Perry pears

[b116757]

Anyone have any perry pear varieties their growing and if you do how are they doing for you?

 

[bigboreblr]

I forgot who I gave my little gin pear to. Grafted easily, grew well. Even if I wasn't going to make perry or use to sweeten hard cider up, it had a nice drop time anyways.

Dropped the hard cider craze 2 years ago. Stuff was burning my stomache up. Alot of tannin and acid. Might do Applejack though.

 

[Telemark]

I tried to grow perry pears on Callery. They're alive but not thriving. Make sure you get a good rootstock for them. I will cut scions this winter and graft them onto whatever is most compatible.

 

[Charles Clear]

I bought a scion from somewhere, maybe Cummins, of a perry pear called Butt. Butt pear. I still snicker when I say it. I grafted it onto a wild Callery and it is thriving but has not produced yet. Honestly, I think I only bought it for the name, but will make perry someday when it produces.

 

[bigboreblr]

Telemark,

You still on your callery crusade up there? Bought 2 onx87's to replace a home Depot bought bartlett and Kieffer. Probably make 1 Kieffer and the other Olympic. Bought an Olympic on onx87's from mehrabyan in Ithaca NY last spring. I pruned them to make a central leader, and they just puked shoots from below. Seems the pruning shears pump the brakes on growth on pears. Maybe I made them leader-less with my pruning. Gotta leave one leader completely alone or something like that.

 

[Telemark]

Telemark,

You still on your callery crusade up there? Bought 2 onx87's to replace a home Depot bought bartlett and Kieffer. Probably make 1 Kieffer and the other Olympic. Bought an Olympic on onx87's from mehrabyan in Ithaca NY last spring. I pruned them to make a central leader, and they just puked shoots from below. Seems the pruning shears pump the brakes on growth on pears. Maybe I made them leader-less with my pruning. Gotta leave one leader completely alone or something like that.

Yeah, big time. I should have an update soon after things go dormant.

I'm still not really good with understanding compatibility with pears. Here in Europe they use quince rootstock. I see a lot of conflicting information online.

 

[b116757]

My understanding was quince root stock was the most dwarfing for pears

 

[homerj]

Have you guys talking about perry tried it? I've had a couple kinds and found it to be undrinkable (IME)

 

[Telemark]

Have you guys talking about perry tried it? I've had a couple kinds and found it to be undrinkable (IME)

Yes, I love it.

What kind did you have?

 

[homerj]

Yes, I love it.

What kind did you have?

I've had 3-4 kinds. It's been years since I tried it, don't remember the names. You must be a fan of real champagne and super dry white wines too?

 

[Telemark]

I've had 3-4 kinds. It's been years since I tried it, don't remember the names. You must be a fan of real champagne and super dry white wines too?

I love Champagne, but I usually drink Crement de Bourgogne because it costs a lot less. I also use Champagne yeast when brewing ciders sometimes.

 

[bigboreblr]

MY intention for pears was to sweeten up hard cider. Regular pears are high in sorbitol. It's a sweetener that does not ferment. So you keep some sugar in the cider.

 

[hunts_with_stick]

I love Champagne, but I usually drink Crement de Bourgogne because it costs a lot less. I also use Champagne yeast when brewing ciders sometimes.

Same with the champagne yeast. I made some of the best hard cider years ago. People raved about it. Now I just need my trees to start producing. Idk how many trees I have now. I think about half have been in the ground for 4 years now. The other half are very young. A few of the trees produced onesies twosies that birds ended up getting. Pears have been producing decent. Not enough for Perry, but enough to jar, make fruit leather and dehydrate.

 

[Telemark]

MY intention for pears was to sweeten up hard cider. Regular pears are high in sorbitol. It's a sweetener that does not ferment. So you keep some sugar in the cider.

There are a lot of tricks you can use to sweeten cider. Sorbitol is interesting because it also gives a different mouthfeel to the drink.

