Pear Wine
Description
Not too sweet, not too tart, and never overpowering, pears are a perfect choice for a fruit wine.
Ingredients
15 pears chopped, peels on, no seeds
Water (See instructions)
Sugar (See instructions)
1 campden tablet, crushed
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
1⁄2 teaspoon peptic enzyme
1 Red Star Premiere Classique Yeast, about 1/2 a packet
Instructions
Chopped pears, removing the stem and seed core, but not the peels. Dissolved around 6 cups of sugar in enough water to get the SG at 1.100. Poured over the pears, added campden, nutrient, enzyme and allowed to sit overnight.
The following day added yeast. The primary fermenter was nearly full, and acidity was at 3.5, so did not add acid blend.
Racked at around day 12 when SG was .990. Racked again at day 45. Rather than topping with water, topped with apple juice and a small amount of Absolut Pear Vodka.
Wine was fined, filtered and bottled without sweetening at around day 65.
Notes
End Results
We tried this wine when it was about 6 months old (roughly 4 months in the bottle). This was already a strong wine, considering the starting and ending SG, which put it at about 14.2% ABV. The ABV was further increased by adding vodka to top, which may have put it at above 15%. The high amount of alcohol took something away from the delicate flavor of the pears. Although still one of my favorites from 2019, in the future, I would try for 11-12%.