Persimmon Wine

[Texconsinite]

I brewed some persimmon wine last weekend with 23lbs of fuyu persimmons, frozen, thawed and blended whole, then strained into the bucket. Made 3.2 gall of pulp, topped w water and apple juice yeast starter to 6 gallons. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1418360413.296821.jpg it's suuuuper thick, couldn't even get a hydro reading, but yeast bubbling away 3 days after pitching.

 

[Texconsinite]

Update on the persimmon wine experiment. When yeast took off, it overflowed half gallon jug i was using as blowoff tube. Put it inside fo 2 gallon fermenter to catch ooze.
Kept bubbling for over a week about 1/sec, then tapered of and stopped after 10 days.
12/31/14- opened up fermenter. There is a white "cake" several inches thick on top of the wine, looks like yeast mixed with persimmon pulp. Scooped it off, took hydro reading. .985!!!! Time to clarify. Wine under the cake is crystal clear, hydro sample looks and tastes like a dry white wine. Good! After losing top trub cake, liquid level is down from slightly less than 6 gallons to just below 5Gallons
1/1/15- Racked to Better bottle, with 2 tsp Sparkalloid, 2 1/2 tsp Sorbate and 1/2 Kmeta. Wien is a beautiful color, but there is a layer of pulp/trub on the bottom that is at least as thick as what was on top. Lost more liquid to that, left with about 4 gallons in secondary.
I was really worried about astringency from the fruit, since i blended up skins and all, and poured thru strainer, but as it separated out, thats gone away and the wine is neutral and pleasant tasting, especially for as dry as it fermented.

If i were to do this over again, I'd think about doing some things differently:
1) Let the fruit thaw more fully before blending, so the pulp (hopefully) wouldnt be as thick and would strain easier
2) Make the batch slightly bigger, and split the primary between two 6 1/2 gallon fermenters, with only 4 gallons or so in each for additional headspace, and to account for losses from pulp separating out to make a full 6 Gallons in Secondary.

Amazing how much the liquid cleared up, considering how it started out.

 

[coffearobusta42]

Wow...I let this finish quite dry...about 0.999 and I must say...it tastes like ass. It's very harsh and strong, with a vodka taste. I'm hoping it will mellow out with age. Otherwise, there is still a nice hint of the persimmon.

I just started my first batch of persimmon wine last Tuesday, and I think it's coming along nicely.

We have a hachiya persimmon tree where I live and we collected about 15 lbs off of it that were in easy reach. Hachiyas, of course, are ripe when super soft, and horribly astringent otherwise, so I let them ripen on the counter unitl I had about 6 lbs. You can freeze them as they ripen but I just let mine sit off to one side till I had enough. I put a couple of apples in the mix to help them ripen.

To process I cut off the calyx (the leafy part where the fruit attached to the tree) and squeezed the pulp into my primary bucket lined with a nylon mesh bag and then dropped the skin in there as well. I added pectic enzyme, 1.5 tsp of citric acid, a couple of crushed campden tablets, and enough water to to make 1.5 gallons. Then let this sit overnight.

The next day, I added 5 lbs of corn sugar boiled with enough water to hit 2.5 gallons. Well that was my plan anyway. I had trouble accounting for the volume of pulp in the mesh bag and ended up with close to 3 gallons (almost 3.5 with the bag in the water). The gravity tested at 1.080 anyway. I added yeast nutrient and pitched 3 grams of Epernay 2. Which was billed as good for non-grape wines and also low and slow. Boy is it ever, I can see bubbles when I peak under the lid but it's not enought to move the airlock. The Epernay supposedly developes a bouquet and has a tendency to get stuck, good for semi-dry wines.

Just took a sample today, still sweet at 1.068 with a mango, tropical fruit flavor. Added more nutirent and resolved to be patient.

 

[Texconsinite]

I'm bottling my first batch tonite, a week after backsweetening. I understand what you mean with the hot alcohol "vodka" flavor, but backsweetening with 1.5 cups of sugar made a HUUGE difference in the taste of mine already IMO. Other than the hot booziness im hoping will mellow out, im surprised how mild in flavor and color it turned out.

Im also making my second batch tonite, but adding 2 lbs of frozen strawberries as well to make what Im calling a "persimmon blush" Im hoping the strawberries will add a little color and some more flavor character to this batch, but hopefully wont completely overwhelm the mild persimmon flavor.

I put 1 lb of strwberries in a Skeeter pee awhile back, and even through all the lemon juice the sweet strawberry flavor still came through nicely when the wine fermented dry, unlike raspberreis which get super tart after yeast sucks the yeast eats the sugar, so im hopeful they can help here

 

[Texconsinite]

Brewed persimmon blush w/ 20lbs persimmons, 6 lbs strawberries. Tried to use strainer bag, but the blended pulp would not strain through the bag, same as last time. Added all ingredients but yeast, topped up with RO water to 6 gallons and mixed thoroughly, then pulled off 1 gallon of sludge to save for topping up later

 

[Texconsinite]

Soo, the strawberry Persimmon ended up IMO better than the regular. The strawberries added additional flavor and complexity like i had hoped, without overwhelming the persimmon flavor.

Tried some regular persimmon after letting it age: Strong alcohol smell, but surprisingly pleasant. Still a sipping wine, but drinkable, and I would expect the "hotness" to continue to die down with age. Not astringent at all or bitter.

I have Meads that have aged for a year that still taste hotter than this, so I am optimistic about what this will be like with time.