Banana Wine

My banana wine is fermenting at 3 months, but I used beer yeast, and it still is very sweet, recently I received wine and champagne yeast, should I put one in my wine? or is it too late?

brewingkitty said:

does it need to be in a dark place??

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Yes, or at least covered by a towel around the carboy. All beers, wines, ciders, etc should be kept in a dark place.

marcelo said:

My banana wine is fermenting at 3 months, but I used beer yeast, and it still is very sweet, recently I received wine and champagne yeast, should I put one in my wine? or is it too late?

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Have you taken any Sg readings?

Hi guys, I'm new to this community. Like most on the internet, I imagine, I've been lurking for a bit over a year. I've finally decided to give back to the community and improve my wines/beers by contributing. Here's what I have in my log for this wine:


a. Made wine on 3-6-10/3-7-10/ S.G. 1.095. Let cool overnight before adding yeast. Pitched Lalvin yeast the next morning - Sun 3-7-10.
b. Stirred daily for a week+ Checked S.G. on 3-13-10 1.022
C. stirred on 3-14-10. S.G. 1.016. Racked into the secondary.
D. 5-16-10. Racked. S.G. under .990. May be affected by particles in suspension. Tasted with Matt T and Allison. Strong alcohol taste. Thick, a little harsh. The banana flavor came through, but not the sweetness. Added 5 lbs of chopped raisins.
E. 9-17-10. Racked off raisins. Noticed we used normal raisins instead of golden ones. Wine must appear darker. Not sure of taste implications. Wine is very sweet, S.G. 1.038. Topped off with 1/2 gallon of water to leave head space for renewed fermentation. S.G. 1.010 after dilution.

We left the raisins in for 4 months, and it seems as though that has significantly boosted our gravity. We topped it off with a half gallon of water and left some space in case fermentation started (we've had problems with carboys boiling over). We had anticipated to ferment out the extra sugar from the raisins. Did you guys ferment that out, or leave it in to have a sweet wine? I don't think the fermentation started, so I am thinking we will have to pitch some champagne yeast into a cup or so of must and build it up to a gallon to get fermentation to start again. Its a 5 gallon batch.

For me, adding raisins restarted fermentation and it finished dry. BUT, did you check the raisins package? If they were "regular" raisins, they may have been sulfited heavily, and/or have preservatives added.

Yooper,

Thanks for the quick reply. My buddy and I have been making wine and his place, and beer at mine. I called him and asked him about the raisins, and it sounds like they do not contain preservatives. I googled and came upon this link:

http://www.sunmaid.com/en/healthyliving/frequently_asked_questions.html

which makes it sound as though the golden raisins have preservatives but the regular ones do not. I am wondering if the sugar content just got the alcohol high enough to kill off the yeast. I usually prefer my wines to be on the dryer side, so I am thinking I will probably attempt to restart the fermentation unless someone else chimes in otherwise.

I've never had a stuck fermentation, so if nothing else, this will be an interesting new experience.

Yooper,

The Og was 1,098 and now it stop in 1,022.

marcelo said:

Yooper,

The Og was 1,098 and now it stop in 1,022.

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I just don't know. You could definitely try some fresh yeast. I've never had that problem, so I'm sorry I can't be of more help.

Looks like you start out 1 cup of must with 1 cup warm water, pitch yeast, and increase the amount of must and pitch that. Not sure how to tell what the acid is. Yeast nutrient/energizer may help as well.

from: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/problems.asp


Stuck Fermentation: A stuck fermentation is one that has started and then stopped prematurely. This is usually caused by a lack of nutrients or acid, but not sugar, or a change in temperature disagreeable to the yeast.

When a fermentation sticks, you need to begin taking measurements of the must to determine what the problem is. Often these will reveal an obvious problem--very low acid, for example--but on rare occasions there may be several things wrong and none of them obvious. Always correct an acid deficient must with acid blend as opposed to citric or tartaric acid alone. It doesn't hurt to add yeast nutrient (1/2 teaspoon per gallon of must) and yeast energizer, too (1/4 teaspoon per gallon of must is sufficient).

