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

I brewed this beer last night. The only thing I changed was I switched out the Crystal 10 with wyermans carahell, which is pretty much the same thing. I also brewed it as a 6 gallon batch, so my OG was only 1.063, which is fine by me as I didn't want the beer to be that big, and it will still go up with the bananas and rum additions later.
Can't wait for the results. I will post back when it's complete.

I'll be brewing this up tomorrow I think. Already have the ingredients. This sounds delicious!

Okay, folks, here's an update on my adventures with this brew...

I ended up brewing it twice. For my first attempt, here was the plan and here was the results. To summarize the first attempt, I veered away sharply from one8tvw's recipe and didn't care much at all for the results.

Not to be easily deterred, I decided to take another stab at it. I basically used one8tvw's recipe with some slight mods. I dialed back the OG, shooting for an ABV in the low 6's and I subbed Cascade for the Saaz because that's what I had available. I also racked over a Wyeast 3068 yeast cake from a Hefe that I kegged earlier that day and then fermented at 70° in an effort to get some banana esters from the yeast and used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag to contain the puree and vanilla beans when I moved it to secondary after 14 days in primary. Some of the puree still got through, but most was contained in the bag and I've yet to pour a glass with any floaties present.

The verdict: Awesome beer!!! Explosive banana flavor with a hint of vanilla and a nice boozy rum presence in the background. It came in at 6.3% after primary, so it's actually somewhere north of that with the bananas and rum. Everyone who's tried it so far has loved it. This recipe is a definite keeper and I am pretty sure that popular demand is going to require that I brew this one a couple times a year at a min.

Thanks for doing the legwork on this one, one8tvw!!! My hat's off to you.

LLBeanJ said:

I dialed back the OG, shooting for an ABV in the low 6's and I subbed Cascade for the Saaz because that's what I had available.
Thanks for doing the legwork on this one, one8tvw!!! My hat's off to you.

Click to expand...

What did your grain bill look like? I'm thinking of doing this one too, but I'd like the ABV to be a little lower as well.

Here's the recipe I ended up going with... (note that it's for a 4 gallon batch)

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Bananas Foster Creamy Ale - Take 2 (4g)
Brewer: Kevin S
Asst Brewer:
Style: Fruit Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.700 gal
Post Boil Volume: 4.200 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 4.000 gal
Bottling Volume: 3.250 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 9.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 65.6 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.5 %
10.0 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 3 7.8 %
10.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.8 %
0.500 oz Cascade [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 19.1 IBUs
0.01 oz FermCap-S (Boil 60.0 mins) Other 6 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
0.250 oz Cascade [7.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 3.5 IBUs
8.0 oz Brown Sugar, Dark [Boil for 10 min](50.0 Sugar 9 6.3 %
1.00 tbsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 5.0 mins) Other 10 -
1.0 pkg Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast 11 -
8.00 oz Rum, Banana (Secondary 14.0 days) Flavor 12 -
4.00 lb Bananas, Pureed (Secondary 14.0 days) Flavor 13 -
2.00 Items Vanilla Bean (Secondary 14.0 days) Flavor 14 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 24.997 qt of water at 156.5 F 152.0 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F 15 min

June update

I bottled my Bananas Foster ale this past Sunday, after it had spent two weeks in the primary and another three in the secondary. The normal trub layer at the bottom of the carboy was about four inches tall, compared with about an inch or so with a regular secondary fermentation. Since I had pureed the bananas and let them ferment for so long, I assumed that all of the banana oil that was going to dissolve in the beer was already there and guessed that the extra trub was the cell walls and internal organelles of the banana fruit. I was trying to get a clear beer, so I tried to leave this “pulp” (banana bones and guts) behind when I siphoned it to the bottling bucket. Some started to get siphoned toward the bottom so I left about a quart of sludge behind.

The final gravity was 1.011 before adding bottling sugar, rum, or vanilla extract. The original gravity was 1.080 which means the alcohol content was about 9.1%.

I added about a half ounce of vanilla extract and could not taste anything. Another half ounce and still nothing. So in went the last remaining ounce, and I could barely taste a faint vanilla favor. The beer had a high level of alcohol so I started adding rum 50 ml at a time. I’ve never been a rum drinker so I stopped when I could taste it at 150 ml, then added another 50ml “because the beer asked me to”. I always follow instructions when the beer is speaking.

