Bananas Foster Creamy Ale (All Grain) **pic intensive**

one8tvw,

this sounds delicious! if you need someone to come over and make sure it actually tastes good, i will totally volunteer. I'm not that far away from you and would love to give this a taste test.

Crimsonwine said:

I buy mine on ebay....best deal in town....

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Dude... I had no idea. I usually check eBay for everything too

breweRN said:

one8tvw,

this sounds delicious! if you need someone to come over and make sure it actually tastes good, i will totally volunteer. I'm not that far away from you and would love to give this a taste test.

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I will totally let you know as soon as this is carbed up. Maybe we can trade 4 packs.

And yes buy your vanilla from eBay. You will save tons of money.
I buy prime grade bourbon vanilla beans
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290621989999?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3141wt_881

I never made a banana beer, actually never had one until the other night. Being aware of this thread, I ordered one at the local pub and was very pleased with the results. Now I'm hooked.

Will the banana oil in the bananas mess with the head formation?

You got me lookin' at giving this one a shot....

Okay, just so I got things straight....

Your grain bill produced 5 gallons of wort? I'm assuming this and guessing you have the primary in a 6 1/2 carboy?

The reason I ask, is I'm also assuming you add the primary and the banana smoothie both to the secondary about day 21? So the secondary must be a 6 1/2 carboy as well.

Just trying to understand the volumes you're working with so I can plan out my equipment. Basically, are you working with 5 gallons of primary wort or something less?

Cheers....

-I used 6.5 gal carboys for both primary and secondary

-5 gallons of wort

-Primary was only 7 days

-Racked onto banana smoothie and let it sit for 21 days in secondary

interesting...

Skagdog said:

Looks like a good brew. I'm also diggin' the clear Moose's Tooth growler, I love that place!

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+1 I have three of those growlers above my cabinets.

i have a few of them too, when i lived in anchorage that place was my jam!

When do you think you will have your first taste of this current batch.

jjbb239 said:

When do you think you will have your first taste of this current batch.

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Already tasted it a few days ago. It's not carbed enough yet though.

Look what's almost ready

Great recipe. My wife should LOVE this. Been looking for things to make her.

This is on the calendar for a month or so from now so I am interested in hearing your thoughts and how you would tweak it.

tre9er said:

Great recipe. My wife should LOVE this. Been looking for things to make her.

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This is exactly why I made this. She is a real big fan of Well's Banana Bread beer, so I decided I could 1-up that.

man, that looks friggin awesome. I'm definitely brewing this. Do you think the crystal 10 comes out a lot? would you keep it at 2 lbs if you brewed again, or use less/more? This thread is good stuff sir, good stuff indeed.

corbomite said:

man, that looks friggin awesome. I'm definitely brewing this. Do you think the crystal 10 comes out a lot? would you keep it at 2 lbs if you brewed again, or use less/more? This thread is good stuff sir, good stuff indeed.

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I would not change a thing. Thanks for the support

I'm rounding up things to get this moving. I'm discovering our freezer space is somewhat limited and 5lbs of whole bananas simply are not gonna make it.

Is it acceptable to sanitize the bananas, then peel them, slice them, and place the pieces in sanitary baggies in the freezer?

I think I can accommodate the sliced up bananas in baggies but no way for the whole banana. Will sliced frozen bananas go ahead and ripen in the freezer?

I assume one would hold off adding the rum until the bananas are ready to be used. At that point I would remove the baggies, allow them to thaw, add the booze and blend???

I'm asking because I have zero experience working with bananas.

Sudz said:

I'm rounding up things to get this moving. I'm discovering our freezer space is somewhat limited and 5lbs of whole bananas simply are not gonna make it.

Is it acceptable to sanitize the bananas, then peel them, slice them, and place the pieces in sanitary baggies in the freezer?

I think I can accommodate the sliced up bananas in baggies but no way for the whole banana. Will sliced frozen bananas go ahead and ripen in the freezer?

I assume one would hold off adding the rum until the bananas are ready to be used. At that point I would remove the baggies, allow them to thaw, add the booze and blend???

I'm asking because I have zero experience working with bananas.

