This question has probably been asked a thousand times. I'm planning on
a pear wine soon and as I don't have a lot of equipment am going to try
a fermentation extraction as described on J Keller's great site.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/extracting.asp

Plan is to use a blender to macerate the fruit then pour over water and
add sulphate and sugar. 3 - 4 hours after that add anti-pectin enzyme
and finally yeast, nutrient, acids etc. 24 hours or so later.

This is my first time using such a method, and I'm wondering how long I
should wait before transfering to the secondary (and whats the best
way)? I don't want to lose flavour by transfering early.

Using a blender on pears raises one major concern. If you break the
seeds, you will regret doing it that way. I chop the pears because if
I inadvertently cut a seed I can see it right away and remove the cut
parts. You can, of course, halve them lengthways and de-seed them
first. I have done this. All it takes is time. Then drop the halves
in the blender and puree the pears, skins included.

BTW, use sulphite, not sulphate. Huge difference. Use it early to
reduce browning of the fruit. Ascorbic acid will help with this too,
but be conservative.

An advantage of chopping fairly fine as opposed to puree is that
chopped pears can be contained in nylon straing bags while pureed
pears cannot. When transferring from primary, the bag lifts out
cleanly and drip-drains quickly -- do not squeeze or you will suffer a
clarity problem. If finely chopped, you get excellent flavor
extraction during vigorous fermentation. Remove the pulp when s.g. is
between 1.020 and 1.010.

If you use a yeast that likes the bottom, stir the wine, wait no more
than a half hour, and rack into secondary. You can also stir and
simply pour the wine into secondary through a funnel. Worry about
racking off the lees later, when fermentation is finished. If the
wine is still very cloudy and the yeast is well suspended, simply rack
without stirring.

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

Using a blender on pears raises one major concern. If you break the
seeds, you will regret doing it that way. I chop the pears because if
I inadvertently cut a seed I can see it right away and remove the cut
parts. You can, of course, halve them lengthways and de-seed them
first. I have done this. All it takes is time. Then drop the halves
in the blender and puree the pears, skins included.

BTW, use sulphite, not sulphate. Huge difference. Use it early to
reduce browning of the fruit. Ascorbic acid will help with this too,
but be conservative.

An advantage of chopping fairly fine as opposed to puree is that
chopped pears can be contained in nylon straing bags while pureed
pears cannot. When transferring from primary, the bag lifts out
cleanly and drip-drains quickly -- do not squeeze or you will suffer a
clarity problem. If finely chopped, you get excellent flavor
extraction during vigorous fermentation. Remove the pulp when s.g. is
between 1.020 and 1.010.

If you use a yeast that likes the bottom, stir the wine, wait no more
than a half hour, and rack into secondary. You can also stir and
simply pour the wine into secondary through a funnel. Worry about
racking off the lees later, when fermentation is finished. If the
wine is still very cloudy and the yeast is well suspended, simply rack
without stirring.

Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

Jack Keller wrote:
> Using a blender on pears raises one major concern. If you break the
> seeds, you will regret doing it that way. I chop the pears because if
> I inadvertently cut a seed I can see it right away and remove the cut
> parts. You can, of course, halve them lengthways and de-seed them
> first. I have done this. All it takes is time. Then drop the halves
> in the blender and puree the pears, skins included.
>
> BTW, use sulphite, not sulphate. Huge difference. Use it early to
> reduce browning of the fruit. Ascorbic acid will help with this too,
> but be conservative.
>
> An advantage of chopping fairly fine as opposed to puree is that
> chopped pears can be contained in nylon straing bags while pureed
> pears cannot. When transferring from primary, the bag lifts out
> cleanly and drip-drains quickly -- do not squeeze or you will suffer a
> clarity problem. If finely chopped, you get excellent flavor
> extraction during vigorous fermentation. Remove the pulp when s.g. is
> between 1.020 and 1.010.
>
> If you use a yeast that likes the bottom, stir the wine, wait no more
> than a half hour, and rack into secondary. You can also stir and
> simply pour the wine into secondary through a funnel. Worry about
> racking off the lees later, when fermentation is finished. If the
> wine is still very cloudy and the yeast is well suspended, simply rack
> without stirring.
>
> Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

Thanks for the advice, will get things started on Monday. I meant
sulphite, I always get that wrong

Jack Keller wrote:
> Using a blender on pears raises one major concern. If you break the
> seeds, you will regret doing it that way. I chop the pears because if
> I inadvertently cut a seed I can see it right away and remove the cut
> parts. You can, of course, halve them lengthways and de-seed them
> first. I have done this. All it takes is time. Then drop the halves
> in the blender and puree the pears, skins included.
>
> BTW, use sulphite, not sulphate. Huge difference. Use it early to
> reduce browning of the fruit. Ascorbic acid will help with this too,
> but be conservative.
>
> An advantage of chopping fairly fine as opposed to puree is that
> chopped pears can be contained in nylon straing bags while pureed
> pears cannot. When transferring from primary, the bag lifts out
> cleanly and drip-drains quickly -- do not squeeze or you will suffer a
> clarity problem. If finely chopped, you get excellent flavor
> extraction during vigorous fermentation. Remove the pulp when s.g. is
> between 1.020 and 1.010.
>
> If you use a yeast that likes the bottom, stir the wine, wait no more
> than a half hour, and rack into secondary. You can also stir and
> simply pour the wine into secondary through a funnel. Worry about
> racking off the lees later, when fermentation is finished. If the
> wine is still very cloudy and the yeast is well suspended, simply rack
> without stirring.
>
> Jack Keller, The Winemaking Home Page
> http://winemaking.jackkeller.net

Thanks for the advice, will get things started on Monday. I meant
sulphite, I always get that wrong