I am now watching and waiting for the beer to condition. I usually allow three weeks, which would put uncapping day at July 8. I am hoping for a creamy head with an amber-ish beer (like LLbeanJ’s photo), followed by the banana-rum and the vanilla finish.

Comments and feedback are welcome. Cheers!

You're not kidding about the trub from the banana! I brewed mine on 6/2, transferred to secondary on 6/10 on top of 4.6 lbs of bananas puréed with 10 oz of Sailor Jerry spiced rum and two more split vanilla beans. I plan on keeping in secondary for another 2 weeks before kegging. I'm glad I bumped the recipe up to 6 gal now!

Thank you everyone for this thread. I'm a newbie around here. In fact, this is my first post. I have enjoyed every second of reading this while pretending to work. I have a serious beer boner going on right now.

I have my first ever brew in the primary right now. Can't wait to bottle and taste. And I'll be brewing this recipe at some point after I get this whole thing figured out a little more. Thanks!!

Mmmmm I want this real bad

Mine is a little over a week into secondary, guess I'll give it another week or two. My banana puree is floating on the top, but thats because I poured the banana puree over the beer after it was in secondary by itself for a day...hope this gets the banana flavor in thorough.

Brewed - 6/4
Xfer to 2ndary - 6/22

Now bottled. Snuck a taste and hello bananas! It's taste great, the bananas definately came through. We'll see what its like all carbed up in a couple of weeks.

Im glad people are digging this recipe and I appreciate all the kind words. I just did another batch and hit it right on the money and waxed all the bottle tops and dont plan on drinking it for a long time.

I racked mine to secondary on 7/21. Looking to move to tertiary to clean up some floatie potential this weekend.

Tasted the base beer before racking to secondary, and it was pretty good. It tasted a bit slick, with a hint of vanilla. Kind of a great base for adding other things to. I am planning to bump this up to a 11%+ ABV, mashing a little bit higher, and split a batch into three/four:

White Chocolate (secondary on high quality cocoa nibs and more vanilla)
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut (secondary on nibs, vanilla and macadamia flour)
Peaches & Cream (age on peaches)
Orange Creamsicle (secondary on orange zest)

Thinking of doing a gallon of each as an experiment. So for a gallon I'd do one vanilla bean, 6oz of nibs, 2 oz. zest, 6 oz. macadamia flour, or a lb of pureed peaches.

I'm going to be 'That Guy' too. I'm not up on full grain yet, but how hard would this be to do as an extract recipe?

Thanks!

Mike

LLBeanJ said:

Here's the recipe I ended up going with... (note that it's for a 4 gallon batch)

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Bananas Foster Creamy Ale - Take 2 (4g)
Brewer: Kevin S
Asst Brewer:
Style: Fruit Beer
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.700 gal
Post Boil Volume: 4.200 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 4.000 gal
Bottling Volume: 3.250 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 9.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 80.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 80.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 65.6 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 2 12.5 %
10.0 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 3 7.8 %
10.0 oz Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 7.8 %
0.500 oz Cascade [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 19.1 IBUs
0.01 oz FermCap-S (Boil 60.0 mins) Other 6 -
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
0.250 oz Cascade [7.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 8 3.5 IBUs
8.0 oz Brown Sugar, Dark [Boil for 10 min](50.0 Sugar 9 6.3 %
1.00 tbsp Yeast Nutrient (Boil 5.0 mins) Other 10 -
1.0 pkg Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast 11 -
8.00 oz Rum, Banana (Secondary 14.0 days) Flavor 12 -
4.00 lb Bananas, Pureed (Secondary 14.0 days) Flavor 13 -
2.00 Items Vanilla Bean (Secondary 14.0 days) Flavor 14 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 24.997 qt of water at 156.5 F 152.0 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 10 min 168.0 F 15 min

Click to expand...

heyta said:

I am planning to bump this up to a 11%+ ABV, mashing a little bit higher

Click to expand...

If you mean you want to bump it up to 11% BY mashing it higher, that's not going to get the job done. Generally mashing at higher temp yields less fermentables and thus lower ABV; as well as a drier, thinner bodied beer.

If you meant something else (or I got that wrong), then, disregard. Though you might want to clarify your statement as to how you're going to get the higher ABV.

