Simple & Delicious Pear Wine Recipe
Country wines tend to be really simple to make and this Pear wine recipe is no different. With all country wines, of course, the most important part of creating a delicious wine is pushing the flavour of the fruit to the forefront. The good thing about pears is they’re full of juice, sugars, and a distinct yet delicate flavour that really works well in wines.
Pears are harvested and available in the autumn. If you have a pear tree then you’ll have no problem making this recipe. If not then make this wine during the harvesting season the shops will be full of them, and you should have no problem finding enough pears for the recipe. It’s a good wine to make and put aside to mature, the ideal time to open the first bottle will be in the summer. This pear wine recipe makes a perfect summer wine, both refreshing and crisp.
Table of Contents
Pears Ready For Making Wine
This wine recipe calls for fresh, ripe pears. Most shops sell unripened pears if you’re buying unripe pears put them in a paper bag and leave them for a few days to a week until they’re ripe enough. This is important both in terms of consistency because we are going to mash the pears and ensure we have as much sugar available in the pears as possible. This will create a better wine.
It is the sugar in the fruit along with the sugar we add that creates the alcohol in the wine, the more sugar in the pears the better the resulting wine.
Gathering The Ingredients
This pear wine calls for some additives to get the best results, they are all fairly simple and should be part of any country wine maker’s arsenal. You’ll need Campden tablets, an acid blend, yeast nutrients, tannin, and pectic enzymes. All these items will be available from any home brew shop or online.
I have gone into a bit more depth as to what these additives do in this guide on country wine making so please check that out.
In basic terms the Campden tablets sanitise the pears and prevent browning, the pectic enzyme stops the wine from hazing, the tannin provides body to the wine which would feel thin and dry otherwise and the acid blend balances the wine. Pears do not have enough acids on their own and the acid blend will help create a better-balanced finished wine.
As I mentioned previously you want ripe pears to make the most of this wine recipe, what they look like though doesn’t really matter, as long as they taste good.
How To Make Pear Wine
What You’ll Need To Make Pear Wine – Makes 1 gallon / 4.5 litres
The equipment you’ll need to make this pear wine is fairly straightforward if you’ve made wine before you may have everything you need, if not you can pick up the extra items in our shop here:
- Fermenting Bucket
- Demijohns
- Large Pan
- Potato Masher
- Syphon
- Fine Straining Bag
- Airlock & Bung
As for the ingredients in this recipe, you’ll need the following:
- 2kg of Ripe Pears
- 1kg of Sugar
- 4 litres of Water
- 2 tsp Acid Blend (if you are using tart apples use less acid)
- 1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
- 1/2 tsp Pectic Enzyme
- 1/4 tsp Wine Tannin
- 2 Campden Tablet
- 1 sachet of Yeast (we recommend Lalvin EC-1118)
Pear Wine Recipe Method
Sanitise your fermenting bucket and potato masher before starting.
Begin by combining half the water and all of the sugar together and bring to the boil
To get the pears ready for the wine wash them thoroughly, remove the stalks and remove the cores, there is no need to peel them.
Cut the pears into chunks and drop into the straining bag in the bottom of the fermenting bucket, add one crushed Campden tablet and begin mashing the pears with the sanitised potato masher.
Once the pears are mashed pour the hot sugar water solution over the pears in the fermenting bucket. Add the remaining cold water which will bring the temperature down. Tie the top of the straining bag to keep the pears inside.
Add the wine tannin and the yeast nutrient and leave to cool for an hour or two. After this add the second Campden tablet and leave for at least 24 hours.
After at least 24 hours add the pectic enzyme and stir in with a sanitised spoon after this add the yeast as directed on the sachet. Cover the fermenter and attach an airlock to the lid.
Agitate the straining bag and stir with a sanitised spoon every day to extract as much flavour from the pears as possible.
After 5 days lift out the straining bag full of pulp and squeeze gently. Syphon the wine off the sediment into a demijohn. Attach a bung and airlock and leave for 2 – 3 weeks.
After 2 – 3 weeks the fermentation should have finished. Check the gravity with a hydrometer it should be around 1.000sg.
Once fermentation is finished rack the wine to a clean sanitised demijohn to clear. Leave the pear wine for 2 months to clear, rack again if necessary, check the racking and clearing guide for further information on this subject.
Once cleared syphon into clean sanitised bottles and cork. This pear wine is best aged in bottles for a few months. After this, the pear wine can be served chilled.
As with most fruit wines, this pear wine recipe is best stored away for a few months before enjoying. I like to put one or two bottles aside for as long as possible to see how the flavours develop. Pears make a nice mild flavoured wine to enjoy on a warm spring or summer day, try and wait until then to start drinking. Although I will always tend to sneak a bottle early.
I followed this recipe and didn’t realize I had not added acid blend until after the the first day in the secondary. From what I found in another recipe the acid bend is supposed to be added in the early stages of the primary process. Is it ok to add the acid blend to the secondary carboy? Or too late in the process?
