Persimmon

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DoubleAught

DoubleAught

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I'm thinking far ahead but am curious of a lambic idea. In the fall we have persimmon trees that bear bushels upon bushels of this fruit. Women make every type of dessert known to man with it and I'm curious about brewing a lambic with it. Has anyone here done this? How would the fruit be prepared before adding it to the secondary? Would it be better to add a lambic blend yeast, or let the bugs find it naturally since it's local fruit? Or can that even be done?

Sorry for all the questions, just had the idea tonight for some reason and thought who better to ask than the pros in the Lambic forum.

Thanks Mike
 
KaiserBierMann said:
I'm thinking far ahead but am curious of a lambic idea. In the fall we have persimmon trees that bear bushels upon bushels of this fruit. Women make every type of dessert known to man with it and I'm curious about brewing a lambic with it. Has anyone here done this? How would the fruit be prepared before adding it to the secondary? Would it be better to add a lambic blend yeast, or let the bugs find it naturally since it's local fruit? Or can that even be done?

Sorry for all the questions, just had the idea tonight for some reason and thought who better to ask than the pros in the Lambic forum.

Thanks Mike
Click to expand...

It sounds like a great idea! Usually fruits are added later in fermentation for lambics, like six months to a year. I would recommend pitching a lambic blend and let it go for six months then add persimmons to it. I've never brewed with them so I couldn't tell you how much, but 1 - 1.25 lbs per gallon is a pretty standard amount when adding fruit to a beer. I would imagine that the flavor of persimmons would work best with a lighter styled beer. Maybe something along the lines of a soured Belgian golden strong ale.
 
KaiserBierMann said:
Sorry for all the questions, just had the idea tonight for some reason and thought who better to ask than the pros in the Lambic forum.
Click to expand...

There are several types of persimmons that have varying characteristics and times when they are ready to be consumed/used. Buyer beware, but they are very high in tannins, especially the skins, so keep this in mind. It took almost 2 years to age out the harsh tannic notes from my fuyu persimmon melomel (I did not use the skins) and now it is still like a dry sherry more than any melomel or similar.
 
Randar said:
There are several types of persimmons that have varying characteristics and times when they are ready to be consumed/used. Buyer beware, but they are very high in tannins, especially the skins, so keep this in mind. It took almost 2 years to age out the harsh tannic notes from my fuyu persimmon melomel (I did not use the skins) and now it is still like a dry sherry more than any melomel or similar.
Click to expand...

I didn't know persimmons were that tannic. Maybe the best options would be to do a quick blanch to peel the skins off or maybe even just juice them by hand, as a juicing machine would probably extract tannins off of the skins.
 
Homebrewtastic said:
I didn't know persimmons were that tannic. Maybe the best options would be to do a quick blanch to peel the skins off or maybe even just juice them by hand, as a juicing machine would probably extract tannins off of the skins.
Click to expand...

Depends which variety you have. Fuyu, at the height or their ripeness, are the consistency of jelly on the inside and can be scooped out with a spoon. American persimmons are a different ballgame and I am not all that familiar up here where they are non-existent.
 
Thanks for the info, looks like I need to get smart about persimmons before doing this.

I googled Uplands Persimmon lambic, and that looks good. I make it to Bloomington a few times a year, I might have to see if I can find some next time I'm up there.
 
Randar said:
Depends which variety you have. Fuyu, at the height or their ripeness, are the consistency of jelly on the inside and can be scooped out with a spoon. American persimmons are a different ballgame and I am not all that familiar up here where they are non-existent.
Click to expand...

I have a Texas persimmon mead still in the secondary. Pretty sweet but so far so good.
 
The persimmons out here would be fine as long as you take a little bit from each one to test the ripeness. It's a fine line between perfect and mouth puckering.
 
it seems like others have hinted at this, but i would wait until the persimmons are super ripe (soft and sugary) before adding them. my old tree yielded younger persimmons that were tasty but lacked a lot of the flavor and sweetness of the riper ones. personally, I would rinse each persimmon (with water or sanitizer depending on your level of paranoia), chop it in half, and squeeze the pulp out into your secondary fermentation container.
 

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