I will get the higher ABV by adding more grain in the same proportions. Roughly 1.3-1.4x the grain bill since we're already around 8.5% with this recipe. I will also mash a little higher (which will lower the ABV again slightly) but produce more of a full bodied mouthfeel and a slightly sweeter beer. Would love to have a 1.105 ferment down to 1.02 ish... The current recipe yielded me 1.078 OG and 1.010 FG (prior to bananas). so increasing the grain bill by 35%, adding a little more in the way of hops, and mashing at ~156 might get me there.

Onlooker said:

If you mean you want to bump it up to 11% BY mashing it higher, that's not going to get the job done. Generally mashing at higher temp yields less fermentables and thus lower ABV; as well as a drier, thinner bodied beer.

If you meant something else (or I got that wrong), then, disregard. Though you might want to clarify your statement as to how you're going to get the higher ABV.

Click to expand...

Just started drinking mine. This brew is awesome!

I have a question. The recipe calls for 2 vanilla beans. At post #23 you added another soaked bean. Did that make 2 total, or did that addition make 3? From reading through the thread i'm pretty sure it's 2, but thought i'd ask.

I'm getting ready to brew this soon. Am I dumping the 2 cups of dark brown sugar and 2 split van. beans into the boiling wort? Or do I boil it on its own and dump into primary?

HotTrailerBrew said:

I'm getting ready to brew this soon. Am I dumping the 2 cups of dark brown sugar and 2 split van. beans into the boiling wort? Or do I boil it on its own and dump into primary?

Click to expand...

I added them directly into the boil. I also added 2 more vanilla beans into the secondary with the bananas and rum.

thats what suspected, but since I'm a newb I wanted some clarification. Thanks

With 2 more beans in the secondary, do you think it was too much??

I entered a couple bottles from my last batch into a local homebrew competition (fruit beer category) and just got the results: 3rd place (out of 19 entries).

I'm pretty stoked to have placed, as it was my first ever homebrew competition.

To anyone who has made this I have a few questions.
First off; should I peel and freeze the bananas and should it be 5 pounds peeled? After adding bananas and rum should it be 2 weeks in secondary and then another week in a triary (or whatever ) to clean it up? Will I be able to wash the yeast with the banana puree in it? And finally I only had 2 vanilla beans which I added at boil. Can I add vanilla extract and how much should I add in secondary ?
Thanks

i am planning on doing this brew this weekend. I think you should have 5 lbs after they have been peeled and sliced (at least that is what i got from one of his pictures). I think you add the banana puree to secondary after a week in primary. I don't believe that you will have much of an issue with clean up as it shouldn't be much worse then normal yeast cake out of a primary on any other brew. I am also wondering about the vanilla extract.

No... freaking.... way.... I just heard about this dessert last week and just happened to go to a coffee stand that had a bananas foster smoothie drink.... I need to make this!

from what people are saying here is if you stick to the original recipe here it should be an amazing brew. I am doing my this weekend.

kerant said:

To anyone who has made this I have a few questions.
First off; should I peel and freeze the bananas and should it be 5 pounds peeled? After adding bananas and rum should it be 2 weeks in secondary and then another week in a triary (or whatever ) to clean it up? Will I be able to wash the yeast with the banana puree in it? And finally I only had 2 vanilla beans which I added at boil. Can I add vanilla extract and how much should I add in secondary ?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Yes, 5 lbs peeled bananas.

I did two weeks in secondary then straight to the keg. I believe the OP did two weeks in secondary, followed by one week tertiery, then bottled.

Add pureed bananas/rum to a clean and sanitized secondary fermentation vessel. Rack beer from primary to secondary on top of the bananas. This will leave your original yeast cake behind in the primary vessel, which can then be washed if so desired.

I only added vanilla beans (2x) to secondary and none to the boil. The vanilla flavor came through nicely in the finished product. Since you added them both to the boil, I'd not get too carried away when adding extract to secondary. I'd suggest maybe a tablespoon max. Add the initial qty of extract at the start of the secondary. When you go to bottle/keg, taste it and add more if you think you want/need it.

Cool- thats what I needed - thanks

I am totally making a batch of banana fosters ale this weekend!

I plan some minor deviations:
- Using a little less spiced rum;
- Substituting Cascade hops during the last 15 minutes of the boil; and
- Adding 1/2 lb of cold-steeped midnight wheat for some fun color effects

Looking forward to the fun!

-Will

LLBeanJ said:

Yes, 5 lbs peeled bananas.