After correcting perceived deficiencies and bringing the must to 70° F., wait three days for the fermentation to restart. If it does not, set aside 1/2 cup of must and add to it a cup of warm (100¦ F.) water. Over this sprinkle a good yeast known to do well at restarting stuck fermentations, such as Red Star Premier Curvee (also known as Prise de Mousse) or Lalvin K1-V1116 (also known as Montpellier). Cover the sample and allow up to two days to begin fermenting (it will probably start fermenting within hours, but give it time if it doesn't). When the fermentation is vigorous in the sample, add 1/2 teaspoon of yeast nutrient and another 1/2 cup of must from the bulk batch. Stir the sample to dissolve the nutrient, recover, and set aside about 6 hours. If fermentation is still vigorous, add another 1/2 cup of must, recover, and wait 6 hours. If fermentation is still vigorous, gently add half the starter to the bulk must so the starter sort of lays on top of the must. Do not stir. Wait 24 hours and stir shallowly. Wait another 24 hours and stir deeply. If must does not ferment with starter added, add another 1/2 cup to the remaining starter and recover. After 6 hours, add another 1/2 cup of must. Wait 6 hours and follow directions for adding to bulk must.

Bananas are on sale for 38 cents a pound so im picking up some bananas to make some banana wine...wooohoooo

Just thought I'd update the thread with my efforts to restart my stuck fermentation. Here's a copy/paste of my log:

a. Made wine on 3-6-10/3-7-10/ S.G. 1.095. Let cool overnight before adding yeast. Pitched Lalvin yeast the next morning - Sun 3-7-10.
b. Stirred daily for a week+ Checked S.G. on 3-13-10 1.022
C. stirred on 3-14-10. S.G. 1.016. Racked into the secondary.
D. 5-16-10. Racked. S.G. under .990. May be affected by particles in suspension. Tasted with Matt T and Allison. Strong alcohol taste. Thick, a little harsh. The banana flavor came through, but not the sweetness. Added 5 lbs of chopped raisins.
E. 9-17-10. Racked off raisins. Noticed we used normal raisins instead of golden ones. Wine must appear darker. Not sure of taste implications. Wine is very sweet, S.G. 1.038. Topped off with 1/2 gallon of water to leave head space for renewed fermentation. S.G. 1.010 after dilution.
F. 10-6-10. Took approximately 2/3 gallon of must out of the secondary to make a starter. Started 1 cup water with 1 cup wine and some energizer and nutrient. Added another cup must to starter a couple days later. Added energizer and nutrient to secondary as per Jack Keller's stuck ferment suggestion.
G. 10-11-10. Added remaining 2 cups to starter seperately.
H. 10-12-10. Added 1/2 starter to secondary after noticing that the starter had been fermenting.

Made mine today....Ill throw the yeast and nutrient in when i get home in the morning.....

So has anyone tried this as a mead/with honey?

i can only find liquid tannin. or did you use powder?

I assumed the recipe meant powder tannin, thats what I've always been using anyway. I would ask the store that sells the liquid tannin what a comparable amount of powder tannin is.

Our stuck fermentation is unstuck, btw.


a. Made wine on 3-6-10/3-7-10/ S.G. 1.095. Let cool overnight before adding yeast. Pitched Lalvin yeast the next morning - Sun 3-7-10.
b. Stirred daily for a week+ Checked S.G. on 3-13-10 1.022
C. stirred on 3-14-10. S.G. 1.016. Racked into the secondary.
D. 5-16-10. Racked. S.G. under .990. May be affected by particles in suspension. Tasted with Matt T and Allison. Strong alcohol taste. Thick, a little harsh. The banana flavor came through, but not the sweetness. Added 5 lbs of chopped raisins.
E. 9-17-10. Racked off raisins. Noticed we used normal raisins instead of golden ones. Wine must appear darker. Not sure of taste implications. Wine is very sweet, S.G. 1.038. Topped off with 1/2 gallon of water to leave head space for renewed fermentation. S.G. 1.010 after dilution.
F. 10-6-10. Took approximately 2/3 gallon of must out of the secondary to make a starter. Started 1 cup water with 1 cup wine and some energizer and nutrient. Added another cup must to starter a couple days later. Added energizer and nutrient to secondary as per Jack Keller's stuck ferment suggestion.
G. 10-11-10. Added remaining 2 cups to starter seperately.
H. 10-12-10. Added 1/2 starter to secondary after noticing that the starter had been fermenting.
I. 10-19-10. Eric noticed fermentation is unstuck.
J. 10-22-10. Eric commented that airlock is bubbling rapidly, fast fermentation.

