I dediced to retire my Speidel carboy just use it for experiementation now. So I brewed up 6.5 gallons of a 1.044 wort of pilsner with a dash of rye and munich malt. Boiled it for 10 minutes, no hops added, then added 15 pounds of persimmons gathered from my parents' house to it after cooling to 65 F. From what I understand I just need to keep it tucked away and leave it be for about a year before it's ready to bottle. Anyone else ever used persimmons for something like this? I have no idea what to expect, I just hope it turns out good enough to drink.
First Wild Ale Attempt
- Thread starter chewyheel
- Start date
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I haven't used persimmons. I did make a wild cider ferment which started out a little tart but eventually turned to vinegar. I believe there was wild yeast in the cider but also lactobacillus. I think I might taste it as it goes and decide how to proceed.
late to the party here, but: personally, i would add some sort of yeast, either a standard brewer's yeast (sacch) or a brett. those persimmons have all sorts of microbes on the outside - some good, some bad. you're rolling the dice by letting nature be in the drivers seat. by pitching a known "good" yeast, you'll leave less room for the wild bugs to take over. also, my assumption is that you're adding persimmons to get that persimmon tang - not for its surface microflora. so, don't encourage said microflora 
dustinstriplin
Well-Known Member
Hops weren't added, so you don't get any anti-microbial benefits from that. This is one of the reasons lambic producers use aged hops. They want the anti-microbial properties without the hop character.
Yeast will drop the pH of the beer during the beginning phases of fermentation, making it less hospitable to many bacteria, but you didn't add a big enough pitch of yeast to give it a head start. Wort usually starts out at a higher pH than many wines/ciders/meads, which helps them from growing nasty bacteria; not the case with wort that hasn't had pH adjusted (and no hops to boot). Perhaps the persimmon dropped the pH enough to help, but persimmons aren't as acidic as apples/grapes/honey.
I can't speak to this being food-safe, on paper it seems like there is a chance it might not be. I'm curious how it turns out though. In the future, following the lambic producer's methods of using a small amount of hops would probably give a little bit of insurance. They've had pretty good success with wild fruited beers that have no hop character.
Yeast will drop the pH of the beer during the beginning phases of fermentation, making it less hospitable to many bacteria, but you didn't add a big enough pitch of yeast to give it a head start. Wort usually starts out at a higher pH than many wines/ciders/meads, which helps them from growing nasty bacteria; not the case with wort that hasn't had pH adjusted (and no hops to boot). Perhaps the persimmon dropped the pH enough to help, but persimmons aren't as acidic as apples/grapes/honey.
I can't speak to this being food-safe, on paper it seems like there is a chance it might not be. I'm curious how it turns out though. In the future, following the lambic producer's methods of using a small amount of hops would probably give a little bit of insurance. They've had pretty good success with wild fruited beers that have no hop character.
