Banana Beer

I am trying to make banana beer, but I am unclear of the process as it comes to the malt. I know that it has to be sorghum or millet, but it says roasted cereal? Do i literally bake cereal and pulverize it? Or do I just put this stuff in it raw? http://www.walmart.com/ip/Hodgson-Mill-Multi-Purpose-Baking-Mix-12-oz/11047542

This is my recipe: http://practicalaction.org/practicalanswers/product_info.php?products_id=68

tough one here but i'll be watching. maybe you can contact somebody from the african community in chicago who has experience with this kind of beer?

yeah I'm not too sure about that recipe....I just used a nut brown kit, boiled up some bananas and put them in secondary with some banana chips after fermenting with a yeast that gives banana flavor (WLP300).

I've brewed a banana beer by adding mashed bananas to the secondary of an amber ale. It did have a banana taste, but not a lot. But I didnt use a yeast that gives banana flavour like drathbone suggests.

barleyfarm said:

. . . . . . but I am unclear of the process as it comes to the malt. I know that it has to be sorghum or millet, but it says roasted cereal? Do i literally bake cereal and pulverize it? . . . . .

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That recipe tells you what to do and looks pretty straight forward, in "processing" it says: "Grind the cereal (sorghum or millet) and lightly roast it over an open fire. Add the roast cereal (1 part cereal to 12 parts juice) to the diluted banana juice".

The worry I would have is the fact it's not boiled and only good for a few days, maybe try just a gallon at a time or try to find more info on the "improved method" listed using a boiled wort. Of course then it's not traditional urwaga or lubisi. Keep us posted on this.

Ok, I think I'll ad my recipe to the recipe section today. After trying my concoction yesterday, I found it was sweet, but VERY good tasting. However, I made mine in a plastic water bottle, and because of how the recipe calls for no airlock and just a cap, The bottle expanded to the point of almost explosion, and to open it with out blowing the cap off and leaking out more tan necessary, i poked a hole in the cap with a pen which resulted in a geyser of beer. Moral of the story, if you are going to use a 16 oz glass or water bottle, I suggest making it in something like a 2 liter instead.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/banana-wine-33636/

It's gotten pretty good reviews from those who have tried it. The only roadblock I can see is the consensus that the stuff takes a very long time to mature. Like, 2 years. I don't know how that would differ if used with malt, though.

barleyfarm said:

Moral of the story, if you are going to use a 16 oz glass or water bottle, I suggest making it in something like a 2 liter instead.

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I would still use an airlock. co2 is being released during fermentation and needs somewhere to escape to. Essentially you would be fermenting all the while massively overcarbing your beer, resulting in a geyser.

Banana bread stout sounds like a good idea.

Cinnamon would be great in this for that home baked feel...just my 2p though!