My banana juice turned pink after boiling it for a while. Its only a couple months since fermentation but it really reeks of banana. All i used were ripe bananas and water.

Cost for 1 gallon:
-----------------
3-1/2 lb. bananas * ~$.50/lb = $1.75
1 lb. chopped golden raisins * ~$3.00 (sometimes less) = $3.00
2 lb. granulated sugar * ~$.75/lb = $1.50
1 gallon water * ~$.75 = $0.75
wine yeast * ~$1 (on special at LHBS) = $1.00

Total cost of one-time materials, 1st gallon: ~$8.00
6 gallon cost: ~$36 (~$31.50 - water)

Winemaking essentials:
----------------------
1-1/4 tsp. acid blend
1 tsp. pectic enzyme
1/4 tsp. grape tannin
yeast nutrient

Using tapwater and cheaper yeast can really drop the price. The golden raisins are where the cost is at, though... so if you could source those a bit cheaper you'd be good to go.

Two years, and about $1.60 a bottle you'd have a tasty little wine.

This recipe has me intreged. I talked to the produce guy at one of the local grocery stores and he hooked me up with this box of bananas for one dollar.


Looking forward to a little Banana Wine.

dude nice socre!!!

so i made this in march of this year, in between moving my house, school and starting a new job all i have really done is keep the airlocks full of cheap vodka.
i just realized that my banana wine is still on the golden raisins, so i have only racked it once. what bad can come of it sitting on the raisins for almost a year?
should i add anything when i rack it off the raisins?

Rowdy said:

so i made this in march of this year, in between moving my house, school and starting a new job all i have really done is keep the airlocks full of cheap vodka.
i just realized that my banana wine is still on the golden raisins, so i have only racked it once. what bad can come of it sitting on the raisins for almost a year?
should i add anything when i rack it off the raisins?

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It should be fine, as the wine had alcohol in it when it sat on the raisins, so they wouldn't have mold or anything on them. Just rack and top up. And taste!

ok cool, it is beautiful Cristal clear golden color, i cant wait for a taste of this. i dont have a corker so is it ok if i rack it and wait longer to bottle?

it smells amazing, will post a new pic tomorrow

Rowdy said:

ok cool, it is beautiful Cristal clear golden color, i cant wait for a taste of this. i dont have a corker so is it ok if i rack it and wait longer to bottle?

it smells amazing, will post a new pic tomorrow

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Yeah, you can wait to bottle. Just make sure you top up with a white wine to keep it "safe"! Since it's been in there a while, I'd probably crush and dissolve one campden tablet per gallon and pour that into the carboy and then rack the wine into it. You can top up with any commercial white wine, if you need to. And you'll probably need to since the raisins take up quite a bit of room!

Has any one ever tried this recipe without using the banana peeling?

From what i've read it takes a while to age, some posts say a few years. I also know that seeds and stems can cause off tastes in wine. I don't know if any of you have ever tasted a banana peel but it is very bitter and nasty. My point is that if you take the peel out of the equation it might not take as long to age and can be enjoyed sooner. Or does the peeling add something i'm missing?

Have any of you been noting the changes in flavor throughout the process? My wine is off the raisins in the carboy. The last time we tasted it the raisins came through quite a bit. Does this change as it ages? Or could it be because I used normal raisins instead of golden ones?

Hi!

I'm interested in following this recipe, but I am also curious if I can use the pulp of the banana without the peel, just as B0whunt3r asked. Anyone try this?

Thanks!

