Persimmons are fun again!
Here's my first shot at what may be considered a braggot. It's more of a meady beer than a malty mead, so call it what you will…. <br><br>
First things first: I received some harvested yeast from a friend, WLP011 European Ale. There wasn't much and there was a lot of trub in it, so I washed it twice to hopefully coax out the good (still alive) yeast. It was harvested about 2 weeks ago, and Mr Malty's calculator says it should be about 60% viable. I made the closest thing I've come to a starter to try and bump up the population a bit before pitching. 3 tbsp DME in about 3 cups water plus a teeny tiny pinch of DAP. I added the washed yeast at 10:40 am 11/18. It was in a mason jar and I left the lid slightly open. I shook it really well at least once an hour.<br><br>
At 3:30 I started brewing. I heated about 1.4 gallons water and added 3/4 lb light DME. While that was heating I peeled and cored 6 Fuyu persimmons (about 2 lbs) that were frozen and thawed. I pureed them in a blender.<br><br>
Once the boil was going, I added a little more than 1/8 oz Tettnanger hops (4%AA) and boiled for 35 minutes. Then I added 1/8 oz Saaz hops (4.4%AA) and boiled for 10 more minutes. I turned off the heat and stirred in my persimmon puree. Then I moved the pot into a sink of cold water and stirred in 1 lb of CA buckwheat honey and 1/4 tsp DAP.<br><br>
Once it was cool, I transferred the wort into a bucket and pitched the yeast. I covered the bucket with sanitized cheesecloth. It was 5:50 pm. OG wasn't measured but it should be around 1.065.<br><br>
Based on the loose sludgy stuff at the bottom of the mason jar (I assume that was yeast), in 7 hours the starter had multiplied the yeast population by about 4-5. Mr Malty says I only need 45 billion yeast cells for this one, so hopefully I pitched at least half that.<br><br>
11/19 8:20 am Bubbling, though not that aggressively. I added 1/4 tsp FermaidK and stirred well. A fair amount of CO2 was released while stirring. I'll see if this one ever develops a big krausen. If not, I'll probably move it to a glass jug at the end of the day.<br>
11/19 1:30 pm Bubbling well now. Stirred again.<br>
11/19 9:30 pm Decided to move to glass. Stirred and poured through the spigot into a gallon jug. Airlocked. I tasted the leftovers at the bottom of the bucket. Yuck. Bitter, actively fermenting, and some very new alcohol. I assume it will get better… <br>
11/20 8am Airlock slightly blown off. Gunk oozing out a little. Cleaned off and replaced airlock. 20bpm activity. It's 66ºF.<br>
11/21 9am Down to 6bpm activity already. Airlock still firmly in place. It's 67ºF.<br>
11/21 7:30pm 7bpm. It's still 67ºF. I've been swirling the jug about twice a day to stir up the bits of fruit that are on the bottom.<br>
11/23 5bpm activity. Got down to 64 today, but it's back to 66ºF for now. <br><br>
11/27 Down to 2bpm and nearly clear. I'm still swirling the lees up every now and again, though that will probably stop in the next day or so. I'm looking to bottle this over the weekend.<br><br>
12/3 Bottled. I added 3/4 oz of corn sugar dissolved and boiled in 1/3 cup water. Yield was 7 12oz and 1 22oz bottles. There's a fruity/honey sort of aroma but it tastes like not a whole lot. We'll see how it is carbonated. FG = 1.009.<br><br>
12/16 First tasting. I opened a not quite full bottle (11oz or so), so the carbonation is lacking but slightly there. Here's my impressions: <br>
Aroma is mostly honey with a persimmon backing. Flavor is also mostly honey (I can tell it's buckwheat) at first, then the malt and persimmons come in towards the middle. The finish is light, slightly citrusy and a little yeasty. The hops are not major players but are there in the background. I wouldn't want to add any more hops since the honey flavor and aroma are so prominent. Came out better than I expected.
February 2007: Yum! The persimmon flavor has come out into balance with the honey, maybe even outshining it a little. The malt is starting to get a little lost. Super easy to drink and very light and pleasant. Changes I would make at this point: 1. either blend the honey or use only a lighter honey, to let the malt come out a little more. 2. add slightly more bittering hops and a few pellets of hops at flameout. 3. more carbonation (7/8 oz sugar instead of 3/4 oz would probably be more than enough).
To anyone who professes to dislike persimmons: try this recipe! Guaranteed to change your mind. 
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