Spiced Pear Wine, DIY..

Hopefully in time for my Northern Hemisphere fruit winemaking friends and for my Southern Hemisphere fruit winemaking friends to look forward to!

This is not a beginners wine and I'm going to assume you're a home winemaker with a few wines under your belt, have all the gear, know how to use a hydrometer and aware of the importance of sanitisation.

Right, well let's get into it!

Spiced Pear Wine

Recipe for 4.5L (UK gallon)

• 1.5 - 1.8kg washed and chopped pear, (take out any bad bits) skin and core included *
• 1/2 a vanilla pod
• 2.5 tsp loose black tea
• 2 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves (do not be tempted to use more)
• 5 cardamom pods
• 1.2 kg sugar
• 4L water
• 1 tsp pectic enzyme
• 1 tsp yeast nutrient
• 1 sachet/5 grams EC1118/champagne yeast

* There are two schools of thought in regards to the ripeness of your pears and when you should process them.  Slightly unripe is a bit sharper and easier to work with.  Very ripe gives you full pear flavour but pH will need adjusting.  For this recipe I go for very ripe.  Please note that cider/perry pears are a different story.

Bring your water to the boil with the sugar and all the spices except the vanilla and black tea.  Boil for 10 minutes or so.  Prep your fruit whilst waiting for the water to boil and place in a muslin bag with the vanilla pod and tea; your bag is in your 10 litre primary fermentation bucket, hopefully it's big enough that you can hitch the edges around the sides of your bucket.

Pour boiling water and spices over the fruit so that the bag captures the spices, tie the bag up and let cool.

Once down to at least 20 degrees (centigrade) test OG, aiming for 1094 - 1098, may need to add more sugar or cold water.  Test pH, 3.4 is ideal, if beyond 3.8 add lemon juice or citric acid, if below 3.2 (very unusual, are you using cider pears or incredibly unripe pears per chance?) add calcium carbonate or bicarbonate of soda.  If you don't have a pH meter (get one) I would chuck some lemon juice at it to be sure, low acid wines make for flabby wines.

No need for sulphites/campden tablets (your hydrometer and pH meter were sanitised right?) the boiling water would've killed any bad juju.

Add 1 teaspoon pectic enzyme and leave for 24 hours.

Add 1 tsp yeast nutrient, aerate and pitch yeast.

Lightly cover, though if fruit flies are still around I'd put a cover of glad wrap/cling film over your bucket.

Over the next three days plunge your bag down twice a day.  On fourth day take your bag out and give it a jolly good squeeze (sanitised hands yo') - if fermentation has seemed a bit tardy add 1/2 tsp nutrient.  On fifth day stir once and then leave for 24 hours for everything to settle.

Check SG then rack into your demijohn - don't be greedy, leave any sediment behind - and fit with an airlock.

Rack again after 4 weeks.  Thereafter rack again if sediment gets to 1cm thick or thicker, or when bubbling in air lock slows down.  May need to wrap up and/or put on a heatpad if winter comes in sharp and quick, esp if fermentation has stopped but SG is >1012.

I'll leave it up to for for your final gravity, and whether you want to use sulphites.  Do make sure it is crystal clear before bottling though.

I don't usually bottle until spring/early summer.  Try it after bottle conditioning for 6 months - may need longer but definitely not any shorter.

I know I'll be waiting for a year or so - but do let me know how you get on if using this recipe!  One thing I do know for sure is that everyone's wines will most likely taste different with our own blend of magic intertwined with our finished product.

Can't be bothered making it?  Get some here!

Spiced Pear Wine 2022