After 15 months, I've just bottled 2 1/2 gallons. I thought it would be much drier than it turned out. I used golden raisins, and never noticed any vigorous fermentation from them. It was just little bubbles for months, then finally slowed to nothing. It's pretty sweet and hot, but does have some good banana flavor. I'm hoping it will mellow and blend some over time.

I'm going to make a go of it without the peels and with regular raisins, it's just a gallon, I'll let you know how it works out.

Alrighty, I tried this except as a mead. I used about 1.5kg of honey which I figured would be roughly the same as the sugar (a bit more, but whatever). I also left the banana in my primary in a muslin bag for the first few days of fermentation. I started this at the end of Oct/beginning of November and racked into a secondary immediately after fermentation had finished (I like the idea of having a CO2 blanket when racking, the bubbles were still in solution). Instead of adding raisins I added 2 sliced bananas and a clove and let sit until the very last weekend in Febuary (last weekend).

Only just racked it into a tertiary now. It has cleared into a beautiful golden colour, a bit darker than the pictures in this thread but that is probably because of the honey that I used. I tasted and it has come out as a dry white wine with a banana undertone, but lacks any real body for my liking (as well as being a little hot) - both of which will probably age out. Decided to add some spices and backsweeten a bit (didn't know if fermentation would start again - so far it hasn't), so I added a split vanilla bean, a small chunk of nutmeg and 2 crushed cloves as well as backsweetening with raw sugar. Will probably add another banana in to impart more of a banana taste and when I rack it one last time I will backsweeten again with a honey to make it a dessert wine.

All in all, was a fun process watching the wine change from muddy mop water to the beautiful colour it is now and has come out as something that has the potential to be very drinkable!

Also I have some pictures that I took during the whole process. If anyone is interested, I can post!

this sounds very interesting, might have to give it a try

Hey oldmate: Interesting mods!

I'm going to make this wine in the very near future. I hope the banana flavor and nose come out very strong. Bananas are one of my favorite fruit.

IIRC, the reason for the raisins was body.

If I use raisins now, is it too late? It probably won't ferment again.

I don't know.

Might as well chuck some in, it can't hurt. (and it has started fermenting again, FML)

Well, this thread inspired us - put on about 7 gallons of this yesterday afternoon.

Well, we really screwed with the recipe, so I guess "7 gallons of something sorta like this, we hope"!

The whole brew room smells like banana bread. Yum! Too bad I'm allergic to wheat, I make awesome banana bread, and now we're craving it something FIERCE.

Looks good! Mine was so much darker and mop-water looking!

I changed the technique up a bit, and I cut bananas FAST (pastry chef)... so they didn't have much time to brown. I figure the browning has to be a big contributor to the darker color. Also, ours were just ripe, not overripe like I was hoping.

What resulted - before yeast - was something that I bet would make some great, if ugly, banana daiquiris!

We did add a couple big scoops of banana mush to the primary, and THAT is floating and blackened. The liquid under it looks like the photo above, though.

NerdyMarie said:

I changed the technique up a bit, and I cut bananas FAST (pastry chef)... so they didn't have much time to brown. I figure the browning has to be a big contributor to the darker color. Also, ours were just ripe, not overripe like I was hoping.

What resulted - before yeast - was something that I bet would make some great, if ugly, banana daiquiris!

We did add a couple big scoops of banana mush to the primary, and THAT is floating and blackened. The liquid under it looks like the photo above, though.

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Sounds great! Well, except for the "floating and blackened" part.

I hope bananas go on sale cheap again- when I did this recipe the last time, overripe bananas were $.19/cents a pound. We finished the last bottle of this a few months ago, I believe.

Not only did we like the wine, it was a great "top up" wine for other wines. It has a banana nose, but blended well with concord grape, rhubarb, etc for topping up. It provided some body, but no real color, and I think I'd make it again just to have it for topping up even if I didn't enjoy drinking it!

Eh, the floating and blackened is fine - our whole brew room smells like banana bread!

We'll be racking off the bananas this weekend, I'll take a pic when we get it into the carboys