More Banana Cream Ale

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

tom777

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 12, 2008
Messages
305
Reaction score
3
Location
South Dakota
Inspired by Schlenkerla's thread, I finally got around to brewing my own tonight. I more or less stuck with his recipe except I used less grain and a little more extract. I also added some Malto Dextrin.

Ingredient list:
3.3# LME (Light, unhopped)
2# DME (Light)
Grains: 1# Pale Ale Malt
Hops: 1 oz. Cascade
8 oz. Malto Dextrin
1 tsp nutmeg
.25 oz Irish Moss
4 oz Banana Chips
Yeast: Safale US-05
5# bananas
2 oz Vanilla
8 oz. Lactose
Muntons KreamyX


Instructions:
Steep/Mash grains 1 hr @ 155F; sparge
Bring wort to boil
Add 2# LME; return to boil
Add Cascade hops (60 min)
Add Malto Dextrin (20 min)
Add Irish Moss & Nutmeg (15 min)
Add remaining LME/DME & banana chips (10 min)
Chill wort & pitch yeast
Secondary: 5# bananas
Bottling:KreamyX, Lactose & Vanilla

OG: 1.048

As I don't know a lot about making my own recipes, I wasn't really sure what hops to go with. I ended up going with Cascade simply because another Cream Ale kit I had brewed used these. Due to late extract addition, I only added .8 oz of the hops. I haven't ruled out adding another 8 oz of Malto Dextrin when I go to secondary (this will be the first time I do a secondary for beer), but I don't know if that would be a good idea or not. I guess I have a good week or so to decide. :mug:
 
Getting closer! 7 days in primary, 25 days in secondary, and following Schlenkerla's advice, it's now been in tertiary for a few days. I'll give it a week or 2 and then bottle it. Definitely looking forward to trying this.
 
Getting closer! 7 days in primary, 25 days in secondary, and following Schlenkerla's advice, it's now been in tertiary for a few days. I'll give it a week or 2 and then bottle it. Definitely looking forward to trying this.

Let me know how this tastes. I think you will find this is a great beer at 3-6 months. I will say this is definately not a session beer. Its a nice beer to have after a Sunday dinner.

I served mine in pints or hefe glasses. A belgian goblet would do well too.

Lets see photos of your first beer!!! :ban:
 
I bottled it tonight. I'm glad I did the tertiary -- there was quite a bit of crud left at the bottom of the better bottle when I racked to the bottling bucket.
 
That's a good idea. I had quite a bit sediment in my first batch. When I remake this will do the tertiary thing too.
 
I took an intro to brewing class last week. I decided that my first brew would be a bavarian summer ale(kit) with banana added. I've never brewed before but have had a few hefs that had subtle banana tastes to them so I thought the idea might work out(just a guess). I brewed on Saturday. I added about 6 quartered bananas to the second boiling stage that lasted about 15 minutes with the hops(the first 30 minutes were the grains). I have had it in the primary fermenter for almost 2 days now and can't wait to transfer to my secondary fermenter. I thought I may have made a huge rookie mistake by trying to brew with bananas but it looks like it has worked for you two so far, so I feel just a slight bit encouraged that this might work out.
 
Any results? I am going to try a Smokey Banana Wizenbock with some smoked malts and banana. I think I will try adding the bananas like Greenwoodbeers did with 15 minutes left. Was/Is 6 bananas a good amount???
 
Not meaning to resurect old threads; but SWMBO has put me on a banana recipies quest.

Do you happen to have an AG version of this recipie?
 
I have made several attempts at banana beer and have never really been able to bring out the banana flavor.

I usually mashed the bananas in with the grains in all-grain brews, with little real effect I think that I would try this again but I would possibly caramelize the bananas, and make sure that they are brown over-ripe, then mash them in with the grains. I have had a lot of success with caramelizing pumpkin for various brews. I have been reluctant to add bananas to the secondary because I have heard that it can produce undesirable protein introduction.

Also under pitching the yeast and at higher temps around 74 degrees may be helpful.

Let us know how it turns out!
 
Back
Top