Perry

[Cheezy]

Does anyone have info on how to make Perry. Obviously its like cider, but with pears.

The Perry-ish recipe I tried last year went mouldy in it's first stage.

I have a pear tree (Conference), but would rather drink them than eat em.

Any tips would be appreciated as the blossom is about to flower in the next couple of weeks and baring a late frost it's looking good!.


Better still does anyone have a cider press they would like to sell!.

C

[Andy Hamilton]

Did you cut up the pears with a metal knife? I know that it can affect apples, I asume it is the same. Also is it kept at an even teperature?

[Cheezy]

Yes I used a stainless steel knife. Not sure if this would cause a fungal growth. I know I didn't pour boiling water over them, and thought at the time this was odd, as any fungal/bacteria could still be there. Recipe didn't call for it.

Even temp was the only thing I got right, as I'm lucky enough to have a cellar. Albeit a cellar that occasionally floods.

[Andy Hamilton]

Albeit a cellar that occasionally floods.

Does that mean that the air is really humid down there? Perhaps that could have contributed to the mould?

[Cheezy]

It certainly was last year, its dried out a bit since we got the drains fixed.

Broken sewer probably leaking into the soil next to the cellar for at least 20 years, yeah I guess that could have done it. It certainly must have been the cause of the woodworm and dry rot!.

Anyway back on topic

Can you make a true cider/perry with out a press?.

And if I cobble together a press (god knows how, but if it involves a spare radiator I'm ya man), what do you have to do.

As far as I can tell you don't add yeast or sugar. You let the juice ferment natuarally, preferably in wood. And its because this is a bit risky that you can end up with crap,so then end up turning to a wine type recipe which is more controllable?.

I've got a gallon of pear wine from two years ago still waiting to be bottled!.It's slightly fizzy glugable stuff in pints that I'm after!.

[glenniedragon]

When I made cider I stuck the apples through the food processor and then drained the pulp in one of my large jelly bags overnight- it seemed to work!

kind thoughts
Deb

[Stonehead]

I have a perry recipe somewhere and will dig it out for you.

Speaking of digging, I used to use a stainless steel spade for chopping apples and pears for cider and perry, then a home-made press made by putting the chopped apples or pears in a bucket with a large piece of wood on top, then placing a jack on top of that, and then placing the whole lot under the front of a Land Rover Defender and jacking it up! A pipe led from the bottom of the bucket to another bucket downhill from the car.

It worked a treat and made excellent scrumpy. The perry was strong but slightly peculiar tasting - not that you noticed after a few pints!

I'm a bit posh now and have a proper press (obtained via Freecycle) and chop the apples with one of those chopping blade bits that goes in an electric drill. The big advantage is that I can work inside now (well, I'm am getting older!).

Stonehead

[Cheezy]

Only you could use a Lannie to crush apples!

Aussy overkill

Ablosutely brilliant

look forward to the recipe...lannie free as some of us "ishers" are urban bound and don't believe in 4x4's unless you actually need them:
like you stoney...even if it is to crush fruit!

C

[Stonehead]

Only you could use a Lannie to crush apples!

Aussy overkill

Ablosutely brilliant

look forward to the recipe...lannie free as some of us "ishers" are urban bound and don't believe in 4x4's unless you actually need them:
like you stoney...even if it is to crush fruit!

C

Using a 4x4 on the road as commuter transport and school bus is completely lacking in originality and humour. What is needed is a touch of inspiration - or desperation...

101 Uses for a Land Rover

[Cheezy]

Nice one!

Can't see the London types tasking to it mind!.

[Stonehead]

This is a rough and ready recipe - basically it's just notes from the inside back cover of a cider book recording something I threw together and that worked.

100lb pears (any variety, none over-ripe, none rotten)
3 Campden tablets
3 tsp pectolase
3 tsp yeast nutrient
3 tsp cream of tartar
Juice of two lemons
Girvan's No 5 yeast (simply what I had to hand)

The pears were not washed or cleaned up in any way, other than discarding any that were rotten or really mushy. They were chopped into small bits with a stainless steel spade in half an oak barrel (steam cleaned with an upholstery cleaner and then sanitised with Bruclean).

They were then crushed, and delivered just under 5 gallons of pear juice. I heated up half a gallon and dissolved the Campden tablets, pectolase, yeast nutrient and cream of tartar in it.

I then poured the hot half gallon into a sanitised brewing vat, followed by the remaining juice. I stirred in the lemon juice and left it to sit overnight.

Next day, I pitched the yeast, put an airlock on the vat and then left it for a month. I racked it into another vat and left it for another month, then racked it into bottles.

I tried some four months after bottling and it was a bit sharp. At six months it was drinkable and would have improved further if left for another month or two. There was a slightly woody flavour to it, though. Not unpleasant, but just noticeable. I suspect this was down to chopping it in an old wine barrel - next time I'll do it in food grade plastic and see how it tastes.

If you can drink a bottle of it and not go cross-eyed, you're head is more stone than mine!

Stonehead

[Cheezy]

Wow, this has all the info check out this site for all your cider/perry needs!


http://homepage.ntlworld.com/scrumpy/cider/homepage.htm

[Cheezy]

Well went to my Grans funeral in Gloucester this week, she was the one who got me into home brew (from the age of 10!), she was 94, smoked and drank rather too much so a good alround roll model I think!. Only died cos she went into hospital following a fall, caught one of those superbugs an died two weeks later.(an thats official cause of death)

We stopped over at my godfathers in Hereford, and I was telling him of my new found addiction to Hereford cider, and my quest to produce same, if only I had a pulper and press, at which point he offered me his 12L one!, supurb the Darlington Cider/Perry Club is born!!

An the memory of home brew lives on.

[hedgewizard]

If you can remember it, it ain't real home brew!

Basically you either sterilise and add yeast, or you don't. Wild yeast recipes can be gorgeous but it's a bit of an art form and a lot of it is luck too. These days its probably better to choose an appropriate yeast, sterilisation isn't hard! Since your mould grew right at the start, I'd look no further than the bugs on the skin of your pears for your off flavour. The state of the cellar wouldn't do it provided everything is sealed against the air.

[Cheezy]

True HW and my god have I got a crap memory!!

Been searching net and found this site of Andrew Lea, my god he is the king of cider/perry. And actually worked in a government cider research centre until Thatcher closed it in 1980's!!, I mean talk about job satisfaction whohooo

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea

If you at all have a passing interest this is the one, he's obviously a chemist, hell he even tells you how to titrate yer apple juice to find out the tannin level!. A bit short on recipes which I would refer you to the previous link.