Persimmon Beer

Ingredients

• 1 bushel full-ripe persimmons
• wheat bran or middlings
• 1 barrel filtered rainwater
• 1 slice toast dipped in quick yeast

Instructions

1. Select full-ripe persimmons, preferably those that have been touched by frost. Remove stalks and calyxes. Mash the persimmons thoroughly, then add enough wheat bran or middlings to form a stiff dough.
2. Form the dough into thin, flat cakes and bake them crisp in a slow oven. Once cold, break the cakes into pieces and place them in a clean barrel.
3. Fill the barrel with filtered rainwater. One bushel of persimmons before mashing will yield one barrel of beer.
4. Set the barrel upright in a warm, dry place free of taints, covered with a thin cloth. Allow to stand until fermentation begins—the persimmon cakes will rise and form a foamy mass on top. Fermentation can be hastened by placing a slice of toast dipped in quick yeast with the cakes, though if temperature conditions are right, the beer will ferment itself.
5. After three to four weeks, either move the barrel to a cold place to stop fermentation, or rack the beer off into bottles or demijohns, tie down the corks tightly, and keep very cool. If the beer continues to stand in the barrel after fermentation is complete, lay a wooden cover over the cloth.