Homebrew - Pear Cider
I had wanted to try this for a while since we enjoy drinking it in England. Given the fact that pears were not in season I decided to try a hybrid with apple juice. I did not follow any recipe, it seemed like 50/50 might work so I just went with that ratio.
Ingredients
- 1.4 gallons of "Simply Apple" juice
- 1.3 gallons of 'lite' pear halves in pear juice
- S-23 Saflager lager yeast
Method
- Blend the pears in batches using a food processor.
- Rehydrate the yeast in some warm water.
- Combine all the things.
After seeing all the pulp floating in the carboy I did start to wonder if this was a bad idea. By that time though it was far too late to worry about it :) When it came time to bottle I decided that at least some of this pulp had to come out. I tried to strain it through a metal colander and a mesh bag with mixed success. After I have separated the liquid I saved a gallon and bottle the rest. Partly because I was lazy and partly because I was wondering if I might have to blend it later to make it taste good.
Brew: 12 Jan 2014, OG 1.042 Bottle: 08 Feb 2014 (27), FG 1.002, ABV 5.2% Ready: 07 Apr 2014 (58) Summary: Primary 27 days, Condition 58 days
The pour is quite fun to watch, the first few inches are crystal clear and then it turns very sludgy. However I am a big fan of having to chew cider so I was not phased at all. It is quite mellow but tart, with a slight hint of alcohol. It is not as acidic as some of the ciders I have made. There is not a lot of pear taste even though you can see pear floating around in it :) I am not sure if more pears will help that or if I need some kind of pear concentrate. All things considered I declare the experiment a success, even though it is quite a strange concoction that some people would probably turn their noses up at.
Brew
Bottle
