Converting an extract recipe...

I want to do an AG version of an APA that I did once from an extract kit.. It was quite good...

Gonna do 10G though and put banana in one of the carboys... (I gotta try it! )

So in the ingredients for the 5G kit was 8lbs of Light Malt Extract..

What does that convert to in grain?
And will I need to adjust the amount of my hops additions at all?

The recipe was
8lbs Light Malt Extract

Steeping Grains:
1.5lbs Crystal 15L
8oz Honey Malt

Hops:
1oz magnum @60 bittering
2oz Cascade @ 5 flavoring
2 oz willamette @ 1 Aroma

Any tips on how to use fresh banana in this (and how much) so that the banana comes through?

I'm assuming the kit was done as a partial boil, correct? I punched it all into beersmith and converted it to AG for you.

9.75# 2-row pale
2.00# Honey
1.50# Crystal 10
.6 oz Magnum (60)
1.15 oz cascade (5)
1.15 oz willamette (1)
6 gallon boil, 5 gallon yield

(1.072 OG, feel free to drop the grain bill down if you don't want 7.0% ABV)

As to the banana, I am unsure. But I suspect that you will want to make puree out of it due to it's pulpiness with lack of juice. Maybe puree it with vodka and make an extract that way for both the flavor and to sanitize the fruit.

tjpfeister said:

As to the banana, I am unsure. But I suspect that you will want to make puree out of it due to it's pulpiness with lack of juice. Maybe puree it with vodka and make an extract that way for both the flavor and to sanitize the fruit.

Click to expand...

Exactly how is that done? Sorry, this will be my first foray into the whole fruit in beer thing (other than shoving limes in bottles of corona )

tjpfeister said:

I'm assuming the kit was done as a partial boil, correct? I punched it all into beersmith and converted it to AG for you.

9.75# 2-row pale
2.00# Honey
1.50# Crystal 10
.6 oz Magnum (60)
1.15 oz cascade (5)
1.15 oz willamette (1)
6 gallon boil, 5 gallon yield

(1.072 OG, feel free to drop the grain bill down if you don't want 7.0% ABV)

Click to expand...

1.072/7% would be way too high in an APA for my liking...

The original recipe lists the OG as 1.052-56
and the SRM as 11
and the IBUs as 55-59
and the ABV as 5.2%

I intended to boil down 7 gallons down to 5.5..
But it was the first time I used my keggle and I boiled off mooe than I was used to...

I ended up with 4.75 G and forgot to measure OG... which is typical for me... but I'm getting better at that...

Got a mason jar or a small tupperware or something? Use a food processor, blender, potato masher/etc to make your banana puree. Put this in your container with the alcohol. Shake it up daily and make a judgement on how much booze or fruit to add by way of your sniffer and taster. I would think a good starting point would be maybe 2oz of hooch to 1 nanner.

Updated the beersmith recipe to hit the specs you gave me for an 1.056 OG, 11 SRM, and 55 IBU. I have rounded off a few numbers for simplicity:

7.6# 2-row
1.5# Honey
1.2# Crystal 30
1 oz magnum (60)
2 oz cascade (5)
2 oz willamette (1)

tjpfeister said:

Got a mason jar or a small tupperware or something? Use a food processor, blender, potato masher/etc to make your banana puree. Put this in your container with the alcohol. Shake it up daily and make a judgement on how much booze or fruit to add by way of your sniffer and taster. I would think a good starting point would be maybe 2oz of hooch to 1 nanner.

Click to expand...

Do I store it in the fridge?

How long do I soak it in the vodka?

Once I have done this, then what.. just pour it in the keg when I transfer from the carboy? Or do I pour it in the carboy after primary fermentation has finished?..

Do I pour bananas and vodka and all in there, or do I separate them and pour just the banana or just the juice in there?

How much vodka to how much banana?

Can I use cheap vodka, or should I use the good stuff?

tjpfeister said:

Updated the beersmith recipe to hit the specs you gave me for an 1.056 OG, 11 SRM, and 55 IBU. I have rounded off a few numbers for simplicity:

7.6# 2-row
1.5# Honey
1.2# Crystal 30
1 oz magnum (60)
2 oz cascade (5)
2 oz willamette (1)

Click to expand...

Thanks man.. That makes a lot more sense... and it's cheaper now too!

Does that beersmith app run on mac.. or better yet, iPad? I'm thinking I might try and get my hands on an iPad once the new ones come out... and retire this computer to recording and graphics/animation only....

It's becoming useless for the web.. OS too old...

Do a google search on making extracts. I'm afraid my own on banana-specific extracts did not yield many answers as it is a tricky fruit to extract flavor from I guess. As stated, I would personally try something like 2oz booze to 1 banana. Put it in the fridge, 1-2 weeks should probably do the trick with frequent shaking. If it seems too boozy- add fruit. If it seems like it would benefit from more booze - add booze. After a week or two, make your own judgement on what to add to the carboy, but I would guess that you will be adding the vodka for sure and probably the fruit pulp. It will be up to you. Cheap hooch will work just fine. Whatever you have in your liquor cabinet.

I'd freeze the the banana, thaw, mash it well, heat to 160F to pasteurize, and pitch into secondary. Use somewhat overripe bananas like you would for banana bread. The skins will turn black/dark in the freezer, that's normal.

And I'd consider using a bavarian hefeweizen yeast and fermenting near 70F to get some banana esters from the yeast as well.

r8rphan said:

Does that beersmith app run on mac.. or better yet, iPad? I'm thinking I might try and get my hands on an iPad once the new ones come out... and retire this computer to recording and graphics/animation only....

It's becoming useless for the web.. OS too old...

Click to expand...

I'm not sure, I stopped using those horrid Macs back in the 90's when I decided that I didn't like squeaky clean machines that I couldn't tinker with :cross:
According to their websites, beersmith and promash are only made for windows based machines but I assume that you can still run an emulator of some sort. Otherwise one of your strange Apple friends on here might have an answer for you. Keep me posted on how the banana thing turns out, I'm a little curious about doing a citra APA with a little nanner to it for potential body and flavor.

Thanks man.. I like having computers that hold my and, so I stay away from PCs.. too many variables and voodoo for me.. life's too short to spend it cursing out a box full of wires...

And what makes you think I have friends?

I'm interested in the banana thing from being unable to wait for some of my IPA's to condition properly.... Some of them fermented a bit warm and had that banana ester thing going on.. It tasted a little like Juicy Fruit in my IPA.. I liked it.. unfortunately, since it's an ester, the yeasties make it disappear within a couple days.. and then I'm left wantring more..

So I figure if I do it on purpose with real banana, it will 'stay'.. and I can actually control how much banana I want in it...

I love banan everything.. malts, bread, cake, shakes, ice cream, sundaes, candy.. you name.. I've always gone bananas for bananas..

SummerH's idea seems good too, and probably quicker for initial experimentation with the flavor. The extract project could be done on it's own when you don't have brew deadlines. But mostly his point about over-ripe bananas, you should probably use those either way. Good luck