Banana wine

just placed a banana wine into primary. this is my first venture into wine and i did it because i had a bunch of extra 1 gallon glass bottles. i decided upon banana because its cheap and interesting. i followed this recipe http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/bananawine.htm but changed the recipe to 3 gallons and added belgian candi sugar to up the gravity. i didnt really follow the directions but i will post what i did.

ingredients:
10 lbs bananas
10 cups granulated white sugar
5 cups dark brown sugar
6 lemons
5 cups golden raisins
4 campden tablets
3 tsp yeast nutrient
1 packet lalvin EC-1118 yeast

instructions:
-peeled bananas and set aside all peels
-chopped bananas and added to 20qt kettle with 18 cups water
-chopped 1/2 of the banana peels and added them to the kettle
-turned on heat and added sugar and lemon juice (with pulp and seeds)
-brought mix to a boil and added lemon rhinds
-allowed rhinds to be in boil for 15 minutes
-removed lemons and continued boil for 30 minutes
crushed 4 campden tabs and added them to the primary (6.5 gallon plastic ale pale) with 5 cups raisins
-strain in banana must and allow to drip
-pour warm water over pulp and allow to drip (i did this 5 times and had to stir it with a spoon to get water flowing)
-heated 2 lbs of amber belgian candi sugar in water (boiled) and added it to mix
-add cold water to bring to 3 gallons and cover lightly
-leave covered for 5 days stirring 2x daily
-on 6th day do not stir, allow sediment to settle, prepare to rack to secondary.

that is as far as i have gotten. i plan to follow the rerack process of 3 weeks and then every three months for a year. and then to bottle and allow to age for at least 6 months. maybe ill try one before it has aged too long.

my OG was 1.090 with a 12% potential alch. i plan on a dry wine. with the left over strainings i plan on making an experimental beer. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f164/banana-beer-301209/

My banana wine needed to age for a year before it was drinkable. But it finally turned out great.

My experience with Banana wine is YOU MUST use pectic enzyme with it or you will end up with banana jelly floating on the top of the primary.

I just bottled a banana - watermelon wine. It needs some aging for sure.

redhead said:

My banana wine needed to age for a year before it was drinkable. But it finally turned out great.

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aged for a year in bottles or is that including its 2nd and 3rd fermentations?


My experience with Banana wine is YOU MUST use pectic enzyme with it or you will end up with banana jelly floating on the top of the primary.

as for pectic enzyme, i am new to wine. does it need to be added before the yeast or can it be added a few days after pitching? and could i bypass the enzymes by being careful when racking?

the sooner the better because alcohol inhibits pectic enzyme's ability to do its job. Normal practice is to add the enzyme weight 12 hours then pitch the yeast, but IMHO early in the fermentation before much alcohol has been made is just as good. I add the enzyme and the yeast at the same time.

Daze said:

the sooner the better because alcohol inhibits pectic enzyme's ability to do its job. Normal practice is to add the enzyme weight 12 hours then pitch the yeast, but IMHO early in the fermentation before much alcohol has been made is just as good. I add the enzyme and the yeast at the same time.

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i am 3 days into my primary and broke my hydrometer so i cannot tell the alcohol content. when i get enough cash to purchase a new hydrometer i will pick up some pectic enzyme but it may be too late. thanks for the pointer

Bananas can have a lot of starch, so using the enzyme amylase to treat the starch is a good idea (to avoid a starch haze). Letting the bananas sit until they are very brown/black, also converts more of the starch to sugar.
Like Daze said ... pectic overnight before pitching or boiling is a good idea. Also boiling may set the pectin and it may never clear.
In any regard, the longer aging you mentioned may give it the best chance of ever dropping clear.
Sounds like it will be tasty, tho.

One other thing ... I would never use banana peels in banana wine. The pesticides used on bananas will end up in the wine. Even "organic" bananas still get sprayed, just a different type. Banana wine just using pulp has a pretty good banana flavor.