer to taste like barley.

So what do you want your tofu to taste like?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Call me old-fashioned, but I eat meat and dairy for protein, not been curds.


Or maybe I'm just waiting for the BMC days of flavorless tofu to be overcome by a craft tofu explosion where there's a craft tofu brewery on every corner innovating a variety of new and exciting tofu flavors with a whole array of bold flavor adjuncts. Hmm. Nope.

 

[dlutter]

Could you add some pears to make it pear flavored?

I guess I'm weird. I want my apple cider to taste like apple, my mead to taste like honey, and my beer to taste like barley.

I am actually considered adding some natural flavor extract for my ciders, both apple and pear. I haven't enjoyed commercial examplesof perries and my wife doesn't like to eat pears so I am doing some split batch flavor experiments. On top of that I also have 4 different yeasts fermenting different carboys.

Based on these results I'll probably settle on one or two mainstays and have one or two experiments going each year.

Here's what I am planning this year:

Perry
1. Unflavored (1/2 to 1 gal each): natural fermentation, Cider House Select dried yeast, Safcider yeast, Red Star yellow packet (Premier Blanc), Red Star blue packet (Premier Cuvee).
2. 3 gal with one can of tart cherry puree
3. 3 gal lemon blueberry using lemon juice and natural blueberry flavor
4. 1 gal each dry hopped with 1 oz either Citra, Mosaic or Amarillo hops
5. 1 gal vanilla (from extract)
6. 1/2 gal with 1/4 gal fermented peach juice

Cider
1. Unflavored (1/2 to 3 gal each): natural fermentation, Safcider, Red Star yellow, Lavlin EC1118
2. 1/2 gal with 1/4 gal fermented peach juice
3. 1-3 gal (basically whatever is leftover) of undecided flavor: likely passion fruit, but possibly mango, or other

I know it sounds complicated but I'm hoping it will all sort itself out.

 

[Miraculix]

How about leaving it as it is and have a really nice perry instead of whatnot might come out of it?

Maybe take a few gallons and add blueberries, but at least keep the majority as it is.

 

[bmd2k1]

Give the 100% fruit juice concentrates from www.brownwoodacres.com a whirl [emoji106]

I use them all the time in my ciders - post fermentation. All are awesome. As always YMMV [emoji16]

Cheers [emoji111]

 

[Sequoiacider]

When I have made Perry I left it as 100% Pear with no other fruits, and I found the results to be excellent. Much better (in my opinion) than commercial Perrys that I have tried. My wife also hates eating pears, but loved the Perry.

I noticed you plan to try to have some of it as Natural Fermentation. I have found this to be quite difficult with Pears. I generally have very good results with Natural Fermentations of Apples, but ended up with vinegar the few times I tried to allow Pear to go natural. I have had great results with Perry by pitching with either with commercial yeast or with wild yeast that I harvested from natural apple fermentations.

Also, your number 3 on your Cider list is an excellent choice. Some of my favorite batches have been with Passion Fruit. You should also try dry-hopping it it with a Citrusy/Fruity Hop variety. The pairing and balance is perfect.

 

[dlutter]

Thanks for the additional feedback and comments. I'll look into those concentrates for future reference. I think I might have even seen some of that company's products in my local grocery store.

I'll be sure to taste everything before I go crazy with the flavors in case I am with the plain perry. It'll be interesting to find out if I get some pear vinegar. Luckily I only have a little over a gallon of that. I will be sure to post back any results.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Vinegar only forms in the presence of oxygen, so that indicates a process issue.

 

[Sequoiacider]

Vinegar only forms in the presence of oxygen, so that indicates a process issue.

True. My assumption is that since wild fermentation never started with the pear batches I tried, the oxygen present in the headspace never got pushed out, which is why it ended up as it did.

 

[wasully]

True. My assumption is that since wild fermentation never started with the pear batches I tried, the oxygen present in the headspace never got pushed out, which is why it ended up as it did.

alcohol is converted to acetic acid to form vinegar. If you had vinegar, you had a fermentation. Maybe the sugar was converted to alcohol at the same rate alcohol was converted to acetic acid. But if you had vinegar, you had a fermentation.

 

[dlutter]

I thought I would update this thread with my results.

Overall, I am underwhelmed by my attempts and am going to try the yeast experiment again next year with different ale yeasts. I think I may be limited, though, because my fruit varieties are all dessert fruit and lack acidity & tannin.

My favorite was the naturally fermented perry. I tried this twice and nice results with 1 gal samples having nice sour and funk. I pitched the dregs onto 3 gal of store bought cider, so we'll see how it turns out. The naturally fermented cider didn't turn out and was a little vinegary, so I dumped it.

All of the rest of the unflavored perry turned out as expected: flat tasting and flavorless. I adjusted the TA and tannins in all of it and then added my various flavors. My favorite was the dry hopped with passion fruit extract, although an ounce of hops per gallon tastes a bit heavy handed. The tart cherry puree and lemon juice with blueberry extract versions are improvements on the plain perry but not quite right.

My cider also turned out flat tasting and flavorless, although not as much as the perry. Again, probably bc of my yeast choices and fruit variety available. I ended up adding apple flavor extract and balancing for TA & tannin. This helped and is at least enjoyable now. I do still have some in the carboy, so I may add some hops or another flavor extract.

Hopefully this helps some other people! Thanks for all of the input in this thread.