newbie a bit lost with pear wine

Did you add sulfate before the yeast? You should also wait 24 hours after adding pectolase before yeast according to my instruction book.

I've never made a pear wine, so don't know what colour it should be, but my elderflower is usually a dirty orange for most of its life. Eventually it clears to a lovely light golden colour with a great reisling style taste.

SULPHITE, not SULPHATE. Different things, I'm always making this mistake.

Hi, You've started like I think most of us have.... Please check Jack's site for recipes, directions, etc.

I guess I would stir 2tx a day to help the fermentation along with a little extra oxygen - sounds like you have it under a bung and airlock already. I guess I would wait a few more days to see if the fermentation continues to increase or starts to decrease. I would wait until it decreases considerably before racking off the lees to a carboy with bung and airlock. It is hard to say because it sounds like you didn't have a hydrometer to check what your starting SG was. Nevertheless, if you do get one and test, I would wait until the SG is at or below 1 before racking. At least then, you know it has fermented almost to dry.... Good-luck. Darlene

I think pears and apples are usually made into wine by pressing them for juice first. You should really measure the pH and titratable acid too, as those are very important.

I put everything in right at the beginning, this was following the advice of the people at my local brewery supplies shop.

This is what I mean by "a tad confused"..

..all seem to suggest conflicting views.

I do now, the lid was left loose for the first 2-3 days.

What is "lees" and "carboy" ?

That is correct.

I must get a meter.

In message , Mike writes

AFAICT, the main worry is not to add the pectic enzyme while the must is still hot - if you've done the normal throw-fruit-in-bucket-pour-on-boiling-water thing, that is. It's likely to be destroyed by heat. So there's something to be said for waiting a while between processing the fruit and the rest of the additions.

My normal modus operandi is to chop/crush the fruit one evening, add the recommended amount of sugar, boiling water, and crushed campdens, and stir like heck. Following morning when it's cool, add the pectic enzyme. That evening, add the yeast nutrient and vitamins, check SG, add more sugar if necessary to adjust the SG to the desired level, and then pitch the yeast.

Another advantage of this is that the extra 24 hours allows the sugars in the fruit pulp to dissolve, so I get a (slightly) truer idea of the actual SG.

cheers, robin

Pears and apples treated like this end up as Perry & Cider, a great beverage, lower in alcohol, usually 5-6%.

This is a great site, with traditional instructions for making both cider and perry.

As for the OP's pear wine, it may be advisable to get the wine off the pear pulp now and into an airtight container, under airlock. Do get a hydrometer (measures SG) it's well worth the couple bucks. Have fun, this is a great hobby.

cheers, charles

Mike, I started like you did - I got a recipe and just did it. I was probably worse, I didn't even talk to any brew shop people. I look at the recipes and the different ways people do things, as different cooks who still come up with the same thing. Yes, they do things a bit different, but on a whole the similarities are what you have to key on. Having said that, your batch will probably still come out fine - mine did. What you've already done is okay and your batch is fermenting. I would definitely get a hydrometer. What you need to do is to make sure your fermentation continues and finishes. That's what a hydrometer will tell you. Once the fermentation is complete, you want to finish the wine. This takes time.... You'll notice that the wine is murky now. When the fermentation is complete, you'll need to get the pears out of there and then carefully rack the wine off the sediment at the bottom of the bucket (save any extra wine which won't fit in your carboy for top-up later). This sediment is called lees - it's dead yeast cells and pear gunk. Typically you ferment in a plastic or glass container, but them rack the wine to another container (carboy) to age the wine in (there should be very little air space in the carboy when you're done (1/2 inch)). Ask at your brew shop, they should have glass containers/carboys to purchase. Once you rack the wine off the lees into a glass carboy with a airlock and bung, you'll notice that more lees will fall out of the wine and settle at the bottom of the carboy. You'll also notice that the wine will start to clear from the top to the bottom. You'll need to rack again to get the wine off the lees which will continues to fall to the bottom. That's why you need the top-up wine, to use to fill up the container to the top after you rack. I typically rack a wine 3-4 times in a 7-8 month time frame to help the wine clear. Usually at about 7 months I bottle. Hope this helps a bit more. Before you start another batch, I would read up a bit. Certain things will help or hurt your fermentation process. For example, yeast nutrient/campden tablet should be added first, then wait

12 hours to add the pectic enzyme, then wait 12 hours to add the yeast. Another example, don't add campden tablets at the same time as the yeast - campden tablets will inhibit yeast growth and you don't want that. I started with a book called Home Winemaking by Terry Garey...it is a very easy book to follow which simplifies the process and starts with a beginner level, intermediate level, etc. I use Jack's site because he has more recipes and more information. Some prefer Lum's site - it is just a matter of preference. Darlene

"Mike" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@uni-berlin.de...

I haven't.. I haven't used boiling water at all.