Perry is a delicious fermented beverage made from pears! If you do not have a press, you can simply buy pear juice from the store. In this article, I’ll walk through my super easy perry recipe!
What is Perry?
Perry is a fermented beverage made from the juice of proper ‘perry’ pears. From the reading that I’ve done, it sounds like it is technically incorrect to call the beverage made from regular pear juice or pears often found in the grocery store, perry. This should instead be called ‘pear cider’.
Perry pears are similar to apples that are used to make high quality cider. Both cider apples and perry pears are very bitter, tannic, and almost inedible.
The appearance of perry is lighter and greener than cider. It generally has a more delicate flavor than cider does.
Perry/pear cider can be made by pressing pears to obtain the juice or by buying store-bought juice. Most people do not have great access to a bunch of pears, so buying pear juice can be much more accessible.
Below is a recipe to make one gallon of Perry. If you would like a comprehensive tutorial on the cider/perry making process, please follow this link!
How to Make Perry
Stats:
Original Gravity 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.012
ABV: 5.0%
Juice:
Sprouts Organic Pear Juice– 4 quarts (3.8L)
Yeast:
Clarifying Agents:
Pectic Enzyme– pitch with yeast
Other Additions:
Campden Tablets– 1/2 tablet at transfer to secondary
Instructions:
Clean and sanitize fermentor. Add 4 quarts of pear juice to fermentor. Carefully shake fermentor to oxygenate juice. Pitch one quarter of liquid yeast packet. Add pectic enzyme. Put on airlock or blow-off tube. Transfer to secondary fermentor after ~2 weeks, leaving yeast cake behind. Add 1/2 tablet Campden to secondary prior to transfer. After 2 weeks, cold crash at 35F (1.7C). Bottle cider, adding 20-28 grams (0.7-1oz) of Dextrose (priming sugar) at bottling. Enjoy!
Tips:
Acid Additions
This simple recipe will produce a perry that is very clean, with just some apple/pear flavors coming from the yeast. Depending on your taste, it could feel like it lacks ‘complexity’.
To get more complexity from the perry, you can consider adding acid additions.
The three acids that that are generally used in perry/cider making: citric acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid. You can also add tannin, which is the bitter flavor that is present in red wines. Most of us are familiar with citric acid. Tartaric acid comes from grapes and lends wine-like notes to beverages. Malic acid comes from apples and gives that same flavor to cider/perry.
There are also acid blends that contain the three of these acids together.
Unfortunately, there is not an easy answer as to how much acid you should add to your perry. This should be added to taste.
I highly recommend setting up a tasting sampler for yourself with your perry/cider. Add different amounts of the acid to the cider to see what plays best.
Clarifying Agents:
Clarifying agents are not absolutely necessary. However, who doesn’t love a brilliantly clear cider/perry? I think first impressions go along way with any homebrewed beverage, and putting out a crystal clear perry goes a long way.
I used pectic enzyme to help decrease the pectin haze that is commonly caused by fruit.
Your perry may or may not need additional help with clarification after transferring to secondary. If it does not want to clear up, I would recommend a product called Biofine Clear.
Biofine Clear is a product that helps to clear yeast and other haze-forming molecules. It is best to add Biofine Clear later on in the fermentation process. I generally add it when transferring the perry/cider to secondary or tertiary fermentors.
For a more detailed look at clarifying cider/perry/beer, click here!
Yeast Choice
As discussed in my how-to article, there are a variety of yeasts that you can use to ferment perry/cider.
Burton Ale yeast has been my favorite in perrys and ciders due to the unique apple and pear notes that it lends. You will generally have to order this yeast online, as it’s not commonly stocked at most homebrew stores.
If you would like to use a more commonly found yeast, Safale S-04 or Safcider work well in cider and perry as well.
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Again, if you would like a complete walk-through on how to make cider and perry, please see my how-to here!
Please visit the how-to articles section on my website if you are interested in brewing beer or mead!
I am active on both Instagram and Facebook. Please feel free to contact me there if you have any questions!