I did two weeks in secondary then straight to the keg. I believe the OP did two weeks in secondary, followed by one week tertiery, then bottled.

Add pureed bananas/rum to a clean and sanitized secondary fermentation vessel. Rack beer from primary to secondary on top of the bananas. This will leave your original yeast cake behind in the primary vessel, which can then be washed if so desired.

I only added vanilla beans (2x) to secondary and none to the boil. The vanilla flavor came through nicely in the finished product. Since you added them both to the boil, I'd not get too carried away when adding extract to secondary. I'd suggest maybe a tablespoon max. Add the initial qty of extract at the start of the secondary. When you go to bottle/keg, taste it and add more if you think you want/need it.

Click to expand...

I like your idea of just secondary - no tertiary; less chance of aeration and infection; question i have after one week in secondary is- did you need to strain it with your banana puree or did that fall out to the bottom?

kerant said:

I like your idea of just secondary - no tertiary; less chance of aeration and infection; question i have after one week in secondary is- did you need to strain it with your banana puree or did that fall out to the bottom?

Click to expand...

I used a 5 gallon paint strainer bag from Home Depot. I secured the bag to the bucket, added the puree and vanilla beans, then racked the beer on top. After two weeks, I pulled the bag and racked to a keg. Some of the puree went through the bag, but it captured a majority of it. I was careful when racking to the keg to leave as much of the remaining puree behind as I could.

most of my banana settled out to the bottom. but i also put a hop bag over the end of my racking cane when transferring to bottling bucket.

This is bubbling away, smells great. As usual though I screwed up and ended up with 5.5 gallons!! As far as screw ups go though, that's not a real big deal.

Hey man I'm doing something similar right now, my question is how long did it take your secondary to completely ferment away those bananas?

Travisbrew said:

Hey man I'm doing something similar right now, my question is how long did it take your secondary to completely ferment away those bananas?

Click to expand...

Left it for 2 weeks.

kerant said:

Left it for 2 weeks.

Click to expand...

Same here.

So, if I remember correctly, the recipe calls for 7 days in the primary and 20 days in the secondary.

I transferred to the secondary and added the banana purée after only 6 days. I planned on leaving this in the secondary for 21 days. If it is only taking 14 days for the bananas to finish in the fermenter, then at that time it should be ready for kegging, correct?

So to verify that fermentation is complete:
1) FG should be at about 1.010 to 1.015 and
2) The banana purée should fall to the bottom.

Is this correct? Or do the bananas not fall to the bottom ever, this was just my assumption. Although it may be unfounded because my experience with huckleberries is that the purée never drops to the bottom. I don't recall seeing this discussed previously.

Edited to add: Also, I wanted to share how I sanitized the bananas. I first cut the ends off of three bunches of brown bananas. I then placed the bananas into a very large baking bowl and submerged them in sanitizer. I sanitized the Vitamix (blender) and puréed the bananas combined with rum. Hopefully this would sanitize anything that could be a sanitization problem.

You can move to secondary as soon as primary hits FG. I do 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary and call it good. 1.010-1.015 seems about right, so when it gets down in that area, it should be safe to move to secondary. Bananas may or may not fall. I don't think it really matters. As far as sanitization, you should be good the way you did it. What I do is rinse out the blender with hot water and add the bananas and rum. The rum should sanitize everything. Puree it all up and pour into a sanitized bowl, then add to secondary. Add vanilla beans and rack beer over the top.

LLBeanJ said:

You can move to secondary as soon as primary hits FG. I do 2 weeks primary and 2 weeks secondary and call it good. 1.010-1.015 seems about right, so when it gets down in that area, it should be safe to move to secondary. Bananas may or may not fall. I don't think it really matters. As far as sanitization, you should be good the way you did it. What I do is rinse out the blender with hot water and add the bananas and rum. The rum should sanitize everything. Puree it all up and pour into a sanitized bowl, then add to secondary. Add vanilla beans and rack beer over the top.

Click to expand...

Sounds great, thanks!

So it's been a few months since I brewed this and my keg is about kicked. I followed the recipe exactly except I did a 6 gal batch but left the grain bill the same to decrease the overall alc%. The only thing I will be doing differently when I brew this again, which I will for sure, is to add in about 1% of dextrine malt to increase head retention. My beer came out with very little head, but is otherwise fantastic and a favorite of friends and family.