Hi Josh, you can add the acid at any point during or after fermentation and I often do. Adjusting the acid after fermentation is completely normal and gives you a chance to alter the wine. Dissolve the acid blend in some boiled water first to make it easier to mix.
Hi
I am going to make the past wine as per your recepie
I do not have a air lock built into my fermentation bin
Will the pears ferment just with a loose fitting lid ?
Or does it have to be with out air thanks martin
Yes as long as the fermenting bin is covered you should be fine. The wine will only be in the bin for a couple of weeks before being transferred to a demijohn which is airtight so there will not be any problem.
It doesn’t look like the addition of acid blend is actually specified in this recipe, unless I’m totally missing it? I just realized I made it through first ferment without adding it, but it sounds like it’s reasonable to add before siphoning off to a carboy?
Yes acid can be added at any point and I often make adjustments prior to bottling. I will clear this up in the recipe. Thanks for letting me know.
can i add ginger to a pear wine recipe ? if so how much?
Yes of course. Ginger is clearly quite a strong flavour so may overpower the pear but you can add as much as you want. When I make Ginger wine I use around 75 – 100 grams so you may want to use around half this amount along with the pears to have a bit more balance.
CAN I DO PEARS AND APPLES FOR THIS RECIPE AND I ALSO READ THAT RAISIN SHOULD GO IN PEAR WINE FOR FLAVOR, IS THAT TRUE?
Yes you can use both for a blend. Raisins can be added and are use in a lot of fruit wines. They increase body, a few handfuls is usually enough.
Hello, If, like Neil, I am using tart apples as well as pears will I need the acid at all? For that matter if apple’s are slightly under ripe and fresh picked do I need to add pectin? Thanks for the recipe and your support.
Pectin will be needed as it breaks down the cell structure of the fruit and prevents haze in the finished wine. The acid may not be necessary and can be added after fermentation if you feel the wine taste a little flat and not that bright. Hope it turns out well!
To clarify, you are adding pectic enzyme, NOT pectin, correct? Kind of critical, since they are the exact opposite – pectic breaks down pectin.
Correct me if I’m wrong but you are not adding pectin, but adding pectin enzyme (like Pectolase). Is that right?
Yes pectic enzyme to break down pectins in the wine.
Do you use ordinary granulated sugar, or is it best to use brewing sugar.
Normal sugar is fine and will have the exact same flavour as brewing sugar.
Hi Neil, thank you for posting this recipe. I made it late yesterday evening and am now just about to add a campden tablet (first thing the following morning). However on re-reading the method I now realise that I omitted to add the first campden when I was mashing the fruit. Is this likely to matter and/or should I add two campdens now in order to compensate?
It won’t be necessary to add two. Just carry on with as normal.
Thank you Neil 🙂
Hello! I have a some questions. 1.) Do I stir contents after adding tannin and yeast nutrient?
2.) do I stir contents after adding the second campden tablet?
3.) My sachet of yeast is 5grams and says it will make 5 gallons of wine. It says to mix yeast with 1/4 cup water. So, for 1gallon do I use 1/5 the sachet mixed with 1 tablespoon water?
4.) if my hydrometer does not read around 1.000sg, should I let it ferment longer?
Much appreciated!
Stir after adding the tannin and nutrient. You don’t have to stir after the campden tablet. The yeast will ferment more than the recipe but I pitch the whole sachet without rehydrating for the sake of simplicity, overpitching yeast in this quantity won’t be a problem.
The wine may finish a few points above 1.000 it will be finished when consecutive hydrometer readings show no difference. Take readings a couple of days apart and if they read the same then fermentation will have finished.
Hi Neil,
Have followed your recipe and after 4 days there is no fermentation going on, checked the bucket and there is a brown foam on top of the water which I assume is the yeast, what’s gone wrong?
Hey now, this will be my first try but I’m gonna try to make wine from pears, crabapples and figs that grow on my property..thanks for the instructions…B
Might be a stupid question but I’m new to this.
I have collected some old screw top wine bottles. Are they OK to use or should I only use corks?
You can use them but I only would if the wine is intended to be drunk fairly soon. There is a small risk of oxidation with screw tops that is more likely to effect wines that are aged a while.
My husband added accidentally 4 tablespoons of yeast nutrient
And 4 tablespoons of tannin . We re making 4 gallons of pear wine. Is the yeast nutrient harming the wine or make it poison to drink or can I save it in some way?
Sorry for the late reply. It sounds like a lot of tannin. The problem with tannin is that it’s very astringent. While you aren’t going to poison yourself the wine may be quite astringent and bitter which may make it unpalatable.
If I’m scaling this recipe up, do I need to also scale up the additives? what about the campden tablets and yeast?
Scale up the ingredients and the additives but 1 package of yeast will be enough for up to 20- 25 litres. Hope this helps
If I’m scaling this recipe up, should i also increase the additives, or will they (and the yeast) still get the job done at the current measurement?