Banana short mead

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.

Halbrust

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2012
Messages
707
Reaction score
74
Location
Upland
I'll be starting a one-gallon batch of banana short mead this week. I'm using this thread as log notes, and to get any input readers may feel is appropriate.

I've done a fair amount of research on banana beers, both traditional and commercial. Therefore, I'm thinking a banana short mead will be OK. I know a banana wine, or long mead, would need years to age. However, traditional banana beers are drunk almost immediately.

Recipe:
2 pounds raw honey
4 pounds frozen bananas
1/2 cup orange juice
Spring water to make 1 gallon
WLP565 Saison Ale Yeast

Boil 2 pounds of bananas (in grain bag) in 1 gallon of water for 40 minutes to extracts sugars. Allow water to cool then combine honey, "banana water", and orange juice in 1-gallon carboy. Shake vigorously to combine. Add remaining 2 pounds of frozen (now thawed) bananas to carboy and top with spring water. Pitch yeast and add air lock.

I plan to let this ferment for no more than 10 days. At that time, I will rack it, filtering it through a cotton cloth and refrigerate. Bulk age in refrigerated setting for 4-5 weeks. Rack, filter, and bottle, then allow to bottle age for 1-2 weeks.
 
Here's some thoughts:

1: you are not going to get much fermentation. You may end up with 3% at most.

2: you won't get too much flavor out of the bannana. The amount seems fine but the oils in the bannana wont have time to break down.

3: Your mead will taste "Hot" due to the fact that it is such a quick fermentation and more importantly the mead does not have time to age. True with less alcohol content there will be less aging needed but it shouldn't be signifigant. I have seen bannana wine and bannana mead take up to 2 years to age and for the flavor to really come out. Most meads will need to have at least 6 months. JAOM being the exception.

4: The mead will be cloudy. Filtering even through fine cheese cloth will be good but it won't get all the yeast and particles out of it that time and the normal settling process will do. I predict that you will have a nearly opaque mead. If you used a pump filter process that they use with wine at professional wineries then you may have a clearer product.

Now aside from those conserns, go for it. I would be interested in the results and to see if I am correct in my assumptions.

Happy mead making
Matrix
 
A couple questions:
Could I just mash bananas instead of freezing them?
Could I use orange concentrate instead of oj?
 
A couple questions:
Could I just mash bananas instead of freezing them?
Could I use orange concentrate instead of oj?

Freezing will help break down the cell walls on a small level. It has been reported that it is not neccessary with bannana, though personally I am not sure. For ease of slicing, I would. Also many recipies I have seen use the skins of the bannana, just chop off the tops and the little bit at the end and discard those. Then just slice into 1/4 inch coins with the skin. Then put in your mesh bag and then into the boil. For the secondary, I would still do a boil and not put the bannana directly in but it could work either way.

The secondary, I would do a boil and then reduce the water some by taking the mesh bag of bannanas out and then boil for a bit longer, then just let the water cool, toss in some pectic enzyme and let sit for an hour and then rack onto it. That would be what I would do given what I have read on the internet.

Concentrate instead of juice: You can but check to make sure that it is organic and has no phophates or sorbates. Only Juice concentrate. From doing a Orange Vanilla with concentrate Expect it to settle the pulp out almost imediately. Also if you use concentrate it will be harder to just add a little. I still would go with the oranges or you may end up with more of a Orange Bannana rather than a Bannana with a bit of orange. A little zest will also help the flavor too. So in this circumstance one or two oranges with their zest would be ideal.

Matrix
 
Here's some thoughts:


1: you are not going to get much fermentation. You may end up with 3% at most.
Was hoping for 5%, so I'll be OK with 3%. It's a short mead... comparable to a beer, not a wine.
2: you won't get too much flavor out of the bannana. The amount seems fine but the oils in the bannana wont have time to break down.
I was thinking the 2 lbs boiled would offer lots of flavor because the flavor won't be fermented away. The two lbs unboiled is for mouth feel and color as much as flavor.
3: Your mead will taste "Hot" due to the fact that it is such a quick fermentation and more importantly the mead does not have time to age. True with less alcohol content there will be less aging needed but it shouldn't be signifigant. I have seen bannana wine and bannana mead take up to 2 years to age and for the flavor to really come out. Most meads will need to have at least 6 months. JAOM being the exception.
Why will the mead be hot? Not saying it won't, I'm still learning. But some beers are fermented this quick and don't age much more.
4: The mead will be cloudy. Filtering even through fine cheese cloth will be good but it won't get all the yeast and particles out of it that time and the normal settling process will do. I predict that you will have a nearly opaque mead. If you used a pump filter process that they use with wine at professional wineries then you may have a clearer product.
I want cloudy, that is the purpose of using the bananas and not just the juice. Hope we're both right.
Now aside from those conserns, go for it. I would be interested in the results and to see if I am correct in my assumptions.
Buying the yeast and starting the process tomorrow night (bananas are already in the freezer)
 
Thanks!

