2018 Wine - Chapter 5 - Pear

We had our best pear harvest to date. A storm knocked off at least 5# of pears early on, and despite my best efforts, they refused to properly ripen. A few weeks later, however, our Bartlett tree yielded some 22# of pears. Then our trusted friend and ally Tom offered 11# of his Seckel pears, purported to be the only truly American variety in commercial production. I chilled the pears for a couple of weeks to help with ripening, then froze them whole, with a plan to press and ferment 100% juice.

When they came out of the freezer they were not much to look at. And when I first cut them up, I was not optimistic. The pears seemed unwilling to give up any juice. I cored the pears and pushed on, and I was thrilled with the result.

We got 2.3 gallons for a yield of about 14.5#/gallon. The numbers were great as well - SG 1.070, pH 3.78, TA 6.8. I made just minor tweaks, pectic enzyme, 6g tartaric to a target TA of 7.5, and 340g sugar to a target SG of 1.085. The yeast was K1-V1116 rehydrated with GoFerm, and once it got going it went into the chiller. Step fed with Fermaid K with 4g Bentonite. After 2 weeks in a mostly closed fermentation bucket, it slowly dropped to 1.020 and I racked it to carboys.

The pear wine is still slowly fermenting. If it sticks before it's dry, so be it, because it tastes great right now. If not, it will be backsweetened.