persimmon beer

Persimmon Beer
This recipe, was offered by Euell Gibbons in his 1962 book, "Stalking The Wild Asparagus". Euell said, "I think it is a waste of good persimmons, but I have some friends who always very willingly dispose of any I make." This recipe is used by permission.

Ingredients:

10 pounds of wheat bran
1 gallon of pulp from very ripe persimmons

Bake this mixture like pones of cornbread until it is brown and firm. Break the pones into small pieces and put through a food chopper using a coarse plate. Dump the ground mixture into a 5 gallon crock and fill the crock not quite full of boiling water.

As soon as the crock cools to the point of barely being warm, stir in 1 package of dry yeast mixed with a little of the liquid from the crock. Keep the crock covered with a cloth. It will ferment furiously for a few days but keep watching it and in about a week it will start settling down. The moment it becomes still and clear, bottle and cap it tightly. Store it in a cool, dark place an in about 3 weeks it will be ready to use.

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myerstyson said:

Reviving this old thread after I saw this article today about persimmon beer: http://news.yahoo.com/virginia-brewery-taps-300-old-beer-recipe-124528366.html

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coffearobusta42 said:

The OP's recipe reminds me of this 1913 one:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/pers-beer-12907.html
and they both harken back to the original Sumerian recipe for beer, where a grain was baked into biscuits for making wort.

I suspect the persimmons in these recipes are used primarily for sugar content. Persimmons have a delicate flavor and are extremely sweet. I'm not sure how much of that flavor would come through after baking and fermenting.

There are two basic types of persimmons in this world: those that are firm when ripe (e.g. fuyu), and those that are very soft when ripe (e.g. hachiya). The soft variety are horribly astringent when firm. They are basically eaten after they turn into goo on the inside. The soft persimmons lend themselves to baking, puddings, and sauces where they add sweetness and moisture. They tend to be made into desserts with spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, probably becuase they are available around the holidays. Persimmons are also made into wine. I got some going right now.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/persimmon-wine-266905/index3.html#post6548091

I've been thinking about making a wheat style beer with persimmons for flavor. I'd probably go with a simple extract based recipe with a wheat dme/lme, some kind of additional grain for flavor and depth, go with a light hop, and a yeast that either complients persimmons or has a clean taste. I'd probably put 1-3 lbs of persimmons in secondary.

Any suggestions?

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estricklin said:

It seems that the grain isn't really serving any purpose? It's not being converted is it? Maybe it's there for body?

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coffearobusta42 said:

Cooking starchy foods breaks them down into simple sugars. Euell Gibbons recipe, the 1913 recipe, and the Sumarian recipe all baked their grains, converting them at least a little.

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