Brewing Fresh Perry

[EK]

For those playing along at home:
I have just checked Making Wild Wines & Meads. It is specifically mentioned (on page 12) that wild yeasts shouldn't be used. The argument being that a small amount of money is being saved by using wild yeast at quite a significant monetary risk if it doesn't work out right.

Also there is a recipe for Pear Wine.

:icon_cheers:
EK

 

[Greg.L]

There is a lot of opinion around the use of wild/cultured yeast. I use a cultured yeast because I like the predictable results, but a lot of people believe that wild yeasts give a more complex cider, and this has been the traditional method for craft cider makers in England and France. If you are wanting to make a really good perry you would probably want to go the wild yeast method, but if you are starting out you are better to use cultured yeasts because you need to get all the processes down pat before you go to more advanced methods. The fact that so many people use wild yeasts show that it is a pretty safe way to go, but not as reliable as using cultured yeast. The use of cultured yeasts only became common in Australian winemaking from the 1950's according to Rankine ("making good wine" p 120).

 

[Tanga]

Tanga, you should be careful making generalisations about yeast populations, it is a very complex subject. !00 years of winemaking in Australia is plenty of time to get saccharomyces yeasts well established. In every area, a diverse selection of yeasts is involved in fermentation, and the relative populations change rapidly as the ferment progresses. So2 is added to favour the more desirable yeasts. Usually with a wild ferment the first yeasts to become active soon give over to the more alcohol tolerant yeasts like S. cerevisiae. Plenty of winemakers do natural ferments in Australia without problem. The more dangerous time is after the primary fermentation when undesirable bacteria might get involved.
I haven't read any research about risky yeast species being more prevalant in Australia than anywhere else.

Greg

Fair enough. I haven't experienced it myself as I haven't done any wild brews, but wild wine made in Adelaide (by Greek and Italian homebrewers mostly) does have a really bad rep. The results just aren't the same as they got back in the old country.