How To Make Pear Wine

If you fancy a change to your regular wine, then pear wine is a great choice. And if you want to brew your own wine from home, then it is even better.

Pear wine is a type of country wine, and because of this it is generally rather easy to make. Pears are a fruit that is high in flavor, so when you are making pear wine, it is important that you keep this flavor at the forefront. 

Pear wine is great because while pears are high in flavor, this flavor is actually very delicate.

Due to this, pear wine can be paired with lots of different meals, with the flavors complementing each other perfectly. Pears are most widely available during the autumn months, but pear wine makes the perfect summer drink. 

So, if you want to give making your own pear wine a go, then you are in the right place. In this guide, we’re telling you absolutely everything you need to know about making pear wine. Now, let’s get started.

What is Pear Wine?

As the name suggests, pear wine is wine that is made using pears, instead of grapes. Due to this, it has a very different taste to regular wine, usually being more delicate in flavor.

This is mainly because pears are rather high in sugar, so the wine that they produce will also be a lot sweeter. If you have ever tasted apple wine, then this is the closest thing to pear wine in flavor. But, pear wine really is unique, so let’s take a look at how you should begin making this. 

Choosing your Pears

Before we get into the exact methodology of how to make pear wine, let’s take a look at one of the most important steps in the process, and that is choosing your pears. 

Depending on the time of year that you are looking to make your pear wine, accessing pears will be easier or more difficult. As we mentioned earlier, pears are most commonly harvested during the autumn months.

So, if you want easy access to pears to make your wine, then this is the best time of year to begin producing. At this point, pears will be regularly available in most grocery stores.

You have to be very careful when choosing your pears from a grocery store, because most stores sell pears in an unripened state. Unripe pears will not be suitable to use when making pear wine.

So, if you are buying pears from the grocery store, and they are not yet ripe, place them into a paper bag and leave them for a week. Then, you will be ready to make your pear wine. 

What You Will Need

To make your pear wine, you will need to gather the following things. These include both ingredients and equipment. 

The equipment that you will need, includes:

  • Large Pan
  • Siphon
  • Airlock & Bung
  • Fine Straining Bag
  • Demijohns
  • Fermenting Bucket
  • Potato Masher

You will also need the following ingredients:

  • Approximately 2 kg of Ripened Pears
  • 4 Liters Water
  • 1 kg Sugar
  • 1 Sachet of Yeast
  • 1 tsp of Yeast Enzyme
  • 2 tsp of Acid Blend
  • 2 Campden Tablets
  • ½ tsp Pectic Enzyme
  • ¼ tsp Wine Tannin

How to Make Pear Wine: Step by Step

Once you have gathered all the above ingredients and equipment, you can begin making your pear wine. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help make the process easier. 

  1. First things first, you should take your potato masher and fermenting bucket and sanitize them to ensure there are no germs left on either piece of equipment. 
  1. Next, take half of your water (2 liters) and mix it with the sugar in your pan. Stir it, so that the mixture is combined, and then bring to a boil on the stove. 
  1. While the water/sugar mixture is boiling, take your pears and begin preparing them. You should first wash the pears completely to ensure that there are no dirt or germs left on them. Next, you can begin cutting your pears. You should do this by first removing the stalks and then the cores. You do not need to peel the pears, instead simply chop them up into small chunks, and add the chopped pears into the straining bag. 
  1. Then, you should move your straining bag, and place it into the large fermenting bucket that you cleaned earlier. Add one crushed Campden tablet into the fermenting bag, then pick up your potato masher. You should then start mashing the pears inside the straining bag with your potato masher. Continue doing this until the pears are all completely mashed. 
  1. After you have mashed all the pears, you should then combine them with the hot water/sugar mixture you made earlier. You should pour this over the pears inside the fermenting bucket, and then add the remaining cold water on top before tying the top of the bag shut. 
  1. Add the Wine Tannin and yeast nutrient, before leaving the mixture for 2 hours. Once this has passed, add the remaining Campden tablet and leave for a further 24 hours. 
  1. After this has passed, add the pectic enzyme and stir in with a spoon. Add the yeast, then cover the fermenting bucket and attach an airlock to the lid. 
  1. Every day for 5 days, you should agitate the straining bag with a spoon to try to extract as much flavor as possible from the pears. 
  1. Once 5 days have passed, lift out the straining bag and squeeze it gently. Then take your demijohn and siphon the wine off the sediment. Finally, attach a bung and the airlock before leaving for 3 weeks. 
  1. Three weeks later, fermentation will have finished. Using your hydrometer, check that the gravity is around 1.000sg. You should then rack the wine, and leave it for a further 2 months. After this, your wine will be ready to drink. 

Summary

In short, this has been a complete guide to how to make pear wine. We’ve included a checklist of everything you need, and a complete step-by-step guide to ensure that making your pear wine is simple. 

ChristinaDay
Hi, my name is Christina Day, and I am a self-proclaimed wine connoisseur. It is my favorite alcoholic drink, and I enjoy nothing better than kicking back on the sofa after a long week of work to enjoy a glass of wine… or two!