Bananas?

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nl724

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Hey guys...If I were to make a banana beer and wanted to use real banana, could I just add whole banana to the secondary or primary at high krausen without sanitizing? Shouldn't they be sanitary already if they come right from the peel?
 
I dunno about the actual fruit, but some wheat beer yeast strains have a strong banana flavor and aroma when fermented at high temps, could make a hefeweisen and save the trouble of using real fruit.
 
+1 I had a stout that was fermented too high and had a distinct banana flavor. Tasted just like em! It wasn't a good thing. I would recommend re-thinking banana beer.
 
Banana Wine calls for using the peels and all in th boil. That would sanatize. I'm not sure how much flavor you'd get from just adding the fruit into the bucket...at either stage.
If you've got enough patients, I'll post back...I bottle my Bananas Foster Dunkel this weekend:mug: I'll let you know how that went.
 
BigKahuna said:
Banana Wine calls for using the peels and all in th boil. That would sanatize. I'm not sure how much flavor you'd get from just adding the fruit into the bucket...at either stage.
If you've got enough patients, I'll post back...I bottle my Bananas Foster Dunkel this weekend:mug: I'll let you know how that went.

That would be great! The thread on your recipe inspired me to create my own recipe! :D
 
Here is something that might actually work. For pumpkin beers, I've seen people roast the pumpkin and add to secondary. Maybe roast the bananas to sanitize and mash them up and add to secondary. Another option might be just to add to the boil or mash for AG like Yuri and Richbrewer did for their pumpkin beers.
 
Here's what I did. Took 5 overripe bananas and froze them. After thawing, you can just cut the end off and squeeze it out. Throw in a sauce pan with enough water to make a slurry, heat to 180, hold for 15 minutes. After cooling, add to secondary and transfer on top. I got the process from a recipe I found somewhere. Beer turned out very good. By the way, you don't need to freeze the bananas, that's something I discovered for making banana bread.
 
The Belgian Alt 1214 from Wyeast has great banana flavor, but it doesn't keep more than a few weeks/month. It would still be a great yeast to use for this type of beer. Do it with maybe 50/50 wheat/2-row and some bananas.
 
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