Banana Bread Holiday Ale

McTarnamins · 09-26-2007, 04:02 AM

Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: Wyeast Weihenstephan 3068 with starter
Batch Size (Gallons): 5.5
Original Gravity: 1.050
Final Gravity: 1.010
IBU: <10
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 7
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): none

You've never had anything like this before. This ale utilizes the sweet banana esters of the Wyeast Weihenstephan yeast to bring out a smooth, banana bread taste. The flaked oats give a soft mouthfeel. The specialty grains give a hint of nutty bread. This will be the Edwort's Apfelwein of Spiced Holiday Brews.....or not.

No real bananas will be harmed making this beer

, although they can be used in the secondary at your discression.

8 lbs. American 2-row
2 lbs flaked oats
1 lb. biscuit malt
1 lb. honey malt
.25 lbs. crystal 90 (optional for raisin banana bread)

1 oz. Mt. Hood 60 minutes

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract into secondary
1/2 Tablespoons of almond or walnut extract into secondary
1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon into secondary

Wyeast Weihenstephan 3068 with 500ml starter

Mash at 154 for 60 minutes

Ferment near 72° for 10 days.
No secondary fermentation

smolakian · 10-15-2007, 07:49 PM

I'm interested in how this turns out. I'm thinking of formulating a gingerbread type Holiday Ale this year. I also think I'm gonna make a keg of something for my Office Christmas Party (that'll probably be the first run and I'll tweak it for Christmas present bottles).

This might be a good one to work off of if it turns out well....It sounds promising.

mrkristofo · 10-15-2007, 08:09 PM

now that sounds just plain delicious.

smolakian · 10-17-2007, 04:38 PM

The Jamil show has a good podcast on spiced Holiday beers. You should give it a listen:
http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/jamil.php

McTarnamins · 10-24-2007, 04:27 AM

This is in the Secondary and I'm about to Keg. I'll keep you updated....

It might not turn out like I expected but it will at least be beer.

**shafferpilot** · 10-24-2007, 05:00 AM

actually that sounds interesting to me... How'd it taste headed into secondary?

McTarnamins · 10-26-2007, 05:04 AM

I put this in the keg today and it smells wonderful.....it really does have a lot of banana bread smell. I fermented this at a really high temp to bring out more banana esters from the Weihenstephaner yeast. If fermented down to 1.008. I drank the hydrometer sample and it could probably use a little more vanilla. The taste was really smooth. Mellow bitterness and warm malt profile.

I'll wait and see how it tastes carbonated and chilled. I can always add more spice in the keg.

If you want to try something different, try this recipe. I think it will be great for the holidays

Cheers.

McTarnamins · 11-01-2007, 09:27 PM

Awesome beer. I've given some taste tests to friends (some who don't even like beer) and all like/love the taste. This is a winner. It's very smooth, the vanilla lingers on the tongue, the cinammon is nice and up front. I will brew this again. A very subtle banana flavor from the yeast. Next time I will add a couple bananas to the secondary.

Try this recipe if you want something different for the holidays. This will be send to a couple homebrew competitions. I'll post any results.

LostDakota · 01-09-2008, 01:07 AM

Thought i would give this one a "face" to go along with the name. This is definitely a different kind of beer. At first, I didn't much care for it. But as the OP has said, it's like Apfelwine- Reserve judgement till three glasses.

jacksonbrown · 03-14-2008, 04:26 PM

I'm a bit confused. All your spices are listed as going into the secondary, and you even have a post on 10/23 as it being in the secondary. But your ingrediats say No Secondary. Did you just change your mind?