We picked many bushels of Bartlett pears off of the Poechlauer’s pear tree. We juiced them, and ended up with so much juice Lia made a melomel. Combine all ingredients at room temperature, except the yeast. Add honey slowly, checking the SG until a target SG 1.10 is reached. Let it all sit 24 hours, then add yeast.
2017 Pear Melomel
We used mega-tree pears (D’anjou-like) instead of Bartlett’s this year.
- 14 liters (3.75 gallons) megatree pear juice
- 1 1/2 t pectic enzyme
- 3/4 t yeast nutrient
- 5.5 lbs honey (bring the SG to 1.10)
- 4 campden tablets
- 1 pkg cote de blanc yeast
The total volume at the end was 4 gallons.
2016 Pear Melomel
- 5 gallons of pear juice
- 8 lb honey (the planned range was 7-16 lb honey to reach SG 1.1)
- 2 tsp pectic enzyme
- 6 camden tablets (total volume was 5.5 gallons)
- 1 tsp yeast nutrient
- 1 package Cote de Blanc (pitched directly)
Bottling notes: After two rackings, the batch yielded just shy of 4 gallons. It had clarified nicely by the time we bottles it, mid December. SG was 1.006, so I think it is 12.5% ethanol. The sweetness is excellent, akin to a reisling or other sweet-ish white wine. You can detect the honey, but the flavor doesn’t overwhelm. It offers a mild amount of dryness, just enough to keep it interesting and allow you to drink with a meal. Next time I would keep the sugar the same (add honey until SG 1.1). If we really must mix it up, I might go dryer, not sweeter.