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I'd assume that 80 proof liquor would do a pretty good job of sterilizing your fruit :cross:

That being said...I don't store anything in those ziploc bags because they are carcenogenic...but do what you want. Normally I would suggest the use of campden tablets in fridge for 24 hours, but maybe it is not necessary given the sterilizing nature of alcohol.

The freezing thing is advantageous because it breaks the cell walls inside the fruit, H20 expands when it freezes...It doesn't ripen the fruit. You can just freeze half, take them out a day later, then freeze the other half...





I'm wondering if completely ripe (black) bananas would be best for this?...Also...just a crazy thought, but boiled plantain!

Delaney said:

I'm wondering if completely ripe (black) bananas would be best for this?

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This is what I'll be using. Wait til they blacken (storing them in brown paper bags will quicken this process), freeze them, when ready to use just break the end off and pour the banana goop out (my favorite part of making banana bread). Blend with the rum, which you could probably do with a spoon at this point, but why waste a good chance to use a blender? And I'm thinking 80+ proof rum should sanitize everything just fine.

chaserchap said:

This is what I'll be using. Wait til they blacken (storing them in brown paper bags will quicken this process),

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Putting an apple in the bag will make it go faster. As apples ripen they release a chemical that accelerates ripening of other fruits!

Sudz said:

I'm asking because I have zero experience working with bananas.

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that's what she said...

My process was letting them sit out for few days and then I sliced them up and threw them in the freezer. The day before I was going to put them into secondary I took them out of the freezer and transferred them to the fridge. Then off to the blender with the rum.

sfrisby said:

If my math is right, the 5lb of bananas adds 1.5% ABV. That look right to others?

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You'll have to show your math...but on the surface, that doesn't look right. On a high gravity beer like this, the bananas would most likely lower the ABV. I think you are only counting the sugar content of the bananas and not taking into account the water content of the fruit.

Man I don't know if there is a way you could accurately determine how much alcohol you are getting from the bananas without some pretty sophisticated equipment. Maybe if you took X amount of water and X amount of banana, blended the heck out of it and took a hydrometer reading then scale the results to determine how much water and sugar is added

I figured I gained .5% from the banana addition

BrewThruYou said:

I think you are only counting the sugar content of the bananas and not taking into account the water content of the fruit.

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Dead on with that one. Never thought about water content. Frankly, I'm shocked there is enough water to have a material effect. I was only basing on the estimated sugar content of 5 lb of bananas.

one8tvw said:

I figured I gained .5% from the banana addition

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I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for the results...also, you maple brown and the jog stout look extremely interesting. Ive been trying to find a way to make a.porter or stout taste.like an egg not.

Vanilla beans on amazon FTW

Have you thought about using 99 bananas instead of rum? do you think that would make the banana flavor too overpowering?

bkasten12 said:

Have you thought about using 99 bananas instead of rum? do you think that would make the banana flavor too overpowering?

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I actually thought about it, but I am glad I didnt.

bkasten12 said:

Have you thought about using 99 bananas instead of rum? do you think that would make the banana flavor too overpowering?

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That crap is artificially flavored though... His beer would have come out tasting like Laffy Taffy

Just added to the list. Thanks you for sharing.

Has anyone else that said they were going to brew this started?

Not yet. Based on inventory, I'm guessing about 30 days out. How long from grain to glass for you? Would you change that timeframe?

Considering banana Capella flavoring instead of real bananas. Rumor has it Capella graham cracker is what is in Southern Tier Pumking.

sfrisby said:

Not yet. Based on inventory, I'm guessing about 30 days out. How long from grain to glass for you? Would you change that timeframe?

Considering banana Capella flavoring instead of real bananas. Rumor has it Capella graham cracker is what is in Southern Tier Pumking.

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I think that is what shorts really uses in their s'mores beer...they say they use real Graham crackers but that would be extremely messy and volitale.

I'm drinking some right now, officially this beer is ready to drink.

Don't substitute!

capella is an interesting idea. I started using their products along time ago, kinda help promote them on a big coffee forum. Probably have about 20 little bottles right now next to the nespresso

Last night I busted out a sixer for a party at my house and this beer got rave reviews from everyone. It's cool to see you masterpiece get passéd person to person and not a single negative comment.

What kind of aroma and flavoring did you get from the banana's. I'm also thinking some maple syrup would go good with this.