I went ahead and mashed 4lbs of peeled bananas. I boiled for 20 minutes in 3/4 gallon of water.
I also had raw honey so I boiled it along with the bananas.

I then added the orange juice to the Carboy, poured my boiled (but cooled) liquid in, added half if the boiled bananas and barely had to top off with water. I thought I plenty of head space....
I pitched in my yeast. I used d-47 because that's what ive been using.
I plan to let it ferment for a month then rack it.

My airlock was filled to the top with overflow when I woke up!

My OG was 1.074
 
Was hoping for 5%, so I'll be OK with 3%. It's a short mead... comparable to a beer, not a wine.

Fair enough. Usually, I see people cut back on the honey amount when they want a Hydromel.

COLOR="magenta"]I was thinking the 2 lbs boiled would offer lots of flavor because the flavor won't be fermented away. The two lbs unboiled is for mouth feel and color as much as flavor.[/COLOR][/INDENT]

The boiling should get some of the flavor and yes some will be fermented away. The unboiled may not contribute much flavor as the flavor needs to be extracted from the oils and it doesn't see much time to extract and integrate the flavors much.

Why will the mead be hot? Not saying it won't, I'm still learning. But some beers are fermented this quick and don't age much more.

Beer and Mead are actually very different. A quick ferment and no aging doesn't really give the mead time to have the sweetness come back. Many meads are actually very sweet but prior to aging they taste "Hot". This is due to the fusel alcohols and the fact that many times this type of alcohol needs to break down and integrate better. Hence my guess that it will be hot. Ofcourse the sweetness will cover it but it may have a harshness at the end. We shall see. I would LIKE my predictions to be proven wrong.

I want cloudy, that is the purpose of using the bananas and not just the juice. Hope we're both right.

Cool. The Cold Crashing will take some of the yeast out but it may be cloudy with a bit of yeast and other stuff. Typically I see clear mead. Something you may want to do if you plan on having this outside of the fridge for it to warm up is to hit it with some potasium sorbate to stabilze it. Otherwise the left over yeast in the solution may become active again.

Buying the yeast and starting the process tomorrow night (bananas are already in the freezer)

Awesome. Let us know how it goes.

Matrix
 
8/24/12 - Placed 10 peeled and frozen bananas in one gallon of water, brought water to boil and boiled for one hour.

Specific gravity of this "banana water" 1.023.

Placed banana water, 2lbs of raw wildflower honey, 1/3 cup orange juice to a one gallon plastic carboy.

Yeast starter for WLP565 Saison yeast made from 2 cups water, 1 tablespoon honey, and 1 tablespoon orange juice.

Starting Gravity 1.075

8/25/12 - Fermentation was so strong it up and out the airlock. Cleaned and refilled the airlock.

8/26/12 - No more messes, and still getting about 10 bubbles per minute on the fermentation.

Will check Gravity today 8/28/12. Hoping for a reading of 1.036 or 1.037 so I can cold crash with an ABV of around 5%
 
My fermentation did the exact same thing.
As of last night, most of the bananas have sunk to the bottom, and the airlock has almost no movement. At least during the 5 mins I stood there.
 
Racked the mead today and put in in the fridge. Will rack it again in a few days. Hoping all yeast will drop in the cold
 
Did you take a hydrometer reading?
I got 1.001.
Started mine on the 21st and just racked it.
 
Bottled this last night. Nice and clear. A little hot, but good flavor. The banana is there, but not how you'd expect. Definately has the warmer noted of banana, like in a banana bread more than the fruit flavor (does that make since)

I did not take a gravity reading:mad:
Will have to check my notes to see if I ever took a reading after fermentation.

Entering into a competition Saturday. Will post my results.
 
Well I've got about 8 or 9 gallons of banana mead, all finished fermenting, but all slightly differently made (more details in my blog - linked in sig line)

The one that's finished and bulk ageing was the first batch. I used the method that I'd asked about elsewhere. That was the "top and tail" the banana, slice it up whole, skin and all into the water that's gonna be used for the ferment and then boiled the lot for about 20 minutes or so. The pulp is then strained out and the "banana water" is used for the ferment. I don't recall whether I put extra fruit into that batch or not, but I did try to back sweeten it with malt extract from the health food shop (a 1lb jar) and while I haven't touched it since, I recall it being quite "bananery" tasting.....
 
Took first place in th beer category at the competition this weekend with a score of 83.5 (out of a possible 100).
This competition scored shot meads against beers, and long meads against wines.
Almost all comments on it were positive. Both from the judges and from the tasters as well.
 
I just bottled my gallon batch of Banana Mead yesterday and it's by far my favorite batch I've made. I simply did a traditional mead with 3lbs honey and KV1116. I did frozen bananas in a mesh bag (roughly 4 bananas) in the secondary for 3 weeks. Yes you get that starchy settling after a rack but simply ran thru a mini filter with a 3 pad and it came out pretty clear. It's very good right now without letting it age for 8 months or so. Will definitely do this batch again. Started at 1.120 and finished at 1.024.
 
Back
Top