Persica blend 1 & 2 thoughts

^^^^This

 

^^^^Thisx1000

 

I really enjoyed Blend #1, great sourness and the peaches translated well. Just had Blend #2, and it was a butter bomb. I had to choke that one down before deciding to dump the last quarter of my glass. What a bummer, I really hope my other bottles are not like this one. That or the diacetyl will fade with time...

 

If you want diacetyl to go away, store the bottles warm (like 70 F). If you put them at cellar temp or colder, you'll be stuck with it. I'd give them a shake to, to rouse any yeast on the bottom of the bottle (I had an issue with a home-brewed lager-the diacetyl appeared after bottling, then went away in a couple weeks).

 

This is really good advice. Anything above 65 will give the Brett a chance to eat and clean up the diacetyl that was probably produced by the pedio. Below 60 and the Brett will have a tough time doing any work. That's the toughest part with these fruited varieties, figuring out the best time to bottle them. I know they want to keep the fruit character as fresh as possible, but it seems as though the pedio continued working on the peaches after bottling (as I doubt CS would have bottled with any detection of diacetyl). Now we just need to hope that there's enough viable Brett left to clean up the diacetyl produced by the pedio. My guess is that within 3 months, those bottles of Persica will clean up and taste as good as last year's batch. Right now though, I wouldn't risk opening a bottle.

 

If anyone has a 750ml 2011 around maybe we can set up a trade for one. Volume of bottles on my end for for 1.

 

You're half right. Diacetyl is produced through fermentation, and is broken down by healthy yeast cells late in the fermentation process. However, diacetyl is also produced by bacterial infection (pediococcus and lactobacillus).

To quote a White Labs article on diacetyl production, "Factors that influence the diacetyl level in beer are fermentation temperature, aeration level, bacterial contamination, and the yeast strain used." [emphasis added]

 

"Bacterial Contamination"...in a wild beer. Huh. Who woulda thunk...

 

I am pretty sure that the context suggests a bacterial contamination that was not originally intended by the brewer... Gotta read between the lines...

 

So has anyone opened any of theirs lately? Did they try putting them in a warmer climate vs. cellar temps? Really curious on this one...

 

I had a #2 last week. I didn't get any diacetyl from it...or the first one I opened the week the beer went on sale. I'm storing mine at room temperature and then chilling them in my fridge about 30 minutes prior to opening the bottle.
I'm pretty sensitive to buttery notes and my wife is, too.

 

So once you get past what would've been those buttery notes, what do you think of it?

 

It's good, but not as good as the original batch. Those were phenomenal.
The malt profile is richer than most sour or fruit beers. The malt reminds me a little of New Glarus, actually. That might be a Prost decoction mashing result? I'm not sure if Persica was brewed there or not, but it has rich malt character either way.
The fruit is a little subdued and is growing more tart and less sweet by the day. It's still recognizable as peachy, but in 6 months it might not be. That's normal, but it was a little subdued even on day 1.

 

That's what I'm afraid of - I'm fine with sitting on my remaining Persica bottles until whatever brett still lives in them hopefully chews up the gallons of diacetyl, but I wonder how much (little) fruit'll be left by the time that happens.

 

I had batch 1 of Persica Fresh and aged over a year, it was phenomental both times. Give these blends 6mo-1 year or even more and I bet all this diacetyl BS talk will be gone; maybe the beer won't be as "great" as Batch 1 which happens with every beer when you rachet up the production size, but I bet they will still be quite above average.

 

Why's the diacetyl talk BS? I'm sure a lot of posters here can identify it by taste and smell just fine, and there's plenty of evidence that the talk is more than just BS. To me, BS is releasing a beer before it's properly bottle conditioned, and charging an arm and a leg for it. As I recall, Cantillon holds onto their bottles for 4 months before selling them, I assume just for this problem. Sour beers with pedio in them go through a sick phase after bottling (if more sugar is added at bottling). It sounds like these beers were shipped out too soon, and I wouldn't blame the people who forked over a ton of cash for the problem.

 

are these EVER available randomly on draft at The Source, or do you have to be in the club to get 'em?

(thinking back, 100% of my Crooked Stave consumption over the last year and a half or so has been on-site, draft)

 

They had to get the Cellar Reserve members that they promised the beers to, their beers. This is part of the gamble when you have a reserve society in which you guarantee bottles within a given period of time. Wild ales, as we all know, are unpredictable in how they'll turn out, whether it's during primary or secondary fermentation (especially when fruit is added, since that adds a whole another layer of unknowns), aging, or after bottling.

 

I can understand wanting to fulfill your promises and deliver product to customers on time, but CS might want to listen to Ernest & Julio Gallo's advice.