Lou McLeod: How to Make Pear Wine – Easy Homemade Wine Recipe for Ripe Pears

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When life gives you too many overripe pears, it's time to learn how to make homemade pear wine. This wine recipe is dry, with a light pear flavor, and is a good use for very ripe and lightly damaged pears.

This recipe is adapted from “How to Make Wine in Your Own Kitchen” by Mettja C. Roate. “How to Make Wine in Your Own Kitchen” is old and hard to find, but if you can find a copy, snatch it up. The recipes use common kitchen ingredients instead of specialized wine making ingredients, which is great for the novice or incidental brewer. I did tweak the recipe a little to include winemaking yeast. You can make homemade wine with wild yeasts, but it's easy to make a mistake and go from homemade wine to homemade vinegar.

There's a new wine making book coming soon from Storey Publishing that I'm looking forward to that features similar style homemade wine recipes. (I got a chance to peak at it before it officially comes out.) I'll give a shout out when it becomes available.

Homemade Pear Wine Recipe

Ingredients

Adapted from “How to Make Wine in Your Own Kitchen“. Makes around one gallon of homemade wine.

4 quarts of chopped, unpeeled ripe pears (approximately five pounds)
3 cups of white raisins, chopped
6 cups of cane sugar
1 cup of light brown sugar
4 quarts of water
1 packet champagne yeast Order champagne yeast
1 teaspoon yeast nutrient (optional) Order yeast nutrient

Directions

Note: If you do not have a crock, you may ferment your wine in any large, food safe container – just don't use aluminum or anything reactive. Some local hardware stores or home brewing store carry crocks in addition to other fermenting vessels. I use a two gallon crock because the wine foams up during initial fermentation.

Pears should be ripe enough that stems pull out easily. If not, set aside and wait a few more days. (Pears ripen off the tree.) Wash, trim, quarter and finely chop or crush the pears. Skins are fine to include, but keep the seeds out. Pear seeds are bitter and can give the wine an off flavor. Crush pears with a potato masher or well washed hands. Place pears and raisins into crock.

In a medium stockpot, dissolve brown and white sugar in two quarts water over low heat. Bring to a boil, and then set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Add 2 quarts water to fruit mash in crock, then add the sugar water. Stir well to evenly distribute the sugar throughout the mix. Sprinkle yeast and yeast nutrient over top of mash, stir in to mix until completely dissolved and well blended.

Fermenting the Pear Wine

Cover and keep in a warm location for three weeks, stirring daily and mashing fruit against the side of the crock. I use a flour sack towel secured with an old elastic head band to cover my wines. Fruit flies love fermented foods, so make sure your container is well sealed.

At the end of the initial three week fermentation period, strain mixture through a jelly bag or flour sack towel, squeezing very dry. Return liquid to crock. Set in a warm place to ferment for two weeks longer. No stirring is necessary during this second fermentation.

At the end of the second ferment (which makes five weeks in all), strain liquid through several thicknesses of cheesecloth or a flour sack towel. Siphon or ladle into the strainer, leaving the sediment at the bottom of the crock. (You're aiming for a clear product at this point.)

Return the clear wine to the crock or a carboy for two days to allow it to settle again. Put the cloudy wine from the bottom of the crock into a two quart jar to settle for two days and then draw off as much clear liquid as possible. Add to the rest of the wine and allow to sit for another day.

Bottling the Pear Wine

Once the pear wine has settled, you can either bottle it directly into bottles or place in a carboy. There may be a little active yeast at this point, so if you put it in bottles, put balloons over the openings so the gasses can escape. When the balloons don't inflate anymore, cork the bottles and age in a cool dark location for at least 6 to 12 months before drinking.

If using a carboy, siphon wine into carboy, keeping your siphon hose off the bottom of the crock to leave the wine dregs behind. Place airlock and age in carboy for 6 months before bottling. When bottling, siphon into bottles, leaving dregs in the bottom of the carboy for a clearer wine.

Using a carboy gives a clearer wine, since you leave behind the sediment one extra time.

Resources

Two gallon crock

One gallon glass carboy with airlock

Wine bottles

Wine bottle corks

Double Lever Wine Bottle Corker

Give Your Homemade Pear Wine Some Extra Kick

“How to Make Wine in Your Own Kitchen” notes…

If you desire more character in your wine, add 1/4 pound of candied ginger, finely chopped, at the same time as the raisins. If you desire heat along with the spicy taste, also add ten or twelve black peppercorns.

There was an attempt to market pear wine commercially in this country at one time. However, due to its blandness, winemakers found it had to be fortified up to 20% with pear brandy. Homemade wine can be fortified, too, for better results. I find that using a good grade of grape brandy gives a wonderful flavor. I add this just before the two-day settling period, using about 2 cups of brandy to a gallon.

In France and Germany there is a pear champagne which is made in much the same manner; however, it is bottled and corked tightly, while in the fermenting stage, giving it effervescence when opened.

More Homemade Wines

Winemaking makes the kitchen smells a bit like hooch at times, but it's pretty tasty hooch. Homemade wine is great way to use up an abundance of produce that might otherwise go to waste. It's safe to give the leftover mash to the chickens, too, or use it to make fruitcake. Just make sure not to give them so much that they get drunk.