Bletting

[Hamish]

Hi all

I am planning to make Perry again this year with abundant small pears on an old tree in our tiny Orchard. We think this tree is the outgrown seedling rootstock of an original eating variety which failed years ago, as it is multi stemmed from ground level, although it could be a 'wild' seedling which got grazed off at some point in its life.

This is my third attempt and previous efforts have been in the first instance interesting but weird and overly tannic owing to extremely high pH (something like 4.6) of these pears, something I hadn't measured the first time I used them as I was being foolishly gung ho about the whole thing, and at the second attempt, still pretty weird, tannin in check but more like a cider (owing to my having had to top it up with sharp crab/wilding apple cider to balance the pH). I have made panicked posts on here in the past regarding these efforts as the fermentation unfolded. 

I just wanted to see if any other Perry makers on here might have some thoughts about the following...

I understand it is desirable to use bletted fruit but how bletted are we talking? starting to soften but with still some pale flesh, or totally brown? Do you avoid using the totally brown fruits? And if the fruit isn't bletted at all but is ripe, would you still press a portion of the pears at this stage in combination with the bletted fruits. Or should they be mostly just straightforwardly ripe and not bletted...

Secondly, I'm far away from true Perry pear country, so I don't have any more acid pears to blend this high pH fruit with, which leaves me with apples. I guess I want to get the blended juice down to around pH 3.6. In the past I've used a crab cider to balance but this was done hastily and as an afterthought and wasn't great. This time I'm going to press the pears with a percentage of apples. I'm guessing a sharp cooker is going to deliver the desired acidity for the least amount of apple juice. Has anyone been in this situation? I'd like to try to give the pears centre stage without the whole thing getting blurred as it did on last outing. 

Thank in advance for any input

Hamish 

[Nik Saunders]

Hi Hamish, 

we make perry on a very small scale, around 100 litres on the go at the moment. We've been trying perry for about 9 or 10 years now and after quite a few mishaps we now have (hopefully) sorted a reliable, repeatable method before we start experimenting.

 

We use all sorts of pears that are mostly ripe but not over ripe. We have a big old tree that has very odd pears which are under ripe at time of pressing, they are either culinary or perry but the rest are mainly desert pears. We are fastidious about the quality of pear, no bruising at all and no blette fruit either. (I thought I read that bletted fruit was a bad idea?) This is the first year we've not used roadside pears that could possibly be perry pears, mainly because we have so many of our own this year. I hope this doesn't have a negative effect on the perry, I guess we'll know at bottling.

After pressing we use malic acid to bring the ph down to acceptable levels (this is the secret really), to around 3.8 or less (from abour 4.5-4.6), then use SO2 at 200ppm. After a day we add EC1118 champagne yeast. Generally the starting sg is around 1055. We bottle when it looks like it's stopped, (SG is no use here as I've been told it'll vary year on year according to the amount of sorbitol there is), and add a teaspoon of sugar for carbonation per 500ml bottle. Drinkable the following summer but doesn't keep as long as cider so best drunk within a year.

I actually don't like any perry I've bought in the shops as I think they all have an off flavour which ours had the first few times we made it.  But the last two times we've made it, it has been so delicious, really creamy, a top quality drink.

If this year's works I might experiment with adding apples to bring down the ph but that might impact the wonderful smoothness and flavour we get. I have also grafted a proper perry pear scion onto two of our trees but it's taking an age to produce fruit. It might seem obvious but introducing cider apples to our cider made a huge difference, so I'm wondering if perry pears will have the same effect.

Hope this helps.

Nik.

[Hamish]

Hi Nik,

I'm very grateful to you for taking the time to share this process. Interesting to hear about the mix of pears you use and how you deal with them. Sounds like you've perfected the procedure. I actually have access to quite a lot of dessert pears this year so will try to follow your method for those. 

After making the original post, I was offered a some perry pears by a pal in Herefordshire, Blakeney Red and Gregg's Pit (excitingly the first year his Gregg's Pit trees have had a crop), all well ripe, some starting to blet around the core and others totally brown but no signs of mould. I got to grips with them asap, I was worried they were going to be tricky to press because the pomace was very liquid but was surprised to see that the juice ran very clear, there was no spitting through the hydro-press cylinder and the yield was much higher than when pressing apples. I had approx the same volume of each and the pH was 3.6 and 4 respectively, the combined juice had an SG of 1.062. so hopefully I'm in just safe territory regarding spoilage risk (others may correct me here!). I inoculated with some already fermenting cider in the hope of getting it off to a quick start and have not sulphited the must which is probably foolhardy! It's not too late to add some as only been in tank for a day so maybe I'll do that today...

I went ahead with the bletted fruit because I found this really helpful vid by Alex from Llanbethian Cider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzOw7dyLF8 who I think posts on this group regularly - thanks Alex! 

As for the fruit from our wilding/seedling tree, I'm going to give it a go blending with some cookers to get the pH down. Keen to avoid making additions if I can. Sounds like your roadside pears might be similar to what I've got. It was interesting to actually taste the recognised varieties of perry pears: I have to say there was a lot more going on in terms of flavour and aroma than with our little pears, which seem to be just straight-forwardly very astringent and very sweet in comparison. That said, our little pears are still on the tree and may have more ripening to do for optimal flavour. In previous years I've pressed them the starting S.G. has been above 1.070. Looking back at notes I remember now that in 2021 I made a 50/50 blend of dessert/cooking apples and these pears, which made a successful wine-like pyder with had a subtle but decent amount of tannin and some residual sugar from the pears. This may be what they are best for in the long run but I'd still like to get a 'proper' perry out of them if I can! 

thanks again

Hamish