The pear/sugar/water has been fermenting for 2 weeks now. The pears 95% of them are holding shape and not mushy. Usually I'd strain them now.
Since I didn't freeze the pears or chop them, the flesh isn't broken down so all the potential sugars haven't been extracted into the liquid yet.
I went to read about it. 'As it ferments, the water will go from clear to very cloudy, and then will become clear again. When the water is clear again, you're ready to move onto the second ferment. That said, some fruit vinegars will remain fairly cloudy, so it can sometimes be tricky to use the cloudiness of the water as a guide'
Some recipes said 2 weeks before straining, some said 3 weeks before straining.
I'm going to keep up the daily stirring and let it go another week. It currently smells very fruity and like wine. The liquid is a little cloudy not very cloudy.
Here's something new: "For very strong vinegar, you can also add in some sulfite-free wine, tequila, or vodka in place of some of the water."
I have never heard of anyone doing that to get stronger vinegar. It makes sense.