You can try keeving, which is restricting nutrients so the yeast gives up before the fermentation is done. It's not easy, and keeved ciders are expensive.

You can rack the cider, kill the yeast off (i forget what the stabilizer is called), and add juice to put natural sugar and flavor in. I do this with wine to prevent carbonation after bottling, but I don't backsweeten.ŵ

You can add stevia. I don't recommend this because I find the flavor to be a bit off, but it works. Some people use xylitol, but that stuff is weird.

You can also pasteurize the cider to kill off the yeast and then backsweeten with sugar or juice. This requires special equipment, so I've never tried.

You can also put in a lot more sugar than your yeast can handle, but you end up with a very strong cider.

The easiest way is to degas your cider before bottling, and then before you drink it, add sugar or fruit juice and carbonate your cider with a Soda Stream.

 

[Telemark]

Same with the champagne yeast. I made some of the best hard cider years ago. People raved about it. Now I just need my trees to start producing. Idk how many trees I have now. I think about half have been in the ground for 4 years now. The other half are very young. A few of the trees produced onesies twosies that birds ended up getting. Pears have been producing decent. Not enough for Perry, but enough to jar, make fruit leather and dehydrate.

I'm going to plant extra Wickson trees and some day make a single varietal cider with it and champagne yeast. Then I'll chill it to 32 degrees and serve it in a frosted glass on a hot summer day.

That's one of my lifetime goals for my orchard work.

Another goal is to make an extra floral/fruity rosé with apples that have notes of tropical fruit and berries, plus some red fleshed variety for color. I'll probably use Grenadine, Geneva, Cherry Cox, and other apples that compliment the flavor profile. SkillCult has a red flesh apple breeding project, so maybe he will have something available.

 

[Telemark]

Anyone have any perry pear varieties their growing and if you do how are they doing for you?

Have you considered some of the apples that have pear-like flavor? I'm thinking about grafting a few of them to get some pear notes in a cider, and conceivably blend them with actual pears to make a good balanced cider with significant pear flavor. A lot of commercial pear ciders are generic apple cider with pear juice concentrate added after pasteurization.

 

[rocksnstumps]

I'm going to plant extra Wickson trees and some day make a single varietal cider with it and champagne yeast. Then I'll chill it to 32 degrees and serve it in a frosted glass on a hot summer day.

That's one of my lifetime goals for my orchard work.

Single varietal Wickson cider is a tasty one. Have had a couple times from Albemarle Cider Works. Was hoping to enjoy their Harrison single varietal too but the I found Wickson better along with a few of their blends. But the folks who enjoy the sweet run of the mill ciders from the big national names may not think as highly of it.

Don't know much about the Perrys. Will have to look up if any of the Virginia well regarded cideries have any Perry standouts

 

[Telemark]

Well now I have to go to Virginia and splash out some cash in their tasting room.

Any suggestion for when is the best time to visit?

 

[rocksnstumps]

Well timing for me was based on visiting my brother and trying to get a bit of fishing in the outer banks. Think was maybe late May but obviously was not trying to line up with anything cider related. Perhaps looking at a few of the event calendars those places post might pique some interesting times.

I will say however that when I was there seemed a bit of a slack time that worked out really great. You know all their pruning and new planting and such was behind them and not sure how much spraying and other stuff they were starting with. But so happens as I'm talking with the tasting room gal at Albemarle that the assistant cider maker strolls through and she introduces him. We get to chatting and 1/2 hour later his boss comes in (one of the owners and head cider guy) another 30 mins goes by and they finally admit they should probably get back to work.

If you want to plan to hit up multiple places in Virginia you might want to pick up a copy of Virginia Cider a Scrumptious History by Alistair Reese & J Mark Steward published in 2024. They must list at least 30 cideries in VA and their spin on cider making. Near the back there is also a road trip section which breaks Virginia up into 5 or 6 regions and which places can be reached in that general area.

I have yet to take advantage of that but maybe some day.

 

[Telemark]

Nice. I'll check that out, thanks.