I sliced Mine thin, but I left Alot to get more ripe Off the tree
They are hard pears or what some people call cooking pears After letting the ones without bruises get riper After Alittle less then a week you can tell that they are sweeter.

I cut mine in thin slices, but I had the time at work At home, I think cutting each of them in four pices would work

I was a thinking of using a Freach fry cutter.
LAst year I used A food proceser

The link below I didn't use that recipe Im fermenting with the pulp, but If I had a press I would let ripen more frezze, and press for pure juice with No additions for perry posibaly alittle sugar for 6 to 8% ABV
I hope what ever your friend does it turns out Great.
Last year I use wild grapes with the pears.

Here is a link that might be useful: The WineMaking Home page

I've only done a pear mead once so far. I just cored and sliced the pears into chunks and threw them in the primary. With some Lalvin k1v-1116 yeast, the primary fermentation took just around 3 months and it fermented very dry ... specific gravity was down around .996 and I started up in the 1.130 range so it's got a kick to it.

The only problem so far is that the pears turned to soup in the primary - completely broke down and ended up as sludge in the bottom of the fermenter and in suspension. I've racked a couple of times and so far it just won't drop clear so I'd definitely second the idea of pressing for pure juice if you have the option. If not, it might be a while before the batch clears naturally though I suppose you could hit it with bentonite or another fining agent and see if that does the trick.

Anyways, gook luck with it and I hope you get a great batch of wine.

I use demerara sugar with most of my cooking. I have a feeling it might be a good combination with pear wine. Definitely something you can experiment with without too much worry.

Recently we started a pear wine. We used Bosc Pears. The problem is after the second racking, the wine turned a lite brown color. The wine has been sitting since Feb. 12th. how and can I clear the wine, or is this a failed attempt?

It sounds like oxygen got in. Taste it, it may be ruined. Pears, like most fruits, take a long time to clear. I have a batch that's been on the lees for 2 months, and it is just now getting ready for the first racking.

We have made 2 batches of pear wine with pears harvested from our tree last fall.

The
first one, started in October 2009, is a light to medium brown color. It tastes
really good though, but we have not had time to rack it into bottles as yet. So I do not think just because it is brown then it is bad. We used sugar and golden raisens in this one - followed a recipe.

We then made another batch of pear wine with the pears we had put up in a fridge in January 2010. We used some honey and dried mango slices, as well as the pears. We have also added sugar. It is a light yellow in color and getting there, but not ready to be racked into bottles.

Both times there was a lot of sediment on the bottom. We just re racked them and let them sit. We used the whole pear, cutting them up into chunks.

Hey i got a great video and recipe here for pear wine