Is that a banana in your boil or are you...

So I just went to buy a corona mill from an old timer on craigslist and he made an interesting suggestion:

He puts a ripe banana in his boil near the end to help clarify it, I guess similar to whirlflock.

Has anyone else heard this?

I just tried his brew also and other than some strange grassy notes, pretty clean and good.

anyone?

does it leave any banana flavor, because i hate bananas and cloves.

Can't say I have tried it, but at the cost of Irish Moss, I think using a banana is a bit expensive, and wastes a tasty banana! Also, I would be concerned about extracting any off flavors from said banana.

It sounds sensible, the boil is going to extract and set pectin from the banana, they are full of it. Pectin is very similar to gelatin, no reason it wouldn't work.

That just gave me an idea.... strawberry blond with banana clarifier...
Strawberry banana blond.... I wonder....

edecambra - do you mash up the bananna, put it in whole, or? Let us know how it works out ...

Even if it works, is it cost effective over Irish moss?

Well, I want to be clear, I haven't done this and it seemed a bit weird to me so I thought I'd bring it up here.

If it does work, it seems to be cheaper. The guy said he uses one banana, then just peals it, chops it up and throws it in near the end of boil. I am sure the boil will macerate the banana, but you could probably mash it up too.

Bananas are about 50-90 cents per lb around me, so one banana is much less than a dollar and on morebeer.com the irish moss is 1.40 per oz necessary for a batch.

It would be neat to see someone try this in somewhat of a controlled environment (this guy was a bit kooky) to see about off flavors, that is if someone is willing to potentially mess with their batch

I just saw that whirlfloc is much cheaper on morebeer:

2.50 will cover 20 5gal batches apparently so it does seem cheaper.

Maybe bananas in a pinch

I love banana, and was thinking of trying to brew a banana beer... This thread just adds to my curiosity on the idea....

So, I'm hoping to actually taste the banana...I'm wondering though, how much should I add to a 5G batch to 'start' tasting it? I don't want to overdo it, but I want to tatse it and see if I want to make it stronger next time...

Is one banana noticeable? Two? Four?

As a general rule, how much fruit is generally added to the boil to get flavor?

I think I'd either mash the banana or add to a secondary if you're going for flavor.

I am not sure about bananas' but with many other fruits, if you add them before primary fermentation the yeast will consume the sugars and little if any flavors will be added to your beer. If you want banana flavor you should either use some hefe yeast or add them after primary/during secondary which ever process you have.

Will adding them into the ferment after primary introduce bacteria? Do you puree them first? How much banana would be required?

I'd heard elsewhere that they can be fermented in vodka and added when transferring to keg for conditioning... Anyone know the specifics of how this is done?

edecambra said:

Bananas are about 50-90 cents per lb around me, so one banana is much less than a dollar and on morebeer.com the irish moss is 1.40 per oz necessary for a batch.

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You use an ounce of Irish Moss for a batch? Everyone I've talked to just uses a teaspoon.

r8rphan said:

Will adding them into the ferment after primary introduce bacteria? Do you puree them first? How much banana would be required?

I'd heard elsewhere that they can be fermented in vodka and added when transferring to keg for conditioning... Anyone know the specifics of how this is done?

Click to expand...

generally you can make fruit/herb extracts like that... mash them up, soak them in vodka for a few months. ive never heard bananas, but i don't really see why it wouldnt work

RIT_Warrior said:

You use an ounce of Irish Moss for a batch? Everyone I've talked to just uses a teaspoon.

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Yeah, a teaspoon at 15 minutes. so, an ounce would last a long time. Maybe a year or so, depending on how often you brew!

Does the banana get strained out? If not, you'll be adding some body to your beer.

edecambra said:

Bananas are about 50-90 cents per lb around me, so one banana is much less than a dollar and on morebeer.com the irish moss is 1.40 per oz necessary for a batch.

Click to expand...

No one uses as Irish Moss per batch. It's more like 1/4 teaspoon.

EDIT: oops, I see I'm late.

I've heard of banana as a clarifier in wine making....never tried it myself though. People swear by it.

Geez, I use a tsp per batch and have had the same small container of IM for years.

You could always use banana in a hefe, but it might clear it up a bit too much??